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June 27, 2003
As Baghdad Boils, Blackouts Shut Down Air Conditioning And Anger Iraqis
At first glance, I thought this was a story about Philadelphia. From the Boston Globe: Sabotage against Baghdad's power grids has blacked out much of the city for days on end, forcing residents to sleep on roofs, fan infants and study by candlelight.Posted By Alan at June 27, 2003 04:53 PM | TrackBack maybe the iraqi's will get pissed off at the rebels for shutting down the power............. We promised them a better life & so far it hasn't happened. 16 dead since May 1st, numerous injurys, a friend stationed in Iraq writes Iraqi's spit & yell go home American. Not a pleasant situation for our troops. Posted by: sophia at June 27, 2003 07:04 PMWow, substitute a word or two in that nice lady's statement, and you've summed up the neocons: ''When the Americans removed the Democrats, we expected that we would have a better life, but things are getting worse.'' Posted by: x at June 27, 2003 07:32 PMI am increasingly disappointed in the Iraqis, and increasingly convinced we cannot turn pigs' ears into silk purses, i.e. pinhead Iraqis into pluralistic democrats (note small D). They seem destined to live in their own sewage because they won't fix their plumbing themselves. They seem to require a very heavy hand for any kind of order to develop. And that wouldn't be pc, would it? Heck, give 'em all food stamps. Posted by: TomTom at June 27, 2003 07:34 PM Tom Tom, allow me a chance to rule your city with a cadre of ruthless thugs for thirty years, allow me to let all of your sewage and electrical equipment rust while i steal from your treasury, line my own pockets and generally run the place to hell while giving you just enough food to live. then, have my regime thrown out, have every governing authority that was keeping you barely alive liquidated and then have another army occupy your streets while your neighbors launch guerrilla assults against it and then, then tell me that the iraqis should have handled all of this shit themsleves without order. where do you even get parts for forty year old sewage equipment that was probably manufacted overseas? yeah-what june 16 said. the mentality of someone like TomTom is so amazing. How shallow can you be? Hey TomTom, maybe you should go on a wilderness hike for about a week and see how quickly misery sets in without your frig to run to. Posted by: turnip at June 27, 2003 10:07 PMJune 16_1904 I read a lot of my friend Wolf's comments at CP, and recall one where he pointed out that the Iraqis weren't all camelbound savages before Operation Iraqi Freedom, that given the infrastructure of cities like Baghdad before our arrival, they had to have plumbers, carpenters, electricians and other skilled tradesman around. They have oil fields, and having worked on oil rigs a long time ago, I know that means there are welders, machinists and pipe fitters there as well. Turnip; I have also read a number of your comments. I have yet to read one that is even worth a second glance. However, for your information, a whole slew of us Americans go camping, hiking miles through the woods with tents, sleeping bags and whatever we can carry in a backpack. Conveniences like refrigerators and electric stoves with built in self cleaning ovens are just a mite too cumbersome to carry all that way, so most of us do our best to manage without them, and no misery has yet set in for me or anybody I know. In fact, we always look forward to the next camping trip. You ought to get out and see the real world sometime, it might do you some good. Posted by: Seth at June 27, 2003 10:30 PMSee, june16, you don't disagree with me: give 'em all food stamps. Help them, because they won't do for themselves; and won't even try. Doesn't your heart just go out to the vexed Iraqi father, pissed because his 12 year old daughter can't study by electric light? Never mind some of them are shooting our guys in the back of the head. Oh, that's just an understandable act of cultural outrage....My, my. I guess it takes a village. Posted by: TomTom at June 27, 2003 10:53 PMsophia said, "We promised them a better life & so far it hasn't happened. 16 dead since May 1st, numerous injurys, " So far?? 16 dead since May 1st??? In a fu-kin' war zone???? Get a fu-kin' life winch. This isn't like a new boyfriend that's gonna kiss your ass better than the last. You live in a different world. yeah right..First of all, I think you are a liar!!!!! sounds just like the liberal MF's during the Viet Nam war. You say it was the Iraqis spitting, when it's actually you that wants to do the spitting. 'You' are not a pleasant situation for Americans. Anti- American snake. Tell your 'friend' to shoot the dumb fu-k. What fu-kin' idiot is gonna spit on a f-ckin' marine with a f-ckin' machine gun???? Quit insulting our inteligence. Your friends that live where you live....They spit on whores and yell , "Whores go home!" Not a pleasant situation for you. you pig.......move to France where you can have the 'right of free oink'. Posted by: Jeff B at June 28, 2003 12:00 AMThe policy of the U.S. in helping countries in need has always been different from that of many other nations in that rather than give them "food stamps", we give them farm implements and teach them to use them, along the "Give a man a fish, you'll feed him for a day, teach him how to fish, you'll feed him for a lifetime" line of reasoning. Oh, and Sophia, by the way, Jeff is absolutely right. Given the state of your point of view, you might well be better off in France, as the U.S. would certainly be better off without you. Posted by: Seth at June 28, 2003 12:05 AMThe article said, "''When the Americans removed Saddam, we expected that we would have a better life, but things are getting worse.'' What??? Is someone still rapeing your daughters, killing your husbands and sons, pillaging your country??? Making you live