From: Dale Thorn <dthorn@gte.net>
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 17:14:05 -0800 (PST)
To: Jim Wise <jim@santafe.arch.columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: [No joke] The Feds may legally gas us
In-Reply-To: <Pine.NEB.3.95.961215073357.4601A-100000@localhost>
Message-ID: <32B43A02.56CE@gte.net>
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Jim Wise wrote:
> > The Deviant wrote:
> > > On Fri, 13 Dec 1996, Lucky Green wrote:

> > > Did you know that the Feds may legally test chemical and biological weapons
> > > on the civilian population as long as they give 30 days advance notice to

> > No, they can't.  Development, testing, and use of Biological weapons is
> > banned by the Geneva conventions (among others).  International treaty
> > outweighs USC.

> Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the Geneva conventions do not apply
> to nations acting upon their own citizens...  This showed up in the legal
> wrangling over whether the brutality in Bosnia-Herzegovena was part of a
> civil war or a war between nations, and hence whether an international
> tribunal had authority...

On a related note, the L.A. Times (not a real newspaper) has devoted a
tremendous amount of space to convincing their readers that a tribunal
can be put together to prosecute the Bosnian Serbs.  Anyone familiar
with the stories can undoubtedly argue that either the stories didn't
exactly say this, or they were obviously wishful thinking with no legal
weight, and so on.  My point is simply that the vast amount of valuable
newspaper space isn't being thrown away; it has a purpose which is tied
to investments, probably international.

Laws can take a back seat to a strong tide of public pressure - witness
the movements to keep trying people in court until a conviction can be
obtained to satisfy the public:  DeLaBeckwith, Powell/Koon et al, and
now O.J. Simpson.  The L.A. Times figures (as does former Atty. Gen.
Ramsey Clark in his work on the Gulf War) that if they stir up enough
"controversy" over the Bosnia issue, the international public will put
enough pressure on to satisfy the Times' agenda.

Further (and at the risk of being identified with a particular political
slant, which I don't have), this "newspaper" is actively collaborating
with other international interests to put the nail in Free Speech, via
the Holocaust issue.  Carto of Liberty Lobby fame (the bane of the ADL)
is down for the count again, and unlike the last two or three times, he
may not survive this one, probably because his supporters are thinning
out from old age. Carto's main theme in life, which I got in person one
day in 1993, is that the Holocaust has been co-opted by the National
Security State for a variety of reasons, one of which is to curtail
Free Speech (Holocaust deniers thrive on Free Speech), by passing laws
everywhere that make it a criminal offense to "doubt the Holocaust".

Again, my point isn't to argue any law, just to point out where change
in the law is going to come from.