I also remember timber Tartarin - and this is the memory I retain!
Actually, perc, the RG Units have always been prohibited from entering cities ... particularly Baghdad. Saddam fears his military more than he fears his people. His people by and large aren't armed. The "Inner Circle" security forces, such as the "Special" Republican Guard, which really is a more an exceptionally well armed paramilitary group, are Saddam's protection from military coup. Tanks in the street most often spell disaster for dictators ... Saddam may be crazy, but he ain't dumb.
Gelis
Could this be the ad hominem you refer to?
Pdiddie wrote:
You are one nasty mf, percy.
Of course I don't know what MF is can someone enlighten me?
Timber, Just to let you know that if you rap PDiddie on the knuckles and not Perc, I'm outta here.
Tartarin wrote:
My feeling is that Perception does not honor the military. I come away from these discussions remembering Marines who abused their wives, drink and talk tough, behave like the dictatorial bullies we read about. I remember some of the worst atrocities committed by American military in WWII and Vietnam even though there were many soldiers who weren't like that. Maybe there were more than I figured, I always think after an encounter here. On the other hand, those members of my family whom I know well, who served in the military, are not at all like that. But they fade into the background and all I can see is the take-no-prisoners destructive and meanness Perception seems to represent as he allies himself with these guys. It's a real disservice, I think. And it makes me embarrassed to be fellow American, Perception.
This is the complete insult and I demand an apology -----TIMBER----Tartarin has stepped over the line. Action Please
Pass the biscuits .....
A mind that's changed against it's will is of the same opinion still.
everyone stop! take it to the PM.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am locking this thread for 24 hours. You might want to all refamiliarize yourselves with the Terms of Service and the Debate Guidelines.
In the meantime, I'm sorry, but I am fed up with the ad hominen attacks. If they continue, I will lock this thread permanently.
Thank you.
I have unlocked this thread. Now, kindly behave yourselves or I will lock it again. Permanently.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Thanks, jespah! (Especially for the break :wink: )
Acquiunk wrote:We are going to win this thing, that is a no brainer. What bothers me with Fox is that by escorting any point of view that is not absolutely 100 percent laudatory about this war, they are setting themselves up. So that when the war is won they can crow that they were prescient and steadfast while all other's were carping nay-saying and deserting the ship.
Nobody who has watched Fox over the last week could make such a statement, unless he or she simply wanted to lie. In fact, Fox has featured a lot of field reporting by Sky News reporters whom I have found tend to lean towards being too negative in their assessment of how the coalition is doing, and seem to want to emphasize the negatives. Fox may be
less inclined to paint the US in a bad light here than are some others, but their coverage is not all "rah-rah".
And FYI: the official name for this operation is
Operation Iraqi Freedom. That's not Fox spinning it, that's Fox calling it by the name it was given by the military. (You can complain at the military's choice, but don't pretend it was Fox's choice, or is evidence of a Fox bias towards anything but the facts.)
That comment was address not to their field coverage but to their editorial position.
The news about U.S. intentions to position their own inspectors in Iraq. Source: Middle East Online, based on International Atomic Energy Agency statements.
ElBaradei: It is not US duty to monitor Iraqi disarmament
UN nuclear watchdog says IAEA is sole body with legal authority to verify Iraq's nuclear disarmament.
VIENNA - The United Nations' nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday it - and not the United States- was responsible for checking that Iraq did not possess any atomic weapons, after a report that Washington wanted to set up unilateral weapons inspections.
"The IAEA is the sole body with legal authority to verify Iraq's nuclear disarmament," the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei said in a statement.
"The world has learned over three decades that only through impartial, international inspections can credibility be generated. Iraq is no exception to that requirement."
ElBaradei's comments came after the Washington Post said Washington had set up special military units to seek out the weapons of mass destruction it accuses Iraq of developing.
"The Bush administration is determined to conduct the weapons hunt without the UN agencies that hold Security Council mandates for the job. Administration officials distrust the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the IAEA," the paper said, quoting "disarmament planners" who are also "negotiating contracts with private companies for some of the work".
"White House officials have backed Defense Department efforts to create a substitute organization for UNMOVIC and the Vienna-based IAEA," the report continued, adding that the US State Department feared their moves would be opposed by other members of the UN Security Council.
Hans Blix, the head of the UN inspection team responsible for verifying whether Iraq possesses any banned chemical and biological arms, said on Saturday that the US and London were trying to recruit his inspectors to work on a unilateral weapons search programme.
"They have turned to some people who currently work for us and asked them to come down and help. These are our people who come from countries that are engaged in the conflict down there," Blix said.
The inspection teams led by ElBaradei and Blix were evacuated from Iraq two days before the US-British invasion of Iraq, less than four months into the verification mission the United Nations Security Council had asked them to undertake.
ElBaradei - who on March 7 said UN experts had found no sign of any prohibited nuclear activity at any inspected site in Iraq - said on Tuesday the weapons teams hoped to continue their work once the war was over.
"The IAEA mandate in Iraq is still valid and has not changed," he said. "Our operation is interrupted because of hostilities.
"We expect to go back with full authority after the cessation of hostilities, to resume our inspection activities in Iraq pursuant to the mandate given to us both by the Security Council and by the fact that Iraq is a party to the NPT (nuclear non-proliferation treaty).
"Impartial and independent verification is at the core of international efforts over the last 30 years to underpin the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons," he continued, adding that IAEA inspectors had not yet been approached by Washington to work for the United States.
Relations between Washington and the IAEA took a turn for the worse after ElBaradei told the Security Council on March 7 that documents allegedly proving that Iraq was seeking to procure uranium from Niger were forgeries. US Vice President Dick Cheney responded by saying that he thought ElBaradei was wrong in his conclusions.
While IAEA inspectors were able to dismantle Iraq's secret nuclear weapons programme following the first Gulf war in 1991, US officials have pointed out that IAEA inspectors failed to uncover the Iraqi programme before the war.
"We had made good progress since resuming inspections in Iraq in November and we stand ready, subject to Security Council guidance, to resume our work after the war and to provide the ongoing assurances sought by the Security Council that Iraq has no nuclear weapons programme."
The IAEA was for a long time one of the few UN agencies firmly supported by Washington, and one whose budget the US Congress did not attempt to cut.
Gone fishin---I'll be back---maybe sooner---maybe later.
IMO--the war to liberate the Iraqi is progressing rapidly and gaining momentum every minute. It's anyone's guess if they will wait for the 4th ID to roll----but probably not---- the weather is getting hotter every day so they will probably go in any day now.
The determining factor will be that magic number of attrition---50%.
Have a nice day!
I wonder how many Iraqi's and coalition men and women must die before the Iraqi's sees "freedom?" c.i.
good question c.i. you have to wonder how many we have to kill in order to show them what freedom is.
Funny thing about my time in Viet Nam - I never hated the enemy. I saw them as a poor slob - just like me, standing over there, trying to kill someone who had orders from the leadership who were safe and sound somewhere else. God, war sucks - and so do the leaders that order it for "Preemptive" (which is really "Preventative") reasons.
Yes, dyslexia.
What's that old saying? When elephants fight, it is the chickens who die.
Ya know, I got pretty damned mad at some of 'em once in a while, but all in all I felt very, very sorry for The People. The worst, I think, is when great harm fell by treachery, necessity, accident or misdesign on The People. I saw an awful lot of that sort of thing. That made me particularly mad at The Badguys. A parochial view, sure, and judgemental as re who might be the goodguys and who the badguys, but it was pretty much the way I felt.
