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Speculation On the Doomed Satellite
scim writes "Intelligent speculation has led one knowledgeable observer to believe the satellite recently announced to have failed is a radar satellite named USA 193. According to an earlier story on the satellite: 'The experimental L-21 classified satellite, built for the National Reconnaissance Office at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, was launched successfully on Dec. 14 [2006] but has been out of touch since reaching its low-earth orbit.'" The ArmsControlWonk story leads off with what purports to be a photo from the ground of USA 193.
I agree. Our problems with Iran are predicated on our tampering with their elections in the 50s and 60s.
When Iran had legitimate elections, the US had no right to interfere, and it has bitten us on the ass. AHmenidijad had never won and would never win a legitimate election. Iran today is not a legitimate state, and the US has a responsibility to protect the world from Iran partly because Iran's screw up stemmed from the cold war efforts we made.
However, Saddam's US links are kinda tenuous. He was definitely a Russian ally more than a US ally. we aided him in an effort to damage Iran (which committed an act of war against us), but you're right, Saddam is despicable and we should not have helped him in any way.
Osama, too, was meant to fight the Russians. Even 9/11 was worth winning the cold war, since the Soviets killed millions of innocent people.
But we had an obligation to take care of Osama when it became clear our mistake was a great threat, and we failed. Our leaders deserve blame.
You decide by asking yourself these two questions:
1. Are they a credible threat to our safety?
2. Can they be valuable to us in some way?
It is difficult to justify operating on anything other than these two guiding principles.
Item 2 is where oil becomes relevant. Oil sitting in the ground belongs to nobody, because it isn't even remotely usable until it has been discovered and recovered. (No, you don't own it just because you were born nearby!) In the ground it's a wasted resource, wasted life, a missed opportunity. If a country is sitting atop an oil deposit, we can develop it, which profits everyone -- most importantly us.
Developing it may require us to make improvements in the country's government first, though, to render it at least capable of honoring international agreements. See also: the seizure (er, "nationalization") of our many oilfields in Arab countries.
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
The gitmo detainees go through a review process to determine if they are actually who we think they are and are being held for the reasons we think they are. During this process, they are allowed to answer in their defense. This process is repeated yearly to determine if anything has changed or if their value as a prisoner is diminished. So far, there have been about 6 people released because of this but the chinese people you mentioned, like most of the other detainees are refusing to participate.
I have to ask, if they refuse to participate in the process that could win their freedom and prove they shouldn't be held, then why should I care if they are being held? I mean it doesn't make them look less guilty by refusing to participate in the one thing that could secure their release.
And to the court thing, well I don't think that matters because the unlawful combatants thing isn't currently a court issue for them. If they are innocent, there is a process to determine that. if they don't participate in that process, it is on them not ME.