community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
The hidden pictures of war
by strike-free.org
Sunday, Mar. 23, 2003 at 5:16 PM
Is this the freedom for iraqi citizens Bush means? Is this the honor for US soldiers to get killed for Bush?
The crimes of the US administration, CNN, Fox TV and ABC won't show you
how about pictures of this:
by Jeffrey
Sunday, Mar. 23, 2003 at 5:49 PM
why don't you go find some of the pictures and videos of saddam and his sons torturing and murdering his own civilians (throwing them into plastic shredders, gassing them, decapitating them and hanging their heads on their homes)? i'm sure all of you peaceniks would be just as interested in those atrocities... or at least you should be if you you're consistent with your beliefs...
where were your protests when saddam went to war with kuwait and saudi arabia? where are your signs that tell saddam to stop making weapons of mass destruction (which all the countries in the UN vote unnanymously agreed he had to do)? what have you all done to try to get his regime to stop all of these horrible things??? nothing that i can see...
this war was saddam's choice... not ours... he had the ability to stop this before it started... but he doesn't care about his civilians and he doesn't care what the world thinks... if you think the inspections were working, then i'd like to know where those at least 4 scuds came from that were launched in the first few days of the war? or why the US just came across the first chemical factory this early in the war instead of the inspectors who had all those months to find it (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/PrinterFull&cid=1048389497622)? these are just the first examples of stuff that saddam knew he had and didn't reveal in his declaration back at the end of last year... the point is that this war was up to him and we can't take the chance of allowing even 1000's of inspectors to roam iraq and saddam somehow still being able to slip a horrible weapon to someone else who will use it...
our military/coalition is bending over backwards to avoid civilian casualties... at least acknowledge that if nothing else... and show some support for our troops, whether you support the war or not...
war is an aweful thing... i think we can agree that that is everyone's commonground... the difference is that some of us also know what the reality of the situation and world is....
whatever... this is too long and i'm starting to ramble cause i can't concentrate on 2 things at once... =)
corrected URL
by Jeffrey
Sunday, Mar. 23, 2003 at 5:51 PM
here's the corrected URL from above:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/PrinterFull&cid=1048389497622
the truth is that ...
by ...
Sunday, Mar. 23, 2003 at 7:54 PM
when the elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. if bush uses the "same saddam tactics" on iraqi people then what about bombing the white house and bush..
wow
by Nick
Sunday, Mar. 23, 2003 at 7:55 PM
pnk6@pitt.edu
The capacity of the fuming pro-war crowd to miss the point always amazes me. I don't have the time or desire to explain how the anti-war movement is not pro-Saddam. Enough has already been said concerning that. Just understand this:
1) Coalition forces are causing attrocities
2) The way CNN, Fox, MSNBC are downplaying it is sickening
Also, I am getting a little tired of this "support our troops" bullshit. What exactly do you want me to do?
i
by v
Sunday, Mar. 23, 2003 at 11:57 PM
i support no troops
i merely sympathize with victims of violence. currently, i feel far too many US troops are in battle under their own choice for me to sympathize with them. i won't spit on you upon your return, but i won't support you while you're there either. there's a reason i never joined the military....and it's going on right now.
confused
by Nick
Monday, Mar. 24, 2003 at 8:18 AM
pnk6@pitt.edu
"Support our Troops" is almost the sole slogan of the pro-war counter-movement. Many claim that we should all "support our troops" no matter what our stance on the war. A vicious Bush critic, Walter Crokite has said that we should "put our distaste aside and put our full support of our troops."
How and why should I "support our troops" when I abhore the war?
show some respect
by DC
Monday, Mar. 24, 2003 at 12:36 PM
You should support the troops because they are there sacrificing themselves for YOU. It makes me angry to hear people saying they don't want to support them because they don't agree with the war. NO ONE, unless you are demented, enjoys war. Nonetheless, they are over there because they signed up to protect people like you, whom they don't even know.
Whether you like it or agree with it or not, it is happening. Whether the individual military personnel understands exactly why they are fighting-they are there, and they are dying and being tortured. It makes me SICK to think how scared some of them probably are, and how upset they would be to hear the unsupportive things that people are saying. It makes their sacrifices completely in vain.
Go ahead, sit here freely criticizing, theorizing, complaining and whining...But at least try to show some respect. And if you can't do that, then just don't talk at all.
nope
by Nick
Monday, Mar. 24, 2003 at 12:52 PM
pnk6@pitt.edu
�You should support the troops because they are there sacrificing themselves for YOU
Nope, I don�t sit on the board of any oil conglomerate. Nor do I stand to benefit in any way because of US homogeny. Nor am I threatened by the Iraqi regime in any serious way (according to US and UK intelligence agencies at least).
