$5000 reward offered for Rice's citizen's arrest

[p858snake]

$5000 reward offered for Rice's citizen's arrest

A $5000 dollar reward is being offered to any Auckland University student who can make a successful citizen's arrest of United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to the country this weekend.

Auckland University Student Association (AUSA) president David Do said the arrest would be for her role in "overseeing the illegal invasion and continued occupation" of Iraq.

"It is hard enough living as a student in Auckland these days without having a war criminal coming to town, so we thought we'd give our students a chance to make a dent in their student loans and work for global justice at the same time."

Dr Rice will be in Auckland on July 26, where she will meet with Prime Minister Helen Clark, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Opposition leader John Key.

She will make her first trip to New Zealand after attending a meeting of the Asean Regional Forum this week in Singapore.

Source: Stuff

[The Rev]

uh......... wow......... *shakes head* Just so you guys know, what saddam was doing in that country was about a million times worse than anything the US has done to it so far, and ever WILL do to it, i might add. It's like WWII all over again..... everyone knew Hitler was slaughtering the jews, and they all let it happen for several years. maybe he didn't kill millions, but what Hussein did to his own people, to the CHILDREN, of that country.... was warrent enough to take him out.

What do they know? They live in their own little dreamland.

[x9248]

I guess David Do supports terrorists.

Good luck getting close to Rice... if anyone was stupid enough to attempt this they might be risking their life I would figure. I doubt she's going anywhere without security close to her...

[Budious]

I would not defend the actions of Saddam Hussein, he was a scum bag. However, the premise of war with Iraq was a sham, a false argument supported by false evidence suggesting weapons of mass destruction and a tie to Al Qaeda terrorist network. I understand the sentiments of what they are doing symbolically, but it should rather be for perjury of lying to Congress for the authorization of the war. Of course, prosecuting Rice would be a rather moot point, you have to goto the top to make it count.

[The Rev]

I would not defend the actions of Saddam Hussein, he was a scum bag. However, the premise of war with Iraq was a sham, a false argument supported by false evidence suggesting weapons of mass destruction and a tie to Al Qaeda terrorist network. I understand the sentiments of what they are doing symbolically, but it should rather be for perjury of lying to Congress for the authorization of the war. Of course, prosecuting Rice would be a rather moot point, you have to goto the top to make it count.

I've heard plenty of arguments as to the whole "WMD" issue..... Consider this.... Given the amount of time between when Hussein threw UN weapons inspectors out of his country and when we invaded (at least a year if not more), would you really EXPECT to find any evidence of WMDs? Hell no.... Saddam probly had the weapons going out the back door when he was playing games with the inspectors (in fact, i've heard that while they may not have found wmds, there was evidence that such weapons did indeed exist before the invasion.... ) Hell, he probably sold them all to foreign parties just so he could attempt to make Bush look like a fool. Cept he forgot one thing..... He was still a wanted war criminal. He was destined to be executed since the first gulf war.

[PermaSt0ne]

I've heard plenty of arguments as to the whole "WMD" issue..... Consider this.... Given the amount of time between when Hussein threw UN weapons inspectors out of his country and when we invaded (at least a year if not more), would you really EXPECT to find any evidence of WMDs? Hell no.... Saddam probly had the weapons going out the back door when he was playing games with the inspectors (in fact, i've heard that while they may not have found wmds, there was evidence that such weapons did indeed exist before the invasion.... ) Hell, he probably sold them all to foreign parties just so he could attempt to make Bush look like a fool. Cept he forgot one thing..... He was still a wanted war criminal. He was destined to be executed since the first gulf war.

and yet that's what bush told us for years....

I guess David Do supports terrorists.

i guess you support killing soldiers in exchange for some oil. see how i did that?

as for the citizens arrest, they'd get arrested if they tried. you have to witness the person committing a felony at the time of the arrest les you be asked to help an officer

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

I've heard plenty of arguments as to the whole "WMD" issue..... Consider this.... Given the amount of time between when Hussein threw UN weapons inspectors out of his country and when we invaded (at least a year if not more), would you really EXPECT to find any evidence of WMDs? Hell no.... Saddam probly had the weapons going out the back door when he was playing games with the inspectors (in fact, i've heard that while they may not have found wmds, there was evidence that such weapons did indeed exist before the invasion.... ) Hell, he probably sold them all to foreign parties just so he could attempt to make Bush look like a fool. Cept he forgot one thing..... He was still a wanted war criminal. He was destined to be executed since the first gulf war.

this rebuttal sounds like a "dreamland"

i dont condone what Hussein was doing, of course, but the invasion of iraq was not justified under any means. why does the US always have to be the "liberators"?

