(Rob van Riel) wrote:

:Colin Campbell (remove underscore) wrote in message . ..
:
: You realize that under international law the US has the right to shoot
: them out of hand?
:
:I don't think the US even had the right to invade Afganistan, let
:alone shoot anyone over there.

Fortunately, you aren't an arbiter of international law, since you
seem to not understand it very well. Or do you not think that the
attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center constitute
sufficient cassus belli? If they don't, what would?

:The US government has shown the same
:respect for the principles of international law most of the past
:century's two bit dictators and terrorists have, which is none at all.

Well, that sounds like your mind is firmly made up and you decline to
be bothered by facts. Vote for Gore, did you?

One small fact is that we came in on the side of the last recognized
government of the place. You can count the nations who recognized the
Taliban as the legal government of Afghanistan on your thumbs, and
Pakistan withdrew their recognition.

Another small fact is that we went in after a group who had 'declared
war' on us first, who were taking actions that essentially constituted
war crimes against us, and whom the folks controlling the territory
they were in refused to do anything about. Sounds like legitimate
cause for war to me, even if the Taliban HAD been the legal government
of Afghanistan.

:Mind you, legal or not, I do think that kicking the stuffing out of
:the Taliban and Saddam was a good idea, but that's not the issue here.

Both legal AND a good idea.

--
"Now this is the Law of the Jungle --
as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk
the Law runneth forward and back --
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."

-- "The Law of the Jungle", Rudyard Kipling