Letters to the Editor
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Bush knows how
To create more terrorists invade a country that does not tolerate them. Use a local prison for abominable behaviour by your Army and hold people without trial for years. At the same time scoff at international agreements like the Geneva Convention. Sure fire hit, you will have increased their numbers substantially. Bush sure knew how!!!
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Something sure to not be mentioned
It would be nice if when journalists write about these comments they add the phrase "the chief legal counsel for the country most recently hit with a terrorist attack on its home soil".
Harder to tag someone as a 'namby-pamby liberal' when their civilians are more immediately affected by terrorism, no?
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Goldsmith is no namby-pamby liberal
Goldsmith has been widely criticized in the UK by many people, including senior lawyers, for his lack of impartiality. He's strongly suspected of having been leant on by the government (ie Tony Blair) to provide legal cover for various Iraq-related issues.
He's been a good boy until recently and kept quiet about legal outrages like Guantanamo, but even he can't bottle this up any longer. Tony Blair must now be the only person in the world, outside the US, who hasn't criticized Guantanamo by now (the best he's managed is to call it 'an anomaly').
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What a novel idea
"Goldsmith believes that the war on terror will be won not just by force but by ideas"
I believe the only way to stop terrorists is through ideas. If you want to see how far force will get you, look at Israel. That country has not enjoyed peace since its creation. Using force as a response only creates more force.
In order to fight terrorism we need to (1) find out why the terrorists are against us (what's their beef with us?); (2) decide if any of those beefs are justified; and (3)work to change those things that are justified grievances.
In the above example, the U.S. is not going to start taking rights away from women (o.k., I'm being super idealistic here) or force its population into one religion (ditto) in order to appease Muslim terrorists. However, the main beef that Osama bin Laden had against the U.S. was its presence in Saudi Arabia. Was that beef justified? I think it's reasonable. Could we get the hell out of Saudi Arabia? I think that's reasonable, too.
Of course, in Bushworld, that was NOT reasonable, so instead, we start a war that alienates the whole world and creates new generations of terrorists -- who now have an extremely justified beef against us.
This is how Bushworld works. Sigh.
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Detainees' in Cuba
You young appeasers either have a short memory or you have not researched history. WW2 fought by the liberal darling FDR detained prisoners for the entire duration of the war between the US, Japan, and Germany. How do I know? Because one of those prisoner camps was at Atlanta Nebraska, 9 miles south of Holdrege Nebraska. My aged aunt lived 1 mile from the site and parts of the foundations and other remnants are still visible. There were no Republicans demanding lawyers to see if they were there legally. Neither were there any thought given about releasing them and closing the site as you liberals are continually whining about. GET OVER IT, these people are deadly enemies and should stay in prison.