Venezuela's Chavez welcomes ally Ahmadinejad

[DissedByBush]

70. Don't even go there

Do not equate accidental civilian deaths during wartime with mass oppression of the local population during peacetime.

Especially don't when we spend billions of dollars to AVOID such deaths.

Cost of a smart artillery round that can pinpoint the enemy within a few meters after a 40 kilometer trip to avoid hitting innocents: $85,000 each

Cost of equivalent dumb artillery round that will land anywhere within a couple hundred meters after an even shorter trip: a few hundred dollars each

Long ago this country, under FDR and other presidents you probably like, had no problem bombing tightly packed urban centers with bombs having an error probably of hundreds of meters. We bombed dams, drowning those who lived downstream. We sunk commercial ships since their trade enriched and supplied the enemy nation. That's war. It sucks. But we do far better now than we ever did then.

And as for purposeful deaths recently, notice those who have been prosecuted for it. We used to execute the offenders, we have a whole graveyard full of them from WWII. Maybe you suggest bringing that practice against the offenders?

Besides, Iran has its quota, look at the Iran-Iraq war. And they don't exactly do things to minimize civilian casualties. Check out Operation Karbala-5, where they purposely and indiscriminately bombarded the city of Basra for over a month, causing the evacuation of millions of civilians and killing untold numbers. In retaliation the Iraqis shelled Iranian cities, killing thousands. Then the Iranians returned the favor for other Iraqi cities.