Are Bush and Stalin Different?

[Amerpie]

As a legal concept, can someone explain the difference between George W. Bush's "enemy combatant" and Josef Stalin's "enemy of the people"? I don't think there is one: In each case, a national leader on his own, without courts, without laws, without clear definitions, dreams up a label and his government then applies it to certain people -- and then they're gone.

[JuniorPlankton]

1. Stalin's actions were mostly aimed at the citizens of the SU

Bush does his stuff to foreigners (mostly). Americans don't care about foreigners. (Unless they want to pretend freeing the Iraqi people.)

[Amerpie]

3. Jose Padilla

Well, I'll agree that Bush doesn't do much to citizens of the USSR, but there's this guy down in the brig at Charleston Naval Base named Jose Padilla...

[JuniorPlankton]

4. Yes, that's what I meant by mostly

But * didn't get to Stalin's scale yet (millions of people)
He is well upon his way conceptually.

[Amerpie]

5. Actually

Since Iraq vs. Vietnam contrasts are all the rage these days, it's interesting to note that more troops have died in Iraq than had died in Vietnam in the same amount of time.

[Nikia]

2. Just semantics

Only semantics, but that's how poli-tic(k)s are. They suck blood from wherever they can however they can and try to keep control of their source of power, usually that's a big sign of the BAD leaders though.

When brave men do nothing...

[Dark]

6. Stalin didn't do cocaine.

[amber dog democrat]

7. Chimp does not have Beria or the Lubyanka yet.

We don't have the type of massive arrests and executions as done by the NKVD yet.

We don't have a single party that dominates local politics yet ot all power and authority centralized into one bureaucratic authoritarian system.... yet

Also Stalin studied to be a priest at first.

[MonicaR]

8. We don't have concentration camps in Alaska..

Yet....

[Amerpie]

9. Concentration Camps

We only have concentration camps in Cuba and at various INS centers around the country.

[amber dog democrat]

10. But we did have them in WWII

For Japanese - Americn families.

[James T. Kirk]

11. Historical info

Josef Stalin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin

Enemy of the people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_people

Gulag
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag

[James T. Kirk]

12. History of "illegal combatants" in USA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_combatant

The American legal definition of this dates back to World War II.

[cornfedyank]

13. they should call this thing GORT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4779727/

what do you think stalin would do with that?

[cornfedyank]

14. klaatu barada nikto n/t