In a representative government, you want, at the least, the people who make or enforce laws to be directly elected by the people. So if the lawmakers do something bad, they cna get thrown out in the next election.

Lets just leave it at that. I'm done. Just don't be so quick to call somebody evil.

PS: if you have Frenc friends, you'd know that talking about the Nazis occupation to a Frenchman is the most sensitive topic you could ever ever ever mention. Even more than 50 years later, France still has not forgotten German occupation, and even today, France look at Germany with a shadow of distrust. The Nazi occupation is both a humiliating and a sore episode in France's history. Rubbing his nose in it is the best way to make a Frenchman resent you.

laycrayon: In the US, anyone can run for president. Party or no party. George Washington didn't belong to a party.

Paxx: If France has such bad memories of WW2 (as in negative memories) how can they be so soft on a monster like Saddam?

I thought that at least you should have some kind of collection of signatures that shows you are supported by enough people. You also have to be an AMERICAN

To clear my post #202 : I didn't want to say that the US has to be attacked for that, as it is not neccessary for this topic we are discussing here and would be as unfair as the above statement about France.

WOM: 35 years old yes. But X signatures are required to be listed on the ballot. You can still run for President without that.

The net result is still that the leader of the US is elected by the people and barring a modest age restriction (and requirement of being a natural born US citizen) anyone can run for President.

I draw a strong line between this discussion and 'just' skinning topics. But I prefer this threat still being here as I always want to know more of 'real-life' opinions of people You read/meet virtually every day. The other thing to think about is that not english/us people (including me) have to find the right english words to express themselves. That's not easy and sometimes leads to false interpretation.

After all I feel very 'home' here and sometimes have fear that people won't get along anymore because of their nationality. That would be extremely wrong...

Something I received today in my military mailbox
-----------------
See men shredded, then say you don't back war By Ann Clwyd

“There was a machine designed for shredding plastic. Men were dropped into it and we were again made to watch. Sometimes they went in head first and died quickly. Sometimes they went in feet first and died screaming. It was horrible. I saw 30 people die like this. Their remains would be placed in plastic bags and we were told they would be used as fish food . . . on one occasion, I saw Qusay [President Saddam Hussein’s youngest son] personally supervise these murders.” This is one of the many witness statements that were taken by researchers from Indict - the organisation I chair - to provide evidence for legal cases against specific Iraqi individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

This account was taken in the past two weeks. Another witness told us about practices of the security services towards women: “Women were suspended by their hair as their families watched; men were forced to watch as their wives were raped . . . women were suspended by their legs while they were menstruating until their periods were over, a procedure designed to cause humiliation.” The accounts Indict has heard over the past six years are disgusting and horrifying. Our task is not merely passively to record what we are told but to challenge it as well, so that the evidence we produce is of the highest quality. All witnesses swear that their statements are true and sign them.

For these humanitarian reasons alone, it is essential to liberate the people of Iraq from the regime of Saddam. The 17 UN resolutions passed since 1991 on Iraq include Resolution 688, which calls for an end to repression of Iraqi civilians. It has been ignored. Torture, execution and ethnic-cleansing are everyday life in Saddam’s Iraq. Were it not for the no-fly zones in the south and north of Iraq - which some people still claim are illegal - the Kurds and the Shia would no doubt still be attacked by Iraqi helicopter gunships.

For more than 20 years, senior Iraqi officials have committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. This list includes far more than the gassing of 5,000 in Halabja and other villages in 1988. It includes serial war crimes during the Iran-Iraq war; the genocidal Anfal campaign against the Iraqi Kurds in 1987-88; the invasion of Kuwait and the killing of more than 1,000 Kuwaiti civilians; the violent suppression, which I witnessed, of the 1991 Kurdish uprising that led to 30,000 or more civilian deaths; the draining of the Southern Marshes during the 1990s, which ethnically cleansed thousands of Shias; and the summary executions of thousands of political opponents.

Many Iraqis wonder why the world applauded the military intervention that eventually rescued the Cambodians from Pol Pot and the Ugandans from Idi Amin when these took place without UN help. They ask why the world has ignored the crimes against them? All these crimes have been recorded in detail by the UN, the US, Kuwaiti, British, Iranian and other Governments and groups such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and Indict. Yet the Security Council has failed to set up a war crimes tribunal on Iraq because of opposition from France, China and Russia. As a result, no Iraqi official has ever been indicted for some of the worst crimes of the 20th century.

I have said incessantly that I would have preferred such a tribunal to war. But the time for offering Saddam incentives and more time is over. I do not have a monopoly on wisdom or morality. But I know one thing. This evil, fascist regime must come to an end. With or without the help of the Security Council, and with or without the backing of the Labour Party in the House of Commons tonight. The author is Labour MP for Cynon Valley.

Some prespective for those of you who think there is no need to remove Saddam and his sons. Are you willing to do it. If an agreement can't be made on what is the right thing to do, what makes you think that talking it over amongst the UN countries and Iraq is going to do. How would you feel if you wife or daughter or mother even, was hung and raped and humiliated in front of you. Would you say "please, stop"? Or would you die for them stopping their torture.

I pose this question to all of you who question the reasons for the US to go in and remove Saddam. I am going to be one of them. I am proud to be going to Iraq when my unit gets the call. While all of you sit in your comfy arm chairs and enjoying skinning and making alls...I will be possibly killing another human being, and yes even dying myself. Ask me if I am afraid....your damn right, but ask me if I would rahter stay in the US where I'm relatviley safe....hell no. I would rather die protecting all of you who could care less about me then sit idley by.

By the way did you guys see I got promoted? Thanks goes out to all those that encouraged me and helped me along the way.............LadyWolf and Queezendorf especially

France had a resolution shot down that would have given Iraq 30 days to comply fully... ( 30 days was chosen because of recent disarmament moves made by Iraq)
after 30 days France would have offered their political support for military action.

Would it not have been more beneficial for the US and Bush to have waited 30 days to gain the support from France?

I've been privy to a lot of information otherwise unknown to the general public and I can't agree with you more KarmaGirl.

It's hard for another country to really see the stance America is taking as a result of 9-11 but we aren't going to be occupied, we aren't going to make side deals, we aren't going to write IOU's, and we are not going to allow another 9-11 take place.......not as long as I am able to fight nor the rest of the US and allied forces who are commited in liberating the oppressed and aiding countries who are just not strong enough to fight for themselves.

I've trained with French soldiers and they are as tough as they come but what good are they when their politicians are scared little men. I'm not trying to single them out but they just stand out to me more then any other country that is just friction when it comes to the situation with Iraq, I am not brainwashed and I get more information then the masses so I don't need to watch the news because we probably know before hand anyways.

good to hear that about France.

Just curious...Last night Bush said that if saddam and his brothers didn't leave, we would attack. Now, today, he's saying it doesn't matter and what he said last night means nothing?