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Ashill

Listed below are comments made by Ashill between Thursday, 24th September 2009 and Monday, 2nd November 2009.

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Why was David Nutt sacked? 08:44am on 02 Nov 2009 Isn't there a point here about politicians taking a wider view?

Prof Nutt is talking about the relative health risks of different drugs (some legal in the UK, some not).

The Home Secretary is talking about the seriousness of crimes committed in connection with the illegal drugs - a different issue.

Organised criminal enterprises can be involved in the growing and distribution of cannabis in the UK. In that context it makes no sense for the drug to be Class C - just a bit illegal.

It could be made legal (removing the involvement of criminal gangs probably) or it could be made more seriously illegal, as a Class B drug rather than a Class C one. That is a political decision (set against the context of health risks and other matters) to be taken by the Home Secretary.

If Prof Nutt wants to talk about the classification of drugs (rather than simply the health risks attached to them) then he is talking politics rather than science, and that is not the role of the ACMD.

Ashill
Not so special? 08:22am on 29 Sep 2009 If my earlier "had it coming" post suggested that the 9/11 attack was justified, then I apologise.

Let me start again.

US armed forces have in recent decades been active around the world. Those engagements have involved those US armed forces being counter-attacked and sustaining losses. That, although unwelcome, came as no surprise to the forces themselves or to the American people.

That America itself should have been subject to counter-attack on 9/11 did come as a shock, it appears, to the people of the US. They should not have been surprised.

Ashill
Not so special? 11:47am on 27 Sep 2009 #372 IF
I have never sought to "justify" the 9/11 attacks, as you put it. I have described them as murders.

The point about the drone attacks arose from my description of the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks as displaying "outstanding courage and sacrifice". Clearly the same cannot be said of the pilots of the drones.

Vengeance and mass murder is to be deplored in the strongest possible terms whether it is perpetrated in the USA, Israel, Iraq or Afghanistan.

I would suggest that those of an anti-american view would regard 9/11 as having achieved unimaginable success, not from the deaths on the day, but from the misdirection of American resources in the years since then.

Although the greatest threat to America surely comes from within, as the recent financial crisis has shown. It seems that the once mighty US dollar is now effectively owned by the Chinese government.

Ashill
Not so special? 9:46pm on 26 Sep 2009 #361
You describe the terrorists on the planes on 9/11 as cowards.

How would you describe a US officer at his desk on US soil directing a pilotless drone filled with explosive against a target in Afghanistan?

He is at no risk of injury, or even discomfort, he is simply performing a task for which he will receive a salary, perks and, in the fullness of time, a pension. He enjoys a relatively high standard of living compared to those in the country he is attacking.

Can you understand how the people in fear of such drones might describe their use as cowardly?

Ashill
Not so special? 10:38am on 26 Sep 2009 Let's try to get a balanced view here.

The passengers in the planes and the people in the twin towers on 9/11 were murdered. (I am not trying to get 'technical' here, the flight crews were murdered too, as were fire-fighters . . .)

However it was an act of outstanding courage and sacrifice on the part of the pilots of those planes to fly them into the towers. That does not mean that it was a 'good' thing or a 'right' thing - but clearly piloting oneself to certain death is an act of courage and sacrifice.

Why did these people do that?

You may dismiss them as 'nutters' but doesn't that simply demonstrate a total failure of perception / understanding? I am not suggesting that one should agree with them, but one should attempt to understand them.

If the US people fail to have any conception of the motives of these people then they will never be able to neutralise them.

Ashill
Not so special? 07:39am on 25 Sep 2009 #292
"the arrogation of the power of life or death over utterly innocent strangers exercised at the caprice of a bunch of unaccountable nut cases"

Did you intend this to be a description of America's global military adventures from Korea to Afghanistan? If so, you have hit the nail on the head!
Not so special? 10:19pm on 24 Sep 2009 #271
"The murder of innocent civilians is wrong, no matter where, no matter when, no matter by whom."

I agree, but I am concerned that the USA has been doing so much of it for so long.

#272
"I did not infer from his comments that he is condoning the attacks."

Absolutely right, but if, like the USA, you do a lot of it to others then you have to realise that "what goes around, comes around".

In that sense I feel the USA 'had it comin'.

The reaction of US governments to it seems most bizarre. It is as if they had to make war on someone to express their hurt and anger and to convince themselves again of their supreme might - and it didn't matter much who they went to war against! Hence Iraq.
Not so special? 9:01pm on 24 Sep 2009 There is a saying, "There's none so blind as those that will not see". How true!

Those that 'will not see' instead descend to cheap insults to promote their view. Pathetic.

Open your minds and consider who makes the more frightening terrorist, a bunch of ill-equipped men hiding in caves or a multi-billion dollar organisation boasting aircraft carriers, fighter planes, missiles, drones, many thousands of troops, tanks, etc. Who poses the greater danger to peace and freedom?
Not so special? 7:28pm on 24 Sep 2009 #251

The difference is that the murders on 9/11 were carried out on US soil.

Uncle Sam's murders are carried out elsewhere (Korea, Vietnam, . . . Iraq, Afghanistan). Oh, and they involve larger numbers of deaths.
Not so special? 5:11pm on 24 Sep 2009 America spends a lot of its time sticking its nose into other people's business and acting like it knows best.

Hardly surprising that it attracts some antagonism. You had to feel when the twin towers came down that Uncle Sam was a bully who had it comin'.

The regret it that the UK seems to trail behind like Crabbe or Goyle hanging around with Draco Malfoy. Some 'special relationship' that is!

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