New York Times on the Web Forums
Science
Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a
nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a
"Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed
considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense
initiatives more successful? Can such an application of
science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable,
necessary or impossible?
Read Debates, a new
Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published
every Thursday.
(11421 previous messages)
lchic
- 09:13pm Apr 29, 2003 EST (#
11422 of 11500) ~~~~ It got understood and exposed
~~~~
Mazza 11420 - is for "" STANDARDS "" .. and you don't need
nukes to blast standards into people ... they are bedded in
via education with self-evaluation.
lchic
- 09:40pm Apr 29, 2003 EST (#
11423 of 11500) ~~~~ It got understood and exposed
~~~~
The women of Afghanistan aren't too impressed with the
'standards' that were metered out to them ... and the guys are
still running around - unpunished.
-------
Women hold up half the sky ... yet seemingly in the middle
east the women have to do it 'indoors' for where are they when
the streets seem a men only zone for most of the time!
--------
Religion is their glass ceiling ... how to break through?
--------
What exactly is religion -- is it a zone of comfort or
exploitation ... who takes comfort and why & who is
exploited and by whom and for why?
--------
If religion is a glass ceiling is that opaque or
diaphamous?
---------
If science moves on runs across paradigms to find new
truths ... why isn't there, or is there, the same developments
within religion .... if the environment is now so changed to
what it was 2000, 1600 years ago, then why are the old dogmas
barking - loudly?
----------
If religion is a lid or glass ceiling on thinking, then,
why are so many content to live within its boxed framework?
-----------
How much of the suppression of women and their rights is
bottled canned and corked with a religious wrapper?
-----------
Shouldn't aid put through to the middle east be targeted at
women - including capital assistance.
__________________________________________
almarst2003
- 09:47pm Apr 29, 2003 EST (#
11424 of 11500)
Convincing Iraqis that US soldiers are there to help them
will be all the more difficult after the shocking events in
Falluja, west of Baghdad. Preventing already widespread
popular opposition to the American military presence turning
into concerted armed resistance will also be increasingly
problematic unless the US army can explain why it was
justified in opening fire on a crowd comprising a large number
of children and teenagers, killing at least 13 and wounding
75. Local residents said that the children were protesting at
the occupation of their school by the US soldiers and that the
Americans started firing when a rock was thrown. The shooting
reportedly went on for half an hour. People were hit by
bullets, shrapnel and possibly by heavy machinegun rounds.
Ambulance crews said they were also fired on. A US officer at
the scene, Lieutenant Christopher Hart of the 82nd Airborne
Division, was quoted as saying his troops were defending
themselves against an attack by two gunmen on a motorcycle and
had at first tried to disperse the demonstration with smoke
bombs. He claimed some people in the crowd may also have had
guns. But this does not begin to explain the severity and
duration of the in cident. Lt Hart could not say for sure how
many people his men had killed. His vagueness is not
surprising. On the basis of the known facts at this point,
the Americans appear to have acted with staggering
recklessness, turning a residential area full of kids into a
murderous free-fire zone. Whatever rules of engagement
they supposedly observe clearly did not work. Whatever force
was required to ensure their own safety, the degree of force
actually used appears to have been massively disproportionate.
Even though the war is over, US soldiers continue to kill
Iraqi civilians almost every day, for a variety of reasons.
But Falluja's tragedy is of a different order of magnitude.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,946336,00.html
almarst2003
- 10:06pm Apr 29, 2003 EST (#
11425 of 11500)
Dr. Ahmed Ghanim al-Ali, director of Fallujah General
Hospital, said there were 13 dead, including three boys no
older than 10. He said his medical crews were shot at when
they went to retrieve the injured, which he said numbered 75
people.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53306-2003Apr29.html
almarst2003
- 10:10pm Apr 29, 2003 EST (#
11426 of 11500)
The incident in Falluja is the latest in a series of deadly
clashes involving US troops and Iraqi protesters over the last
weeks.
Earlier this month, US marines opened fire on angry
demonstrators in the northern city of Mosul. Ten people are
thought to have been killed in the incident.
US forces first denied responsibility for the killings,
but later admitted they did shoot and kill a number of Iraqis
during the protest.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2984663.stm
(74 following messages)
New York Times on the Web Forums
Science
Missile Defense
|