Praeothmin wrote:KirkSkywalker wrote:I'm simply saying that it was Picard's type of wimpy politically-correct policies of soft-touch appeasement during the Clinton-years when the show originally aired, that led to the 9/11 attacks.
And many people don't agree with you.
I personnaly would not have done the same thing, but I understand Picard's intentions when doing it.
Sooner or later, when Pressman faces court-martial charges, or even a simple dismissal if Starfleet wants to keep this secret, the Romulans would find out about this, and would want to know more.
And in this case, we are in the political debate arena, and we have no proof of anything, except how Starfleet did indeed seem to approve of Picard's choice because he received no sanction at all...
If Picard had just kept quiet then the whole issue would have been kept secret, and dealt with internally by Starfleet. In contrast, by airing Starfleet's dirty laundry to the Romulans, Picard:
1)
informed the Romulans that the Federation had
possession of asuccessfully working phase-cloak-- and had already accomplished it for over a decade;
2)
used the phase-cloak, thereby violating the treaty
right before their eyes; and
3) brought up questions for the Romulans, as to whether Picard was truly being honest, or just playing some sort of mind-game trickery in which he was
ordered to make this claim, order to clear the Federation by having Presman take the fall--possibly in which they didn't even
have a phase-coak, but were engage in some game which made it
look like they did. The Romulans woudn't know if he was teling the truth, just because he actually
was telling it.
In short, to borrow a phrase, Picard "acted stupidly," placing his own sense of personal honor before his
duty to the good of the Federation.
Likewise, what was Picard's
evidence that the Admiral was acting against Starfleet orders?
The Treaty itself? Officers can be ordered to violate treaties
all the time, it doesn't give them the right to arrest the official who
issues the order. A simple
call to Starfleet HQ would have done the job-- and would have been proper, in order to verify the order-- and receive proper instruction on the matter if it wasn't.
However it seems that Picard is the actual head of Starfleet, and can take it upon himself to make top-level decisions on his own discretion, jumping the heads of Starfleet command themselves.
