Hi Shadow Minister,

I actually thought that logic was one of my
strong points. For example I've never been
impressed with people who claim to be superior
in their logic and consider themselves "learned."
As Benjamin Franklin once said, "He was so learned
that he could name a horse in nine languages;
so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on."

But enough jokes and back on topic...

The following link may be of interest to you
regarding Syria and why drones aren't such a
good idea:

http://theconversation.com/the-conflict-at-home-and-abroad-australian-involvement-in-syria-10623

SM, was that a joke, "the good socialist would rather see Comrade Assad". You can take ownership of Assad and the Baath Party, like Saddam Hussein, a one time buddy of the American imperialists, they both were/are fascist from the right of the political spectrum out there with some of those you may well admire.

Lexi,

Perhaps you are logical, but failed to actually read my post, as your response had very little to do with what I had been saying.

I am in favour of stopping the war, as it continues, the opposition gets more radicalised, and the government more vicious. Even when Comrade Assad loses, the Al Qaeda backed opposition is unlikely to improve life in Syria.

The war needs a circuit breaker to tip the balance and give Syria a chance.

Paul,

Wiggle as you may, But Comrade Assad has always been aligned with the Soviets and were supposedly "Socialist" enough to engage in occasional purges.

Dear Shadow Minister,

I've got to confess I very rarely read your entire posts.
I used to - but not lately.

Drones would however not be a good look for Australia -
who's currently joining in with other countries
to send humanitarian aid to Syria.

If there's a change of government after the September
election - they may think that drones are a good way
to go - especially if they're cheaper then humanitarian
aid. For now however - humanitarian aid
is what is on this government's agenda.

>>For now however - humanitarian aid is what is on this government's agenda.<<

Just one of the reasons I'm glad to live in Australia. But the Western government that is relevant to this discussion is the U.S. government and their approach to foreign policy is a little bit different:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mwfULpr6bE

I have no particular love for the U.S. Marine Corps but I would still prefer to see every single drone in the world destroyed at once than see one dumb-ass, bigoted, red-necked grunt get grazed by bullet. Because the grunts are (perhaps barely) people but the drones are just machines.

Letting robots fight our wars for us makes sense because then fewer people get hurt. Every person you replace on the battlefield with a robot is one less person who can get shot. And people not getting shot - regardless of which side they're on - is frigging awesome. So let's have as many drones as possible.

Cheers,

Tony

Lexi,

As the only country that has the capability to send in a large contingent of drones is the US of course I did not mean Australia.

Everyone is too scared to do anything wrong, and so the default action is inaction coupled with intense tut tutting from the sidelines. The last example was in Rwanda where more than a million people were butchered and Australia, the US and everyone did nothing (wrong) where a small intervention with peace keepers could have saved hundreds of thousands.

I honestly believe that in Syria we reached this point some time ago.