The US, UN & Iraq II

tartarin, I wondered in Washington last Saturday if the cameras scanning our crowd from a platform near the Washington Monument were making picture files for the FBI.

Should be some fairly animated journalism coming up here real quick. Plenty of video effects too.

Unamed Penatagon Official .. "This is A-DaY"

Blatham

While I have always found your wit razor sharp and entertaining I have also been very clear headed about your intentions and hope that our government fails.

I can not comprehend your fanaticism in this regard. While you grasp at any shred of evidence to show that our system is flawed (and it is indeed not perfect) you completely ignore (showing your lack of interest in displaying any desire to be objective) any portion of our historical track record which clearly shows our compassion for other people and countries. As this victory unfolds we will continue to show sensitivity toward the Iraqi people but I'm sure you will ignore this as it undermines your objective.

Your premise that we are acting unilaterally is completely shattered by the growing list of countries (now more than 40) who publicly support our action and the others who covertly (cowardly) support our actions are many.

If we adhered to your foolish belief that the military/industrial complex was evil and those companies who manufacture weapons should be destroyed and we should retreat to the old theory that weapon parity would somehow save lives. This is exactly what led to millions being killed--weapons parity. We would never have been able to create our current technological superiority. This is what has allowed only one marine combat casualty thus far in this conflict.(the chopper casualties were accidental and probably caused by operating in several sand storms). We must be extremely aggressive in preserving this superiority---in fact I would present the belief that we must be ruthless in maintaining this superiority.

I must repeat that I fully and proudly support the actions of the President and his team of highly qualified advisors. It is evident that this operation has been very successful thus far and there is no reason to be pessimistic at this point.

Me? I want to see the entire Bush regime, their phoney war, their social and economic policies, their disregard for people outside their circle, their scorn for the democratic process, their incursions on our freedoms not to mention our belief in our country, their painful and indecent arrogance, go kerblooey. In the meantime, I'll definitely settle for a major American political -- that's p-o-l-i-t-i-c-a-l -- loss resulting from this regime's military adventurism. Suspend from the skyscraper offices of Halliburton and Bechtel members of their revolving-door boards and management -- suspend each of these with a rope loosely attached to one foot. Perhaps the K Street gang are also due for a huge embarrassment and a quick end to their long-term leases. Put an end to all media outlets which are not independent. But spare the civilians. Spare any involved in this mess who have doubts and a conscience. And don't forget, ANY loss of life in this invasion is the fault of the perps and of Congress, not of those Americans or Canadians (or anyone else) opposing an illegal attack.

The skyline of every city in Iraq has been changed. I expect significant Iraqi surrenders will be much in the news as the day wears on. Leadership clearly is the target. City lights are still on. The Attack may be over before the weekend is. I'm sure Rummie's imminent press conference will be essentially "Surrender or die".

Afghanistan Rumbles: 14 Coalition Soldiers Dead
Mar 21, 2003
Source: Daily Islam, Translated By Jihad Unspun

As soon as the attack on Iraq began Mujahideen in Afghanistan increased the number of their attacks on Coalition and Afghan troops which have killed 14 soldiers in total, critically injured dozens and several others are not yet accounted for.

More explosions rocked Kandahar and Jalalabad area while just in Khost in a single day 8 soldiers were killed and 7 missing. The attack took place at 12:30 am Wednesday night. In another operation, in a popular Jihadi district of Afghanistan, Zavar, a fierce battle between the Mujahideen and coalition forces continued for almost two and a half hours during which 3 soldiers were killed and 2 severely injured.

US leaves Pakistan as protest spreads
By Hamish McDonald, Herald Correspondent in Islamabad, and agencies
March 22 2003





The United States closed its embassy in Pakistan yesterday for an indefinite period as protests grew countrywide against the US-led attack on Iraq.

Non-essential embassy staff flew out of Pakistan on Thursday, leaving a small number of personnel and marine guards. Private US citizens have been advised to consider leaving the country, as have nationals of allied countries, including Australia.

US forces under fire in Afghanistan
Posted Fri, 21 Mar 2003

US forces in Afghanistan were pounded by rockets launched by suspected extremists as coalition troops continued a major al-Qaeda hunt, the US military said on Friday.

Colonel Roger King said more than a dozen rockets were targeted at three separate US bases in what was the largest assault on US forces in almost five months.

Dagmar wrote

perception, please do find a different tune to sing. i think it was said not once nor twice, but many times on these pages, that nobody who is against war wants to see injuries or deaths of american soldiers or rejoice when they do happen. i have not read that in any post, don't take things out of context, that ain't fair.
and it's getting tiring. i'm sure you can think of something else to say?