like sheep???? Destroying the infrastructure of your public utilities???? Is someone asking that maybe you participate in your recovery???? This is attrocious!! Posted by: Jeff B at June 28, 2003 12:25 AM "Perhaps the only other group that has welcomed the problems are those who sell generators. The price of a small generator has risen to $1,100 from $600 a week ago, far too expensive for the average Iraqi. "... they won't do for themselves; and won't even try" June 16 is right again: "we need to see that order is maintained". Yup....that's martial law, with curfews, no public assemblies. Let's get going, we got june's OK! Posted by: TomTom at June 28, 2003 02:17 AMListen to W and Rummy. This was All expected, so I kind of agree with an idea I heard on the news somewhere that part of the problem in Iraq is that because our military did such an excellent job of focusing their powers so tightly on the military that as a side effect of this even though we obliterated military resistance we didn't sufficiently cow the Iraqi population into submission. If you look at Japan after WW II there you had for example a population that possibly would have fought to death had we not dropped a few nukes on their cities which at that point in the war didn't hurt their bassically broken military as it did the people's will to resist. Fortunately I suppose times have changed such that cowing a population through military might isn't really an option given the huge backlash it would create within the populations of the free world. Instead we somehow have to be ever sensitive and helpful to the occupied country's people as they bitch, complain, insult, and shoot at us. My personal opinion is that judging from what I've heard about the Iraqi people's response to our troops is that the Iraqi people seem to be subpar compared to the people of some other nations that were occupied. I remember reading for example of a U.S. person shortly after WW II give an account of how surreal an image it was to see an utterly destroyed city juxtaposed with the orderliness of the German people who were neatly and efficiently on the path of reconstruction. The Germans at that time as the Iraqi's had been ruled by a totalitarian like dictator yet after Hitler and his centralized goverment was overthrown to my knowledge you didn't see the Germans start going crazy and looting everything in site become so lazy as to expect he occupiers to do everything for them. In any case I'm not an expert on the happenings of WW II or this current war so even I am skeptical of my own line of reasoning mentioned as I'm all too aware that the complexities of life are such that it's impossible for any human to get the complete and true picture of history. In any case at least through the prism of the media I would have to say that as regards the Iraqi people they come off to me as a bunch of ungrateful, bitchy, lazy, good-for-nothing people. Ok maybe that's a bit too strong, maybe just ungrateful, and whiny. They certainly seem proud though and I can respect that to some degree as I certainly wouldn't be all to happy about being occupied by a foreign army even if they did help oust an oppresive regime. Still I would think that if I observed that the occupying force didn't do anything excessive like kill civilians or intentionally humiliate them and they did make efforts to help I think I would be grateful and would try to help them. The Iraqi people in general for one reason or many seem to not be reacting this way with our troops. Posted by: mikapc at June 28, 2003 02:54 AMMuchochos, E Sallam a Laikum. Mikapc says "I certainly wouldn't be all to happy about being occupied by a foreign army even if they did help oust an oppresive regime." No doubt, a lot fo Iraqi people are happy to see Saddam go, but they are not stupid, the main reasons for so much anti-americaner feeling is that: a) Are they here to stay i.e. What and where is the exit strategy, the Iraqi doesn't hear of one. b) Are they here to stay, are we gonna go from one occupation to another, no doubt they have had a bellyful of occupation, even though the 1st one was an incumber one. c) Are they gonna stay, i.e. are they gonna build irrestible large and permanent military bases there, ready to attack other Muslim countries next door, Sirya, Iran etc. d) Are they gonna stay, and use Iraqi oil to boost the American economy. To the average american joe, there may obvious answers to these questions, but the Iraqi is fearful. Our top boys need to do more about stating exit policy, get Iraqis to front the message, they are certainly not gonna hear it from teh Americeners. Posted by: Onlynow at June 28, 2003 06:08 AMReflections from behind the Hesco Bastion. There are a few loose strings floating through the old thought processes which I would love for people to tie down. Please forgive me if some of my comments / questions appear naive or worse; coming as I do from a culture and society that shares and respects the same values as the United States but is separated by day to day lifestyle and a lack of knowledge of the characters ofyour party political system. Tom Tom,
