From: mfriedma@uucp (Michael Friedman)
Newsgroups: alt.activism,alt.desert-storm,alt.politics.clinton
Subject: Re: **** ANOTHER COVER-UP - Please read this... ****
Date: 2 Oct 92 23:27:08 GMT
Organization: Oracle Corporation
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by an unauthenticated user
              at Oracle Corporation.  The opinions expressed are those
              of the user and not necessarily those of Oracle.

In article <27SEP199209534928@gergo.tamu.edu> dave@gergo.tamu.edu (Dave Martin) writes:
>In article <1992Sep28.025641.9841@anomaly.sbs.risc.net>, kd1hz@anomaly.sbs.risc.net (Michael P. Deignan) writes...
>}dave@gergo.tamu.edu (Dave Martin) writes:

>}I disagree with the concept of "anything goes". There are set rules for
>}combat and treatment of POWs, etc.

>If there are rules then war is just another game. 

Nonsense.  In that case everything is a game and the concept is no
longer useful.

There are rules for how you drive.  Does that mean driving to work is
a game?

There are rules for how you program.  Does that make programming a
game?

School has rules.  Does that make school a game?

There are rules in war that even you will not dispute - for example,
getting your head blown off means you are dead and getting caught
shooting prisoners can get you thrown in jail.  Does that mean war is
a game?

>War is not a civilized activity

Why do you say this?  After all, civilized societies do it on a
regular basis and have proven themselves to be much more effective at
it than barbarians.

>Despite the
>Geneva Convention's attempt to make wars seem civilized, I'd have to say
>that in a military situation there are no requirements in regards to the
>treatment of prisoners or the weapons one can use on the enemy. 

The rules were certianly not enforced, but that's Bush's fault.  We
should have listed the Iraqis who mistreated POWs or civilians and
told Saddam that the bombing would continue until we had proof that
they were dead.

>}Sometimes it is in the best interest of America to take a position off
>}our soil to prevent a situation from occuring which will potentially
>}affect our position at a later time.

>No. It was not in this nation's best interests to go to war. Consider that
>the only Americans who profitted from the war were the big oil companies
>(that raised their prices far in advance of the hostilities, and kept them
>high until long after they ended -- gee, didn't Bush used to work in the
>oil industry?...). 

Actually, many oil companies lost money because, due to political
pressure, they kept the price at the pump relatively low.

>Why hasn't the Bush administration done anything to
>encourage the auto/oil industry to develop alternative fuels, so that we
>have less dependence upon foreign petroleum products?

Why should we?  It's easier to kill Iraqis.

>Why didn't he freeze
>gasoline prices to prevent the oil industry from gouging the entire population
>of this nation 

Please take a course in microeconomics.  The automatic result of a
price freeze would have been a shortage.  

>}You might want to tell the Kuwaitiis that it was really the US that
>}initiated the hostilities.

>While we may not have directly encouraged Hussein in this, we certainly did
>nothing to discourage his invasion of Kuwait. 

Yes.  Well, it was kind of a surprise.  Nobody thought he was going to
do anything more than take Rumallah and that island that was in dispute.

>And why not tell the Kuwaitiis
>that we may have prevented the hundreds of oil well fires if we had attempted
>to negotiate rather than rushing in with our military might.

Because the Kuwaitis were much more interested in getting the Iraqis
to stop raping, torturing, and murdering them than in avoiding oil fires.

>}>Look at how people reacted to the petroleum spills and
>}>the threat of chemical warfare. The spill was a good tactical move to prevent
>}>attack from the sea,

Dave, I challenge you to back this up.  Your statement above is arrant
nonsense.  The oil spill didn't even make landings more difficult, let
alone impossible.



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