The US, UN & Iraq III

Huh?!

Hoft wrote:

If either of you plan to go after unsupported enormities - try addressing Tartarin, who grotesquely plagiarized without attribution Aristotle's phrase on Greek tragedy: "pity and terror".

For those who've overdosed on this ceaseless pity, btw, here comes its companion, terror:

<Nuclear explosion in Korea>

<G>

Hoft: Thought I'd repost this for those who missed it.

Thanks, Perception! Will go get that pic of the exploding nuke and re-post it.

Btw - it doesn't matter if other participants never read my posts - but they can be reasonably expected to read what they themselves have posted, here about Hitler and dogs, within the last hour, as in:

"......As with Hitler, there's the inevitable racial component. Armchair warriors glow with the excitement. The dog fight, snarl by snarl, bite by bite, is lovingly rehashed. "Our dog," blood still visible on the hair along his jaw, is a hero. His superior force is ennobled; the dying dog is weak and silly. ....."

Of course, considering how ineffably boring the posts of that person invariably are, she can hardly be blamed for not reading them <G>

Careful with those sticks, kids. Don't go poking one another.

I love the idea of providing a link to Aristotle!

Cohen, from Lorca

With respect, that which is countable, is a thin portion of what is available.

I have been involved in a writing project with someone on this site. I would ask that person to disassociate me now from the project, though I wish it and the person the best of luck.

I am backing off from my analogy. It was over the top. HofT, yes, the dog fighting is absolutely illegal here. But it lives, every day.

I should not have used the analogy. I do not think of timber that way. I was saddened by his comment that he, although questioning our motives for going to war, was nevertheless able to comment, ongoingly, on the outstanding success of our war machine. The moral-less entries that ensue, the cold and calculating entries of victories and successes, were and are beyond my understanding.

Kara - you're addressing in my person somebody who just spent hours trying to save beached dolphins; we have lots of them in Massachusetts, unfortunately, and reports of dolphins and pilot whales getting beached are coming in from Maine to the Florida keys.

At 4 a.m. - couldn't get plane and co-pilot ready sooner - am taking off to check all the beaches between Boston and Nova Scotia; it doesn't sound like a long way but there's lots of small islands, deserted, and they all have to be checked.

We don't know what's causing it - but some of the dead dolphins were autopsied, had bleeding in their brains in the area where their sonars are located, and while no formal connection has been made so far it may be the new underwater radars. If that turns out to be the case we'll just have to find another way to patrol the great abyssal plains.

To sum up: I put in a lot of my time and effort to improve the life of intelligent creatures like dogs and dolphins and get impatient when I come across people who've never done anything to improve the lot of animals but still drag them into some crazy pastiche of dogs+Hitler+racism+huh. I hope that was clear - and am sorry to hear about Blatham departing the writing project <G>

Final post - have to get some sleep! - as promised to Perception:



P.S. after all those years, is it OK to say you used to take off carrying a few of those?!

Goodnight, all, and a Happy Easter <G>

HofT, Gotcha.

I know you from other threads, one in particular on Abuzz.

My comment was that I should not have responded to timber in such an emotional way. My analogy was not suitable to his well thought-out post.

HofT, come back and report.

Perhaps the weather's gotten to me tonight, hoft, but I don't know what you mean. What is a self-serving measurement in my use of crown? I don't understand your last sentence. And I mentioned greed, although it is not an original utterance. It was all Greek to me, what you wrote.

Kara, I've known HofT a long time, and from other venues, too. I think she's really a good sort and a valued freind. I've less acquaintance of you, but I think you're a pretty damned good sort too, and just as valued a freind. I'm terribly sorry I gave you sufficient dismay as to cause you to post in haste and regret in retrospect. Such was never my intent. I truly admire your passion, and likely am unmindful of the greater passion roused in you by my lack of same when it comes to discussion of the mechanics of war. I freely admit that politically or philosophically, I can go over the top, become carried away, get overly exhuberant ... but when it comes to bombs and bullets, boots and bombers, I'm really a very much cut-and-dried, by-the-numbers type ... sort of an Armored Accountant, I guess I've always been pretty much that way with tech stuff of any sort ... I get very technical about it. You don't even want to get me STARTED on HDTV or power-to-weight ratios and handling characteristics of off-road vehicles! :wink:

Anyway, I digress ... don't worry, I wasn't hurt in the dogfight. I figured there was a lot more barking there than biting. I know what you meant, no matter what you said. I admire you for meaning it.

HofT ... please do keep us updated on the cetacean situation ... I've been following the story in the media; I feel better knowing you're there for them. They have a powerful ally.

Message deleted by poster

Did the war go according to plan?

Dan Plesch is a senior research fellow at the Royal United services Institute.

[email protected]

he writes

With the conventional war now won, was it true to say "the war went according to the plan"? A number of facts indicate this was not the case.

Numerous soldiers said they were not told to expect resistance

Lieutenant General William Wallace commander fo the US armys 5th Corps, famously explained that this was not the enemy they had wargamed against

The US used almost all the 20000 paratroops in the 101st and 82nd Airborne to protect its supply lines to Baghdad.
This is a mission for military police and infantry. The paratroops should have been available to get to Baghdad, Tikrit, Kirkuk and Mosul in the first, not the last week of war.....

The latest political truth emanating from George Bush and his officials is that in the "new political environment" other states will do as they are told - ignoring that in the run-up to war the Turks refused to be obedient for the first time in 60 years. The Saudis too are showing more, not less, independence and have given US forces notice to leave. The US assumes they will relocate to Iraq, but will the democratically expressed will of the Iraqi people include an invitation to set up US bases in their country?

No it's certainly not utter drivel, and I thought as a metaphor it was particularly relevant to the present case.
Secondly, in western Europe of course there are laws directed at preventing cruelty to animals, but that doesn't stop scenes such as that staged described fight taking place. Illegal dogfights, badger-baiting with terriers, etc take place secretly, in the UK and elsewhere.

And to get back to the metaphor, the owners of the attack dogs have now got the reins of power. They can re-write the laws now to suit themselves.

McT

Quite right McTag,

And with all due repect to HofT who is doing a wonderful job as a one woman superman, sorry one man superwoman, saving the dolphins and the planet while quoting ancient Greek, I think she was probably suffering from lack of sleep.

HofT is a good one. So is Tartarin. And timber, and perc, and steve and Kara and Walter and everybody here, with the likely exceptions of Steissd and myself.

At Christmas, a fellow I know disappeared down into his wine cellar, then returned with a kind gift for me, saying "Bernie, this is a serious bottle of wine." I think, finally, I'm going to open it, thus graduating to the status of serious drinker. No other solution to human conflict seems likely to appear on my horizon or on HofT's radar. Is anyone else feeling so deeply tired of all this?

Yes.

I'd bet a hundred on GWB.

timber, One thing you don't need from me is a lesson in spelling, but remember "i before e except in receive?" c.i.