Sorry about that. Where was I? We need to show them that many aspects of our civilisation and culture could work for them, but if they are going to be allowed to choose, then we have enable and enpower them.(Horrid buzzwords my apologies). Whilst I accept that once "..you've got them by the b...s their hearts and minds will follow", you can't force people to change unless they want to. The vast majority of decent Iraqis do want change, and believe me they've got it, lets show them that this is a change for the better. Earlier this week we took something of a thumping down in the South. A mixture of SNAFU and lack of communication between ourselves and the local population. Later we flew a mission over the area, we didn't drop mustard gas or nerve agent, we dropped leaflets. These leaflets told the Iraqi citizens that there was a new way of doing business that didn't include burning villages to the ground or filling pits with the bodies of their young men....but the new boys weren't going to provide target practice again In my military we call it Leadership by Example, an American president once said..."talk softly , but carry a big stick..". Here's a thought. I would respectfully point out that none of the points above are meant to infer that the people of the Republic of Iraq are children. On a different note, my study of history as an academic subject ended some years ago, could someone please enlighten me as to the significance of June the 16th 1904. Thanking you in anticipation. Posted by: Ubique at June 28, 2003 07:14 AMDoesn't iraq sound just like germany, anyone? Hi Ubique. June the 16th 1904 may refer to :- Ubique, very good example. They are alot like children. They have nothing to base logic on, for lack of experience and never to haveing to think for themselves. (sounds like they need a little bootcamp) The problem at this point is, a couple of the orphans keep killing the adults, and it's almost impossible to know which of the orphans are doing it. As you can imagine, adults are probably getting a little aprehensive about becoming guardians for these orphans.....Until a retired colonel and his wife adopt them. He lines the orphans up and lets them know what his mission is and that he cares about their well being. However, there are certain rules that MUST be followed. Anyone attempting to hurt him, his wife, or other orphans, will be dealt with in a deadly fashion. He will not allow his, his wife's, or other orphan's lives to be threatened. He will kill before accepting the chance that their life is in eminent danger. It's possible that some of the others will accidently be killed or maimed in the process of dealing with the bad orphans. There are appealing rewards for any of the orphans that help you weed out the bad ones, aside from increasing their chances of making it to 18. Pick out the most reliable of the orphans and involve them in helping to assure mutual safety. Using liberal techniques would be fatal. Posted by: Jeff B at June 28, 2003 10:27 AMRE: Posted by Seth at June 28, 2003 12:01 AM RE: Posted by mikapc at June 28, 2003 02:54 AM Very good letter. There is absolutely nothing wrong with your ability to 'reason'. Posted by: Jeff B at June 28, 2003 10:39 AM Martial law is how dictators and despotic regimes run countries. it does not lead to peace. it leads to people moving their anti status quo demonstrations into their basements instead of having them on the streets. the people hate their government even more than they did when their dissent was vocal and above ground, they just don't say it aloud for fear that government agents will hear them. eventually this pent up emotion boils over into a full scale revolution, like in soviet Russia for instance, and the suppressed demonstrations all come out at once. The Advanced Rutabaga Studies Institute Founder: Obie MacAroon June 16, 1904, is the date on which all the events depicted in James Joyce's famous novel Ulysses take place. The General Slocum Disaster. Banner headlines across the New York Times edition of June 16, 1904, screamed the tragic details: 1,000 LIVES MAY BE LOST IN BURNING OF THE EXCURSION BOAT GEN. SLOCUM JUNE 16, 1904- For the Giants, it is the start of an 18-game win streak. The C & R Mining Company was originally incorporated on June 16, 1904 The first surgery was performed by Dr. J.E. Scallon in the new St. Joseph's Hospital on June 16, 1904 on a patient from Butte, Montana. Posted by: more june 16 stuff at June 28, 2003 12:12 PMis my handle really that interesting to you? who took the trouble to post that? talk about deviating from the original post. especially considering i've explained it on five seperate threads in the past week. MY CAVEAT; I have come to the conclusion that I love coming to the command-post and reading the comments. I love it. I love the trolls too. I vehemently disagree with them, KNOW that they are wrong and love the illusion that my voice will add to the chorus and convince them that they need to change. Again, I love that illusion. Maybe once in a great while, someones tone will change just a tad, and that will encourage me into thinking that 'my side' is winning. But the debate rages on and a new face will emerge and we get to know that tone. I love that. But, as with any illusion, it will not last. I read the first post of Zainab, an Iraqi girl blogger from Salam Paxs link. My god, the trolls and the people who think we did the right thing have absolutely destroyed her post. What I am getting at is the debate is raging all over the web. People absolutely love to rage at each other. There are those that believe that no war is justified and there are those who think there are wars that are unavoidable. Those that believe that debate should be stifled during times of duress and those that think it should be agitated. Sides to fight and defend. Lets not lose track of how easily we fall into these things. It leads all the way to world war. Simple differences of opinion, turns into this. Outright hostility on Zainabs first post shows that no one is questioning themselves about the real aim of peace and security, or cultural understanding. Appearance to the contrary, most of us live in the free world and owe our allegiance to it. Lets try to be patient and to do the right thing. OK, I am off the soapbox now. Let the debate and troll bashing continue... I love it. Posted by: devils chewtoy at June 28, 2003 01:14 PM''We have been living without electricity completely for the past three days,'' said Siham Ibrahim, a 48-year-old woman who has been sleeping with her family on the roof of their two-story house in Baghdad. ''When the Americans removed Saddam, we expected that we would have a better life, but things are getting worse.'' Ah, how they must pine for the good