JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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dearjohn
I wrote: "That is why you let them kill each other without interference!"
Sarge wrote: "We tried that already - we got burned on September 11, 2001!"
Like many people, you seem to think that Afghanistan had something major to do with 9/11. Outside of harboring bin Laden, and being the ground for a brief meeting of the hijackers and the mastermind, Afghanistan had nothing to do with 9/11. None of the hijackers came from there, none trained there, none lived there. The only connection is bin and other al-Quaida members.
What is more, I read that plans for Afghanistan were put in motion before 9/11. I don't know why I did not hear about it before. The Bush administation decided to give the Taliban an ultimatum to hand over bin Laden on 9/10/01. They really seem to have wanted war and it was nothing to do with 9/11.
These civilians are dying at our hands for some other reason. I think money is one of the bigger ones. Somebody made a pretty penny for those errant rockets you know.
Posted in: U.S. rockets strike Afghan home, killing 12 civilians
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dearjohn
It is estimated that 80 percent of the deaths of civilians are caused by the Taliban. That fact does not comfort the people whose loved ones were killed by foreign troops however. They will decide that their loved ones would be alive if the foreign troops had never come, and their logic will end there. The Taliban might be hated, but every wrong done by foreign troops counts 20 times more. All that is left for us to do in Afghanistan is dig the hole deeper.
Posted in: Civilian death toll climbs in Afghan offensive
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dearjohn
Super. But the new boss will be the same as the old boss. This video has been stuck in automatic replay mode for a while now in case you have not noticed.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia" - The Princess Bride
Posted in: Taliban's top military commander in Pakistan reported captured
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dearjohn
"Prove they don't have nukes."
This sort of negative cannot be proven and I think you know that. That said, thinking they don't is to be wearing one's tin foil cap too tightly.
And some of you might want to realize that becoming a military dicatorship is different from already being one.
Posted in: Clinton: Iran is becoming a military dictatorship
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dearjohn
From the article "he had been at odds with the majority of Bush administration officials on the decision to release prisoners from the military lockup to their home countries when cases against them were determined to be legally untenable."
This is known as "guilty until proven innocent". Its hard to believe that someone with such an unAmerican belief was one step away from the presidency.
Posted in: Biden and Cheney spar over antiterrorism policies
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dearjohn
"Police arrested four youths in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture, on Monday after they severely beat a fellow student at their public high school."
Note to JT- It should be public junior high school or public middle school.
Posted in: Four youths arrested for beating student unconscious
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dearjohn
The 20/20 hindsight crowd is out in force I see. Could you imagine these people running your HR department?
"It says here that a man died in a car accident the day after you angrily yelled at him. I know the police cleared you of any wrong doing, but we just can't take the risk..."
I don't know if some of you come from alternate realities or what!
Posted in: Relatives wonder how Alabama professor held in shootings got hired
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dearjohn
Sarge wrote-"Who needs civilians like these?"
Nobody! That is why you let them kill eachother without interference!
Posted in: U.S. rockets strike Afghan home, killing 12 civilians
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dearjohn
"The news says the kid was terrified, and some of the other people who were in the venue had said that."
The article clearly said it was being surrounded by cameras that made her terrified. They swarmed the girl, the was the problem. When they stopped doing that, it went fine. Lesson learned.
There ya go! Normal people won't see sex! A sexy woman need not move at all to be sexy you know! And most dancing is going to involve some hip shaking. Or do you have a problem with little girls doing hula too?
Look. I make you this promise. If you try to hide children, you will only increase the problems. Swarming a child with strangers and cameras ought to be an obvious no-no to any adult. It isn't because the children are hidden away. Children are supposed to be part of the community as well. They are supposed to participate. If you hide them they will be misunderstood.
Posted in: 7-year-old samba queen breaks down in tears at Rio's Carnival
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dearjohn
SuperLib wrote- "Whose to say a single terrorist attack brought by those conditions wouldn't have killed more than all coalition forces in the area combined."
