Re: [MERCS] Weapons available [FH]

--- "Imre A. Szabo" <ias@sprintmail.com> wrote:

> If you asked most of the Kurds the Iraqi's gassed,
> they would probably
> insist that they are not Iraqis.  The U.S. has no

Under international law, they are.  If you hold Iraqi
citizenship, you're an Iraqi.  Your personal
preference in favor of independant Kurdistan is
irrelevant.  Personally, I'm all in favor of
Kurdistan, mostly because it would honk off Turkey. 
Any divisiveness in the Dar al'Islam makes me happy.

> room talk about Iraq's use
> of WMD's against a rebelious minor nationality. 

Even if the cases occoured as you suggested, that
doesn't not translate to the above statement.  The
fact that 7 generations back, I'm descended from a
slave overseer does not prevent me from being offended
by, for instance, the Sudanese continuing to practice
chattel slavery (and the Saudis effectively doing so
as well).

> There are two documented
> instances where the U.S. Army intentionally used

Cite source.  Reliable, off-net source preferably.

I've only seen 2 cases where this was substantiated. 
One case was a _British_ officer ordered the
distribution of smallpox-infected blankets.

The other was a New York Indian fighter
(pre-Revolutionary, IIRC) who died of smallpox and
ordered himself buried in his infected blankets.  The
Indians predictably desecrtated his grave and started
a plague.  Frankly, I find that to be self-inflicted.

> with biological weapons, while march them off to
> concentration camps
> (resorvations), to end a minor nationality's ability

I can tell you've never actually seen a concentration
camp.  Hop a flight to Europe sometime.  It's
mind-expanding.  

If the US wanted to engage in Nazi-style extermination
practices, there would be no Indians left at all. 
We're more effective than Germans when we set our mind
to something.  More flexibility.

> > Depends on circumstances.  Would the ESU hire
> > mercenary units with the firepower to set up their
> own
> > fief (which WMD provide)?  I doubt it.
> 
> Sure they would.  If they need the firepower at the
> moment and view the
> mercanary fiefdom as far easier to deal with then
> the NSL or any other major
> power.

It would be far more likely that they would provide an
"advisory and control group" to the merc unit to
maintain control over the nuclear weapons and ensure
that they are used in accord with whatever control
measures the overall ESU command decides to put in
place.	So it wouldn't be, in extreme circumstances,
completely unheared of for a merc unit to call in a
WMD strike but it absolutely wouldn't be under merc
control.

John

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