John Kerry: Sadr "Legitimate", Hamas and Hezbollah "sort of" Terrorist

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by Pax Africanus
4. Lastly, Free Press is a cornerstone of democracy! It the same thing that allows people on this site to speak out. Just because we don't like the message does not give the right to shut it down.

I agree Free Press is very important. However it can cause problems if a person twists it for malicious use. Such as calling out FIRE in the public theater, delibarately causing harm or injury as people stampede or push each other off while trying to escape the non-existent fire in the theater.

Also, I think the Media ruin politics, because the candidates have to brown nose, kiss up, and make love to the Media to have even the slighest chance of winning.

Sad, really.

I think Media should be forbidden to interfere with politics. Media should only be allowed to tape debates, and show ad's for campaigns. Nothing else.

Hell, I bet Adolf Hitler would have a field day with today's Media. He used the Media to convince people he was right during the 1920's and 1930's before becoming the Fuhrer of Germany.

[Pax]

Oh Yeah,
If the other democratic leaders were to scared to run against bush I say F'em and I give Kerry extra credit for getting in the ring.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Media should only be allowed to tape debates, and show ad's for campaigns. Nothing else.

How is this consistent with the idea of a free press?

[Ramo]

run to a crowded theater and shout fire please. Free speech protects you from being prevented from saying something, it makes no provision for what happens after you say it. This guy has incited violence and had lies printed, neither of which is protected last time I checked.

I want you to prove to me that the Sadrist newspaper caused violence (as yelling "fire" in a crowded theatre would). Cause you can't. What caused violence was the suppression of the newspaper by coalition authorities. Actions such as those ought to be prohibited.

As for being protected, of course it's not protected. They do not have recourse to the US Constitution or US Courts. What we say is law, period.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Kucinich
Had you stated that he was a terrorist because he killed American soldiers using combatants disguised as civilians, that would have been sufficient justification.

That's a war crime. Not a terrorist act.

re the contravesy regarding the question of Hezbollah being a terrorist group or not:

Is Hezbollah a terrorist group?

Yes. Hezbollah and its affiliates have planned or been linked to a lengthy series of terrorist attacks against America, Israel, and other Western targets. These attacks include:

a series of kidnappings of Westerners, including several Americans, in the 1980s;
the suicide truck bombings that killed more than 200 U.S. Marines at their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983;
the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, which featured the famous footage of the plane's pilot leaning out of the cockpit with a gun to his head;
and two major 1990s attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina—the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy (killing 29) and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center (killing 95).

[Ramo]

Tho' the attack on the US marines doesn't count as terrorism.

[DinoDoc]

How about the attacks on targets in Argentina, etc., pedant?

[Ramo]

I didn't say that Hezbollah wasn't involved in terrorism.

[DinoDoc]

I know. That's for Imran and Tripledoc.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Wow... a group of Hezbollah committed a terrorist act 10 years ago and nothing since. It's like saying Libya is still a terrorist state, even though the last act of terrorism it did was in the 80s.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Wow... a group of Hezbollah committed a terrorist act 10 years ago and nothing since.

I'm sure our Israeli friends can give more recent info. It only took 30 seconds worth of Googling to rebut the contention that they weren't a terrorist group though.

[Imran Siddiqui]

10 ago was the last 'terrorist' act. Doesn't rebut a damned thing, especially since Hezbollah has mostly been involved in attacks against Israeli soldiers (as any of the Israelis can tell you). Makes me wonder if this wasn't some splinter group.

[DinoDoc]

A full minute

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
10 ago was the last 'terrorist' act. Doesn't rebut a damned thing.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/04/12/417702.html

[Imran Siddiqui]

So you think Sadr's newspaper was a terrorist organization? As the article says:

"Hezbollah does not seem to be issuing specific instructions about targets or timing."

What is the evidence they are initiating attacks against civilians and not helping out in attacks against border guards or military (seeing that is what they do)?

[DinoDoc]

I love selective quoting. It makes it easy for people to miss the point.

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
So you think Sadr's newspaper was a terrorist organization? As the article says:

Al Aqsa members in the West Bank city of Nablus say they speak with their Hezbollah handlers by telephone almost daily. Israeli security officials say Hezbollah trains some Palestinian militants abroad, instructing them in weapons and bomb-making.