I still don�t understand what exactly the people slop out this rhetoric want me to do to �support our troops�
- write them a letter telling them I appreciate what they are doing (I don�t)
- pray for their lives (I don�t believe in God)
- stop vocalizing my opposition to the Bush doctrine and instead spit out patriotic jargon as to not risk lowering their morale (They made the decision to enlist. If they come to question that decision, so be it).
I don�t want to deride and condemn coalitions troops. That would take the blame away from those truly responsible: Bush and his cronies. I just don�t see how and why I should actively support US forces in any way.
in response to nope
by DC
Monday, Mar. 24, 2003 at 1:23 PM
I agree with your comments- I don't think that people who don't agree with the war should have to "support " the troops by wearing rwb t-shirts, or yellow ribbons, or babbling patriotic slogans.
I just get really angered by "unsupportive" or negative comments because while I don't 'like' the war, I have friends who are in the military. Granted, some of them signed up because they want to "fight for our country" and they wholeheartedly believe there is a connection between 9/11 and Saddam.
But then there are those who signed up for other reasons. Some of them signed up because they wanted to go to college or they needed a way to support their families and the gov't makes that possible IF you join the military. So I guess they aren't fighting for you. They are fighting for their families, because joining the military was the only way they could support them. They never thought they would actually have to fight in Iraq.
Call some of them naive or ignorant, whatever. I know you are thinking- Not my problem, they made their beds, let them lie in them. Fine, think that way-you are entitled to your opinion. I just can't think that way. I can't stop thinking about the POW's that they had on TV. Do you really think that Shoshawna, the female pow who according to her family joined the military to be a cook, really wanted to go to Iraq to kill people? I doubt it.
I guess what I am trying to say is fine, don't "support" them, please just don't be disrespectful. In a way, they are victims of the war too.
yeah
by Nick
Monday, Mar. 24, 2003 at 4:59 PM
pnk6@pitt.edu
Well, I can agree with that. I have former high school classmates who are in Iraq and Kuwait. Obviously many veterans of this war will never questions its necessity and the US�s heroism and will remain uber-right wing patriots. Others will wonder why they risked their lives and they are one of many groups Bush owes answers to.
I am not ranting because I think the troops are bad people. I just see the �support our troops� rhetoric as seen above as shallow, ambiguous and offering no answers to the many questions concerning the legality, morality and necessity of this war.
When the enlisted men and women of my hometown return, I will not shun them. But I will not take any action to �support our troops� as any such action would denote acceptance of the utterly unacceptable actions of the Bush administration.
You people are Ignorant
by George K.
Monday, Mar. 24, 2003 at 5:38 PM
You people are ignorant and inhuman. These soldiers are government workers, in a situation where they find themselves needing all of the support they can get. Regardless of your political views, when they return, you should accept them back with empathetic arms wide open, and listen to them. If you are so compassionate, then prove it, by ACTING compassionate, regardless of politics. Many of you claim to follow teachings of profoundly good men ... Ghandi...Jesus...Bhudda...Martin L. King Jr....How would they treat these men? With compassion or with ignorance?
It is true that these pictures are horrifying, and I expected pictures such as these to be on the internet as soon as the war started as part of the Iraqui/Arab war machines' propaganda campaign got into full gear. Pictures such as these, and also of the executes American soldiers...you know, the ones with bullet holes in their heads?
Two points from this thread...1.These pictures graphically depict the horrors of war (but, I must say they are nothing that was unexpected in the information age) and 2. The soldiers themselves deserve every human compassion no matter what your politics. If you refuse that, then your "anti-war" stance is hypocrisy.
THINK BEFORE YOU REACT
by ANDY
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 11:58 AM
NEXT TIME YOU PUT YOUR OPINION ON A WEB PAGE SUCH AS THIS, YOU NEED SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. BECAUSE IF IT WASN'T FOR THE TROOPS, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE THE FREEDOMS THAT YOU NOW HAVE. YOU CAN VOICE YOUR OWN OPINION, WORK AND LIVE WHERE YOU WANT TO, GO TO CHURCH OR NOT GO.
I THANK AND SUPPORT THE TROOPS, PAST AND PRESENT. BECAUSE TODAY I WAS ABLE TO WALK OUT OF MY FRONT DOOR AND KNOW THAT I CAN LEGALLY DO WHAT I WANT AND NOT BE MURDERED FOR IT.