old days !! Another comment - I guess it's in the nature of people who have been terrified for years to be totally infantilised. Posted by: TedD at June 28, 2003 01:19 PMBlair's witchunt http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/39174000/rm/_39174360_evidence18_mardell1706_vi.ram Posted by: devils chewtoy at June 28, 2003 01:26 PMinfantilised totaly dependent on others, predominantly, almost exclusively for our very day-to-day existence. Posted by: Infantilised at June 28, 2003 02:03 PMInfantilised; That the democaratic party strategy? Posted by: devils chewtoy at June 28, 2003 02:38 PMrabies i think there is a case of rabies going on here, on both sides of the damn issue domestic dispute cop goes into a house where there is a man stabbing his wife cop subdues the man and stops him wife takes knife and stabs cop in the back did i say wife ? (p.s. screw off verbal droolers) Posted by: me at June 28, 2003 02:45 PMjeff b's words translated into german: (very fitting, no?) yeah right..First von allen, denke ich Sie bin ein Lügner!!!!! Töne mögen gerade die liberalen MF's während des Vietnam Krieges. Sie sagen ihn waren die spitting Iraker, wenn es wirklich Sie ist, das das Spratzen tun möchte. ' Sie ' sind nicht eine angenehme Situation für Amerikaner. Anti- amerikanische Schlange. Erklären Sie Ihrem ' Freund ', das dumb fu-k zu schießen. Was Fustämme ' Idiot wird spit auf einem f-ckin ' Marine mit einem f-ckin ' Maschine Gewehr???? Unser, inteligence zu beleidigen beendigt. Posted by: seig at June 28, 2003 03:50 PMSeig You do that with authority, experience. Seth, that's a direct translation from babelfish.altavista.com. Grow some brains. Posted by: anti-Seth at June 28, 2003 04:54 PMFrom L.T.Smash 'Live from the Sandbox": http://www.lt-smash.us L.T. SMASH IT’S NOT OVER YET After the September 2001 terror attacks, we were faced with two options. The first option was to look within ourselves, to attempt to understand what had happened and how it had occurred. We would examine not just the intelligence and security failures, but how our foreign and defense policies had provoked such rage against us. We would then invest heavily in intelligence and homeland defense, to make sure it would Never Happen Again™. We might launch surgical strikes against those who attacked us, but only when we had sufficient evidence of guilt or complicity and could be certain that collateral damage would be minimal or non-existent. Finally, we would re-tool our foreign policy to be less offensive to the Islamic world, encourage Israel to make more concessions to the Palestinians, and pull back our military from the Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf. Hopefully, this would remove any incentive for terrorism against the United States, and we could go on with our happy and peaceful lives. I call this option “withdrawal.” It is exactly what our enemies hoped that we would do. The second option was to carry the fight to the enemy. We would take away their sanctuaries, force them to go deep underground, and hunt them to the ends of the Earth. We would undermine or overthrow governments that supported them. We would sever them from their networks of financial support, disrupt their planning, and arrest their leaders in the dark of night. We would humiliate and discredit them. Rather than wait for them to strike at our weak points, we would force them to confront our strength. We would draw them into battle, and slaughter them. We would sow discord and division amongst their ranks. Finally, we would bring the war to their homes, and kill them where they live. I call this strategy “engagement.” This is how we win wars. Less than two years later, it is very clear which path we have chosen. Within a month of the terror strikes, we were bombing al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. Within two months, we had overthrown the Taliban government and forced the terrorists to hide in caves. Then we bombed the caves. We proceeded to hunt down those who had escaped the onslaught. We seized their assets, and arrested their financial chief. We chased their chief of operations all over Pakistan, capturing him in a pre-dawn raid outside Islamabad. A photograph of him, handcuffed and humiliated, was beamed around the globe. We launched a campaign to liberate Iraq, and thousands of Bin Laden disciples were urged to come to the defense of Baghdad. But terrorists armed with Kalishnikovs and RPGs were no match for laser-guided bombs and heavy armor. We slaughtered them by the thousands. The surprising ease with which Coalition Forces took Baghdad has discredited our enemies and caused many of their would-be supporters to question their leadership. There are now well over 100,000 battle-tested US troops in the heart of Arab civilization, and all that our enemies have been able to do about it is launch an occasional sniper attack. At their current rate of assault, it will take about 800 years for them to take back Iraq. In the meantime, the government of Syria has been “convinced” to shut down the offices of Hamas and Hezbollah in their capital. Students demonstrating across Iran are no longer simply demanding reform—they are now calling for the death of “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Khameini. The US military is moving out of Saudi Arabia, because we no longer need those bases—and the House of Saud is beginning to feel a much cooler breeze blowing in from Washington. Suddenly, the regional leaders appear very eager to discuss peace plans with Israel. Al Qaeda has not remained quiet through all of this. Terrorist attacks have occurred in Pakistan, Indonesia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco. But these countries are their home, not ours. By going on the offensive, we have seized the initiative and moved the front lines back to their neighborhood. Indeed, many of these recent terror attacks have killed more local Muslims than