US policies - Guantanamo and the military

[Sweltered]

FYI

China has more rigorous emission laws than the US. I just wrote a paper on this for school.

"Taxi for Shaw !!!" .... you'll be on a one way flight to Guantanemo Bay talking like that

3

And the truth will set you free....

Since you brought up Guano Bay, they've been debating what is considered torture over here..some of the tactics they want to ban were used in abundance by the teaching staff of a certain primary school in the town in the 70's, ie the finger poke to the chest, grabbing of the collar etc. All to be banned during the interviewing of terrorists, if the liberals get their way. Not sure if decapitation came up tho.

[gizmo]

5 years in the pokey, without charge, legal representation or family visits for having a suntan and being in pocession of a beard isnt torture then.... hmnnn.... turning native I think.

[Sweltered]

deleted, I can't be bothered.

Don't blame me for what America does, I just live here, I didn't vote (can't) for them. Anyway I blame you for all Blair's bad decisions. You live there it must be all your fault.

Fitaboutyeh.

[Bobbie En Tejas]

GUANTANAMO POLL
A new ABC News-Washington Post poll has found that a majority of Americans disagree with the policy of indefinite detention without charge for prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Seventy-one percent of those surveyed said that the Guantanamo Bay detainees should either be charged with a crime or given prisoner-of-war status. The US government categorizes the detainees as "enemy combatants". (June 2006)

[Bobbie En Tejas]

It will really be a pleasant day when someone doesn't take disgusting behavior of one sort or another and attribute it to all americans.

[gizmo]

Sorry Sweltered I picked you up wrong... ... I thought when you called the detainees terrorists that you meant they were all proved to be guilty.... and the comment about the bleeding heart liberals protecting these people from the nasty finger pokers, led me to believe that you meant they were misguided... Again my mistake..

[Sweltered]

Sorry Sweltered I picked you up wrong... ... I thought when you called the detainees terrorists that you meant they were all proved to be guilty.... and the comment about the bleeding heart liberals protecting these people from the nasty finger pokers, led me to believe that you meant they were misguided... Again my mistake..

No problem.

As Bobbie said, it's a pity that all Americans are tarred with the same brush. The vast majority of people over here are just regular people. Most, it seems don't particularly support the war, but they DO (as do I) support the men and women in the armed forces over in Iraq and Afghanistan. This seems to be reported in a very slanted way over there.

[general jack o'niell]

.deleted due to apathy on my part

[Bobbie En Tejas]

Many of us were around during vietnam, gen, when we protested the war and had contempt for the GI in uniform because of that ugly war, even our brothers. We learned a great lesson.

My opinion is, this country was fed information about imminant danger and it was believed. We have never been fed so much b*llsh** . I personally wasn't part of the group who stood behind Bush.. and as a matter of fact was horrified by the whole idea of it.

Yes, I stand behind the troops. My daughter is in. When in history have they ever sent American women into combat? This was the first time we attacked a country unprovoked. This is not what many of them signed up for, but its what they got. I don't support the war, I don't support bush.. I hope the man is brought up on charges for what he has done to this country and the rest of the world...he has changed everything.. but you can bet I support my daughter and want nothing more than the troops to be safe and come back alive... And Bushes daughters should have been on the front lines and the first to go.

Counter rant over..

[Old Willham]

I have to admit that I have mixed feelings on our armed forces actions in Afghanistan and particularly Iraq. I believe that what our Government has done in Iraq is a crime and as such I cannot "support" our troops in their actions there.

However like most people I appreciate that the Army is simply a tool of the UK government and by its very nature must be willing to follow orders without question. We often refer to our armed forces as a well oiled "machine" and like a machine all soldiers are conditioned to do as they are ordered without thinking. It is that ability that has made the British Army the envy of the world.