You can't reason with people when their neigbor got killed by foreign troops! Forget it.
"You'll always have those who feel sorry for weaker parties who use terrorism because they don't think it's fair that one side can have guided missiles while the other has just knives"
You seem to define terrorism in a very strange and selective way. For starters, neither side are technically terrorist. But both sides are using tactics which cause terror. You seem to be playing a hair-splitting game of who is the nicer terrorist and your basis is body-count alone. If that works for you, fine. It will not work for the Afghanis no matter what you say. Its not fair or logical, but that is the way it is.
That is a huge fallacy. The goal of destroying terrorist training camps and building a nation are two entirely separate things.
"I think the approach of helping the Afghans rule their own country is a winnable goal. "
I remember hearing in the eighties about people who swore Vietnam was winnable and were as bitter as Nazis blaming "defeatists" for the loss. There are psychological obstacles that rockets will not overcome, not the least of which is a proud, independent people feeling like thralls to a powerful technological advanced nation. Many Americans actually think they are going to get mountains of gratitute, and the little bit they get will confirm that delusion. Every extra day we are there is a direct stab at their self image. All our tech and affluence are just causes for self-loathing and loathing of us, and that goes triple when that tech kills civilians.
Your "winnable goal" has spilled that Taliban into nuclear armed Pakistan. You are like the man lost and driving full speed the wrong way, but absolutely refusing to ask for directions.
Posted in: U.S. rockets strike Afghan home, killing 12 civilians
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dearjohn
sailwind wrote -"We're still trying to contain Soviet expansion which was the backdrop for our involvement in Vietnam in the first place? I musta missed the memo."
Intentional silliness or accidental? You can't see the similarities between Afghanistan and Vietnam? Outsiders getting involved in an internal conflict, militarily supporting one side over the other using technically advanced and cowardly weaponry, raining bombs down on civilian and intended target alike. Not winning over the people by such tactics. Unfaltering confidence for nearly a decade despite setback after setback. Trying to fight a guerilla war with airplanes and helicopters. Most people back home not really giving a damned anymore. Government cover-ups, only this time its not letting us see coffins coming home on the TV.
Posted in: U.S. rockets strike Afghan home, killing 12 civilians
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dearjohn
womanforwomen wrote- "but what were the parents trying to do? Fertility and sexual dances are not for kids."
Samba is a symbol of Brazilian national identity. It is not a fertility or sexual dance unless that is what you see. If you look at a 7 year old wearing somewhat more than a bathing suit and dancing and see sex, then I suggest you stay away from public pools please. The problem is with your head, not the dancing little girl, and stopping her dancing is not going ward off all the other scantily clad children you are going to see in the world. Golly, when I was a kid I danced about the house wearing less or nothing. I even escaped outside a couple times!
Posted in: 7-year-old samba queen breaks down in tears at Rio's Carnival
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dearjohn
As if Dick were not enough of an embarrassment while he was in office! Now he breaks perfectly good traditions of bowing out and shutting up when the term is done. I find it hard to believe that no one has taken a shot at this fool yet. I guess they thought he would die on his own sooner?
Posted in: Biden and Cheney spar over antiterrorism policies
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dearjohn
Damned paparazzi! If not for their sticking their cameras and mikes in people's faces with no feeling of respect whatsoever this would have went off without a hitch. I got no patience for people who scare children like this. I would like to make them cry!
Posted in: 7-year-old samba queen breaks down in tears at Rio's Carnival
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dearjohn
On the other hand, if the airline made seats for obese people only, they would be forced to issue a heart-felt apology for their discriminatory practices!
Over-weight people won't be happy until they are called slim and treated as such despite their girth not changing.
Its not an asthetic issue. Its not a directly money issue. Its a safety issue. If this guy could not get seated properly and wound up hurting himself or other passengers due to severe turbulence or a hard landing, people would be hurt and the airline would get sued.