[revvo]

uh......... wow......... *shakes head* Just so you guys know, what saddam was doing in that country was about a million times worse than anything the US has done to it so far, and ever WILL do to it, i might add. It's like WWII all over again..... everyone knew Hitler was slaughtering the jews, and they all let it happen for several years. maybe he didn't kill millions, but what Hussein did to his own people, to the CHILDREN, of that country.... was warrent enough to take him out.

So you agree that the US is the world police and that they should bully around other countries, especially one with still no WMD's or any links whatsoever to 9/11. Afghanistan made sense, not Iraq.

What's next big boys? Now why don't you go save the North Koreans from Kim Jong Il's insane regime and sunglasses?

[.Kompressor]

LOL well.....in this day and age with the Tainternet you can call anyone a terrorist or a criminal and have people believe you.

[The Rev]

So you agree that the US is the world police and that they should bully around other countries, especially one with still no WMD's or any links whatsoever to 9/11. Afghanistan made sense, not Iraq.

Of course they're the world police..... have been for decades. Honestly, i find it kind of sad that people still think the US could put up "the iron curtain" as it was referred to during the cold war, and manage to get by just fine. Fact is, we have to protect our interests at home and abroad. Saddam was a threat to them. And if North Korea becomes a greater threat to the US and its allied countries, u better believe we'll go after em.

[John S. Veteran]

$5k wouldn't begin to touch the legal bills you be facing after the Diplomatic Security takes you into custody.

[Budious]

$5k wouldn't begin to touch the legal bills you be facing after the Diplomatic Security takes you into custody.

You do get a complementary all expenses paid vacation to Club Gitmo.

[PermaSt0ne]

You do get a complementary all expenses paid vacation to Club Gitmo.

i hear with all the press coverage lately it's actually pretty nice down there. and, of course, they've cut back on the drinks. evidently people were getting too many too fast and almost drowned :o

[Fred Derf Veteran]

It has been reported in the past that all members of the Bush Administration, and in particular Donald Rumsfeld, should be wary about traveling abroad once they leave office. A country like Germany or France may be very interested to see some of these people prosecuted. I don't usually hear Condi's name mentioned in that list but it still would be a risk for her.

[tiagosilva29]

They should make a trip to sunny Portugal.

[revvo]

Fact is, we have to protect our interests at home and abroad. Saddam was a threat to them. And if North Korea becomes a greater threat to the US and its allied countries, u better believe we'll go after em.

Bush has said a countless number of times that they will not negociate with terrorists, yet they negociated with North Korea after they tested a nuclear device. You can bet your ass that if that was done by an arab muslim extremist group in the middle east, the US would have bombed the **** out of them but North Korea is further geographically, near China and it's an isolated world cut from the internet and the media.

[Konstanov]

Bush has said a countless number of times that they will not negociate with terrorists, yet they negociated with North Korea after they tested a nuclear device. You can bet your ass that if that was done by an arab muslim extremist group in the middle east, the US would have bombed the **** out of them but North Korea is further geographically, near China and it's an isolated world cut from the internet and the media.

The U.S. Army has a military base in Seoul, the U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy have military bases in Japan. They have troops close enough to North Korea, however getting past the Korean DMZ on the 38th parallel is a military endeavor that has been repeatedly reported as impossible. Also diplomatic immunity means that she can do anything as long as it doesn't violate the Geneva convention. It is illegal to arrest her and if anyone tries to do it they can get tossed in jail.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

$5000 reward offered for Rice's citizen's arrest

Source: Stuff

This is ridiculous. But it seems par for the course in Kiwi land.

[x9248]

i guess you support killing soldiers in exchange for some oil. see how i did that?

I guess YOU support terrorists too. See how I did that?

Men and women know full well what they are getting into when they join the military. I'm proud that these people are willing to risk their lives for our nation and could not thank them enough for what they have done for us. Shame on you for continuing to pull this oil nonsense out your rear. Show some damn respect.

[toadeater]

maybe he didn't kill millions, but what Hussein did to his own people, to the CHILDREN, of that country.... was warrent enough to take him out.

So, how many more people (and "CHILDREN") should Mugabe torture and kill in Zimbabwe before he qualifies to be taken out? Have you seen his goons going around with machetes slaughtering people? I don't see the US rushing to save Sudan either, even after millions were killed.

Don't kid yourself, morality had nothing to do with invading Iraq.

[the evn show]

uh......... wow......... *shakes head* Just so you guys know, what saddam was doing in that country was about a million times worse than anything the US has done to it so far, and ever WILL do to it, i might add. It's like WWII all over again..... everyone knew Hitler was slaughtering the jews, and they all let it happen for several years. maybe he didn't kill millions, but what Hussein did to his own people, to the CHILDREN, of that country.... was warrent enough to take him out.