MY PRAYERS AND SUPPORT GO TO THE TROOPS!
Your sick and condemed to HELL
by Christian
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 3:12 PM
You should be sitting beside those who are required to suffer under Saddam. You should have to feel the fear they feel and suffer thier pain, you should have to hope for a better life. You should have to be torchered as they are. Then you would have respect for those who fight for your stupid ass. Go one..Get over there and sit with them and suffer as they do, then come back and say you don't support our troops. I bet if you were in suffering and going to die the first person you would blame or your first words would be GOD. Don't say no cause all of you who say you don't believe do so at your last hours. So take you butt over there and suffer with those who suffer and then ask for help from our troops and from God. Trust me God when send you to hell and deny you as you do him and his good works.
Your one sick puppy and hell awaits you.
Support
by jwg
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 4:53 PM
If our troops want to come and take jobs where they are not required to kill, I will support them.
As it stands I will not spurn them, but I cannot support anyone whose chosen career is killing.
If anyone should support our troops it should be our government, but even they do not. Bush tries to cut veterans benefits, he makes current troops carry and fire depleated uranium shells, and chooses to create war in peace time. Bush does not support our troops, he abuses them. take your rhetoric to him.
Hmm... how odd...
by Conservative Guy
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 5:14 PM
Upon going to the site of the civilian market bombing in northern Baghdad at Shaab today, May Ying Welch noticed that enemy officials had quickly taken away sharpnel and material from the two bomb craters "created by US missiles". They were also quickly filling up the craters when she arrived. Asked why they did not leave the remnants there as proof of American bombing of civilian areas, they were told "it might be contaminated."
Hidden pictures of war...
by Conservative Guy
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 5:18 PM
post-42-1048725827.jpg, image/jpeg, 950x713
Here's some hidden pictures...
Facts on who benefits from Saddam in power...
by Conservative Guy
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 5:24 PM
Here's some interesting reading for all you peaceniks:
France
a. According to the CIA World Factbook, France controls over 22.5 percent of Iraq's imports.[1] French total trade with Iraq under the oil-for-food program is the third largest, totaling $3.1 billion since 1996, according to the United Nations.[2] In 2001 France became Iraq's largest European trading partner.
b. Roughly 60 French companies do an estimated $1.5 billion in trade with Baghdad annually under the UN oil-for-food program.
c. France's largest oil company, Total Fina Elf, has negotiated a deal to develop the Majnoon field in western Iraq. The Majnoon field purportedly contains up to 30 billion barrels of oil.
d. Total Fina Elf also negotiated a deal for future oil exploration in Iraq's Nahr Umar field. Both the Majnoon and Nahr Umar fields are estimated to contain as much as 25 percent of the country's reserves.
e. France's Alcatel company, a major telecom firm, is negotiating a $76 million contract to rehabilitate Iraq's telephone system.
f. From 1981 to 2001, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), France was responsible for over 13 percent of Iraq's arms imports.
Germany
a. Direct trade between Germany and Iraq amounts to about $350 million annually, and another $1 billion is reportedly sold through third parties.
b. It has recently been reported that Saddam Hussein has ordered Iraqi domestic businesses to show preference to German companies as a reward for Germany's "firm positive stand in rejecting the launching of a military attack against Iraq." It was also reported that over 101 German companies were present at the Baghdad Annual exposition.
c. During the 35th Annual Baghdad International Fair in November 2002, a German company signed a contract for $80 million for 5,000 cars and spare parts.
d. In 2002, DaimlerChrysler was awarded over $13 million in contracts for German trucks and spare parts.
e. German officials are investigating a German corporation accused of illegally channeling weapons to Iraq via Jordan. The equipment in question is used for boring the barrels of large cannons and is allegedly intended for Saddam Hussein's Al Fao Supercannon project.
Russia
a. According to the CIA World Factbook, Russia controls roughly 5.8 percent of Iraq's annual imports. Under the UN oil-for-food program, Russia's total trade with Iraq was somewhere between $530 million and $1 billion for the six months ending in December of 2001.
b. According to the Russian Ambassador to Iraq, Vladimir Titorenko, new contracts worth another $200 million under the UN oil-for-food program are to be signed over the next three months.
c. Soviet-era debt of $7 billion through $8 billion was generated by arms sales to Iraq during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
d. Russia's LUKoil negotiated a $4 billion, 23-year contract in 1997 to rehabilitate the 15 billion-barrel West Qurna field in southern Iraq. Work on the oil field was expected to commence upon cancellation of UN sanctions on Iraq. The deal is currently on hold.
