The initial post was a good argument for profiling on racial appearance or habits, some of which may have happened recently when the British police took out a presumably innocent passerby. My take on that particular incident is more, "Why did he run if he was innocent?", rather than, "Oh the poor man!" Our police frequently must make snap decisions based on their training, experience, and past history; that they might not have made in the cold hard light of reason, well after the point. For every decision by a police person or combat soldier, there are a thousand people moaning that the event was patently unfair, the police/military are all rabid bigots/terrorists - you chose the word - for acting on the spur of the moment in a manner that they might not have chosen were they given more time to make a decision.

    My take on this parallels the quote, "Diplomacy is the art of murmuring, 'Good Doggy', until you can reach a bigger stick!"

    What many people don't know, realize, or wish to admit, is that the School of the Americas is/was a school, originally started in the Panama Canal Zone for members of South and Central American military. Citing it as a main source of Latin American tyrants is like blaming Irish elementary [the first 5-6 years of school] schools as being hotbeds of bigotry and incentives to riot and murder, as a very large of the combatants on BOTH sides were educated there. Having actually SEEN this institution when it was sited in Panama, and served with a USAF Latino who actually taught there; electronics in his case, that the amount of torture or repression actually taught in this school is far overshadowed by the amount of down to earth, soldiering subjects taught there. Its prime function is to insure that various nations in that part of the world are actually playing from the same sheet of music. It serves the same purpose for people in that area as the SAS training course in England serves for the fortunate officers of allied services who are good enough to be selected to attend this outstanding training.

    Dave