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cinch
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Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Jul 2002
time: 22:29
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quote:
Why should we (meaning the US) do anything? |
I agree with what Drake said, for the most part. America put Liberia where it is; created it, essentially. And just as the Allies hold an interest in the safety and security of Israel (another nation created by the West), so should America hold an interest in the well-being of its former colony.
Now, as to how to 'fix' the situation... I haven't the foggiest.
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David Floyd
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The bottom of a large bottle of beer
Jan 1970
time: 05:29
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We should do nothing, of course. And I don't even know the situation, but I don't have to know.
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David Floyd
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The bottom of a large bottle of beer
Jan 1970
time: 05:29
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Soldiers should never be given law enforcement jobs. It doesn't even make sense. Soldiers are trained to follow orders, efficiently accomplish an objective, apply overwhelming force, and kill people. This training is not really applicable to investigative police work, or even the enforcement side of police work in most cases.
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David Floyd
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The bottom of a large bottle of beer
Jan 1970
time: 05:29
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OK, fine, but "peacekeeping" missions are not good missions for people trained to be soldiers. Keeping the peace is essentially a law enforcement exercise, and quite frankly, I'd rather not have the Army take the place of the police here in Austin.
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David Floyd
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The bottom of a large bottle of beer
Jan 1970
time: 05:29
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quote:
That's why we need military folks trained as peacekeepers, not soldiers. |
So, then, do you want peacekeepers as a branch of the military? If you do, I'm not sure you'll find a lot of people who want to volunteer for the military and go into peacekeeping, because as far as I'm aware, many to most soldiers are opposed to peacekeeping duty.
If you want peacekeeping as something different, outside of the military, that would be an administrative nightmare in terms of training, equipment, funding, etc.
quote:
The Army needs to take the place of the police in Baghdad and Monrovia, not Austin. |
In Baghdad, this is obviously because the Army is the entity that destroyed the police/government of Iraq. I'm not sure why the Army would need to go into law enforcement in Liberia.
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David Floyd
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The bottom of a large bottle of beer
Jan 1970
time: 05:29
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So much for the rule against personal attacks.
IN ANY CASE, I don't know enough to make more than guesses about this. In reality, I don't support doing anything because it's none of our business, and see no reason I should be forced to pay for it.
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Why would you give soldiers a choice? I'm sure most soldiers don't want to work in logistics either, but someone has to do it. It's a job and you do what the government tells you to do. |
Then, hypothetically speaking of course, wouldn't this serve to drive down enlistments? That is, if indeed many to most soldiers don't want to get stuck on peacekeeping duty (and I think that's a valid assertion, although I can't be certain), and if they knew prior to enlisting that it could be a good possibility, then why enlist?
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David Floyd
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The bottom of a large bottle of beer
Jan 1970
time: 05:29
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I'd be interested to see numbers on that, from a curiosity standpoint You may very well be right, but common sense would say that after the war in Iraq, and resulting occupation and such, enlistments will be at least somewhat down. This might, however, be mitigated by government WoT propaganda, so I can see it both ways. *shrug*
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David Floyd
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The bottom of a large bottle of beer
Jan 1970
time: 05:29
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quote:
And then proceeding to debate the subject solely on ideology? |
Because according to what I believe, I don't need to know the facts of a situation of this kind in order to have an opinion. This doesn't make my beliefs stupid, or inconsistent - this simply means that it is extremely hard for me to envision a scenario where I would support military force of any kind.
Now unless you are going to tell me the Liberian government is specifically targeting American citizens, then I won't favor intervention, and even then, I'll only favor military intervention, not "peacekeeping".
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Apolyton Time is 00:29. |
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02-07-2003 09:20
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