I don't blame the troops for the atrocities carried out in Iraq. The blame lies full square at the door of No 10 where the real decisions were made to blindly follow the American Idiot down a path of destruction. This is a perfect example of the adage that history is written by the victors. Saddam Murders, tortures and imprisons thousands of Iraqis and he is a monster, our Prime Minister does the same and he is fighting a just war on terror. All Governments are morally and financially corrupt, it's just a question of degree.

[Sweltered]

What ethnic background are the IRA, INLA? Have they been known to blow people up?

I said I supported the troops over there, and I stand by that. They are not all killing innocent civilians, what a preposterous thing to say! How many casualties have there been, how many members of the armed forces are over there. The type of person who joins the army over here is totally different. You might think the dimmest of the dim join the army, not the case here, of course there are some, but a massive number have college degrees or a studying for them. Where's yours? The comment about the dog is assinine. The type of people in the forces here is exrtremely varied, and to suggest otherwise is rediculous.
People join to get an education, they join to do their "bit", and yes, they shouldn't complain if they are sent to war. BUT, theres a huge number over in Iraq that don't want to be there, but are doing it because they made an agreement. They knew they may have to fight, hoped they wouldn't have to, and now that they've been sent there, they are living up to their agreement. They didn't join up to kill people, ANOTHER stupid statement, like it or not, the forces are considered a job opportunity. Veterans are given discounts when they buy cars or preference when applying for jobs, it can be a big help to people. Don't talk about things you know nothing about. Its so easy to tar everyone with the same brush, isn't it.

What happens if you're wrong, think about it. They think THEY are right too you know. Someone has to be right! What if its them!

[general jack o'niell]

deleted due to apathy on my part

[Sweltered]

pretty silly to use the college degree angle since you yourself said that a british 14 yr old wouldn't have much trouble with the stuff you yourself are doing?

if i said everyone that joins up is stupid i retract that and lets just say they are not too bright, granted many join up to get an education but i think putting your life on the line for a piece of paper doesn't appeal to me.

as for my degree? i don't think i'll go into that, but if i had it all to do again i wouldn't have spent 20yrs doing what i did and ruining my health in the process, but i still think i could hold my own against all but the top 5% here in this country, or over there, or i might have been happier with a trade which allowed me to use my hands rather than my brain. i went the emotional route and spent what turned out to be the most productive years of my life doing something i hated, but there you go, you makes your bed, you lies in it, if i had chosen the academic route i would never have met my wife and i wouldn't have my two children, so i count my blessings, i might not have my health but i've still got my brain and it tells me that military life is for fools, clever fools maybe but fools all the same.

circumstances allowed me to watch thru the night as both gulf wars unfolded and it still makes no sense to me, the day they go after mugabi is the day i think otherwise.

That's your opinion, and you are entitled to it. Plenty people bungee jump, I wouldn't do it, doesn't make them wrong.

[Surfbored]

I was born into a time where the Russians were the bad guys.

At the time it never dawned on me that America wasn't really all it appeared to be in tv shows.

This is the country that has pretty much been at war since WW2, that had mass "outings" very simillar to the Inquisition during the McCarthy years (reds under the bed, neighbour denouncing neighbour), that under J Edgar Hoover and the FBI kept dossiers and taps on anybody they wanted to, a CIA that destabilised large parts of the globe and that had political and non-political leaders assassinated (always a lone gunman too lack of originality there ..JFK, MLK,Malcolm X, John Lennon even as he came out of retirement to once again corrupt the youth!!!) ....... so why wasn't I surprised the 2000 election was STOLEN from Al Gore (Bush threatened to dispute his dodgy dealings in every court in the land ...), that America went back to war (I predicted it on election night 2000) (the further you look back into history the further into the future you can see) ... and all the crap thats happened since.

Guantanemo Bay doesn't surprise me at all. America and Americans may claim to live in the land of the free, liberty and justice for all ... but it's just rhetoric, total rubbish.

America's post WW2 history doesn't make pleasant reading at all, and it makes you wonder who the bad guys really are.

[Bobbie En Tejas]

I am, and don't you forget it