British Expatriate Network

What do you think the ethical implications of the Free Iraqi Resistance Army prosecuting the war on American soil? Is it a legitimate response in war to attack the homeland of the country that has attacked your country?

We bombed Germany in WWII and the IRA bombed the UK mainland in the 1970s and 80s, so it not unreasonable (logistics aside) to expect that the FIRA to do the same?


The other issue worth exploring is the legitimacy or ethics of external funding. I don’t the think the US has much moral authority to complain when Muslins or supporters of a free Iraq donate money to the resistance army. I mean millions of dollars and tons of explosives, guns and ammunition that came from the US were used to fund the Irish republican war.

Well Britain had some rather harsh policies to combat terrorism when PIRA et al were at their peak -see "Shoot To Kill", SAS ops (Death on the Rock), interrogations of prisoners which may or may not compare directly to current US torture etc.

I don't know what the "right" answer is to this but I guess I am just suggesting that this is nothing new and our own country probably helped write the manual on it.

No kidding, there was tremendous internal debate in the British 'security' forces about the harsh/ torturous policies and the value of the 'intelligence' gained under such conditions.

We had over 100,000 troops in six small counties in NI plus the rabid support of the local police and army (RUC and UDR) and we still couldn't defeat the resistance. So what hope do the Yanks have in Iraq. It’s not a matter of if they fail, but when.

Attacking civilian targets in the Homeland, in an attempt to demoralize the people and reduce support for a war in foreign soil has been employed as attack by both the UK and USA.

I'm not sure 'ethical' is the word, but it would seem the smart thing to do from a military standpoint for a Free Army of Iraq.

I would think a lot of the civilian suppliers of essentials systems are quite vulnerable currently, they might even be considered legitimate military targets.


sad

Abit off course but!!!
To help those keeping score,here is a handy guide to why we went in to Iraq.

The following is from the official White House statement on the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/i...v2005.html



"The United States has no intention of determining the precise form of Iraq's new government. That choice belongs to the Iraqi people. Yet, we will ensure that one brutal dictator is not replaced by another. All Iraqis must have a voice in the new government, and all citizens must have their rights protected.

Rebuilding Iraq will require a sustained commitment from many nations, including our own: we will remain in Iraq as long as necessary, and not a day more."

-- President George W. Bush
February 26, 2003

What does he mean when he states "Yet we will ensure that one brutal dictator is not replaced by another."

Just like in South and Central America, it's only Real Democracy if a US-friendly government is elected.

I'm not sure how smart it is to attack civilians, it makes them angry, and they do what they can to pay back. The only place that I can think of where it might have been considered successful was Dresden, and that was virtually wiped out.

In war munitions factories, reilroads canals etc, are legitimate targets.

So as long as he/she is a friendly dictator that's OK?

Yes... I'm sure you've seen the picture of Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein shaking hands and being all smiles, right? General Pinochet ring any bells? The guy in Uzbekistan who likes to boil people alive?

/hate to be cynical but that's the way it is.

"All I want is a little peace. A little piece of Poland, a little piece if France!!"

I think you will find that Attacks on civilian targets tends to harderen the civilian resolve. Hitler found that when he struck London, so did the IRA etc. What sympathy people had starts to go.

Again Moo you bring an interesting arguement. Now heres the BUT. Do you take a group down before they have committed their act i.e the IRA cell taken down in Gib, or do you let them do their act, kill loads of people, then act i.e 911. Either way you are doing something wrong in someones eyes.

Answer is, there is no answer.

The Provos did their level best to avoid civilian targets.

But I agree, but then the Americans have killed far more Iraqi civilians than the resistance.

I'll make two definitive statements.

Firstly, the killings in Iraqi will not cease until the Americans and their cronies leave.

Secondly, the Americans cannot 'win' this war and they will go. It’s just a matter of when and how many people die before they go.

We will have to agree to disagree about the Provos doing their best to avoid civilians,
as place bombs in civilian markets, shops and town centres is really trying their best not to blow some small kid up "not" I have often seen loads of soldiers shopping in Manchester dress as undercover civies.

As for Loads of Iraqi's civilians being killed. I have never seen any number given out that can really be checked to be correct.

As for the killings will not stop until the US leaves. Geeze we still have killings going on here and people saying they are doing it for one or other reason. Over in Iraq it is more of a power struggle, nothing more than that. No matter what army was there they would be doing the same, even if the UN was the main force.

To just argue a point from one side without looking at both sides is never helpful, because you will always be in favour of that one side argument, no matter how ridicules that argument maybe.

On this small planet we tend to fight about things that happened years back, We are to stupid to move forward. "Nooooo no we cannot trust those people, they done nasty things to us 200 yrs ago" until we get passed all that BS we are damned for destruction

Its true the Americans cant win this war because A) the most Iraq people DO NOT want a Democracy, it just wont work, B) its not in their religion to have a democracy and B) they are a primative people, they have been killing eachother for centuries.

When we went to to with Germany to liberate the Europeans from the Nazis, they were Europeans just like us, similar Values, similar out look on like etc etc...the Iraq people are nothing like them!!! they have no appreciation or want of a democracy or a free country. All that will happen is there will be civil wars constantly as when one party will win an election everyone else will goto war as they will be unhappy their party didnt get elected and so on and so on......