Australian soldier sentenced to hang in Afghanistan

AgentM said:

Yes, America totally has the world convinced on it's higher standards for everything and innate superiority. /sarcasm

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I don't think "convincing the world" is a factor for anything. Islamic terrorists and Middle Eastern UN dictators have forever created a historical rift between America and everything else on either side of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Morality Games said:

At some point sovereignty has to be worth something. It has been the gravitating constant of international relations since primordial times. Completely fair trials are virtually impossible in war time anyway, since there is too much group solidarity one way or another for the outcome to be impartially deliberated.

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Yeah, that is true. I didn't think of it in those terms but yeah ... that is true.

MSgt said:

No we damn don't. We use them because our politicians, who have never served, find it in themselevs to dictate what our military should look like and when they need greater numbers to slaughter on their behalf they have to resort to the civilian sector for hire.

Blackwater is a result of Republican/Democratic draw down following the Berlin Wall destruction. "Our wars are over" ring a bell?

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Master,

What's your take on those civilian mercenary groups in the middle east?

Vader said:

Master,

What's your take on those civilian mercenary groups in the middle east?

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Call me Top or MSgt.

Personally, I don't like them. They reflect poorly upon us and we take the blame and grief for their sins. In Iraq, some were even sporting Marine uniforms so as to emit a certain precence, which meant that their sins were immediately taken as Marine sins, especially by journalists.

They don't belong. The irony is that in our idiot politicians quest to save money by drawing down our military, they have paid far more in compensating our lack of numbers with over paid mercenaries. Their "plan" to save tax payer dollars have cost the tax payer more. ...and it's all at the troop's expense.

MSgt said:

Call me Top or MSgt.

Personally, I don't like them. They reflect poorly upon us and we take the blame and grief for their sins. In Iraq, some were even sporting Marine uniforms so as to emit a certain precence, which meant that their sins were immediately taken as Marine sins, especially by journalists.

They don't belong. The irony is that in our idiot politicians quest to save money by drawing down our military, they have paid far more in compensating our lack of numbers with over paid mercenaries. Their "plan" to save tax payer dollars have cost the tax payer more.

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Top,

That is kind of what I expected. I don't care for them either. I have long been tired of seeing them make the U.S. look bad.

The politicians do the lyin'.. the rest of us do the dyin'!

I've always believed that the US needs to build a foreign legion; almost a mirror image of the French Foreign Legion.

MSgt said:

Call me Top or MSgt.

Personally, I don't like them. They reflect poorly upon us and we take the blame and grief for their sins. In Iraq, some were even sporting Marine uniforms so as to emit a certain precence, which meant that their sins were immediately taken as Marine sins, especially by journalists.

They don't belong. The irony is that in our idiot politicians quest to save money by drawing down our military, they have paid far more in compensating our lack of numbers with over paid mercenaries. Their "plan" to save tax payer dollars have cost the tax payer more. ...and it's all at the troop's expense.

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Unfortunately, it is a side effect of politicians choosing to wage war "on the cheap". Bush invented this, and it seems that Obama is taking it to new levels. Previously, Americans were all asked to sacrifice a little during war time. Now they are told to go shopping. To many, war is nothing more than a minor inconvenience, and it doesn't bother them.... as long as it is others who are inconvenienced.

danarhea said:

Unfortunately, it is a side effect of politicians choosing to wage war "on the cheap". Bush invented this, and it seems that Obama is taking it to new levels. Previously, Americans were all asked to sacrifice a little during war time. Now they are told to go shopping. To many, war is nothing more than a minor inconvenience, and it doesn't bother them.... as long as it is others who are inconvenienced.

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It's more politically expedient to have as fewer American boys die on the battlefield than mercs that no one gives a **** about. All the more reason for a foreign legion.

danarhea said:

Unfortunately, it is a side effect of politicians choosing to wage war "on the cheap". Bush invented this, and it seems that Obama is taking it to new levels. Previously, Americans were all asked to sacrifice a little during war time. Now they are told to go shopping. To many, war is nothing more than a minor inconvenience, and it doesn't bother them.... as long as it is others who are inconvenienced.

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Clinton invented this. Rumsfeld carried it on and took it further.

his nationality is immaterial, he broke the law in afganistan and should then be sentenced under afgan rule.

it's similar to the cases of australian smuggling drugs into indonesia, they do it even though indonesia has the death sentence for drug smuggling, and there's a shotstorm here when they get the death sentence, but they broke the law and should suffer under the law they broke

You all just don't understasnd. This wasn't murder. This was an intricate ritualistic suidice of a 2000 year old cult. Mr. Langdon had to kill this person in accordance with the ritual and the wishes of the man so that he could go on to discover the location of Noah's Arc, which would thrawt the combined efforts of the Pope and Ayatollah to join their religions to create world domination through the use of a secret plan formed by DaVinci himself...


Seriously, NO ONE has jumped on the guys name being Robert Langdon yet? Really?



Anyways, yeah, Dana, you're view on this is right imho in regards to justice. That said, I don't have as much of an issue with private security groups being used to a point in these type of situations. A few sensationalized stories of a bad handful out of thousands hardly is indication of a wide spread systemic problem.

Zyphlin said:

You all just don't understasnd. This wasn't murder. This was an intricate ritualistic suidice of a 2000 year old cult. Mr. Langdon had to kill this person in accordance with the ritual and the wishes of the man so that he could go on to discover the location of Noah's Arc, which would thrawt the combined efforts of the Pope and Ayatollah to join their religions to create world domination through the use of a secret plan formed by DaVinci himself...


Seriously, NO ONE has jumped on the guys name being Robert Langdon yet? Really?

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thats where i'd heard the name, i just couldn't place it.

apdst said:

I've always believed that the US needs to build a foreign legion; almost a mirror image of the French Foreign Legion.

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That's France's only army that doesn't turn tail and run.