You seem to want to inhibit my right to express myself!

Since you are a newcomer to this thread you don't know that I been an observer/poster from the beginning(some 600 plus pages). If you or anyone else find my words offensive so be it but I am only responding to the words of others that I also find offensive. Since this is the only thread that I find interesting, you will not encounter my "truthful" words anywhere else so you might want to use other threads. If you insist on visiting this thread try singing another song yourself.

Ahem

a little song
a little dance
a little seltzer
down your pants

http://inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=119_0_1_0_C

The irony is that all along the United States has had every right to resume military operations against Iraq under existing Security Council resolutions, because Saddam Hussein was patently in breach of his commitments. Instead, the administration chose to base its actions on an unlimited assertion of an American right to make war at will. Whether or not we intend to be an empire, we now present the aspect of one -- an appearance that has already contributed to the fracturing of our alliances by playing into the ambitions of those, such as the French and their followers, who believe their mission is to contain us. The administration knows that it is responsible for the reconstruction of Iraq after this war is over. But it does not appear to realize that it also must find a way to reconstruct another collateral casualty: the notion that America is part of a community of nations. Leon Feurth, Washington Post, 3/20

The real price of the coming conflict, in blood and treasure, has been concealed rather than debated. While Mr. Bush spoke of the certainty of "sacrifice" of our own young people in uniform, he has barely acknowledged the terrible suffering likely to be inflicted on innocent Iraqis. The future price of the diplomatic misadventures that have led us to this moment, in ruined alliances and damaged institutions, cannot begin to be reckoned now. For the President and his political advisers, an easy victory promises better poll numbers and election prospects. For the American corporations that are already being invited by the Bush administration to bid on multibillion-dollar reconstruction contracts, such short-term gains may outweigh global problems on the distant horizon.
For the rest of us, however, life amid the diplomatic wreckage may gradually become more dangerous, more difficult and more expensive than Mr. Bush and his optimistic advisers have imagined. http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=7111

Despite the sanguine way George W. Bush and his chamberlains talk about a post-war Iraq, senior military officers are worried. According to recent unpublicized U.S. Army War College studies being read with increasing interest by some Pentagon planners, "The possibility of the United States winning the war and losing the peace in Iraq is real and serious." And that's especially true if occupation force soldiers are not retrained to be "something similar to a constabulary force" and imbued with the understanding that "force is often the last resort of the occupation soldier." The War College studies explore in detail a troubling paradox: While all experts agree that stabilizing post-Saddam Iraq would be a protracted endeavor, "the longer a U.S. occupation of Iraq continues," one of the studies notes, "the more danger exists that elements of the Iraqi population will become impatient and take violent measures to hasten the departure of U.S. forces."
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0312/vest.php

Plan B for the Peace Movement http://inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=121_0_1_0_C

We don't oppose it, we simply don't recognize its authority over US citizens and on US soil. (It's called sovereignty.)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States has launched a worldwide diplomatic drive to head off the calling of an emergency session of the U.N. General Assembly to condemn the U.S.-led war on Iraq, diplomats said on Friday.

The group of nonaligned nations at the United Nations met earlier this week to consider convening a special session of the 191-nation assembly to denounce the United States

Dyslexia wrote:


Afghanistan Rumbles: 14 Coalition Soldiers Dead
Mar 21, 2003
Source: Daily Islam, Translated By Jihad Unspun <

Has this been confirmed by any authentic source???????

Tartarin thanks for the links.

Does anyone think we are really going to be able to "leave" Iraq? Remember Korea? We're still there. Not only are we still there, but it looks ready to explode any moment. Then there's Iran, the other part of Axis of Evil. This really didn't have to happen.

http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=1191208

Offensive (I thought) if inadvertent juxtaposition in a recap of the news just now: "The Pentagon reports that two marines have been killed; and the Dow is up 234 points."

There are increasing mentions of "Third-Party Surrender Negotiations" involving "Senior Iraqi Military Command Elements" and an "Unidentified Third Party" ... still pretty much a rumor, though. Planes recovering to Carriers and In-Theater Airfields now could be turned around could easily be turned around rapidly enough to perform another concerted strike mission and recover for rearming within a few hours. I suspect The US, even if not in the conference room, will be able to pound persuasively on the table should negotiations falter.

Jubilant crowds greeting US troops in Safwan, the Southern Oilfields "Secured", Basra is likely to fall this evening, Turkey allows overflights ... gettin' scary. Things may be going too well.

I note too that conjecture and speculation regarding Saddam's health refuses to die down. Should he fail to directly and specifically respond to these most recent strikes, and do so rather soon, the question will gain weight.

"We", who?