RE: Landmines RE: US Foreign Policy Re: *DO* we share a civilizat ion?

[Baardwijk, J. van DTO/SLBD/BGM/SVM/SGM]

> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Verzonden: Friday, August 17, 2001 2:27 PM
> Aan: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Onderwerp: Re: Landmines RE: US Foreign Policy Re: *DO* we share a
> civilizat ion?

>  According to your statement, whenever a *government* of a country
>  commits a crime, the *people* of that country are also guilty of that
>  crime. That is obviously not true. Hitler (who was democratically
>  elected!) has committed genocide; by your standards, the entire German
>  population of that time is guilty of genocide. By those same
>  standards, the entire US population would be responsible for the
>  deaths of people assassinated by the CIA.
> 
> Well but we do hold the german people at least partially  responsible
> for the actions of the Nazi's.

Then you also hold the US population (including yourself) at least partially
responsible for the deaths of people assassinated by the CIA?


> (I would argue that this very quickly changed into a dictatorship but
> lets not quibble about the differences between the US form of
> government and that of Nazi Germany. Given past statements I would
> guess you see them as essentially equivalent).

AFAIK, I never called the US government a fascist dictatorship. I criticized
the way in which you elect a president, but I've seen that same criticism
coming for US citizens on this list.

I don't have my archive handy; please quote the message(s) in which I made
that accusation.


> I think what annoys me most is your willingness to excuse any national
> behavior on the basis of past history with the exception of the US. We 
> are not allowed to worry about sneak attacks even though we do have
> Pearl Harbor in our history and in our psyches.

You can worry all you want; the only problem with this is that (at least to
people outside the US) it seems like the US sometimes crosses the line
between "worrying about" and "getting paranoid about".

(As for Pearl Harbor, there recently was a documentary on the Discovery
Channel that showed that the US had failed three or four times to recognize
signs that the Japanese were on their way to Pearl Harbor -- one of them was
when approaching aircraft appeared on a radar screen and then were
interpreted as a flock of birds...)


> The jews of Israel are not cut any slack because of the holocaust and
> in fact it is apparently reasonable in your world view to accuse them 
> of the same crimes perpetrated on them by the Nazis.

Did I accuse Israel of committing genocide on the Palestinians? I really
don't remember saying that; I remember criticizing Israel for the way it
treats Palestinians, but I don't recall accusations of genocide.

I don't have my archive handy; please quote the message(s) in which I made
that accusation.



Jeroen

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