Yet Another 48 hours: the 3qual

[soniktruth]

STARRING EDDIE MURPHY, NICK NOLTE, AND SPECIAL GUESTS, SADDAM HUSSEIN AND CO.........IN THEATRES NOW!!!!FIRST 20 TICKET HOLDERS GET A FREE TANK OF GAS.....


WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK. IS HE GOING OR STAYING.......?

[piesore]

There is basically a 0% chance he will leave even if he wanted to. Even though some neighboring Arab nations have offered to take him in, he realistically has nowhere to go. But this is what it's been from the get go, not about disarmament, but getting rid of Saddam. Why? I don't know. He's a very bad guy, but there are definitely worse dictators in the world...I remember an ex-top general saying Iraq was maybe sixth or seventh on the list of what we should be worrying about.
In any case, I fear the human toll this war will take. We might not get to see too much of it here, especially now with the "imbedding" of reporters into squad units (what this actually means is the military fairys them around to what they want them to see, since the reporters will not have access to their own transportation), but there are without a doubt going to be staggering civilian causualties, especially if/when they try to take Baghdad. And it could very well be a wake up call to people in the US if Pentagon estimates for American causualities turns out to be right, 10,000-30,000 (this is 6+ month old data, so things might have changed). Urban warfare is a whole other ball game, with some marine drills ending up with 2/3 of the squad dead within 3 minutes of trying to take a building.
I think that alone should make us question why we are doing this, though there are plenty of other reasons. This will be Saddam's last stand, and it's important to remember that while the Iraqi army is a joke, his special security forces are among the best in the world. The US gov't attempted to assassinate him 3 times in the ninties and failed, trying to get to him will be no easy task. I just hope, but strongly doubt, the Iraq doesn't become another Afghanistan. Everyone was cheering that it was finally liberated...funny you never hear about what a shithole the country has now become. That whole war was basically a PR campaign to satisfy an anry american public, obviously, Bin Laden needed to be found, but that's not what happened, and Afghanistan is not really a democracy now. It's fallen back to the standard of living in pre-Taliban days with warlords ruling many territories, and things are so bad that Taliban and Al Queda officials have been seen openly walking in the streets.
Blah, blah, blah, I'll stop now.

[soniktruth]

Propaganda death ensemble
Burial to be
Corpses rotting through the night
In blood laced misery
Scorched earth the policy
The reason for the seige
The pendulum it shaves the blade
The strafing air blood raid

Infiltration push reserves
Encircle the front lines
Supreme art of strategy
Playing on the minds
Bombard till submission
Take all to their graves
Indication of triumph
The number that are dead

[CHORUS]
Sport the war, war support
The sport is war, total war
When victory's a massacre
The final swing is not a drill
It's how many people I can kill

[CHORUS]

Be dead friend from above
When darkness falls
Descend into my sights
Your fallen walls
Spearhead break through the lines
Flanked all around
Soldiers of attriction
Forward their ground
Regime prophetic age
Old in its time
Flowing veins run on through
Deep in the Rhine
Center of the web
All battles scored
What is our war crimes
(Era forever more...war)

Propaganda war ensemble
Burial to be
Bones shining in the night
In blood laced misery
Campaign of elimination
Twisted psychology
When victory is to survive
And death is defeat

[CHORUS]
Sport the war, war support
The sport is war, total war
When victory's a massacre
When victory is survival
When this end is a slaughter
The final swing is not a drill
It's how many people I can kill

(SLAYER)


BUSH HAS IGNORED THE MASSES!!! WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO WE THE PEOPLE?

[piesore]

I went to a Slayer concert, and I think they are actually pro-war in this case, from the imagery they were displaying on stage...that seemed to conflict with their lyrics. What's interesting is that in this supposed coalition of the willing, only three of the countries are providing troops, compared the the 12+ (I think it was sixteen or more, but I'm not postive) that did during the gulf war. And some countries, liked Columbia expressed suprised when they were announced on the list. Finally, even places like Britian, the strongest ally to the US in this war, support for the war is below 50%. The whole reason for electing leaders is to express the will of the people which I don't think is happening. In japan another ally, 90% of the people are against the war, it's madness really.
I think this scenario provides an interesting paradox, however. I would like to see Saddam out of power, but I don't think the reasons that are being given justify war. Much of the evidence that has been used to make a case for war turned out to be faked (I'll put up some sources later, I'm tired right now. But it made a huge stink all around the world...except america), and while there has not been definitive proof to show he has been fully disarmed, there are been nothing to show anything to the contrary, and there has been NO evidence they have rebuilt their weapons capacity after being over 90% disarmed by inspectors in the 1990's.
And this "shock and awe" campaign is really almost an Orwellian use of words. I think these words are meant to evoke feelings of wonder, but what it comes down to is the indiscriminate killing and at times deliberate killing of civilians. You can find the origin of the term shock and awe and the document from which is came and what the stratagy actually entails at www.notinourname.net
I actually haven't been there, so you might have to search around, but I was listening to the author of the report discuss the topic. It's important to note this, because this is supposedly being done in benefit of the Iraqi people, yet this campaign specially calls for killing civilians and to inflict such a degree of destruction to get the same reaction from the Iraqis as the US did with the Japanese with dropping the two atom bombs.