Westerners, creating animosity between the terrorists and the local populations. But this is no time to rest on our laurels. This war is not over yet. We continue to hunt terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is still some fighting to be done in Iraq. And there are other havens that must be visited. The peace process in Israel and Palestine must continue, but terrorists will be given no quarter. Syria must be further “encouraged” to eliminate all support to Hamas and Hezbollah. Their puppets in Lebanon must do the same, and the training camps in the Bekaa Valley must be dismantled. The Palestinian Authority must begin to take responsibility for its own security, and purge terrorist influence from their government. The ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict is the single largest source of animosity in the Islamic world towards the United States. We will not achieve victory in this war until there is a reasonable level of peace and stability between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. We must also continue to express moral support for those who oppose the teetering theocracy in Teheran. The best possible outcome in Iran would be a bloodless revolution, where the people seize power and force the mullahs to step aside. Semi-democratic institutions already exist in that country, they merely need to be freed from the shackles of theocratic oversight. There is still hope that such an outcome can be achieved—but it could just as easily turn into a bloody mess. While foreign intervention would most likely undermine the legitimacy of any future Iranian government, we must be prepared to provide such assistance if it is requested. To do otherwise would constitute a betrayal. We must remember that we are the good guys. We cannot continue to indefinitely support despotic regimes in the region simply because we have common strategic interests. We must encourage them to reform—or they can try their hand at ruling without our assistance. If we are viewed by the people of the region as an obstacle to reform, we will never win their hearts and minds. Finally, the rebuilding of Iraq is critical. It will not be enough to restore Iraq to its prewar level of misery. It must become the civil and economic model for the rest of the Islamic world. This is not something we can do for the Iraqis—they must do the bulk of it themselves—but we can help (and are helping) to show them the way. This will give the Arab and Islamic peoples hope that a better future is possible. Given a choice between hope and death, most people will choose hope. This is how we will win the peace. TRANSMISSION FROM LT Smash 0748Z | The press lied even with the embeds in Iraq. What they've done over the past 60 days is a war crime and a crime against humanity. *** Chief Wiggles -- Straight from Iraq
I received a report of a statement an Iraqi doctor made to one of our colonels. I was moved by his comments and felt that it was worth sharing: ~~~ Colonel, I wan to express how I feel in my heat and if you can, I ask that you pass my words to your leaders and commanders and the marines and soldiers who suffered and are suffering for my country. I want all of you to know that the great majority of Iraqis applaud your coming, your success in battle and your efforts to be kind, decent people now.
____ Jasmine's Story Iraqis were breaking doors to get men between 16 and above (military age). I remember my mom hiding my two brothers in the water tanks, and they used to stay there for hours. She was afraid the Iraqis would take them and she wouldn’t be able to see her sons after that. It was September around 4 pm I was looking through the only window we had in the basement. I saw two Iraqis carrying a black trash bag ring the bell of our neighbor’s house. Our neighbors, unfortunately, had left their house so the Iraqis placed the bag in front of the door and left. The bag did not stand for long before it fell on the floor and it was open, and there I saw our neighbor‘s, my brother’s friend, body covered with blood, it layed there, he was dead. Haytham was only 18 years old and just graduated from high school and was planning to go study in London. I froze in my place. It was my first time to see a dead body. I did not tell anyone about it. Two days passed and then my aunt’s husband told us the bad news. I acted as if I just knew. I was scared; I did not know what to do. That picture shocked me and I have not been able to forget it for the past 12 years. My twin cousins were taken as well and the Iraqi soldiers cut off their ears and broke their arms in front of their mom. Not only that, the soldiers took their 65-year-old dad and tortured him by electrical shocks and hung him upside down until he start bleeding from his nose. They also put out their cigarettes on his bold head. In November, my mom was very scared with all the news about chemical weapons so we start making masks out of coals. We put the coal in towels and stitch the towels; we knew that was not enough, but thought it might help. Iraqi soldiers were burning houses and stealing anything they could carry. They also raped girls in front of their brothers as a torture to make them speak up, They also went into hospitals and killed the babies and stole the incubators. The end of November we decided to leave for Saudi Arabia. We left home at 5 am traveling through the desert in a van driven by a bedwin man. The Iraqi soldiers were chasing us with guns and tanks!! It took us six hours to get to the border although it usually takes an hour and a half. We took the long zigzag way to avoid the check points in the desert. Kuwait was liberated on Feb 26, 1991, thanks to all Americans for their help. My uncle escaped from Iraq prison in 1991 during the desert storm operation. He lost his memory a month after that, his brain cells were damaged from the torture. His twins are still in the Iraqi prison. My uncle passed away 2 years ago