A recent story about the Gitmo guards being "abused" by the prisoners reminded me of what civilian prisons are like. The inmates collect semen, blood, feces and urine, make a cocktail, ferment it and hurl it at guards. Yes it is one of the more vile aspects of being a prison guard, and you do have to check for any diseases that could have been transmitted via bodily fluids.

I have criticized Bush's handling of Iraq, the economy in terms of government spending, and there are other issues where he and I differ, but I still prefer him to Kerry. Having said that, the interrogators have had more than enough time to extract a reasonable amount of information from said detainees. It is time to either release them, or make them disappear. Yes I said it, kill them and hide the evidence. Those are the only two choices if you can't charge people held for 4 years or mroe without a trial. Release em or cover it up. Frankly it would have been smarter for the administration just to have killed them on the battlefield. I don't know what intelligence was gained from some of them, and perhaps it was significant. Of course that information won't come out until I am nearly dead and my decendents are well on in their years.

There are many ways to fight a war, but by and large the leaders of Al Qaeda (that are left...) and other terrorist organizations think that the Unite States and its allies are weak. They think this because we are unable to take casualties, we value human life too much. So we must ask ourselves, is it bad to value human life over say a strategic objective, or even a tactical goal in war time. I would say that it depends on the objective. In some areas a force would want to do things quietly and efficiently and other times a force may want to achieve something via a more bloody conflict in order to impress upon the enemy the seriousness of the situation.

The last time the US got serious was during the battle of Falluja in Iraq. And even there, we told all of the civilians to evacuate. Most that could, did including a great deal of terrorists. However many of the terrorists stayed behind to fight the US forces. They all died, we took some casualties, but our soldiers fine training and leadership gave them a victory to be proud of...for what it was. Falluja was a failure of strategy not tactics. Yes many terrorists were killed, but the people were allowed to return. The city should have been flattened and cleared. They should have been put on notice, but we showed them mercy to a degree that is nearly unparalleled in human history. Now one might ask, 'But Justin...thats inhumane destroying their homes, their places of business and all they have built!' My reply is a simple "yes, it is horrible and a regrettably necessary action." The conversation with a friend would proceed nearly as follows...

"Justin this will only create more terrorists"
"No it won't, and here let me show you why...*puts up slides* Example 1: Nuclear Warfare upon Japan did not create more kamikaze planes or soldiers, Example 2: Firebombing Dresden did not create more Nazis or make the general population more sympathetic to their cause"
"But the culture is different Justin"
"True, but violence is something that they do by and large respect as a sign of power and authority"
"Thats a lie"
"No its not, just inconvenient for you"
"bah I can't discus this any moer with you, you just don't listen"
"You're right, I'm didn't listen and I didn't want to free the Iraqis in the first place. The entire country did not deserve our help, only the Kurds did because they were willing to rise up on their own. And what did they get for it? Poison gas from Saddam (who supposedly doesn't have those weapons and didn't ship them to Syria even though we have documentation stating that he did).
"So you are saying the Iraq war was wrong"
*sigh* "Yes"
"I hear a 'but' coming"
"Yep, but we are there now and it should have been handled differently as I have outlined above."
"but those could be seen as war crimes"
"They are only crimes if you lose, you know that"
"See thats the arrogance that the world hates about us!"
"Yes every nation that gets to be great is arrogant to one degree or another. You see arrogance can be mistaken for confidence, and sometimes both mix. Every nation will fall, yes even the United States, The United Kingdom, Iran, Iraq, everyone's time will come and the differences are when, by whom or what will it be brought about and how fast will it happen."
"That doesn't give us the right to do it!"
"Sure it does, a sovereign nation has every right to violate the sovereignty of any other nation weaker than it, or to manipulate events to favor itself. I know its machiavellian to say those things but power is what it is. Sovereignty is only maintained as long as one is strong enough to keep it, just as your rights are only available to you because brave men and women were willing to give up everything to keep those rights for themselves and their posterity. I hate to point it out, but George Washington et al. were traitors to the English Crown. Yet, they won and so they are patriots. Over time those wounds have healed and our once greatest enemies are our best allies bonded through a common heritage and language."
"You are off topic"
"Right...well no I just went off about sovereignty and gave you examples."
"But that was over two hundred years ago"
"Two Hundred and Thirty Years to be exact"
"Right"
"That doesn't invalidate my point"
"Its a new world out here though"
"Not that new if we are fighting a foe with a mentality from the seventh century"
"Thats not fair"
"Neither is life"
"Darnit"
"You still don't swear do you"
"nope"
"Okay well thanks for listening to me rant and giving me a sound board"
"You're welcome...so whats next?"
"The next post is on Native American Cacinos and how much fun it is to see old white people throw away their money"
"Oh thats good...balance"
"I was joking"
"Crap"

And so Iraq and now Lebanon are now cluster***** becuase politicians cannot make decisions due to media pressures and blah blah blah plus their own spinelessness and the fact that they are purchased by and large by minority groups.

If you think a politician is too corrupt to serve, quit moaning about it and do something...write to him/her, support his or her challenger, or if none exists, run yourself. Whatever you do, don't do nothing.

Bush straighten this stuff out!!

Kerry, get off Bolton's back he's doing a fine job considering all of the crooks he has to deal with.

*rant off*