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Insufficient evidenceReader comment on item: The Deceits of Bridges TV Submitted by Merry Whitney (United States), Mar 5, 2009 at 01:00 Hi, Ianus, I wrote a lengthy response to this earlier this evening, but I couldn't get it to post and gave up. I should have copy-pasted it into Word for later pasting here, but no way will I remember most of it. I had remembered after posting that last response that bin Ladin was, indeed, in Afghanistan and was armed and trained by the US for the Soviet invasion during the Reagan Administration. I have to confess that I'm way out of my league for any discussion about Afghanistan and so will defer to your knowledge of the place and its inhabitants. I think it wasn't until the Buddha statues were destroyed that I realized "afghan" meant something other than a colorful crocheted sofa throw, or a breed of dog. I'm being facetious, of course, but until after 9/11, I knew virtually nothing about the country, its people or history. In any event, US foreign policy is supposed to be about US interests. I do not apologize for that, even though I recognize there are often --- usually --- unintended consequences. Bin Ladin, for instance, was known by the 1990's to be or to want to be a threat to the US (and the whole civilized world, for that matter), and he should have been taken out when Clinton's people had him within smacking distance. The official who could've and should've green-lighted it refused. Then again, when Ijaz tried to broker a hand-over (I don't recall what government made the offer), Clinton declined. I had a lot of problems about Kosovo-Bosnia. First of all, I believed it was a "wag the dog" thing to deflect attention from a domestic scandal, which broke within a day or so of that sudden event. Additionally, I believed we were helping the wrong side, if we had to take a side, because we were working against people who had covered our own backside during WWII. I have no use for Amnesty International, et al; as "do gooders" they seem disinterested in "doing good" when the human rights violations cannot be blamed on the US or its allies. I think few attorneys are overly-concerned with presumption of innocence, other than criminal defense lawyers --- and then more as strategy than firm principle. My advocacy is based on my own moral center, and a firm belief that a weakening or loss of that presumption will be swiftly followed by a complete loss of individual liberty. The fundamentals of our system, are inextricably intertwined.
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