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Trump Reverses His Stance on Torture
WSJ.com ^ | 03/04/2016 | DAMIAN PALETTA

Posted on 03/04/2016 10:51:27 AM PST by GIdget2004

Leading GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday he wouldn't order the U.S. military to break international laws, addressing criticism from military and legal experts that his policies regarding torture and killing the family members of terrorists would violate the Geneva Convention.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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To: GunRunner
...wake up from the haze and see that they've nominated an unstable maniac with no principles.

Like the Magic Negro?

Is that what you mean?

161 posted on 03/04/2016 3:20:06 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: GunRunner
E.G. Supports repealing ObamaCare, but previously supported single payer.

Try again soon.
When you grow up and know the difference between Obamacare and single payer...

162 posted on 03/04/2016 3:23:43 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: LMAO
I think alot of us are going to be saying ”we told you so” as time goes on

Or not.

163 posted on 03/04/2016 3:26:01 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: GunRunner

So, what is your point?

I don’t support deliberately targeting non-combatants.

But collateral damage happens. Ever read about the fire-bombing of Dresden? Under the current rules of “engagement” we would all be speaking German or Japanese or in a NAZI death camp.


164 posted on 03/04/2016 3:28:05 PM PST by ZULU (If you support Stokes or Obama, you are too stupid to own a gun.)
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To: GunRunner
The Fourth Geneva Convention applies specifically to ununiformed civilians.

...ununiformed civilians, armed to the teeth, including heavy artillery, and wantonly killing everything in sight?

I'll let you confirm that.

165 posted on 03/04/2016 3:31:07 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin
I can't stand the guy, but it looks like he's going to be the nominee. So it's far better than he gets attacked on these issues, gets informed, and then changes his opinion. If that happens enough, and he is forced to learn stuff because of the crapstorm that comes from his gaffes, maybe he'll morph into a guy that more of us can support in the fall.

I don't have time for that. I know very rich people are intellectual dunces, but I don't believe Trump is one of those.

Further, it's absurd to expect a candidate, before being chosen as THE candidate, to have already assembled a cabinet, as well as advisors and specialized experts to address every nuance of governing 320,000,000 people.

Some have no desire actually to learn and receive expert advice, since they already know everything... viz. the Clintons, the Magic negro...

Others, have an agenda, e.g. the fundamental transformation of a successful representative democracy, free-exchange private property successful nation. e.g. the Magic Negro.

I am convinced that Trump is none of those, or at the very least has not already demonstrated the tendency beyond dispute..

I am just as convinced that the duplicitous lying, elected criminals and their equally corrupt bureaucracy (confirmed by 25 years of recent experience,) is not suddenly about to stop their lust for power and wealth, and actually live the statement, "America First," rather than "party first."

166 posted on 03/04/2016 3:49:07 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: Slyfox
The last person who did this successfully was Adolph Hitler.

You just lost the debate, senile moron!

Off with you and get your caretaker to give you your meds.

167 posted on 03/04/2016 3:57:21 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: GunRunner
If you do not understand the difference between killing people specifically because of who they're related to, and civilians caught in the middle of fire on a combantant, you're an ignoramus and an immoral goon.

Sorry, but you don't seem to know much about modern targeting strategies, and you are projecting your ideas onto what Mr. Trump actually said. Our drone operators regularly target and kill people who aren't fighting anybody, they are walking into their houses in Pakistan, or riding in a car in Yemen. Their family members get killed along with them, and to suggest that by aiming and firing a Hellfire missile at a car or house somehow the family members aren't being targeted is nonsense, although of course a convenient legal fiction.

The people who approve the strike have made the decision that killing the family members along with the "target" is a reasonable trade-off, just like our military under President Bush decided to bomb a crowded restaurant in Iraq where intelligence reports suggested Saddam Hussein was dining. Saddam wasn't there, just a bunch of civilians. I guess you consider the Airmen who delivered the bombs and the commanders who approved the strike "ignoramuses and an immoral goons."

168 posted on 03/04/2016 3:58:15 PM PST by freeandfreezing
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To: LibFreeUSA

HOw do you know that??


