The Hairs on the Back of my Neck

[TonyC]

I think the main thing we all have to remember here is that the US is not trying to "nation build" here. That is what the British and the Russians were attempting. Our goal is to clean a very small amount of vile people. I know...it's still not an easy task, but it is different that the actions of the past. As they keep saying on the news, we'll have to rely on intelligence to find our target. We'll never find that creep by wandering around in the mountains. Brains not brawn will win this battle.

 

[Youare]

First of all I think power plants are built to withstand being hit by a large airplane. Don't want to see this theroy tested however.

Secondly this amy not be the most humane thing to do but it may be the most effective. The country bin Laden is using as a host has some severe problems internaly. They don't have enough food to feed all it's people and winter is coming.

Shut-off the supply of goods to the Afganastan. Promise food and other necesary goods when bin laden is delivered to some authority, preference would be in a condition where he could not stand up in court or anywhere else (dead).

We would not have to wage a war that would put troops at risk. Some of the national people may suffer because of the tempoary lack of food. But, if after bin Laden was turned over we send in adequate relief the national people will see that we do not hate them.

Just a thought

 

[ERNIEB]

SHF, Here is what I think. You are assuming that bin Laden sat down and planned out the whole thing, and I don't think he works that way. Al-Qaida does not carry out attacks itself, but provides resources for other groups to carry them out. In some cases the ties are tight and in other cases very loose. These groups, or cells as they are being called, have to curry favor from Al-Qaida. A new group that has plots and plans may get a litlle help from Al-Qaida, but when they carry something out, then they are in a position to ask for more. The more they do the more they get.
It's hard to guess just what bin Laden knew, ahead of time. He may have know a cell was going to carry out an attack on U.S. soil and he may not have known. I really doubt he knew all the particulars. Thus, he was able to say " I didn't have anything to do with it" When we finallly see the proof that bin Laden is tied to 9/11, it will be by the money trail.
Also, I think it's a mistake to put bin Laden and Al-Qaida in the same basket with the Taliban. Up til now bin Laden has always been an asset and not a liability to the Taliban. They are hard liners, but they didn't have many friends before this and they are getting fewer. They talk tough, but it's hard to know what they are talking about behind closed doors.
I do agree that bin Laden and Al-Qaida, and others would like to get the whole region to rise up against us. They try very hard to tie us together with Israel.Of course mentioning the Palestinians. They always bring Muslim religion into it. And in recent years, in most terrorist attacks no one group takes credit. This makes it a Arab vs America/Israel conflict

Ernie

 

[banjobj]

Hope you are wrong.

 

[Alan L.]

The whole region IS against us, they're just afraid to say it publicly for fear of being flattened. In terms of real military strenghth, theres not much in the whole region so if it came down to it we could defeat them conventionally I think.

The Chinese and Russians, and maybe event the French would be pissed off if we defend our interests by wiping out the military capabilities of every country in that region. Screw em.

Alan L., TX

 

[ddl]

If that region belonged to the USA, then the enviromentalist work get to work and shut off oil production because it would be bad for the enviroment and then another third world country would start selling oil and we would be back to where we started.

Lets declare war on enviromentalist!!!!

Dan L

 

[PitbullMidwest]

<font color=blue>He thus must be tried under constitutional evidence standards</font color=blue>

Wrong. According to a Harvard law professor I heard on the radio, he would be tried on conspiracy against the United States charges which only require evidence that he had foreknowledge of the events and failed to alert authorities. In a conspiracy trial the proportion of your involvement is irrelevant, the punishment is the same, the death penalty.

Could they show he had foreknowledge? I'm sure they could

 

[DocHeb]

I wouldn't use capital punishment for him or his kind (such as McVeigh). I would just lock him in solitary and provide him his three squares. Let him watch videos of victim's families for 16 hours a day describing their loss and grief. Leave the cyanide capsules or the single round 45 cal on the nightstand - what he would do with them is his business. 24 hour a day video to document it when it finally occurs - I don't want us to make him a martyr, let him do it himself.

Of course this would probably be considered "cruel and unusual", but these people that take so many other's fates into their hands should be able to take care of their own.

 

[TonyC]

I don't think we should execute him or even let him do it himself. Either way. he's a martyr. I truly think it would be best to incarcerate him for life. This removes the whole martyr thing and I think would be more painful than anything else we could do to him. Yeah, prisoners have rights too but can you imagine the treatment he would get? I'm thinking he gets 1 hour recreation a week...we let him loose in a small room with killer bees in it and get him out of there before he dies. Every Friday like clockwork. Can you imagine looking forwrd to that every week?

 

[scruffy]

Yeah, and the rest of the week keep him in a bullet proof glass display cage and feed him pork for every meal. Lets see now, what other degrading things can we think of?