XPost: calgary.general, can.general, tor.general 
 XPost: wash.general, chi.general 
 From: gowch@SPAMTHEENOThotmail.com 
  
 On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 22:40:50 GMT, APerssonn  
 wrote: 
  
 [snip] 
  
 ==>>==>They were providing security for a convoy of food aid destined for 
 ==>>the ==>Iraqi populace. 
  
 IG: 
 ==>>           You mean the Iraqi populace being starved 
 ==>>           to death by the American occupation? 
  
 ==>No, I mean the Iraqi populace that the transition teams are trying to 
 feed. 
 ==>BEFORE the Coalition forces arrived, Saddam had the populace well on the 
 ==>way to malnutrition and starvation. 
  
   Nice attempt at trying to rewrite history. 
  
   Any starvation in Iraq prior to the illegal American 
   occupation was a direct result of the U.S.-enforced 
   sanctions against the country, and had little if 
   anything  to do with Saddam Hussein's policies 
   or actions. 
  
 [...] 
  
 ==>>==>Yes, they were by definition "mercenaries".  So am I.  I work for 
 ==>>money.  ==>Do you? 
  
 IG: 
 ==>>           I sure do.  But my job description does not include 
 ==>>           killing people, as did the job description of these 
 ==>>           cowardly, Have-Gun-Will-Travel wannabes. 
  
 ==>Let's see - They are in a place where, quite evidently, their lives are 
 at 
 ==>risk. 
 ==>They have not killed anyone. 
 ==>They are killed. 
 ==>What's wrong with this picture? 
  
   What's wrong is a bunch of armed yahoos 
   swaggering around a foreign country 
   where they're not wanted and where they 
   have no legal status.  Any self-respecting 
   people would kill these homicidal cowboys 
   as a pest-control measure. 
  
 [...] 
  
 ==>>==> Or are you a parasite in the system, taking money for no work? 
  
 IG: 
 ==>>           And if I were, would my opinion about all this 
 ==>>           be worth less?  Do you think that holding 
 ==>>           a job should be a requirement for expressing 
 ==>>           an opinion?  Yes, you probably do. 
  
 ==>Don't put words in my mouth.  My point is that you are, by definition, a 
 ==>mercenary as well. 
  
   Bullshit.  You are deliberately misusing the 
   language, and that doesn't help your argument. 
   I am a working man,  not a mercenary. 
   The term mercenary refers to those who 
   perform *military* services for money.  Sportwriters 
   sometimes use it whimsically to designate 
   professional athletes.  Attempting to broaden the term 
   to include all working people is dishonest and absurd. 
  
 [...] 
  
 IG: 
 ==>>           Exactly.  They are being killed because 
 ==>>           they are perceived correctly as collaborators with an 
 ==>>           oppressive foreign occupier . . . just as Nazi 
 ==>>           collaborators were killed (and/or humiliated) all over 
 ==>>           Europe at the end of WWII. 
  
 ==>"Correctly"?  And how would you, from your omniscient perch in Toronto, 
 be 
 ==>able to determine that? 
  
   Because, historically, people are regarded as 
   justified in punishing countrymen who 
   co-operate with an oppressive invader.  Even 
   if you dispute its justifiability, it's still 
   historical fact.  If you don't understand this, you 
   need to go back and read some more history. 
  
 [snip] 
  
 ==>I always find it astonishing that those folks, like youself, who have 
 ==>no tolerance for divergent views, are the ones who go around accusing 
 ==>people of being intolerant.  After all, YOU are the one who said: 
  
 ==>>==>>           paid the price and got precisely what they deserved. 
 ==>>==>> 
 ==>>==>>           Fuck 'em and all those like them. 
 ==>>==>> 
 ==>>==>>           It's no surprise that the people of Fallujah were 
 ==>>==>>           cheering . . . everyone loves a good barbecue. 
  
 ==>THERE's a paragon of tolerance. 
  
   Nice try.  But I'm not displaying tolerance for 
   anyone's VIEWS.  
  
   I'm intolerant towards hired killers, goons, thugs, 
   cowboy wannabes and swaggering bullies of 
   all types.  Especially the cowardly types who 
   wait until they feel their asses are protected by 
   a real army before they go in to sell their strong-arm 
   services for huge profits. 
  
 ==>Actually, I was born in Ontario.  Can't line-dance. Can't stand 
 ==>sanctimonious, hate-filled, left-wingers who can't pull their heads out 
 of 
 ==>their asses long enough to realize that they are spouting more hatred 
 than 
 ==>the people that they accuse of hatred... 
  
   It's too bad you didn't learn to loathe brutal 
   assholes who condone profit-motivated 
   violence against innocent people. 
  
   But then, that would make it difficult to look 
   in the mirror, wouldn't it? 
  
  
  
 -- 
 All ambitions are lawful except those 
 which climb upward on the miseries or 
 cruelties of mankind. 
 -Joseph Conrad 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)