a wise man once said....

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Big Lou

a wise man once said....

Post by Big Lou »

From GTLA Member: James E. Butler, Jr.


"Trying to eliminate Saddam ... would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. ... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. ... There was no viable 'exit strategy' we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."

-- George H.W. Bush, "A World Transformed"
cherie
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 1:28 am

a wise man once said

Post by cherie »

Those who are willing to trade civil liberties for temporary security,deserve neither.- Benjamin Franklin


" The price of liberty is,always has been,and always will be blood.The person who is not willing to die for his liberty has already lost it to the first scroundrel who is willing to risk dying to violate that person's liberty. Are you free? "- Andrew Ford
Rory Connaghan
Posts: 57
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 7:58 pm
Location: B.I.

Post by Rory Connaghan »

"Information is the currency of democracy." - Thomas Jefferson
Robert

Deja Vu

Post by Robert »

"One of many attending the Nuremberg war crimes trial after World War II was Gustave Gilbert, a German-speaking intelligence officer and psychologist. The Allies had granted him access to all the prisoners held in the Nuremberg jail, including Hermann Goering.

Gilbert kept a journal of his private conversations with the prisoners as well as his observations of the proceedings, and later published them in his 1961 book Nuremberg Diary. He talked with Goering in his cell on the evening of April 18, 1946, as the trials were halted for a three-day Easter recess.

He recorded Goering's observations that political leaders can always manipulate the common people into supporting and fighting wars. Here's an excerpt from the book:



"We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction."

"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Rory Connaghan
Posts: 57
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 7:58 pm
Location: B.I.

Post by Rory Connaghan »

"What luck for rulers that men do not think."--Adolf Hitler

"It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs."--Albert Einstein

"It's not the voting thats democracy, it's the counting."--Tom Stoppard
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