I applaud the pilot for making this hard and correct, though politically difficult decision. He sounds like the type of guy I want to fly with.
Posted in: Actor-director Kevin Smith ejected from plane for being oversized
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dearjohn
SuperLib wrote- "What's even worse are those from our own countries who spit on the soldiers going through those conditions just because they hate the military. It must be difficult to place yourself in such a high degree of danger to spare civilian casualties while at the same time be accused of wanting to kill everyone around you."
I say tough. They did not think it through and now they are on the wrong side of history. Its not like the U.S. made any core changes to ensure another Vietnam could not happen, and since that precedent has been set, joining up and not expecting another one is ignorant at best. If they joined up thinking nothing would happen, they should have jumped out when they saw this coming. Its this sort of nonsense why early Americans refused to have a standing army. And here we get more like our former British masters every day! How quickly we forget. First the Revolutionary War and now the Vietnam War.
Posted in: U.S. rockets strike Afghan home, killing 12 civilians
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dearjohn
Humans are oddly irrational. Its easy for us to declare that we kill fewer civilians than the Taliban and calmly absorb that fact from the comfort of our homes. But the Afghanis will downplay Afghani deaths by other Afghanis and make a huge stink about those killed by foreign troops. Look no further than the U.S. military in Japan. They commit fewer crimes per capita than the locals, but every military crime gets inflated by a degree of 20 at least. The only way to win is to be perfect, and you got to a complete fool to think it possible.
There won't be peace in Afghanistan. This won't end. This not my hope. This is my prediction after looking at the facts. My hope is that I am wrong. But my money goes on never ending conflict and I am confident I will win the bet.
Posted in: U.S. rockets strike Afghan home, killing 12 civilians
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dearjohn
tkoind2, I agree with you that we are fighting this all wrong. Some people think its WWII all over again. But I am not sure its winnable in any real sense, certainly not with supposedly "high tech" rockets butchering civilians. And Afghanistan has been one big civil war for how long now? Bizarrely, while the Taliban was never loved outside of Afghanistan, it was recognized that they brought more peace than the country had seen in a long time.
I also disagree with the idea that we have an obligation to the Afghanis. We don't. We went there because the Afghanis messed up in aiding al-Quaida. Well we hit al-Quaida hard. And those starving Afghani men will not learn to fish anyway, so even trying teach was dumb, and to keep stubbornly trying is dumber. We do have an obligation to the Pakistanis, but not the Afghanis.
And mate, meeting a few non-Taliban Afghanis does not let you know what the average Afghani wants. The Taliban is not some skeleton crew with magical powers. The Taliban are Afghanis themselves and if their numbers were not great, they could not do what they do.
Posted in: U.S. rockets strike Afghan home, killing 12 civilians
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dearjohn
SuperLib-"What was that word you used before? Cowardly? ;)"
Nice try. Nation building, especially in a crap hole like Afghanistan, is a fool's errand anyway. Wanting to stay out of it is not cowardice. Its minding your own business on one hand, and conserving lives and resources on the other. It looks like you too forget what was said with each new post. I would have supported getting al-Quaida if negotiations were tried and had failed. But I never supported nine years of wasted time and lives. That is not bravery. That is stupidity.
Don't tell me you are one of the hardheaded people who has been muttering "Just one more year..." every year since the invasion? What is it with people who do that? Is it so hard to admit being wrong? Is it pride? Arrogance? Forgetfulness? Being a hopeful fool? Its like Vietnam never happened with so little learned there.
Posted in: Taliban militants dig in as Marines occupy Afghan town
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dearjohn
bushlover wrote- "They are not there when they detonate them remotely"
I guess you too forgot my first post. I am not defending roadside bombs. I classify them too as cowardly and dangerous to civilians, but still braver than dropping bombs from aircraft or using a remote control device to do your dirty work.
Posted in: Taliban militants dig in as Marines occupy Afghan town