Re: DSII Question- Obstacles

On Sun, 22 Feb 1998 10:25:38 -0500, Los <los@cris.com> wrote:

>If everyone else in the world signs the treaty but the US it will still
be a
>positive thing. 

Quite right. I like your "no export" idea. It would force countries to
show if they care about mines or money.

>It's true that we've been hurt somewhat on the world stage by this,
(And our
>stupid hockey team hasn't helped much either <g>). 

Our hockey team didn't do much better, either!

>However that loss of stature
>seems to be forgotten when theres a real crisis involving force.
(Bosnia, Iraq
>invading Kuwait etc). Then you have all these countires pissing and
monaing but
>not really doing much about it either becasue they're unwilling to
politically,
>or because they don't have the power. Suddenly everyone becomes our
friend
>again. 

That certainly happened in 1991. It's not happening now. Even in 1991,
the US asked for help from other nations. They're doing the same now
but it's been even harder for the US to get people on their side. So
far it's Britain and Canada and precious few others, with some
countries--like France and Russia--openly against it. More countries
are distancing themselves from the US this time around than trying to
be their friend. 

>BTW re: Canada and Somalia. Geez, wasn't it your paras that got the axe
for
>torturing civilians? <g>

No, they got the axe for torturing and KILLING a civilian. There were
some other incidents as well. On the other hand, it was US Rangers
that tried to kill some of Aidid's henchmen with missile fire into a
hotel, killing more moderates than radicals. This set up for the heavy
handed capture of Aidid's lieutenants that ended with 18 Rangers and
Delta Force dead, 73 wounded, with as many as 500 Somalis killed and
over a thousand wounded. Of course, you Americans always do things on
a bigger scale than us...

Allan Goodall	     agoodall@sympatico.ca

"Once again, the half time score, 
 Alien Overlords: 142,000. Scotland: zip."
  - This Hour Has 22 Minutes