and did not have the chance to see his twins neither did their mom. This is only one of the Kuwaiti tragedies, we still have 600 prisoners of war in Iraqi jails, let’s all pray they’re alive. Twelve years have passed since the Kuwait liberation, I’m 24 years old, I graduated from college in the States and just got married. I am glad I lived until I saw Saddam loose his power and is, hopefully, dead. Again Thanks To all Americans. I also would like to congratulate the Iraqi people and lets all appreciate the freedom we have. Yasmine ____ This was printed in the WSJ last April, but deserves reprinting:
BY BARBARA J. MAKUCH I want to thank you for my existence. I want to thank you for your sacrifices, and for your courage, because without your heroism, this world would indeed be a different place. Were it not for the brave soldiers who liberated my father from Dachau, and my mother and her family from the Nazi slaveholders, I would not be here today. Nor would millions of others, all of whom remain indebted to you. My mother and her family lived under the boot of the Soviets, then became slave laborers for the Nazis. Beaten, starved and terrorized, they could only hope for freedom. My father died a young man. Four years of terror and torture in Dachau left its mark on him. My uncle died at the hands of the Soviets, a bullet in his chest because he refused to remove a cross from the wall. My grandfather died in the U.S.S.R., never having been allowed to leave. He never saw his wife, children or grandchildren again. When American and Allied forces bombed Nazi Germany, the slaves, prisoners of war and concentration-camp inmates cheered. They were forced to work the fields and in the factories even as the bombers flew overhead. Yet they cheered. They knew that their liberation was at hand. Even as they knew they might not live to see their freedom, they cheered. The miserable existence that they endured under the boot of the Nazis and the Soviets would not break their spirit or resolve, or their love of the soldiers who were losing their lives to liberate them. They prayed for their liberators, never faltering in the belief that they would succeed. I asked my mother what she thought of war. "It is a terrible thing, but if it means freedom to those who have none, if it means safety for the world, then there is no question what has to be done," She said. "Those who have not suffered under the terror of oppression, those whose lives have been privileged and free, will never understand the sacrifices of those who died for liberty and freedom. It is easy to criticize our leaders from the safety, warmth and comfort of their homes and mansions. While they eat the bread of America, and benefit from the democracy and freedom of speech afforded us by this great nation, they show the ultimate disrespect toward our President and our troops." An elderly and wise woman, my mother is forever grateful for her life. She is ill, her body ravaged by the hell she went through as a young woman, yet she still has the fight in her that kept her a survivor. The values she instilled in me gave me the courage to serve my country, giving back a small part of what had been given to me.
There is no country in the world that can say Americans, when they came to liberate a land, forced our language, culture or religions on anyone. Those of us who chose to embrace this wonderful land do so wholeheartedly, without coercion or force. We do it because we are true patriots. We know what sacrifices were made for our freedom. May God protect and keep you in his care so that you return to your loved ones. May your families have the support and love of this country we call land of the brave and the home of the free, and may the people of the world never forget the ultimate sacrifice of our troops. Ms. Makuch received the FBI's Lewis E. Peters Memorial Award in 1992 for her two decades as a double agent spying on the Soviets. ~~~
A friend re. her husband in Iraq and WHY Americans aren't hearing the GOOD our troops have been doing since day ONE - including taking out FAR more of the regime dead-enders and terrorist wannabes: "...my hubby everytime he calls....he asks what the latest in the news is and I tell him...he just can't believe what they are reporting here.....they report all the negatives.... M.A.~ 06/22/2003 (The War is not over for me until my hubby's boots hit U.S. soil.) ____ Dems plan to undermine America to beat Bush (http:)//www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_1476.shtml
A multi-pronged attack against Republicans and the President will focus not only on economic issues, but question American values, raise doubts about how this country is viewed by other nations and question the patriotism of Bush and his party. The extensive campaign, developed by senior Democratic consultants and party leaders, was launched last week with attacks on the Bush economic plan by Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Richard Gephardt. In coming weeks, Democratic elected officials will question the President’s intentions on the pending war with Iraq. Writers and broadcasters friendly to the Democratic cause have already been provided talking points suggesting the war is about oil, not terrorism. “The talking points were developed before the end of last year and sent out to operatives and friendly media,” one Democratic consultant confided. “No Democratic member of Congress will question the President’s patriotism openly but we will use the media and other surrogates to raise doubts.” Capitol Hill Blue obtained a copy of the talking points when the Democratic National Committee sent them to a news outlet recently acquired by CHB’s parent company. The talking points outline a strategy to raise public doubts of the President’s real intentions, including: --Saying the war is about oil and will be fought to benefit oil companies that have long supported Bush and the Republican party; --Claiming