Originally posted by Boroda
I seriously advice you to stop putting your words into my mouth. I kindly ask you to provide a quote where I said that.
I seriously will do the backtracking for you:
quote:
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Originally posted by Viking
So you admit you were wrong and that there were terrorists acts under the Soviet system?
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Boroda responds:
No. Why did you think I do?
There was no Soviet system in Afghanistan. That's simple. They didn't have a system of working people Councils there. USSR was the only country in the world that had this very special system of self-government.
Originally posted by Boroda
How long did Calley spend in prison for slaughtering several hundred people? Russian Colonel Budanov spends 10 years in prison for killing a Chechen sniper.
" After a 10-month-long trial, in which he claimed that he was following orders from his commanding officer, Captain Medina, Calley was convicted, on September 10, 1971, of premeditated murder for ordering the shootings. He was initially sentenced to life in prison. Two days later, however, President Nixon made the controversial decision to have Calley released from prison, pending appeal of his sentence. Calley's sentence was later adjusted, so that he would eventually serve four and one-half months in a military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, during which time he was allowed routine and unrestricted visits by his girlfriend.[28]
In a separate trial, Captain Medina denied giving the orders that led to the massacre, and was acquitted of all charges, effectively negating the prosecution's theory of "command responsibility", now referred to as the "Medina standard". Several months after his acquittal, however, Medina admitted that he had suppressed evidence and had lied to Colonel Henderson about the number of civilian deaths.[29]
Most of the enlisted men who were involved in the events at My Lai had already left military service, and were thus legally exempt from prosecution. In the end, of the 26 men initially charged, Calley's was the only conviction.
Some have argued that the outcome of the My Lai courts martial was a reversal of the laws of war that were set forth in the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals.[30] Those tribunals set a historic precedent, establishing the principle that no one may be excused from responsibility for war crimes because they were "following orders". Secretary of the Army Howard Callaway was quoted in the New York Times as stating that Calley's sentence was reduced because Calley honestly believed that what he did was a part of his orders — a rationale that stands in direct contradiction of the standards set in Nuremberg and Tokyo, where German and Japanese soldiers were executed for similar acts."
Also from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai (obviously "flawed" - ahem)
You see .... Nixon screwed the pooch there and, guess what? People here are allowed to be critical of him. But don't you pretend to offer up a convincing case that there are no cracks in the system of justice in a
totalitarian regime because of the
two examples you're parading around. I'm sorry ... I mean two examples I put in your mouth.
The system exists. The sentence was even given. A President interceded when he shouldn't have (and isn't universally praised for his action).
I noticed you didn't push on ahead with Abu Garib, though. Why?
Originally posted by Boroda
Hey, you have an advantage anyway: I write in a foreign language and I simply don't understand some of your sentences. All I do is asking to elaborate, because I can;t see what your words are connected to my sentences.
Please don't start laughing at me or saying that I know Eng good enough: our languages are very different, and constructing a sentence in English way is sometimes very difficult for me, as well as disassembling yours to reach the meaning and re-build it into Russian equivalent. I try to think English, but some constructions are too complicated and I have to translate them, losing some flavor and meanings, I hope you understand.
I'm not taking advantage of your skill or lack thereof in the English language. You've a greater mastery with it than I do Russian. Doesn't excuse the fault in your reasoning, however.
