1. That comment was targeted at the comment, what happened to innocent until proven guilty. I was saying that since they were not US citizens, and since they were caught during military operations (other than war) and they were not in the UNIFORMED military service of their host nation (which would have meant fighting for the Northern Alliance, which at the time was the legally recognized government) that they do not have the same rights that are accorded to US citizens. Listen people we did these guys a favor. Had we sent them home they would have been tortured and killed. Period. I don't know how you can scream and rant about human rights in the face of reality. The Taliban that they supported was one of the worst human rights abusers in existence.
2. You as an American can disavow your citizenship when ever you feel like it. You simply go into the consulate or embassy at your new host nation, turn in your passport, and sign a paper. Many people have done just that. Lee Harvey Oswald did just that. Had he done that he would be in Cuba with the rest of the goobers. 3. Well as a former 11b1p (Airborne, All the way!!) I would have to say that should the national command authority decide to waste a single highly trained live in such a way, well that would be a damned shame. Seriously though, He would then just be an American Citizen in a foreign nation. The people who were the recognized government (The Northern Alliance) were Afghans. They were locals, and they were fighting a war. One that was very much in our favor to win. I am sorry but I think we would be remiss in NOT playing favorites in situations like that. Be a realist man, the Taliban was openly supporting an organization that killed thousands of American civilians. They decimated their own populace. I am not a big imperialist. I am kind of an isolationist truth be told. In this case I think we were justified. Iraq, well I am not so sure there. We will have to see how it unfolds. Tim Heald I don't know School Link Inc. 910.223.2116 x 122 http://www.schoollink.net Providing technology solutions for educators -----Original Message----- From: Smith, Matthew P -CONT(DYN) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 3:04 PM To: CF-Community Subject: RE: Lindh pleads guilty, won't receive life in prison >>1. They are not citizens of the United States therefore they have no >>rights under US law. Yay! You are not American! We can shoot you, steal from you, anything! You have no rights. Or maybe you meant we can violate basic human rights because they are not American? Or maybe legal rights, so the US can hold any foreign national here for as long as they want without trial, counsel, etc? I'm not trying to twist your words, I just can't interpret what you meant. Otherwise, we should get off that whole human rights thing with China, because the people being violated aren't Americans. >>Does the US have the right to charge an American citizen of crimes >>committed in a different country? <snip> >>Personally I think he should have been tried for treason. But can he disavow citizenship without his countries permission? Can the US "force" him to still be a citizen even though he has left, taken upon the garb, lifestyle, language, etc of another country? If not, he should be grouped with the rest and treated the same. Yes, even if it was against other Americans(attacking 'his' country, btw). I know he choose to play the "I'm an American citizen" card when he was caught, and I addressed that in an earlier post. I'm just addressing the: >>Does the US have the right to charge an American citizen of crimes >>committed in a different country? >> >>I would say yes. Within limits. Something like if it's against another >>American(s). In this case he was fighting against us." >>4. The Taliban was only one government of Afghanistan, and was not >>actually the recognized government at the time of hostilities. The >>Northern Alliance was the recognized government and they invited us in and >>allowed us to take the foreign fighters out of their country. They didn't >>want them. Hmmm, 'recognized government'. So if we choose to recognize a particular government, any other competing governments/groups become the bad guys? What if the majority of that country's citizens recognize the one we choose not to? I've got it! We drop an airborne 11B in any country, have him make camp. Now, he declares him self an opposing government. The US recognizes his plight, he invites us in, and we attack and free him from the fascist regime. Bingo, our 51st state! I think we just found the loophole that will let us take over the world. Sweet. ; ) Shouldn't countries work through competing governments amongst themselves? Otherwise, the US would be dictating it's preference, and before you know it, we would be installing puppet governments with US-friendly policies into other countries. Oh, wait, never mind. It gets even better. Say the country with two opposing governments has a resource we want. No other deciding factors, except the cost they will sell that resource to us for. The US could become a "country hit-man", bartering it's services to the one writing us the biggest check through lower prices, trade, etc. Forget taking over the world, we'll just be country brokers and take a percentage. That's where the real money's at. ______________________________________________________________________ Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/cf-community@houseoffusion.com/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
