2 on Time to unite to fight a common enemy

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Rich Kulawiec <rsk () gsp org>
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 09:47:40 -0500
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Time to unite to fight a common enemy

On Tue, Mar 18, 2003 at 09:08:59AM -0500, Dave Farber quoted:
> once such a decision has been made, Americans have an obligation to rally
> behind our troops and support them without hesitation.

Says who?  Says why?

We are not obligated to stop questioning this decision or any other
one simply because it's been made.  Our right to express agreement,
disagreement or anything in between does not cease merely because the
President or anyone else makes a decision, no matter how momentous.

One of the founding principles of this nation was the principle of free
speech -- with particular attention paid to political speech.  To assert
that we should abandon that founding principle is nothing more than an
attempt to strong-arm criticism into silence, and to forcibly co-opt
hope and care for individual human beings into support for war.  It's a
transparent and disengenuous attempt to assert that dissent here in the
US will somehow magically endanger troops in the field half a world away.

That's obvious nonsense, of course, but I'm sure we'll hear more of it,
just as we did a generation ago, because it plays well to some audiences.

But let's make it clear: the President is the one who has issued (or will
issue) the orders to place US troops in harm's way.  He, and only he,
is ultimately and solely responsible for the consequences of those
orders.  Supporters and critics alike, who will no doubt voice their
opinions in great number, have nothing to do with it.  None of them
are Commander-in-Chief.

> In the end, the descision rested solely with the President and he made it.

Actually, Constitutionally speaking, it rests with Congress, but following
the time-honored principle "Never be in the same room as a decision", they
abdicated.

---Rsk


------ End of Forwarded Message
From: Anthony Watson <Anthony.Watson () dollarsandsense com>
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 06:39:18 -0800
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Time to unite to fight a common enemy

What does one do if one does not consider the enemy to be the enemy, but
rather a big bully on a small block, whose removal by "vigilantes"  will
destabilize the neighborhood and possibly spreading that de stabilization
elsewhere while destroying the rule of law?

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