I am not going to get into the details and dates that some of you quote, as I have limited time to follow all the links and eyesight that will not currently let me read at great length on the screen, but I will offer a comment on the broader issue that seems to get ignored (or perhaps just buried) in the wealth of detail available in this new age of technology.

   In many ways, nothing is different now than it was 50, 100, 200 years ago. All over the world there were and are injustices, hate, bigotry, murder, greed,....and indifference. Tyrants, rival ethnic groups, and just plain evil greedy men wreak havoc on others for various reasons, and often NOTHING is done about it. What has changed in the last 50 years? Communication & technology & access to modern weapons has made it not only easier to engage in genocide and pillage, but easier to hear about it and be appalled.......but very little progress has been made in human mechanisms to deal with it. The U.N., as noted, had legal limits to what it can do, and the ages-old habits of countries and ethnic groups to simply protect extoll and enhance their own interests still prevails.

The very concept of one, or a group, of countries going to the aid of another on humanitarian grounds is relatively new, and there are VERY few rules about how & when it should be done. We are still territorial animals, and with world population growing and resources shrinking, "territory" is at a premium, and water, grazing land and access to resources are big issues, even without the desire for 'modern' conveniences like medicine, plumbing..... and video games.

It is possible to write a 'plan' which will solve, theoretically, issue "X", but almost IMpossible to write one which will please both sides, because the overriding concept in most disputes is "I want mine--my way."

"Should" US troops (or ANY troops) be sent into Sudan?..or Mollucca?..or Northern Ireland?...or Palestine?...or The Congo?...or Venezula?.......why, sure.."Now, you guys just stop this silly bickering and killing and behave, or we righteous ones will spank you!" ....ummm...just as soon as we figure out how to get 75% or our citizens into the military and devote 90% of our budget and time to the process!

Should we ignore the whole thing and let the idiots sort it out themselves and just sell arms to the warlords who can raise the most money" ...why, sure! "Go, on, kill, pillage and rape...just don't bother OUR citizens who are trying to make deals for what natural resources you have....and DON'T get outside your borders! Oh, and we are getting a bit overburdened with your refugees who have sense enough to try to LEAVE the insanity...except for those who have skills we can use, and who won't cause any political turmoil."

Folks, you can debate until you are blue in the face, but **ANY** action or solution you propose is only defensable from one viewpoint, and given different premises (read "prejudices"), another solution or action is equally defensable.

I could type for another hour or two, giving examples and explicating the reasoning, but my eyes hurt and you KNOW the examples and you oughta know the reasoning....the answer is, there IS no 'ultimate' answer...except "change human nature"...and that makes me terribly sad.

Ok...I've sounded off...(mostly to see it in print and clarify what I think to myself, I suppose)...if you have read this far, you can all go back to your interminable re-hashing of minutæ and calling each other narrow, inaccurate and illogical....at least there'll be some truth in THAT.