The reason that Afghanistan was picked as an example was that morgan_dhu is Canadian and Afghanistan is a hotter topic there than in Australia where it was treated as a no-brainer. Australians would normally debate East Timor.
Make no mistake, you simply cannot run organisations like bin Laden's in isolation. You cannot live in the mountains without supplies much less keep it in tank and artillery ammunition. Such a force requires the direct support of thousands of ordinary people. It receives support in the form of money and aid from hundreds of thousands. (Australians are know this well from Vietnam, which is studied in schools these days.) Legally, every one of them is a legitimate miltary target under the Geneva Convention. Moreover, in my country, if you assist a crime in any way, you are considered legally as well as guilty of the crime. So the people in the bar in The Accused (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094608/) would be charged with rape and recive the same sentences as the rapists.
I understand that it must be horrible to have terrorists park a rocket launcher on your front lawn. I understand that it would dangerous to fight against them. But if they fire, you have 75 seconds before the counter battery fire destroys your house.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 10:43 pm (UTC)Make no mistake, you simply cannot run organisations like bin Laden's in isolation. You cannot live in the mountains without supplies much less keep it in tank and artillery ammunition. Such a force requires the direct support of thousands of ordinary people. It receives support in the form of money and aid from hundreds of thousands. (Australians are know this well from Vietnam, which is studied in schools these days.) Legally, every one of them is a legitimate miltary target under the Geneva Convention. Moreover, in my country, if you assist a crime in any way, you are considered legally as well as guilty of the crime. So the people in the bar in The Accused (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094608/) would be charged with rape and recive the same sentences as the rapists.
I understand that it must be horrible to have terrorists park a rocket launcher on your front lawn. I understand that it would dangerous to fight against them. But if they fire, you have 75 seconds before the counter battery fire destroys your house.