On the merc-comments:

The comparisons made saying that merc's are good are short sighted. When you look at short-term politics, yes, it would cost less to let the merc's stay there.
Long-term view however dictates that it is foolish to ask a wolf in your country to chase away the lion for then you just swapped the wolf for the lion. Also, merc's require money to go killing, and after they require even more money to be refrained from killing. On the long term, merc's just cost a hell of a lot of cash for naught for you do not invest in yourself, you invest in others. There is no long-term return out of the input.

On the sentence for child-murder question:

The difference between your system and ours is that we try by default to give children another opportunity, while in your system the point of sentences is vengeance and satisfying the mob (mob-rule = democracy in the US). Thus yes, over here there are discrepancies because un-reformed people are released wrongly. On the other side of the spectrum however, you kill a lot of people who appear, afterwards, to have been innocent.
We prefer to make sure that every person who deserves it can get a second opportunity.

On the topic:

Euro's are arrogant for trying to solve problems via international politics, with it's own system of checks and balances, while the US is less arrogant for trying to 'solve problems' on their own, without any international consent?
Pray, define arrogance and one might be capable of really discussing it...

http://www.justicedenied.org/executed.htm
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?&did=2238

==> Several mentioned, and as the 2nd article mentiones, executed people generally don't appeal.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=412&scid=6

==> These weren't executed yet, though released (luckily)

You have to be wildly arrogant though to believe any justice system fool-proof, that's why we prefer releasing every certain innocent person and giving a second chance (as mentioned in my last post)

And yes, I know this must be 'left-wing BS', but you won't find any source that you accept that doesn't defend capital punishment

Deci:"you consider a luftwaffe pilot an insurgent that doesn't wear a military uniform? that's fresh"

TheYell:"No you're right, they dont deserve a nice clean cell. They oughta be stood in front of a ditch they dug and get shot after a trial by a sarge and a 2nd lt. Like the cossacks."

Fokker:"They were obviously guilty, having being caught in the act"

OK, first of all theyell and fokker if I'd be standing right next to both of you right now i'd punch you in the nose kick you in the balls for your arrogance. My grandfather was a luftwaffe pilot(he's still alive today) and my family isn't german my greatgrandfather was a jew(thank god the germans didn't find out).My grandfather was forced into the luftwaffe....
well they gave him a choice not to join but the rest of the family would have been executed...

Now your telling me he should be executed....

hey [macarena]!!!

you dont know what it like to live under a dictatorship. You don't know what life was like on the other side of the curtain, so you can't come telling what's fair or not!

Fokker:"When was that said, and by whom? Quote exactly please, to prevent any possible misunderstanding."

i DID BUT I CAN DO IT AGAIN!

TheYell:"No you're right, they dont deserve a nice clean cell. They oughta be stood in front of a ditch they dug and get shot after a trial by a sarge and a 2nd lt. Like the cossacks."

Fokker:"They were obviously guilty, having being caught in the act"

You and the yell took the took the discussion off-topic by starting to talk about the luftwaffe and the yell saying anyone in the luftwaffe should have been executed by a cowboy and his lapdog.

"Actually I do: I've been to prison, and not a Cat. D prison either. Do you know what it is like? Didn't think so."

how long were you in prison couple months or years. he lived under stalin, thats worse than an english prison believe me. And ,probably, getting sent into prison was your own fault.

lately you've been writing really good posts and making the most sense in this forum but you're view of looking at the common soldier in a dictatorship, and assuming he's automaticaly guilty of war crimes is just wrong.

"I dunno, maybe a dictatorship is a place wehre you get kicked in the balls for your political views?  Far wrong?"

you wouldn't get into college if you weren't inthe communist party.Stores were at times totally empty. 70% of the money went into the military. you'd get expelled/sent to prison/executed for openly expressing your political views.

> paul valter pihlo wrote:

> how long were you in prison couple months or years.<

Years.

>he lived under stalin, thats worse than an english prison believe me.<

Try being alone in an 8x6 for 22 hours a day for a few years. Given the choice, I'd have taken Stalin. Hell, I'd have taken Australia (if they still did that I mean).

>And ,probably, getting sent into prison was your own fault.<

Well DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!

>lately you've been writing really good posts and making the most sense in this forum but you're view of looking at the common soldier in a dictatorship, and assuming he's automaticaly guilty of war crimes is just wrong.<

Not wrong, realistic: The enemy is the enemy. It's not nice, it's not fair, but when you are at war with someone you don't play nice just because they might have a sad story to tell...

"Not wrong, realistic: The enemy is the enemy. It's not nice, it's not fair, but when you are at war with someone you don't play nice just because they might have a sad story to tell..."

that's true in combat. but once you've captured the enemy thay should get a fair trial of somesort or find out what kind of person the enemy is, not executed on sight.(besides my grampa was fighting the russkies).

> paul valter pihlo wrote:
> "Not wrong, realistic: The enemy is the enemy. It's not nice, it's not fair, but when you are at war with someone you don't play nice just because they might have a sad story to tell..."

that's true in combat. but once you've captured the enemy thay should get a fair trial of somesort or find out what kind of person the enemy is, not executed on sight.(besides my grampa was fighting the russkies).<

Under ideal circumstances, yes, but here in the UK we don't have the facilities to keep prisoners indefinitley just because the war might end soon; In WW2 food scarcity (despite american aid) almost forced us to start killing our prisoners (it was usggested in a "green paper").
But all of that is irrelevant as the chances of actually capturing an enemy, even today, a very slim indeed. Look at the number of insurgents and terrorists killed and compare that to the number captured...

Like I said; it's not nice, it's not fair, but without it War would be little more than a nasty disagreement with lots of pushing and shoving.

> besides 8mx6m is almost as large as my livingroom so I wouldn't complain:)<

That had better be a very bad joke.

8*6m = 48m

how would a Luftwaffe pilot get to British soil during the war?

8 ft by 6 ft?????

> paul valter pihlo wrote:
> @fokker
"> besides 8mx6m is almost as large as my livingroom so I wouldn't complain:)<
That had better be a very bad joke."
yes, it was...
I know it's 8ftx6ft<

I like how people accepted your suggestion that a British prison cell is 8 meters X 6 meters unquestioningly!
Oh, and sorry... it's this heat, it causes my brain to bypass my humour gland.

>"that's true in combat. but once you've captured the enemy thay should get a fair trial of somesort or find out what kind of person the enemy is, not executed on sight.(besides my grampa was fighting the russkies).<"
"Under ideal circumstances, yes"
"How many Luftwaffe pilots shot down during the Blitz got a trial before being locked up?"
"They were obviously guilty"
so you agree POWs(under ideal circumstances) should get a fair trial, except luftwaffe pilots who are automaticaly guilty...<

Now you're trying to muddle two very seperate points methinks, although I can see that it could be unintentional.
You have to understand that my comment regarding the WW2 pilots was a reflection of the attitudes at the time: They are Nazis and therefore guilty, but to keep everyone happy we'll try them after the war is done.

>hmm.... makes me think.<

Try thinking about it from another perspective... if you can put your personal feeling aside?

>"but here in the UK we don't have the facilities to keep prisoners indefinitley just because the war might end soon"
I think the yell already answered that by keeping prisoners in camps in war zones, not inside the country...<

Right, and we were going to do that how? Ask Hitler ever so nicely if we can keep all of the soldiers we've captured in occupied France?

>although that way it'll be easier for the enemy to liberate their prisoners.... unless your confident in victory.<

Which is exactly why we didn't do that.