 |
|
mrmitchell
|
|
Simply put.
"The enemy of our enemy is our friend" is wrong. As is "The friend of our enemy is our enemy".
|
|
|  |
 |
|
lord of the mark
|
 |
FUKCOV - Former United Kingdom Colony of Virginia
Dec 2000 time: 00:30
|
|
quote: Originally posted by chegitz guevara
quote: Originally posted by lord of the mark
IIUC, the 3 million represents the total Congolese death toll in their civil war. Were all of these civilians who were murdered? Werent many men under arms killed in war? |
The vast majority of those killed in the "civil war," aka, invasion of the Congo by the aforementioned countries were hapless civilians. If even ten percent of those killed were soldiers all four countries and their rebel groups would be without armed forces.
quote: And in the case of any who were killed by the rebel side - did Rwanda and Uganda approve of or support those actions? |
Since their armies were in the filed committing these attorcities, it seems likely that someone i their governments approved.
Im not accusing countries that supported Saddam for Iraqi deaths - Im only accusing Saddam - just as I would not accuse the US for civilians murdered by Stalin during WW2.
quote: Intentions matter, not just body counts. |
In that case you should be willing to excuse the bodycounts of the Communist states, since they were unintended. |
1. few of those killed were soldiers.
Ok, but how many of those killed were murdered. Wars often result in dead civilians - not all are war crime victims.
2. Rwandan and Ugandan field armies
I was assuming that most atrocities on the anti-govt side were commited by rebel forces they supported, not by their own field forces - do you have evidence otherwise?
3. Communist murders - I do not hold Stalin responsible for, say, Germans killed accidentaly during the bombardment of Berlin. I do hold him responsible for the large number of Soviets and others deliberately murdered by the state. The large number of Gulag prisoners who died of hunger and illness - reading Gulag Archipelago, its pretty clear that in the vast majority of those cases, it was the intention of the state that they die, and conditions were established pretty much with that purpose in mind. Ukrainian famine - IIUC there is debate about that, and I dont know enough to say.
|
|
|  |
 |
|
lord of the mark
|
 |
FUKCOV - Former United Kingdom Colony of Virginia
Dec 2000 time: 00:30
|
|
"The link between rampant human rights abuses and the obviously man-made humanitarian disaster is becoming all too familiar, in particular throughout the areas controlled by the foreign occupying armies of Rwandan, Uganda, and Burundi, and the Congolese rebel groups backed by these regional powers. In addition to these forces, other perpetrators in the eastern half of the country include Rwandan and Ugandan insurgents fighting the armies of their respective national governments on Congolese soil. Among the Rwandan insurgents are some who participated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In many localities, local rural militia known as Mai-Mai are also committing abuses against the civilian population, although other Mai-Mai groups are protecting their communities. In the disputed territories of Equateur and northern Katanga, government forces (Forces Armées Congolaises, FAC) have also conducted recent reprisal attacks on civilians accused of supporting the rebels. "
Forces implicated include not just the Rwanda-Ugandan side, but their opponents and Congolese govt forces.
|
|
|  |
 |
|
molly bloom
|
 |
Lundenwic
Oct 2001 time: 15:30
|
|
quote: Originally posted by lord of the mark
Saddam murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, including not only his political enemies, but innocent people solely because of their religion or ethnicity.
Please cite for me examples of the current government of China doing this |
Well, you could just ignore the effects that the continuing Chinese occupation of Tibet has had on the indigenous Tibetan population, both in terms of cultural destruction (effect on artworks, historic buildings, religious institutions, landscape, environment) and death by torture, execution, etc.... So the current regime in China has killed fewer Tibetans than its predecessors- like, wow. All they have to do now is leave- and pay compensation.
Of course if you want people that make Saddam look like chump change, go to the experts like Indonesia:
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/programs/s354635.htm
http://www.fair.org/extra/9809/suharto.html
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/1995/204/204p20.htm
It has been estimated that civilian deaths caused by Indonesia's illegal invasion and occupation of East Timor were greater in comparative terms than the number killed in the former Soviet Union during the Nazi invasion and occupation of Russian territory.
Not bad going.
And yes, they were Indonesian government troops, and paramilitary forces (for that little bit of 'plausible deniability') and yes they did target people because of their ethnicity (Chinese Timorese) and because of their religion (Catholics or other Christian denominations) and their political affiliation (which of course sometimes coincided with the other two reasons for killing them).
Over 300 000 West Papuans have been killed since Indonesia's invasion in 1963. Culturally and ethnically distinct from the invaders, it is clear their picturesque tribal qualities don't count for much when they're sitting on top of gold and mineral reserves and occupying tropical rainforest with expensive hard wood trees, just begging to made into furniture for export to the developed world.
http://www.freewestpapua.com/indept...wp_control.html
http://www.melanesianews.org/demmak...iangmai02b.html
And then there's the Christian Moluccans, and the Muslim Acehnese....
|
|
|  |
 |
|  |
All times are GMT. The time now is 05:30. Apolyton Time is 00:30. |
top of page
|
| archivepost |
|
Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is ON
|
|
|
|
|
|