Hand Sword said:
First, our borders and treaties were violated, which is why we got into this!
Please define your use of the word 'this'. Because from the paragraph below, it seems you are discussing several different actions that could be described as 'this'.
Hand Sword said:
What treaties and boundaries have been disregarded?
The Geneva Conventions are being violated by not granting access to detainees by international monitoring committees and not allowing detainees to communicate with their families
Foreign Nationals have been abducted in foreign countries, without that countries' notice. Those foreign nationals have then been rendered to secret detention facilities operated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency and to foreign countries known to practice torture.
Hand Sword said:
We are supposedly working in cooperation with theses "allies". It is a war "sir", no matter what you define it as, And it is every nation's problem!
How interesting that the term 'allies' appears in this argument. Alliances are entered into via treaties. I am pondering how this 'war' (which is not what it is, but using your incorrect definition for the moment) will end? Who will sign a treaty that signals the end of hostilities? How will we know when we have won? Answers to these questions are inherent in a definition of war. Without proper definition, what you describe as war, devolves rapidly into meaningless aggression directed at every shadow and bump in the night.
Hand Sword said:
Ask the service people over there, in it everyday, what they think it is.
In all candor, what the service people over there think is totally irrelavant. By law, they are prohibited from exercising their First Amendment rights. Publically criticizing the President is a criminal offense for a soldier.
And, you state above that someone violated our territorial boundaries; which is "how we got into this". When you say 'over there', most Americans will probably think of Iraq, rather than Afghanistan, because there are many more service people in Iraq.
I note for the record that Iraq did not violate our territorial boarders. And any violations of treaties were violations of treaties in the United Nations, which would demand the United Nations take reprisal action, not the United States.
Further, those soldiers 'over there' in Afghanistan are becoming fewer every day, as the United States attempts to redeploy our troops.
Hand Sword said:
We're detaining, housing, feeding, treating well, prisoners, in a known location. We've also released a good many. They are Cutting heads off !!!!! They are torturing innocent civilians! They are hiding detainees in undisclosed places! They are transferring these prisoners around secretly! They aren't allowing these humanitarian groups to see their prisoners! Where is your outcry against that ???? You are angry and making accusations at the wrong group "sir"! Al Quaida existence is irrelevant, you say?
Not all persons being detained by the United States are in known locations. The Central Intelligence Agency has secret prisons througout the world, currently believed to be detaining 'high value' captives in Northern Africa. These detainees have no access to anything. So we can not make claims about how they are being detained and treated.
Further, according to International Standards, force feeding detainees is a violation. Something we continue to do in Guantanamo bay. An undersecretary of state recently showed a feeding tube to the newspapers in the UK. She boldy stated that the feeding tube had no metal parts, so it was human when they shoved it down a detainees throat.
I repeat; How 'they' act is irrelevant. While I am disturbed by the behavior seen amongst the opposing forces in Iraq, we are an occupying nation. According to international laws, as I understand them, the citizens of a country have the right to fight against an occupying nation.
It is the actions of our government that I am protesting. We seem to be giving away those very things that we claim as central to the American ideal, under the banner of protecting America from the terrorists.
Further, you continue to confligrate Iraqi militias with al Qaeda. It lends to unclear thinking.
And I don't believe I made the statement al Qaeda's existance is irrelevant. I do realize that my sentence structure can sometimes be advanced. I trust that those participating in these discussions understand the English language.
So, kindly, don't mischaracterize my statements.