<URL: http://www.statenews.com/editionssummer97/071497/op_col3.html >
However, to base an argument against the death penalty on religious morality is probably a futile endeavor in our violence-obsessed society. After all, McVeigh’s service in the Persian Gulf war was a mitigating factor in the jury’s consideration of the death penalty. It is a gross irony that McVeigh’s participation in that so-called “war,” which included outright mass murder by American troops and pilots when they massacred thousands of fleeing Iraqi conscripts in Kuwait on the “Highway of Death” on February 17, 1991, was considered by jurors as a positive attribute in McVeigh’s favor. On Wed, 16 Apr 2003 10:08:45 -0400, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> eric dorkin wrote:
>
>> it is hard to say that the Gulf War caused anything of the sort when you
>> consider that war had nothing to do with Columbine et al.....a more
>> likely suspect is the culture more generally.....the war may have been
>> the impetus for a few, but the damage was already there
>
> Malvo and McVeigh were both GW vets. I don't have any stats, but I'll bet
> a lot of GW vets came home and beat their wives too. There's a lot of
> homefront blowback from war. And the sickness, physical and mental, and
> excess deaths are well-established. It's stuff like the GW that helps
> create the "general culture" you refer to.
>
> Doug
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-- Michael Pugliese
"Without knowing that we knew nothing, we went on talking without listening to each other. Sometimes we flattered and praised each other, understanding that we would be flattered and praised in return. Other times we abused and shouted at each other, as if we were in a madhouse." -Tolstoy