e. In October 2001, Salvneft, a Russian-Belarus company, negotiated a $52 million service contract to drill at the Tuba field in Southern Iraq.
f. In April 2001, Russia's Zaruezhneft Company received a service contract to drill in the Saddam, Kirkuk, and Bai Hassan fields to rehabilitate the fields and reduce water incursion.
g. A future $40 billion Iraqi-Russian economic agreement, reportedly signed in 2002, would allow for extensive oil exploration opportunities throughout western Iraq. The proposal calls for 67 new projects, over a 10-year time frame, to explore and further develop fields in southern Iraq and the Western Desert, including the Suba, Luhais, West Qurna, and Rumaila projects. Additional projects added to the deal include second-phase construction of a pipeline running from southern to northern Iraq, and extensive drilling and gas projects. Work on these projects would commence upon cancellation of sanctions.
h. Russia's Gazprom company over the past few years has signed contracts worth $18 million to repair gas stations in Iraq.
i. The former Soviet Union was the premier supplier of Iraqi arms. From 1981 to 2001, Russia supplied Iraq with 50 percent of its arms.
China
a. According to the CIA World Factbook, China controls roughly 5.8 percent of Iraq's annual imports.
b. China National Oil Company, partnered with China North Industries Corp., negotiated a 22-year-long deal for future oil exploration in the Al Ahdab field in southern Iraq.
c. In recent years, the Chinese Aero-Technology Import-Export Company (CATIC) has been contracted to sell "meteorological satellite" and "surface observation" equipment to Iraq. This contract was approved by the UN oil-for-food program.
d. CATIC also won approval from the UN in July 2000 to sell $2 million worth of fiber optic cables. This and similar contracts approved were disguised as telecommunications gear. These cables can be used for secure data and communications links between national command and control centers and long-range search radar, targeting radar, and missile-launch units, according to U.S. officials. In addition, China National Electric Wire & Cable and China National Technical Import Telecommunications Equipment Company are believed to have sold Iraq $6 million and $15.5 million worth of communications equipment and other unspecified supplies, respectively.
e. According to a report from SIPRI, from 1981 to 2001, China was the second largest supplier of weapons and arms to Iraq, supplying over 18 percent of Iraq's weapons imports.
Facts
by JWG
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 5:58 PM
also according to the world factbook <p>
Iraq's export partners : <b>US 46.2%, Italy 12.2%, France 9.6%, </b>Spain 8.6% (2000)
not to mention
by jwg
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 6:00 PM
all the time that Rumsfield used to spend in Bagdad with Saddam, or all the oil contracts that Cheney's Halliburton Co. had with the Iraqi government.
IT IS NOT ABOUT POLITICS OR FREEDOM!!!!
it is about money! and how they are going to use it to heap shit on you and me.
Al-Qaeda and Iraqi connection???
by Conservative Guy
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 7:00 PM
here's an article for all of you who blah blah blah about there being no connection between Iraq and terrorism... if true, it says at the very least that they are working together now...
so much for the "al-qaeda considers iraq an enemy" claims....
Al-Qaeda fighting with Iraqis, British claim March 28 2003, 9:41 AM
Near Basra, Iraq: British military interrogators claim captured Iraqi soldiers have told them that al-Qaeda terrorists are fighting on the side of Saddam Hussein's forces against allied troops near Basra.
At least a dozen members of Osama bin Laden's network are in the town of Az Zubayr where they are coordinating grenade and gun attacks on coalition positions, according to the Iraqi prisoners of war.
It was believed that last night (Thursday) British forces were preparing a military strike on the base where the al-Qaeda unit was understood to be holed up.
A senior British military source inside Iraq said: "The information we have received from PoWs today is that an al-Qaeda cell may be operating in Az Zubayr. There are possibly around a dozen of them and that is obviously a matter of concern to us."
If terrorists are found, it would be the first proof of a direct link between Saddam's regime and Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.
The connection would give credibility to the argument that Tony Blair used to justify war against Saddam - a "nightmare scenario" in which he might eventually pass weapons of mass destruction to terrorists.
On Wednesday Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, said the coalition had solid evidence that senior al-Qaeda operatives have visited Baghdad in the past.
Rumsfeld said Saddam had an "evolving" relationship with the terror network.
The presence of fanatical al-Qaeda terrorists would go some way to explaining the continued resistance to US and British forces in southern Iraq, an area dominated by Shi'ite Muslims traditionally hostile to
Saddam's regime.
Heavy fighting continued around the besieged city of Basra yesterday after British forces destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks which had struck out towards the Al Faw peninsula.