the Bush administration has “manufactured” evidence against Saddam Hussein and used that evidence to encourage Britain and other allies to join the American fight against Iraq; --Suggesting a wartime economy is the only way the administration can revive the country’s lagging economic situation. “It is clear that the current approval ratings of the administration are tied directly to strong American feelings toward traditional values,” the talking points say. “To counter this, doubt must be raised as to America’s true position within the world community and the true intent of the Bush administration in waging war.” Some Democrats admit privately they are uneasy with the party strategy to undermine American values in an attempt to get Bush. “My boss doesn’t want anything to do with it,” one senior Senate aide told Capitol Hill Blue on Monday. “You don’t undermine this country to win elections.” Others, however, are willing to try anything to put the White House and Congress back under Democratic control. “The real war isn’t in Iraq,” one Democratic consultant said. “It’s right here at home, at the ballot box in 2004.” Among the other points Democrats hope to make in the coming weeks: --Both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are controlled by oil and defense industry special interest groups. --The war on terrorism is a failure because Osama bin Laden is still at large. --America is unprepared for another terrorist attack because of White House preoccupation with Iraq. --War will increase the country’s economic woes. --Bush will be forced to raise taxes to finance the war. “It’s time to take the battle to the people and make them understand just how dangerous George W. Bush’s policies are to the future of America,” the talking points conclude. Democratic sources say the talking points were developed by Democratic Chairman Terry McAuliffe, former Clinton campaign strategist James Carville, Senate Majority Leader Daschle and former House Democratic Leader Gephardt. “This is a classic, Jim Carville, scorched earth campaign,” crows one DNC staffer. “Take no prisoners. That’s how you win elections.” Democratic party spokesmen would not return phone calls seeking comment on this report. © Copyright 2003 Capitol Hill Blue ____ using civilians as human shields vs. possibly bombing a market by accident Guess which draws more protest from the media, the UN and Amnesty International? ____ You have to choose who to trust. The adults in this administration - both the CIC and military leadership - and our awesome HONORABLE troops or the folks that bought and sold Iraqi Info Min. lies and CHOSE to use unnamed sources and unverified facts rather than rely on the PRIMARY news source re. the war. Read the over 50 humanitarian and security logs from CENTCOM - the detailed, daily reports of our Coalition troops progress across Iraq for the month of MAY (http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/release_list.asp?searchDays=&searchType=2&searchMonth=5&searchYear=2003&searchTopic= The nation is the size of California - w/ over 24 million newly freed Iraqis and 146,000 Coalition troops who are hunting down and taking out some truly bad characters - with the help of the Iraqi people. "Chaos"? Less than one casualty a day is a miracle - Austin TX is more deadly - but OUR ENEMIES - BOTH foreign and DOMESTIC know that hyping casualties will weaken resolve at home. To even IMPLY that our military is incapable of handling the terrorists is to rewrite reality and spit in the face of our troops.
Anti Seth Last time I looked, this was an English language website, and Seig(probably you), has taken a monicker that is the first half of a Hitlerian salute. As for growing a brain, I have one that had me set financially for life before I was 30 years old, and has been complimented for its analytical ability by minds, to paraphrase some scifi narration, "immeasurably superior to yours." Posted by: Seth at June 28, 2003 05:10 PMJeffB ,June16 1904. Thank you for your comments and explanations. Tonight, (today) your time we had a movie, well to be honest a video....."Blackhawk Down" first time i saw it I was in Yorkshire, and as a soldier who had served with the US forces as a Liaison type it was "interesting". Today it was all too real.
On a sadder note we heard of the discovery of the bodies of two American comrades, pass on our heart felt prayers to their families. Posted by: Ubique at June 28, 2003 05:15 PMLeigh, Actually, I doubt anyone knows how many people die daily in Iraq via violence, if by casualities you mean also dead Iraqis. As far as "good things" being not reported, ask yourself how often the press ever reports "good things" domestically during any year no matter who is in office? Good things don't get reported because they aren't newsworthy. Posted by: Jacques at June 28, 2003 05:53 PMOf the many thoughts I have related to this post the most glaring is... What are the Iraqis doing to stop this violence. Other than whining to any of the many TV cameras about how bad they have it. I don't buy the arguement that they have been put down for 30 years etc. Looting, arson, shooting US soldiers in the back are not a natural response to the problem of how to get the electricity running. The Iraq people (in my opinion) know who is doing this and if they don't have courage, imagination, or enough AK47's to deal with the people involved they should point them out to the 140,000 US soldiers. That is if their goal is to stop the problem. The terriable question to me is do they really mind whats going on in their country. The other thought I have is religion based so be warned... I always wondered about the Moses with the children of Isreal wandering in the deasert for 40 years to unlearn the how to be slave thing. What we are seeing could be something like a modern equivilant of that. The children of Isreal also worshiped the golden calf when Moses wasn't around to stop them....
