[Vision2020] I seen it on the web!

[James Reynolds]

Hi Tony,
 
As a general consideration, do you believe that it is better for a nation to try and win the hearts and minds of their enemy or do you believe that it is better to simply eliminate them?
 
I think that this is really the two camps in this discussion. On one side we have the philosophers meticulously thought out, age old, arguments that War is not the answer and poor treatment of any group only makes the enemy stronger in force. On the other side, (this is how I perceive your stand) we have the group that advocates killing any and all who defy.
 
I have at times thought the world's view would evolve towards the philosophical stance on this question but am now at the point where I feel that the question will never be globally solved. In my opinion, greed and a sense of innate superiority are fairly persistent character traits of people that have the desire to rule others and it is this character makeup that perpetuates the War cycle. Sometime we will have a philosophical majority leading our government and perhaps then we, the United States, can use our power to right wrongs and clearly set the stage for the world to follow us towards peaceful solutions that benefit everyone. It is unfortunate that only a few philosophical persons ever want to lead but I think I understand that the reason for this is the conflict between being philosophical and seeing yourself as the person to lead. It is hard to know very much about the frailties of the human condition and at the same time consider yourself capable of doing anything about leading the world to the correct view.
 
On a more guteral level, I think the most dangerous thing for people to do is to not question/challenge those claiming the superior positions in government and it certainly puts us all at risk if we just give them a free hand to wreck what havoc they might.
 
The current administration is no friend to America and has not done anything but worsen our outlook into the future. War gives us death and torture gives us increased enemy forces as well and bad intelligence. It is unfortunate that War and torture are the administrations only tools.
 
Take care Tony,
 
James    


From: tonytime at clearwire.netTo: vision2020 at moscow.comDate: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 17:29:41 -0700Subject: [Vision2020] I seen it on the web!



Ok Nick,
 
Let's assume the CIA has engaged in torture in the past, for the sake of argument, although you have yet to quote from the manuals you insist exist.
 
Are you suggesting that such is the case now?  If you have any evidence that Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld have supported the use of the tactics you refer to, would you be so thorough as to provide dated, verbatim quotes?
 
Your simply insisting something is so because it's "available on the web" is inadequate.  There is a lot of BS on the web.  How can we be certain that the material you site does not fall into that category if it exists at all?
 
Patiently waiting for more than gratuitous assertions,  --Tony
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