Military commanders have decided against launching an attack on Basra because of fears the operation would result in a Stalingrad-style street battle.
It is estimated the Iraqi military forces in the area have been reduced to 30 per cent fighting strength but have now embedded themselves within civilian buildings in the city.
Armed raids have destroyed transmitters and taken state radio and television off the air in Basra and effectively cutting off its communications with Baghdad.
British tanks from the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, could be sent into Basra if there is a sudden civilian uprising against Saddam's forces.
Last night, forces around the city heard loud explosions as coalition helicopter gunships were sent into the area.
This is a pooled despatch from Gethin Chamberlain of The Scotsman.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/28/1048653833092.html
Another article for all of you
by Conservative Guy
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 7:10 PM
http://www.uwire.com/content//topops032503001.html
Our new pet freeper
by The punchline?
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 7:24 PM
Yes, all the pampered, billionaire fundementalist wackos are in league. 9/11 legitimized the Deserter in Chief. Between the CIA and Saudi "GI Bill" for terrorists that helped Osama and al Qaeda "be all that they can be", to the old pictures of Hussein at the white house, shaking Rummy's hand as a virile young Dick Cheney (complete with full head of hair), looks on approvingly. Little Bush and bin Laden's mutual interests in Arbusto Energy, in 1977. Bush the Elected and another of the bin Laden boys hanging out at the Carlyle Group. The CIA, aided by by then Gov. Clinton, selling cocaine to raise money to give to Israel to buy missles for Iran to arm the Contras, all those guys have jobs in US gov't or media. God knows what the ones who exploit you are doing while you whine about France, and rehash o'reilly talking points..
They're all the same.
CIA "fact" book, is an oxymoron.
A conservative would favor a republic over an empire. You seem to be unsure of your beliefs.
You can go back to "free" republic, now.
Thanks, protesters...
by Conservative Guy
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 9:09 PM
Watch out for the bad guys while you're out there blocking ambulances and police from getting to and from places where they need to be... and distracting police from protecting us from terrorism... =)
READ THIS:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31754
THE PUNCHLINE?
by Conservative Guy
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2003 at 9:13 PM
You sound quite paranoid, if you ask me... whether anything you say is true or not, why should it change anything about the present? even if we've made all the mistakes in the past, that's no excuse to fix them now and get rid of bad people and protect ourselves...
missing the point
by Nick
Friday, Mar. 28, 2003 at 12:32 AM
pnk6@pitt.edu
Calling support of murderous tyrants a �mistake� is about the most bird-brained thing I�ve ever read. Once again, the pro-war crowd misses the point. The fact that the US has �mistake�-enly supported dictatorships and death squads in the past (and still continues to do so) is not a reason why they should not �fix them now.� It�s evidence that the US is dubious in its rhetoric of �freeing the Iraqi people� and has a general sinister underlining that needs to be admitted, addressed and corrected before this nation has any right to meddle in the affairs of others. Also, ceasing to support such people and then starving their people with economic sactions when they don�t follow orders might be a better start to seeking �peace in the middle east� and other areas, then blowing shit up!
�Saddam killed his own people
just like general Pinochet
and once upon a time both these evil men
were supported by the U.S.A.
And whisper it, even Bin Laden
once drank from America�s cup
just like that election down in Florida
this shit doesn�t all add up.�
- Billy Bragg, �The Price of Oil,� 2003
Become a Citizen of Bagdad
by Doris
Friday, Mar. 28, 2003 at 9:29 AM
Dorismabill@AOL
For everyone who support anti-war movement may I suggest that you become a citizen of Bagdad. It is ironic that you enjoy the "right" to express anti-war sentiments. Many brave, heroic troops such as those fighting in the War for Iraqui Freedom,as well as the many hundred of thousands troops before them has placed their lives on the line. Far too many troops have given their lives to ensure the freedom that this country takes for granted. The price of Freedom in every case is immeasurably high. For all dissenters who enjoy freedom but don't support the cost of it - Lives and dollars, then live among those who don't have freedom or rights. Why should you thieves and in grates benefit from a cause that you don't support and avidly oppose. There is a peace that can only be found on the other side of war.
Can You People Actually Stomach The TRUTH?
by George K.
Friday, Mar. 28, 2003 at 10:59 AM
dodgerambler@yahoo.com
Why We Must Fight � and Now!
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
By William J. Bennett
Three weekends ago, millions of demonstrators across the globe protested on behalf of "human rights." Their marches, slogans, placards and speeches did not declaim against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, did not cite the human rights reports detailing his tyranny and torture, did not take account the plaints of Iraqis fortunate enough to live in exile.