169 posted on 03/04/2016 4:19:38 PM PST by DrewsMum (If they wanted a conservative, they'd vote for one.)
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To: drop 50 and fire for effect
However, if a legitimate target, which can be person, place, or thing, is occupied by or adjacent to non-combatants, you can legally strike it.

This is simple common sense. Only the most ignorant, or the naïve (young children or the senile) can fail to see that.

Ununiformed no-State terrorists, and their families definitely know that their spouses are unrestrained killers, and targets of whatever victims they are slaughtering...

Terrorists' families can then choose where to live or hang out with the "children" to suit themselves.

170 posted on 03/04/2016 4:45:50 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: publius911

Or not


We hope not. Because if we are right about Trump, the results will be disasterous


171 posted on 03/04/2016 4:47:39 PM PST by LMAO (I know Hillary and I think she'd make a great president or Vice President. Don Trump 2008)
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin
Although if you didn't serve yourself...doesn't that make you the wannabe?

Since you know nothing about me that related to serving in the military, you are attacking facts not in evidence.

Suffice to say I am not in the same category as the First Rapist...

Of course, your knee jerk response tells me all I need to know.

172 posted on 03/04/2016 4:53:33 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: reegs
To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever … violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture."
Experts said this language would make Trump’s approach a violation of the Geneva Conventions, assuming that the family members were not taking part in terrorist activities.

Well, screw the "experts," whoever they may be, and you for inferring what it does not say.

My inference is clearly different than yours, and subject to honest difference in interpretation.

Collateral damage is NOT specifically targeting for the purpose of murder, etc...

That you choose a different inference is your problem, not the (admittedly ambiguous) text's, nor mine.

173 posted on 03/04/2016 5:06:56 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: paladinan
It makes any mention of a parallel with Hitler "verboten", no matter how apt it is...

Unfortunately for you, context is everything and your definition of "apt" is too Clintonian to expand on.

So by all means, continue. The fool being created is clear as day.

174 posted on 03/04/2016 5:16:12 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: paladinan
p.s.
"Rule #1: There is a God. Rule #2: It isn't you

Pssst.
It sure as hell isn't you, either!

175 posted on 03/04/2016 5:21:12 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: Jim 0216
We don’t intentionally kill innocent people but we should accept collateral death in wartime although we should always try to minimize that.

I suppose that it hinges on the state of mind and biases of the listener, plus the context.
For me, the statement always referred to the collateral damage case, nor specifically targeting family.

Of course, I allow for the impossibility of perfection when having to speak tens of thousands of words, extemporaneously, daily, without the benefit of thinking through the perfect choice of words or phrases.

That gives ignorant opportunists running loose in FR free rein to infer statements in the worst possible way.

Makes them feel morally superior, doesn't it.

176 posted on 03/04/2016 5:35:53 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: GunRunner
Name a conservative and/or limited government policy stance that Trump holds, that he has also not held the opposite view some time in the past.

Asinine challenge.
Name one civilian, you included, that can claim perfection in that regard.

I am claiming the reality that, until a few months ago, Trump was, like us, just another non-professional-career-politician.

(I prefer to call them "elected and appointed criminals")

177 posted on 03/04/2016 5:43:21 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: VRWCarea51
That right there is a man of conviction! John Kerry style.

I got it now. But I've already addressed that straw man elsewhere in this thread.

178 posted on 03/04/2016 5:46:22 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: Louis Foxwell
Bravo!

Perfectly worded.
Wannabe moralists; perfection irrevocably in pursuit of destruction of the good...

179 posted on 03/04/2016 5:51:12 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: GunRunner
You don't get to bomb or machine gun a house full of civilians simply because they're related to an ISIS thug.

Man are you dense!

Yes we do if we know the bloodthirsty terrorist is also inside.

The quickly disappearing (on this forum) reasonable man, notwithstanding. Adult family members know that their hero head of household is a celebrated random and barbaric killer. They celebrate his status.

180 posted on 03/04/2016 6:02:44 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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