I don't think anybody disputes that Saddam was an asshat, the problem is that America (and her dozen-or-so buddies) didn't invade Iraq to put an end to an evil dicator, but to stop an illegal nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons program that was an imminent threat to the United States and her allies. All of this without evidence to support their claims, and reports from UN inspectors that no such programs existed. While there were some early attempts to tie an Iraqi invasion to the terrorist attacks of 2001 that angle was minor (and eventually abandonded) in favor of the WMD justification.

Dissenting opinion around the Iraq occupation and invasion has little to with the fact that Saddam wasn't bad, and more to do with the following:

• 1) False and/or innacurate pretext for invasion
  2) An invasion without support popular support (which was not the case with the 1991 invasion).
  3) Inconsistency and hypocrisy when dealing with other 'dangerous' world powers (notably North Korea, Iran, China, and Israel)
  4) A dissatisfaction by retroactively justifying the invasion (from a "defensive first strive" to "spreading democracy")
  In addition to other arguments too numerous to list.
  

In simple terms: if a person starts a charity to raise money for cancer research, and instead uses that money to cure AIDS; while their motives and the outcome of his or her action may be good - he or she has committed fraud against all of the contributors would serve a time in a federal prison their actions. If something as benign as curing a disease doesn't justify fraud, then the invasion of Iraq doesn't certainly doesn't either. The argument then follows that those responsible for waging war on false pretext should be held accountable for those actions.

The people in the article do not accept the argument that "the ends justify the means".

I've heard plenty of arguments as to the whole "WMD" issue..... Consider this.... Given the amount of time between when Hussein threw UN weapons inspectors out of his country and when we invaded (at least a year if not more), would you really EXPECT to find any evidence of WMDs? Hell no....

Weapons inspectors left Iraq March 18,2003, the invasion of that country began on March 19.

Also, your time-frame is artificially short. Not only was no evidence of a chemical, nuclear, or biological weapons program found in the years following the invasion - nor were any found during the decade of UN inspections preceding the invasion. There has never been credible evidence that such a program existed.

Saddam probly had the weapons going out the back door when he was playing games with the inspectors (in fact, i've heard that while they may not have found wmds, there was evidence that such weapons did indeed exist before the invasion.... )

Of course they did, they were sold to Iraq by the United States before the nation fell out of favor with the west in the early 90s.

The Iraqi leaders claimed, and proved to the satisfaction of the United Nations security council and weapons inspectors that they had dismantled their weapons programs after the 1991 invasion.

Hell, he probably sold them all to foreign parties just so he could attempt to make Bush look like a fool.

No evidence to support such claims has been found either.

Edited July 25, 2008 by the evn show

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

So, how many more people (and "CHILDREN") should Mugabe torture and kill in Zimbabwe before he qualifies to be taken out? Have you seen his goons going around with machetes slaughtering people? I don't see the US rushing to save Sudan either, even after millions were killed.

Don't kid yourself, morality had nothing to do with invading Iraq.

We were there once, ask Slick Willie why we left.

[Sam Symons Veteran]

This is ridiculous. But it seems par for the course in Kiwi land.

Ridiculous, yes. I agree, and I come from New Zealand. Saw this on the news last night and I just shook my head.

[39 Thieves]

I've heard plenty of arguments as to the whole "WMD" issue..... Consider this.... Given the amount of time between when Hussein threw UN weapons inspectors out of his country and when we invaded (at least a year if not more), would you really EXPECT to find any evidence of WMDs? Hell no.... Saddam probly had the weapons going out the back door when he was playing games with the inspectors (in fact, i've heard that while they may not have found wmds, there was evidence that such weapons did indeed exist before the invasion.... ) Hell, he probably sold them all to foreign parties just so he could attempt to make Bush look like a fool. Cept he forgot one thing..... He was still a wanted war criminal. He was destined to be executed since the first gulf war.

Considering we sold him WMD's, and he used WMD's when he gassed the Kurds, yeah, I'm sorta shocked we didn't find any evidence of them over there. Hell, why didn't Cheney just bust out the receipts? I mean, honestly, at this point, pay a couple of 14-year old kids to photoshop a nuke on a camel...just give us something. The whole war in Iraq has been nothing but the Bush administration giving a big middle finger to the world and especially the citizens of the US.

[primexx]

uh......... wow......... *shakes head* Just so you guys know, what saddam was doing in that country was about a million times worse than anything the US has done to it so far, and ever WILL do to it, i might add. It's like WWII all over again..... everyone knew Hitler was slaughtering the jews, and they all let it happen for several years. maybe he didn't kill millions, but what Hussein did to his own people, to the CHILDREN, of that country.... was warrent enough to take him out.

What do they know? They live in their own little dreamland.

Saddam didn't illegally invade a sovereign country.