Rather, they protested the U.S. and the U.K. and their efforts to topple Saddam and liberate Iraq. Now, we are seeing more television advertisements along these lines, and even a "virtual march on Washington."
Just after the celebration of Abraham Lincoln�s birthday, it is appropriate to remember his lament: "The world has never had a good definition of the word �liberty.�" With Saddam flouting international law, and President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair attempting to enforce it, portrayals of Bush as Adolf Hitler � as we saw and heard in the "human rights" protests � betray an ignorance of liberty, an ignorance of right and wrong, an ignorance of commonsense. Because Bush and Blair are putting together a coalition of countries to oust Saddam, they are labeled the warmongers and tyrants. We live in a confusing time indeed.
Lincoln described liberty by a useful analogy: "The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty." Lincoln made it clear who the sheep was and who the wolf was. It is equally important to recognize who the liberator is.
Those who march against the U.S. and the U.K. today, those who condemn Bush and Blair and remain silent when it comes to Saddam, are in league with the wolf�s view that the shepherds are destroying liberty. The people of Iraq will soon know what Afghanis know. The true wolf was devouring Afghanis, the true shepherd saved them.
It is worth remembering what those in the former Soviet republics know and what the anti-American Western street has forgotten: It was, and is, U.S. and British resolve that truly liberates the oppressed and that defends the lives and liberties of the free against the appetites and ill-will of the world�s dictators.
In 1998 then-President Bill Clinton stated: "What if he [Saddam] fails to comply [with disarmament] and we fail to act? He will conclude that the international community has lost its will. He will then go right on building up his arsenal. Someday, someway, I guarantee you, he'll use that arsenal." Last year, former Vice President Al Gore stated, "[W]e know that he [Saddam] has stored away secret supplies of biological weapons and chemical weapons throughout his country."
It is not President Bush who woke up one day to discover that Saddam was making and harvesting weapons of mass destruction. Yet it is Bush who is blamed for doing something about it. Saddam may be mad, but he is not a scientist. He does not collect chemical and biological weapons for mere pleasure and intrigue. Just ask the survivors of Halabja. So when Saddam acts, it will be Bush and America who are blamed for inaction, for appeasement. We will be liable for such blame because we are the only ones who can do something about it.
We are not at war with Muslims or Arabs around the world; we are at war with some Muslim and Arab leaders who misinterpret their religion and put a primacy on war over peace and slavery over freedom. But among the leadership in the world�s moral democracies there is no misinterpretation, and nowhere is that more true than in the case of the U.S.
This is not a new role for us, but is a unique role we proudly inherit as the world�s liberator. As Wolf Blitzer pointed out: "Over the past two decades, almost every time U.S. military forces have been called into action to risk their lives and limbs, it's been on behalf of Muslims. ... [T]o assist the Afghan mujahadin � during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s, to liberate Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion of 1990, to help Somali Muslims suffering at the hands of a warlord in Mogadishu, to help Muslims first in Bosnia and then in Kosovo who faced a Serb onslaught, and more recently to liberate Afghanistan from its Taliban and Al Qaeda rulers."
Those who protest against the U.S. just now are legatees of those who protested against the U.S. in the 1980s, when we fought the focus of evil then, the Soviet Union. But ask a former Soviet, or East Berliner, if he is better off now than he was, say, 15 years ago. Ask a Nicaraguan. Ask a Bosnian Muslim. U.S. resolve can be thanked for all that, even as those who protested our defense and military postures marched in favor of appeasement.
Indeed, we live in a strange time when the anti-nuclear movement and its leaders of yesterday can today suggest a course of inaction such that Saddam will be able to join North Korea in becoming a nuclear power. The only logical conclusion one can reach is that for the protesters today, weapons in the hands of the U.S. are to be met with outrage while weapons in the hands of Saddam are to be met with silence.
We seek to liberate Iraq today, not only because for Saddam "[t]orture is not a method of last resort in Iraq, it is often the method of first resort," according to Kenneth Pollack, President Clinton�s director of Gulf Affairs at the NSC. We seek to liberate Iraq because after Sept. 11, 2001, we were put on notice. We were put on notice that civilized people can no longer live in a bubble and hope for the best. We were put on notice that there are fanatics and tyrants who want nothing from us but our death. And this notice requires action: the action of the brave, the action of the unthanked, the action of the free.
