Wednesday, October 19, 2005

"No good, I've known too many Spaniards"

A big tip o' me tam to jcrue for this one.

Back in August I pointed out that Italy was supporting terrorism. They proved then they are not a true ally of the U.S., joining such other faux allies as france and germany.

It should come as no surprise then that Spain has decided to join the club.

It seems that a Spanish judge has decided to issue arrest warrants for three American soldiers in regards to the death of a Spanish journalist and his Ukrainian cameraman during the Iraq war.

The U.S. military has investigated the incident, and have stated that the soldiers believed they were under attack when they fired a round from their tank into The Palestine Hotel where several reporters were staying to cover the war.

First off, let me say that a war zone is inherently dangerous. If you wander into a war zone you take your life into your hands, and really shouldn't be surprised if you end up dead.

Secondly, what kind of moron would sit on a balcony of a hotel in the middle of a raging battle surrounded by people shooting at each other from all sides and have the stupidity to lift a camera onto their shoulder and point it at a tank? Especially an American tank? The Abrams tank is one of the deadliest fighting machines ever unleashed on the world, and the crews that man them are highly trained soldiers. One of my best friends happens to be a tank driver, and his descriptions of the capabilities of that vehicle are awe inspiring.

Let's forget for a moment about the Fog of War, and focus instead on the Spanish law that says "a crime committed against a Spaniard abroad can be prosecuted here (in Spain) if it is not investigated in the country where it is committed."

The Spaniards have requested interviews with the soldiers and have been turned down, as well they should have been. It is not the place of the Spanish government to interrogate American soldiers that were engaged in battle, protecting themselves and their fellow soldiers and doing what they were trained to do.

It was the responsibility of the journalist and his cameraman to report the war and stay alive. Pointing things at American tanks tend to make that last job a bit hard, even when it is just a camera.

It boils down to this; In the middle of a heated battle a cameraman pointed his camera at a tank that had been taking fire from buildings, unfortunately for him, and his reporter, he was spotted by a tank crew and that crew, believing they were about to be fired on yet again, took defensive action.

If another tank crew goes through this, and sits wondering if what is being pointed at them is a camera or a weapon and their hesitation causes them to die, can we sue the Spanish government for causing our soldiers to die because they were worried about being arrested for doing their jobs?

So now we must add the Spaniards to the growing list of "allies" that are actually unfriendly to us. That's ok though. I haven't trusted the french for years, I certainly don't trust the germans, the russians or italy anymore.

Remember, it was these cowards that buckled to terrorists when their subway was bombed right before an election and voted in a bunch of appeasing weaklings. So should we continue to trust the spanish?

I believe the Dread Pirate Roberts said it best when he said "No good, I've known too many Spaniards".

XPOSTED@Kender's and Cao's

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