On Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:06:49 -0700 (PDT), DaveS
wrote:

On Oct 17, 2:37*am, wrote:


Dave
General Washington himself established the doctrine in the
Revolutionary Army that, unlike the British and their German
hirelings, the Revolutionary Army would not execute or torture
prisoners. This policy became a significant advantage as word spread
that surrendered Brits and Hessians could become Americans and build a
new life in the new world.

EUREKA! *That's it, there's the answer - the US should just offer bin
Laden "American" citizenship and maybe a hack license or a nice little
bodega in a lively Manhattan neighborhood or a 10k gold jewelry cart in
a busy mall or something and he'll forget all about that "DEATH TO
INFIDELS!!" shtick...

Sheesh,
R- Hide quoted text -


So I guess you are also against our current policy of safe haven and
paying "sons of Iraq" fighters to come over to the Iraqi govt side?
Its one of the few things per war fighting policy that most Ds and Rs
agree on.

You can't effectively buy hearts and minds, you can only somewhat
effectively rent trigger fingers, so I have no illusions that paying
people to "come over to the Iraqi govt side" is anything more than a
waste of money unless what is really being bought is mercenary service.
And that's fine if that is what is called for under a particular set of
circumstances. OTOH, what can be done is to show that their interests
are best served aligning with the US' interests or that their interests
are in serious and grave danger by opposing the US' interests. Generally
speaking, a mix of the two, weighted heavily toward the alignment rather
than the fear, is the best course.

HTH,
R

Dave