In Iraq as in other contemporary situations, the responsibility to act has been ours because the ability has been ours. The responsibility has been ours because oppressed people look to us for their deliverance. There is a duty in being the nation that Abraham Lincoln, speaking of our Declaration of Independence, called "a rebuke and a stumbling-block to the very harbingers of re-appearing tyranny and oppression." That is who we happen to be. And it is an honor.
nice article
by Conservative Guy
Saturday, Mar. 29, 2003 at 4:10 PM
To Nick " pray for their lives (I don�t believe in God) "
by chauncey
Monday, Mar. 31, 2003 at 9:18 PM
Nick!
i'm sorry you do not beleive in CHrist, so i will pray for you tonight.
GOd Bless
John 3:16
Do you think WE started this?
by Mark Bechan
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003 at 4:49 PM
Do you think WE started this? In my youth, I read fantastic stories of the middle east. True, there were stories of thieves, but no hatred. Only stories about a place I'd like to have visited. What a cesspool the middle east has become.
The Americans did NOT fire the first shot in this battle, however I can assure you we SHALL fire the LAST shot.
Do you think WE started this?
by Mark Bechan
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003 at 4:55 PM
Do you think WE started this? In my youth, I read fantastic stories of the middle east. True, there were stories of thieves, but no hatred. Only stories about a place I'd like to have visited. What a cesspool the middle east has become.
The Americans did NOT fire the first shot in this battle, however I can assure you we SHALL fire the LAST shot.
bring them home
by USS Cowardly
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003 at 6:18 PM
Yes, bring them home. No civil rights for Iraq. It's none of our business. Let children be crucified on prison window frames. I'm more worried about chasing sphincters and placing women on golf courses.
In other words I, as a dime store Leftist, approve of oppressive and murderous patriarchal societies.
Off to my Playstation, after I change my diaper....
toture rooms?
by -
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003 at 6:33 PM
During the past week of demonstrations against the Free Trade Area of
the Americas
(FTAA), protesters have been met with a massive show of state
repression, backed
by $8.5 million in US Government funding. Miami Police Commissioner John
Timoney
oversaw a massive, paramilitary assault on our constitutional and human
rights.
Police wielding batons, tear gas, pepper spray, rubber, wooden, and plastic
bullets and other chemical agents attacked demonstrators, specifically POC
and anarchists. Over 100 demonstrators were treated for injuries; 12 were
hospitalized. Police dispersed large groups of peaceful protestors with
tear gas, pepper spray, and open fire, once broken into smaller groups the
treatment became harsher. This campaign of fear and intimidation
culminated in the closure and militarization of downtown Miami. There were
confirmed reports of military tanks patrolling the streets after dark on
Thursday night.
There are estimates of more than 250 arrests with specific targets of
anarchists and POC. People have become political prisoners and are being
held in jail. More than 50 of them were arrested while holding a peaceful
vigil outside the jail in solidarity with those inside. They were
surrounded by riot police and ordered to disperse. As they did, police
opened fire and blocked the streets preventing many from leaving.
We are now receiving reports from people being released or calling from jail
that there is excessive brutality, sexual assault and torture going on
inside. Reports from released prisoners' claims that POC, Queer and
transgender prisoners are particularly being targeted. There is a confirmed
report of one Latino man arrested along with 62 others outside Miami-Dade
County Jail Friday, who is currently hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit
for an injury he received after being beaten in the head with nightstick by
an arresting officer. Those practicing jail solidarity by not stating names
or nationalities are even further targeted for torture from police by hours
of beatings and soaking with water in the extremely cold jail cells. There
are still some people who are under disappeared status.
People have also been denied access to attorneys, visitation rights,
vegetarian or vegan food, and access to essential medication and medical
attention.
Representing the anti-authoritarian, autonomous, people of color groups in
Miami, Autonomia is putting out a call with other groups of the Miami Direct
Action contingent. We call on people from around the globe to take action
immediately to support our sisters and brothers who are being unfairly
arrested and brutalized. We are calling for three immediate actions:
1) Call, fax, email elected officials with the demands listed below.
Contact information below.
2) Money is urgently needed Wire money to
Cynthia Pitt
at the Western Union in Miami, FL
When you do this, call the convergence center in Miami at:
(305) 373-9644
Call the center to tell them:
1. You're sending it to Cynthia
2. The tracking number
3. The time you sent it
3) Global Day of Action on Monday at any time and any appropriate location.
This could be US Embassies, Departments of Justice or FBI offices
THESE ARE OUR DEMANDS:
� Drop all charges.
� Release all political prisoners.
� Meet basic human needs: no more brutality, provide appropriate food,
access to medicine and medical attention, warm clothing.
