Back into the fray:
1. All information is propaganda. the need is to get it from as many
varied sources as possible and try to distill it down to try to find some truth - if this is possible.
Anything yuou read - no matter the source - is from the 'point of view' of the authour regardless of how objective/subjective he/she chooses to be. This is true whether discussing the current war, poetry. Leonard's music or the movie we saw last week.
As we grow from child to adult we are exposed to so much in our environment (family, friends, media, government, crime etc) and our opinions reflect this. There is no way to prevent this. As objective as we might believe we are, we are 'subject' to this.
The Important thing, I think, is to remember that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and everyone is entitled to disagree with the opinions of others. But we must respect those opinions and views and not consider trhe person who espouse them as somehow evil, supporting evil, stupid or whatever.
2. As to the treatment of the POW's by the Iraqi's - this is
exactly what they did during the last Gulf war so no-one should be surprised by it. As far as showing the dead, I've seen Iraqi dead in newspapers and on TV. As far as how the Iraqi POW's are being treated by the coalition - we see the treatment of the one's who have surrendered willingly without fighting. How about the ones captured as a result of a firefight? we will likely never know.
One thinks of the 800+ prsioners from the Afghanistan war being held on the US base in Cuba who the US continue to deny the rights of the Geneva Convention because - in their view - they are terrorists and not combatants. I guess that one
could say (and this is an opinion though I don't hold this view) that if the Iraqi's did not consider the US soldiers prisoners of war because in their view (and much of the rest of the world) the Coalition invasion is illegal they could thus consider them terrorists.
3. Consider that President Bush has labeled Iraq (and a few other countries) as part of an 'axis of evil' and that Saddam Hussein is evil - to much of the Arab/Islamic world the West, the US and bush is considered evil. Who is right. I guess we only truly will find out on Judgement DAy when God '
sorts' us out.
4. Peter, you are certainly right. People have been dying in Iraq because of Saddam Hussein - for more than 30 years the last 25 as president.
His worst atrocities occured in the late 80's during his war with Iran and the using of bio/chem weapons against the Kurds. During this time he was supported by the west (US/ Britain) as he was fighting a common enemy (Iran). 'They' turned a blind eye to Saddam's evil then.
That does not mean that I think this should be used as an excuse to continue to leave him in power. I think everyone here will agree that he is a Criminal - responsible for many 'crimes against humanity.' I do not think, however, that this fact justifies this ill conceived, unilateral rush to war.
I believe the UN, the Security Council and the International Criminal Court (ICC) should be the means to bring him ( and others) to justice. The UN and these bodies fail and are made irrellvant because of the actions of the powerful nations - The US, Russia, China, Britain, Germany, France - who if they would put aside their own self interests and put their will behind it could make it work.
"The US has opposed the establishment of the ICC because Washington says it fears its citizens will be unfairly targeted by the court."
"The US has not only renounced the Rome Treaty, it has secured bilateral agreements with more than 20 countires granting US citizens immunity from the courts authority." - source CBC News Online.
Makes one think doesn't it.
Vern