From: Samantha (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Tue May 13 2003 - 00:49:30 MDT
On Thursday 08 May 2003 08:45 am, Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> This is true. However, it is not too soon to declare that U.S.
> intelligence was flawed. We have already searched hundreds of
> sites where we were "sure" we would find bioweapons manufacturing.
> None of them turned out to be what the U.S. claimed. Even if we do
> eventually find something somewhere, it is clear that U.S.
> intelligence was just plain wrong on almost everything. It may be
> that they were lying as an excuse to attack Iraq.
There is no question in my mind that some of the people charged with
intelligence were lying. Some of the others may have been more
guilty of simply believing what they wanted to hear. But for making
policy even that is inexcusable. It is and always was crystal clear
to me that we were not attacking Iraq for the stated reasons. Far
too much was said and done in a conniving, rhetorical and irrational
fashion for the state reasons to be at all believable. I was frankly
amazed that so many bright people were taken in.
> It may be that
> they were so interested in finding an excuse that the selectively
> interpreted intelligence reports in a way to say what they hoped
> they would say. But the bottom line is that other countries won't
> put up with our claim that we have secret evidence that will be
> presented later. From now on, I expect the U.S. will be distrusted
> unless it shows clear evidence up front.
>
In a democracy where the people or their represenatives are to vote
on whether to go to war there should be no "evidence" that is that
secret. If we don't learn that lesson quickly we are in for much
worse troubles domestically than 9/11.
> (This applies to "enemy combatants" as well, now that dozens of the
> prisoners have been released from Guantanamo with no connection to
> any crimes or war activity. Secret evidence and hidden tribunals
> always fail to be fair, and this round has been no different. The
> world won't put up with their citizens being detained without
> notification, without lawyers, without evidence, and without a
> chance to defend themselves.)
Dunno. Apparently Americans will put up with this as Patriot,
Patriot II and several trial balloons suggest subjecting citizens to
loss of such rights. If we don't stand up and yell our heads over
such proposals then we certainly can't count on other nations to do
the job for us.
- samantha
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