� Provide access to attorneys and visitation rights.
� Provide equitable treatment to all prisoners regardless of race,
ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
� Do not share information collected with the INS.
� Fire Chief Timoney and whole all Officers responsible for their
actions.
Many thanks for your support. It is urgently needed.
In solidarity,
Autonomia POC Network
Direct Action Contingency, Miami
To send a free fax:
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=245&source=19
PLEASE CALL AND WRITE:
MANUEL A. DIAZ, Mayor, City of Miami 305.250.5300 305.375.5071
mayor@miamidade.gov OR mannydiaz@ci.miami.fl.us
ALEX PENELAS, Mayor, Miami-Dade County 305.829.9336 home 305.375.5071
office
Chief of Staff: Francois Illas Fillas@ci.miami.fl.us
KATHERINE FERNANDEZ RUNDLE State Attorney305.547.0100
JOHN TIMONEY Chief of Police 305-673-7925 305-579-6565
OTHER NUMBERS
Local media has been grossly biased in their coverage. While
this issomewhat to be expected, the following are numbers that people can
call to voice frustration.
CBS4: 305-639-4551, 305-639-4601, 305-639-4426WPLG
channel 10: 305-576-6397WSUN Fox: 954-524-0388 (Rosh Lowe)
Miami Jail Information: To track people in the system try:
http://www.miami-dadeclerk.com
Miami-Dade Jail (felonies)Facility Supervisor: Captain E. CambridgeAddress:
1320 NW 13 Street Miami, FL. 33125 Facility Phone: (786) 263-4100
Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (misdemeanors) Facility
Supervisor:
Captain M. Fernandez Address: 7000 NW 41 Street Miami, Fl. 33166 Facility
Phone:(305) 470-7600
Carlos Alvarez, Director of Metropolitan Sheriff Department
Miami-Dade Police Department 9105 Northwest 25th Street Miami, FL
33172-1500 USA Telephone: +1-305-471-2100 Fax: +1-305-471-2163
OTHER CONTACT NUMBERS OF CITY OFFICIALS
ALEJANDRO VILARELLO City Attorney 305-416-1800
JOHNNY WINTON, Miami City Commissioner 305.858.7344 home 305.250.5333
office
Commissioner Johnny L. WintonE-mail: jwinton@ci.miami.fl.usKATY
SORENSON, Miami Dade County Commissioner 305.375.5218 305.378.6677
Commissioner Angel GonzalezE-mail: agonzalez@ci.miami.fl.usTelephone:
(305)250-5430
Commissioner Joe M. SanchezDistrict 3E-mail:
jsanchez@ci.miami.fl.usTelephone: (305)250-5380
Commissioner Tomas P. RegaladoDistrict 4E-mail:
tr@ci.miami.fl.usTelephone: (305)250-5420
Commissioner Arthur Teele, Jr.District 5E-mail:
artteele@ci.miami.fl.usTelephone: (305)250-5390
City Manager Joe Arriola E-mail: jarriola@ci.miami.fl.usTelephone:
(305)250-5400
City Attorney Alejandro Vilarello E-mail: law@ci.miami.fl.usTelephone:
(305)416-1800
City Attorney's Office444 SW 2nd Avenue, Suite 945Miami, Florida 33130
up yours
by me
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003 at 8:51 PM
Send a list of your "demands" to your hero Sodom Hussein. I'm sure he will listen to you.
Useless freaks....
Truth hurts.
by +
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003 at 9:04 PM
Don't it?
G~D help us all.
what truth
by USS Sodomite
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003 at 10:59 PM
What truth? How can anyone who marches in favor of a dictator be taken seriously? How can the supposed champions of civil rights for children and women be taken seriously since you collaborators turned your backs on them? Leftists ignore the burka and worry about homosexuals and golf courses.
Don't like my broken record? Then defend the burka!
I freaking dare you to defend the burka.
?
by nicolert
Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004 at 4:51 PM
Whether you like it or agree with it or not, it is happening. Whether the individual military personnel understands exactly why they are fighting-they are there, and they are dying and being tortured. It makes me SICK to think how scared some of them probably are, and how upset they would be to hear the unsupportive things that people are saying. It makes their sacrifices completely in vain.
**********************************************************
You are correct wether we like it or not it is happening. I don't know what the heck your arguement was there, but brilliant point. I'm sorry you get sick when you think how their sacrifices are in vain, what might help is if you think of the fact that many of them believe they are making the sacrifices they are making in order to protect our freedoms, like free speech, and the freedom to have our own opinions. I support the troops, I support them coming home to their families.
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