Anti-War "Activists" vs Sick Children.

[Imran Siddiqui]

One would have saved so much more by not going to war in the first place

There is one VERY big problem with this argument. That money spent on the war WASN'T GOING to San Francisco city services. It wasn't going to be spent on healthcare. That money (if anything) was either going to the military or paying back the debt.

However, the money LOST by the anti-war protesters WAS going to San Francisco city services!

Countering the argument that San Fran lost 3.5 mil due to war protests with the 'war cost more' is like saying state funded public schools would be better if the US didn't have a military .

[Giancarlo]

Or I say declare state of emergency like they did in Peru.. and say "NO! You are not messing with lives of normal people. Clear the streets now... or else."

But then again.. nobody would ever dare giving me any form of power... which will corrupt me completely into utter power abuse.

Anyways, the Anti-war movement is a joke. They will get ignored like always. This ain't the 70s.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Agathon
That's not what you said.

And the notion that the war has solved a real problem is debatable while the cost isn't.

You are entitled to your opinion; misguided as it may be.

[realpolitic]

[color=red]Half of the world's war budget is spent by the US![/red] We trained Bin Laden, McVeigh, and supplied Anthrax to Saddam. We could have fed the world instead of propping up bullies that would turn on us.

[Giancarlo]

Realpolitic, provide proof. I heard that argument before. Please I want to see the proof right now.

[Japher]

Anti-War "Activists" vs Sick Children.


I think th Sick Children would win

[oedo]

The biggest bite out of city coffers came from the Police Department, which reported spending $2 million to police the civil unrest, with most of the money paying for officer overtime.

The Sheriff's Department, which staffs the jails, reported $760,872 in extra costs. Public Works, which cleans the streets, said it had spent $194, 840 during the demonstrations that took place March 17 to 22.

The Municipal Railway, which operates the city's public transit service, lost an estimated $55,224 when the protesters and police blockades prevented drivers from making their regular runs. Almost $67,000 more was spent on overtime.

no idea what these people did in their demonstration, but they certainly didn´t beg for being jailed. but anyway.
is this becoming another try to undermine the freedom to assemble? the more people participate the more expensive a demonstration is. is this a reason to forbid demonstrations ingeneral, or only the larger ones?

[Imran Siddiqui]

We trained Bin Laden, McVeigh, and supplied Anthrax to Saddam.

Um... yeeeah

WE DIDN'T TRAIN BIN LADEN! We trained the muhajadeen, who are the Northern Alliance. Bin Laden fought on their side, but was not trained by us.

McVeigh - so the US is responsible for our military men that go nuts? Doesn't seem fair

Anthrax to Saddam - have any proof?

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by realpolitic
[color=red]Half of the world's war budget is spent by the US![/red] We trained Bin Laden, McVeigh, and supplied Anthrax to Saddam. We could have fed the world instead of propping up bullies that would turn on us.

OBL was never trained or funded by the US. Mujaheddin groups in Afghanistan were, including Hekmatyar's, (there were 13 principle groups at various times), but OBL wasn't a recipient of US funds or training. He's never directly conducted a terrorist op anyway, he's just been a fund-raiser, guru and spokesman, all things he learned how to do in his early business career.

McVeigh was a Specialist-4 mechanized infantry grunt in the US Army, with no training in any type of explosives or special operations.

The Anthrax strains Saddam used were traced to a US strain cultured in labs since the 1950's, but that strain is available all over the world, in hundreds of research labs. There is no evidence whatsoever that the US is the party that transferred that Anthrax bacillum to Iraq. However, the US did provide raw take from KH-11 and KH-12 Intelsats and trained the Iraqis in doing BDA's (bomb damage assessments) which helped the Iraqis be more effective when they used nerve agents than they would have otherwise been. The US also diverted in excess of six billion dollars in bogus commerce and agriculture loan guarantees to help the Iraqis fight against Iran, although the Iraqis were in the right in that war.

There's lots of things to slam the US for, at least try to do so accurately, rather than parrot the knee-jerk accusations of the ignorant left.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Um... what MtG said .

[oedo]

oh, and another thing. I heard there were also pro-war-demonstrations in the US where stupid people held up sings with messages like "Give War A Chance" and such rubbish. what did these assembleys cost to the cities?

[Kuciwalker]

Probably nothing.

Um... what MtG said

[Dinner]

Originally posted by realpolitic
[color=red]Half of the world's war budget is spent by the US![/red] We trained Bin Laden, McVeigh, and supplied Anthrax to Saddam. We could have fed the world instead of propping up bullies that would turn on us.

In 2001 the amount of money spent by the nations of the world totaled about $839 billion and the US spent about 1/3 of that according to this link. The US never trained Bin Laden to do anything though the US did provide money and weapons to anti-Soviet Fighters some of whom turned out to be terrorists 15 years later. Tim McVeigh was out of the military for sometime before he went off his rocker and decided to bomb a building and stock pile spam in a cave; he clearly was a nutter and I'm not sure how the government is responsible for that/

Lastly, we have the ever popular lie about Reagon or Rumsfield or who ever the current popular villian is "giving" Saddam Anthrex. Saddam got his copy of Anthrex by having an academic claim he was using it for health research. He lied and they got it from a private university but I suppose you will claim that is the same thing.

[Kuciwalker]

Oh, and about our defense budget, as a percentage of our GDP we spend a historic low (for peacetime, in any country) on the military; something like 3%.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by oedo
oh, and another thing. I heard there were also pro-war-demonstrations in the US where stupid people held up sings with messages like "Give War A Chance" and such rubbish. what did these assembleys cost to the cities?

I never heard of a single one of them throwing bottles at Police, breaking windows, chaining themselves on busy road ways during rush hour, etc. In short they didn't do anything to get arrested while the anti-Bush idiots went out of their way to get arrested.