Here's a thought: From a strategic point of view a united Iraq is of little importance to the US, particularly if the primary objective is the war on Terrorism. It is not inconceivable, at all, to me that we could decide that Central Iraq isn't worth dying for and instead, position our selves where are friends are and where the oil is. It would drive the Turks batty, but really, who cares right now. But what would be so terrible about a united Kurdistan? The Kurds are very friendly to us, they've got a solid system, are quite close to a true democratic society, AND they have a huge amount of Iraq's oil. The Shiite south could also be broken off into an independent nation. Why would this be a bad thing? As to Central Iraq: why not just let it go? Seriously. Central Iraq would be totally screwed with oil resources. They would be culturally whole (Sunni) but a very poor country. Again, their problem. Who says Iraq needs to be unified anyway? The boundaries were drawn by Euros and very badly at that. Comments? again, some of you people amaze me. Sophia, I have to apologize that our country has not met your expectations.... Iraq should have been rebuilt by now. I will get a hold of Hollywood and they will send Tom Cruise , Harrison Ford, Arnold, George Clooney, etc to Iraq to speed up the job. SDophia, you frigging idiot, this is the real world , not some movie screen. Be an adult, show some maturity. Turnip, as always, you clearly show your psychosis, everything has to be a democrat vs republican issue. Seriously, you need to get some help. The economy under Clinton was not real.. and we are dealing with those realities now MR. Ph.D. ... you should know better. Clinton did nothing but sign law into affect that promoted corporate fraud.. accountants doing their own auditing.. Get real.. He ignored the buildup of terrorism. He decimated our military. He, during those supposedly wonderful economic times, did nothing to help the health care crises... he failed. He, as hard as he tried, failed to acheive peace in the middle east. I will tell you this again, the only thing your boy Bill will be remembered for is doing Monica in the oval office. Turnip, again, you fraud, you gonna have to deal with us conservatives for the next eight years..No offense dude or dudette, but let me share something with you. As an ex liberal, one that has grown up and started to deal with the realities of the world, Turnip .... you remind me of one of my grandmothers friends in the beauty shop... an old gossip complaining about everything. Nobody likes you in here turnip.. why dont you leave? Posted by: atomicdog at June 29, 2003 08:17 AMSo sophia , it has been two months... and even though there are prolly over 100000 ex saddam loyalists and prisoners out there shooting at our troops on a daily basis, please provde me an accurate timetable as to this rebuilding program of yours. Lets see we should have rebuilt all the schools, hospitals, roads, electrical grids, etc within two months, systems may I add that generally were in disarray to begin with. Get real. I remember that when the war was about ten days old, "we were bogged down" and there was a real danger that the iraqias were going to defeat us. Why cant you people show some pateinece and maturity. GROW UP Posted by: atomicdog at June 29, 2003 08:25 AMR. McLeod: The boundaries were drawn for the benefit of the occupying power (Britain), not for the local citizen's benefit. Good for one, bad for the other. Posted by: Anthony at June 29, 2003 09:17 AMAnthony, you should research before you make blanket statements like that. British had recognized the importance of the region's oil wealth as early as 1916 when the British secretly signed the 1916 Sykes-Pikot Agreement with France which called for the division of the Ottoman Empire into a patchwork of states that would be ruled by the British and French. The secret agreement was exposed when the Soviet government retrieved a copy in 1921, but a year earlier, the oil factor had been officially recognized in the 1920 San Remo Treaty. In 1928, the Red Line Agreement was signed, which described the sharing of the oil wealth of former Ottoman territories by the British and French colonial governments, and how percentages of future oil production were to be allocated to British and French oil companies. Never forget the french Anthony. Posted by: Try Again at June 29, 2003 11:25 AMAnthony, you should research before you make blanket statements like that. British had recognized the importance of the region's oil wealth as early as 1916 when the British secretly signed the 1916 Sykes-Pikot Agreement with France which called for the division of the Ottoman Empire into a patchwork of states that would be ruled by the British and French. The secret agreement was exposed when the Soviet government retrieved a copy in 1921, but a year earlier, the oil factor had been officially recognized in the 1920 San Remo Treaty. In 1928, the Red Line Agreement was signed, which described the sharing of the oil wealth of former Ottoman territories by the British and French colonial governments, and how percentages of future oil production were to be allocated to British and French oil companies. Never forget the french Anthony. Posted by: Try Again at June 29, 2003 11:25 AMMcleod; Nice move there, except Kurdistan is part of turkey, iran and iraq. Little more like the Palestinian gerrymandering. Now, if we could accuse radical turkish mullahs, et al... and then attack, but Mustapha Kemal took care of that in the 20's. Better to have turkey attack central Iraq, I think... Posted by: devils chewtoy at June 29, 2003 12:36 PMMcLeod Another problem with splitting up Iraq is that we would be setting them up for future troubles, re reunification conflicts. Try Again I'm very proud of my nephew Tony. You have him all wrong! anthony is talking out of his ass again Posted by: Anthony's ass at June 29, 2003 03:04 PMag vut nyut cung sum Posted by: woman smiles at June 29, 2003 03:28 PMSeth: Central Iraq might well want to start a jihad against the South in the scenario of a three-state solution for Iraq, but they would not have the resources, nor the people, to pull it off successfully, ESPECIALLY if US bases were in-country. Kurdistan (and I mean the area currently bounded by Iraq's borders) would be able to defend itself well against Turkish incursion, especially if it was allied with the US. I'm not hearing a compelling argument against a three-state approach. The fact that these three "nations" might be hostile to each other is not an argument against that. Nations have historically been formed by victory and defeat. I'm concerned first about US interests. Look, I'd prefer that Iraq stay a unified whole, but in the end I'd rather we were allied with two friendly, oil-rich and internally stable republics than with one nation that has a region filled with people who hate us and hate their own countrymen. Posted by: R. McLeod at June 29, 2003 04:05 PM R. McLeod I agree on the outcome re two stable, U.S. friendly nations, but there is a track record to be considered, specifically that of the militant Islamic propensity for Kamikaze style terrorism. Seth said, "Look what happened when Clinton browbeat the Israelis into leaving the Palestinians "unsupervised". They had "privacy" to assemble larger terrorist infrastructures and stockpile weaponry." Which, unfortuneately, is probably what is going to happen during this '3 month cease fire'. The Hamas haven't changed their mission. They were getting their ass whooped and needed a break to regroup. Which goes to show, Jeff, what happens when the Democrats are allowed to get involved in issues like that. Post a comment
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