| From: | ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.Colorado.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Mail for Drake |
| Date: | Wed, 22 May 1996 13:27:50 -0600 (MDT) |
>>>>>[My apologies for taking so long to respond, but the job does
occasionally preclude my enjoying ethical and philosophical debates such
as ours.
I don't feel that you and your fellow agents break the law for amusement,
Lilith, but you ignore them when they don't suit your purposes. To me
that is rampaging about. I don't expect you to understand, but sometimes
the law provides a second chance. Some of my best agents were criminals
at one point, and your righteous rampaging would have condemned them to
death. The law, not morality or ethics, gave them a second chance that
you and Lynch would have denied them. And they have reformed so well that
they are now helping enforce the laws they broke originally. This is part
of the reason that I am so vehement about my beliefs.
Hell, some of them were caught or nearly killed by your agency, and now
they are InterPol agents. With new faces, identities, even new sexes in
some cases.
You defend the UCAS. But you break the very laws you are sworn to uphold
in the name of the country. Where my defense of "just following" orders
may not hold based on history, neither will the infamous Oliver North
defense of "I did what I did to defend the Country." What good can come
of breaking the laws of your own country in order to defend the people who
live under those laws?
When you operated under Executive Order, Lilith, whatever you did was
legal. That is just as terrible as the horrors of Abeline, and I am glad
those days are over. But operating outside the law now, how is that any
less terrible to the people you are supposed to protect? The only
difference I see is that the law protected you from orginizations such as
InterPol once, and now I can pursue you, and your fellow agents, for your
crimes. To me, that is the only difference. Doing terrible things with
protection is no worse than doing terrible things without protection. The
only difference is that now you have to at least consider the consequences
of what you do in legal terms before you and your fellow agents go and
do them anyway.
So, you are a leopoard shapeshifter then? No wonder your views seem so
alien to me sometimes. But Lynch's seem almost as alien and I'm certain
he's quite human, if somewhat enhanced. But I doubt that my beliefs are
any less alien to you.
As for the Leopard Guards at Five Eyes, there was much that I could have
done. Lone Star will always be purchasable, because they are a
corporation which does whatever it feels like so long as it brings a
profit. I find it interesting that Lone Star has thier office of Military
Liason in DC, however. Much of InterPol is bought, and I fight against
every section that is in every way I can. Most people can be bought,
Lilith. But not all people, and not all cops. But there is a lot that
can be done legally. Watch and learn. You might learn something of what
can be done legally in Seattle.
You might be surprised, Lilith, but Special Branch doesn't need your help
to stay honest and effective. I have enough power to ensure that, and
enough responsibility to use it correctly. That's part of why every
Commander of Special Branch is hand chosen and trained by his, or her,
predecessor. I have enough power that I cannot afford to pass it on to
someone irresponsible, or who is a corporate or national stoodge. The
guardians don't need your protection, and I'd sleep much better knowing
that I don't have it. Nothing personal, but your organization protecting
me makes me ill.
Perhaps I'm a hipocrite for saying this, but a wise man once said that
"Violence is the last refuge of the mentally incompetent." If you had
planned and executed properly, perhaps you could have found the time and
leisure to arrest the Leopards. After all, they were all asleep when you
found them. And I know from experience that Neuro-Stun and other
non-lethal gasses delivered in grenade form or through the building
ventilation system works wonders. No violence, and you could have
delivered all of the guards to me without killing them. But I use
violence when it serves my purpose too, so I probably shouldn't talk. Of
course, you were just following your orders.
And I thought you knew. Leopard Guards aren't Aztlan, but Aztechnology
controled.
Morality is not simple, Lilith, even if you think it is. To say murder is
wrong is obvious, because it's not called "murder" if it wasn't wrong to
begin with. But killing to survive? How about bank robbery in order to
pay for the expensive, but potentially life-saving, surgery of a loved
child? And BTLs are a "victimless" crime in all but 1% of the cases. I
gratefullyleave those legal decisions to those far better qualified than I.
Morality and honor are totally dependant on the person, Lilith. Relying
on something so variable from circumstance and culture and individual as
morality means a very confused compass, to borrow your analogy. The law
is set in paper. It can be changed, but until it is, it provides a solid
set of guidelines and rules that don't change within a specific culture,
and by which every individual must live or suffer the consequences. They
are related to morality, but independant as well. As you say, the
corporations are independant of this. Which is why InterPol has never
actively pursued the corporate presence on the Governing Board, and why
the corporations only come to us when they have no other choice.
Please don't help me, Lilith. Don't help my agents either. Your help
cheapens what Special Branch does and what it stands for. Requiring the
assistance of known criminals in order to do my job leaves a bad taste in
my mouth where using ex-criminals who have reformed does not. Special
Branch is doing quite well without you.]<<<<<
-- Commander Drake, InterPol <13:28:39/05-22-57>
