It doesn’t seem like any of the Middle East states would much mind if we blew ISIL up. I certainly think the dictators and royal families and the “democratically-elected” leaders are a better alternative to an Islamic Caliphate that stretches from Syria to Iran.
Can I just take that first part and apply it to every situation? Of course I know my way to the stadium. Doremus said I’ve been right for 20 years!
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Could be. But if that is so, then the case for military action should be based on strategic policy, not on a dead journalist, or even two of them. That’s a recipe for poor analysis and even poorer policy outcomes.
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If you don’t believe that, you haven’t looked at the hard numbers. How it’s applied. Who it’s applied to, and for what crimes. Etc. The numbers tell the tale.
I don’t think the death penalty is a deterrent or cost effective.
I understand @richardnixonhuberthumphrey 's point that, since we kill prisoners with a unknown cocktail of drugs we can’t moralize to Saudi Arabia who uses a much more effective method of beheading, who can’t moralize to the Islamic State for that same reason.
I don’t think getting rid of the death penalty is going to solve the problem with ISIS.
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If we had only listened.
you need a mental wellness check. you got problems.
Fine. I agree. Let’s get rid of the death penalty. Should we do that before or after we deal with ISIS?
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Of course. I’m not suggesting that we intervene because their killing journalists. Rather ISIL is undoubtedly working against our strategic interests in area as well as possibly acting as a destabilizing factor.
And somewhere racists are plotting their next attacks on our American President!
And The MiddleMan is no doubt in the thick of it…
Just another “workplace accident” eh?
No, well, never say never, but I will say not in our lifetime.
Probably not possible.
I am by no means an expert on the Middle East. But based on the news that I see reported, It seems to me that there are two types of government in the Arab territories, 1) Secular, non-democratic governments and 2) Fairly theorcratic, Islamic, Democratically elected governments.
The more I see of the events in the Arab middle-east the more it looks like an Islamic Caliphate, is what the Middle East would be if the decision-making is left to the masses.
We (the US) go over the Middle-East, taking issue with heavy handed dictators, then we depose said dictator and the fundamentalists have control in less than a year. We kill Sadaam, then Al-Queda sets up in IRAQ. We hold elections in Egypt, the fundamentalists win. We oppose Assad in Syria, ISIL forms. We claim that we want democracy, but we don’t like what they vote for.
No doubt all of the “moderate” Arab states deliberately stay out of this because they know if they get involved, then they will invite civil war from their right.
theghostofeusticetilley snags another one. !!!1one!!
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The day is still young. I bet McCain, Graham and Feinstein will be available if the press calls, and even it doesn’t call. Cheney and the Neo-Cons are probably all having a beer toasting their good fortune.
His point is stupid. There is no moral equivalency between carrying out capital punishment for a convicted murderer with cutting a man’s head off for purposes of terrorizing others.
Looks like TheMiddleFinger planned and executed a deft move there. It called you a name, gave you time to see it but deleted it before the Mods could react.
Next time copy it into your reply.
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The comparison was a botched execution taking an hour and a terrorist beheading. You make it seem as if the botched Oklahoma execution was trouble-free and not in violation of the 8th Amendment.
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Perhaps if we took away their magic amulet ISIS would no long be mighty.
Pulling that has resulted in previous EG bannings. It was copied in a report to mods.
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Could you do take the time to articulate your point for us? I apologize if I missed it in my earlier reading of this thread.