US Troops to Head to Pakistan

[Aeroldoth]

And please don't go on about the US breaking the Geneva conventions on other things, because quite frankly it doesn't matter, and those violations are debatable. This would not be debatable.

 

Why not? Why are some parts of the GC mandatory for us and others optional? Also, do you have a link for this part of the GC? I tried looking at the Fourth Convention but it was tl-dr.

[Corinthian]

What parts of the Geneva Convention have we ignored, Aeroldoth? Give a few examples. And by the Government, not renegades within the military.

[Kain Darro]

Well, about Iraq, I have very little say. My boys are not there, and I have my opinions, but they amount to nothing in that area.

 

As for leaving Afghanistan, bad idea. If you walk in, blow stuff up, and leave, it will de-stabilize the entire region. Surrounding states become unstable due to the power vacuum left. Insurgents left in that area will range out and cause unrest in other areas, the government which will eventualy take over will most likely be an oppressive, murdurous regime, and the nations surrounding it will become economicaly unstable due to this.

 

Afghanistan is bordered by 6 other nations, imagine if all 6, including China, become more unstable. Oil will sky-rocket in price, travel throughout the region will become impossible, and terror groups will infiltrate the entire region.

 

Now, as much as I don't like the decidedly war-like nature of the current American government administration, the thinking that these terrorist cells will stop operating if we all just leave is wrong. These people will not stop. The enemy is not the common fighter, the enemies are the leaders. The guys sitting in pakistan or india or any other country, living in luxury, directing thier pawns. They don't want us out, they want our resources. This is not a conflict of religeous idealism, that is a backdrop and a con to get the un-educated (ignorant) masses behind the power brokers. We are not fighting terrorists, we are fighting greedy, opresive, megalomaniacal men who want to destabilise our way of living so they can have more power. They won't stop, they will find any reason to attack us and any one else they please.

 

Oh, and if any one thinks I'm talking out of my rear end, I am not. I have been to Afghanistan, and I intend to go back. The guys we dealt with when we went in the first time were young men, many as young as 15 years old. They were left to fight while all of the leaders ran off to hide in other countries. The young men were pawns, poor, uneducated pawns.

 

So really, the enemy is poverty and ignorance. If we help re-build the country, help them educate themselves, and make the place stable, the fight is over. I don't mean to say that we do all the work. We show them the technical aspects, help them organise, then let the people do it their way. We show them how to re-build, and then let them do it. We give them structure for institutions, then let them implement and administer those institutions. All the while we are teaching their police and military how to protect the place, as well as providing security until the local police and military are ready.

 

And that is what I think is happening in Pakistan. The US spec ops are going to teach the Pakistani police and troops how to perform the counter insurgency ops. Not get involved in the political problems. If they are asked to help one side or the other, they will openly and blatantly refuse. "Just here to teach you folks, not fight a war for y'all"

[Tommycat]

Why not? Why are some parts of the GC mandatory for us and others optional? Also, do you have a link for this part of the GC? I tried looking at the Fourth Convention but it was tl-dr.

Its under the responsibilities of the ocupying force. I'm not saying that some parts don't apply, saying that it is debatable in that a violation may not have occured.