Wars and Convictions Without Trials

Canada geese aren't the only ones we convict and launch wars on without trials.

Shock and Awe

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Weapons of Mass Destruction

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Coalition of the Willing

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Limited Engagement

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Mission Accomplished

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Does anyone else have the feeling of deja vu?

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Only this time the "selling" and cheerleading for war in the Mid East is coming from a so-called, "anti war" President and the "Coalition of the Willing" is, so far, a coalition of two -- France and us.

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Even the Brits are taking a powder on this one.

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It is truly disingenuous when certain politicians such as Diane Feinstein (D) California go on TV and smugly say that the American public "doesn't know what we do" regarding intelligence that the Syrian regime "gassed it own people."

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True, American citizens may not have access to the so-called, intelligence.

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But we have memories:

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Memories of Colin Powell going before the UN to present all the "intelligence" and "evidence" that Sadam Hussein had "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq.

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Memories of George W Bush warning of "mushroom clouds" over NYC if we didn't immediately embark on a war in Iraq.  

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Memories of promises of "limited engagement" and signs of "Mission Accomplished" on military ships mere weeks after the war in Iraq began.

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Memories of hundreds of thousands of lives lost and more than a trillion American dollars spent in both, Iraq and Afghanistan in"missions" that in fact, took more than ten years. 

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Memories of soldiers coming back from war with missing limbs and life impacting PTSDs.

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And though for the most part, we have finally left Iraq and Afghanistan, the bombs still continue nearly everyday as warring factions and religions within these countries attack each other.

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Religious wars in the Middle East have been occurring for the past 1300 years. Do we seriously believe that America blood, bombs and trillions of tax dollars will change that?

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And should we "succeed" is forcing Al Assad from power, who and what will take over in Syria?   Al Qaeda? The Muslim Brotherhood? (That has worked out real well in Egypt.)  An Ayatollah?  (Worked out real well in Iran.)  Or maybe Hezbollah?

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What if one of our bombs hits a cache of chemical weapons, thereby releasing them into the environment?   What about the "human shields" whose images of dying children as result of American bombs are likely to end up on YouTube?

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And what about another million refugees fleeing the country and spilling into neighboring nations?  Whose responsibility is it to feed, house and medically treat them?

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Relating these wars we embark on in the Middle East to the goose "wars" we conduct in our own country, there are certain commonalities:

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1 -- Manufactured, inflated or misinterpreted "evidence" against the "offenders."

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2-- War or killing as first resort, rather than last.

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3 -- Absence of a defense or the other side of the story.

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It is interesting that before crimes of murder can be brought to trial in civilized nations, both a prosecution and defense spend months (and sometimes years) gathering and preparing evidence.

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Insufficient or unprovable evidence for a murder trial results in either no trial at all or plea bargains.

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If a trial actually occurs, both the prosecution and defense are allotted proper and equal time and opportunity to present their cases. 

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A jury then decides the verdict and course of action.

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But, in the case of the latest Syria "conviction," we have been presented with no actual evidence on who exactly committed the murders of unleashing chemical weapons against civilians and we have only heard one side of the story.

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Moreover, President Obama announced military strikes on Syria a mere 15 days following video footage of children dying on the streets.

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Imagine if we conducted murder trials and obtained convictions 15 days after the murders?  Imagine if no defenses were ever presented?

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(As a side note, Its interesting that when humans are gassed, we refer to it as a "red line."  When animals are gassed, we refer to it as "euthanasia.")

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One understands the importance of a kind of world order that doesn't  tolerate the unleashing of chemical weapons or other WMD's into environments in order to commit genocide.

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But, the world isn't with the President on Syria. Nor is the UN, NATO or even the Brits.

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Perhaps it is the Coalition of the Unwilling because law and order simply doesn't work this way.  -- 15 day trials and convictions.

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The President has of course, back-peddled over the past few days and has recently punted the War in Syria ball to the Congress to vote on (presumably to give himself some kind of cover and share the blame).

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But, vote of the Congress is irrelevant as the Obama administration claims it has the authority to launch bombs and air strikes in Syria with or without the approval of Congress.

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From that standpoint, the Congress should take a page out of the Obama playbook and simply vote, "Present." (That is if they care about keeping their jobs.)

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Its clear the American people don't want another war in the Mid East.

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We have memories and don't enjoy this sense of deja vu. -- PCA

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