Posts Tagged ‘Iraq’

2008: 328 Chicago Murders, 247 U.S. Troops lost in Iraq

Friday, September 5th, 2008

An interesting statistic on today’s morning news:
328 people have been murdered in the Chicago area this year.
247 U.S. Troops have been killed in Iraq this year.

The thing is, the south-side of Chicago suffers a lot of gang violence and honestly, I’m perfectly happy to let them kill each other. If you took out all those news reports you hear about the South-side, the picture would be very, very different.

This is what you get for having this type of open availability to guns.

Didn’t France Critisize the USA over WMD War with Iraq?

Monday, September 17th, 2007

Remember before the Iraq War? Back when it was thought there were WMD’s just scattered around the Iraqi desert like sprinkles on an Ice Cream dessert?

I believe I remember France criticizing the decision to enforce co-operation from Saddam Hussein over inspection teams and the apparent hiding of WMD. So why is it that now – when the same people are saying Iran is producing WMD – is it OK for France to talk war?

I’m probably in the minority when it comes to the Iraq War. I think that the security forces made a mistake, if there were WMD’s they are probably in another country now, if there weren’t – oh well, they screwed up. If the leaders of the allied forces all saw the information and all made the same decision – albeit in hindsight probably the wrong one – I don’t blame them for that. In their position I can’t say I would have made any better choice. I don’t think it’s about oil (they have lost more than they have gained – for the amount of money spent on the war, they could have just bought the damn oil), I don’t think it was Bush trying to ‘please daddy’ – I just think they messed up…

But anyway… It seems to me as-though Iran is co-operating a hell of a lot more than Saddam Hussein ever did, so why are they an OK target for tough-talk from the French? Because they’ve verbally threatened Israel? Because they didn’t like the movie “300″?

It seems the age of paranoia is back – oh joy.

It saddens me that people believe the 9/11 conspiracies…

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

Conspiracies aren’t always wrong, but in this case I find it a bit of an insult to those who died on September 11th, 2001.

People actually believe that the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were wired with explosives and this was the American Governments planned exercise of destruction! People actually believe that it was orchestrated – by Americans – in an effect to drum up support for a war and was an effort – by America – to frighten the people of America.

First, if President Bush knew anything about it, he sure managed to put on a good act of looking stupid and useless when he was pretending to be first told about the “attack.” He should have gotten an Oscar for his “clueless President” performance.

Second, what about the people who actually claimed responsibility? They made threats before the attack. They even made videos before the attack, with threats in them, where they “toasted their success” in the attacks before they even happened. It seems when people talk of conspiracies they conveniently forget that someone actually said they did it. If a relative of yours was killed somehow, can you imagine how hurtful it would be to have it questioned whether the person blamed for their death was actually the culprit? It would tear my heart apart to think that the person responsible was someone/thing I am meant to trust (ie: US Government) and by suggesting it… The conspiracy “nuts” are literally poking at the hearts of those relatives. Are the theorists actually suggesting, infact, that the US Government knew about the attacks and let the planes fly into the building, then demolished them?

Third, it seems the main reason why people believe the building’s were demolished is because of the fire. It seems that people think that the fire cannot have burned as hot as suggested to cause the building collapse, because a man and a woman close to the aircraft entry point survived and were waving for help before the collapse. Well, if they did survive the initial impact, does that really bother you? They eventually died during the collapse, so does that satisfy you more? The suggestion that because those people could survive, the fire could not have been intense enough to weaken the metals of the building is just absurd. Did you listen to any of the eyewitness accounts? Did you listen to the stories of “melted people”? Just because you can see something, it does not mean you can discount what you can’t see… If you were looking at photos of that building recently saying “Where’s the fire?” perhaps you should take note of the smoke – the amount of smoke is a clear indication of the fire that existed. Also, those people you saw survived in one building. What about the other? Does the lack of evidence of waving survivors mean that building was hot enough for you?

Fourth, if the destruction was an attempt to persuade the American people to accept the case for war – who the hell cares about Afghanistan? Why on earth would America attack there? Remember it was that country which was brought to war first, not Iraq. Although you may question the reasons for the Iraq war, there is absolutely no way that the US Government orchestrated the attacks of 9/11 in an effort to make people feel OK about war in Afghanistan because what did they gain? What did they gain from the war in Afghanistan? Um… They reduced illegal drug production? No, America attacked Afghanistan because they believed their country had been attacked first by an organization largely supported by the Taliban.

Please, think about what you’re doing. Don’t insult the people who died that day and stop giving the relatives conspiracies and questions they do not want to hear just so you can get your jollies and spread your ideas. I recently posted blog entries questioning the theory of both global warming and the extinction of the dinosaurs, none of which hurt anybody, yet I got a fair few abusive responses for it. If you are posting a conspiracy or even a question about what really happened on 9/11 of course it’s your right to do so, but please, think about the effects of your questions on those relatives still seeking answers.

3 British Killed and 2 Injured by U.S. “Friendly Fire”

Friday, August 24th, 2007

One of the last few times I made a post about this I had some useless non-commenter posted that I had never been to war. Not being sure what the hell that had to do with anything, I asked if that meant someone who has never been to war, isn’t allowed to talk about it, but alas, the person never seemingly felt like posting again.

While I understand that what the person probably meant is that I have never been on the ground in a situation where I am fighting for my life and would probably shoot anything that moves, that isn’t what we’re talking about. What we’re talking about, very often, are attacks by pilots who are relatively safe compared to land forces, opening fire on friendly troops.

Here is a thread I posted previously listing just some of the many friendly fire incidents seen by U.S. forces on just British military personnel. Here is an article about the most recent known friendly fire incident.

I can understand that when calling in an air-strike it’s possible that the British forces made an error in the positioning and told the pilot where to drop the bomb, but previously when U.S. aircraft have killed British soldier’s that hasn’t seemed to be the case.

I’ve nothing against the soldiers, it’s just that I don’t understand it… Why are there proportionally more U.S. performed friendly fire incidents? In the first Gulf War there were more British killed by Americans than by Iraqi’s!

I went out in Chicago last night…

Sunday, August 19th, 2007

Billy, Chris and I went out in Chicago to “Howl at the Moon” last night, and my head still hurts 18 hours later.

We were trying to give some friends who are in the US Military a decent send off, as they are being shipped out soon to Iraq. It’s a really weird feeling to know that someone is about to leave and go somewhere so dangerous, when the folks at Howl at the Moon got them up on stage and played “Proud to be an American” (written by Lee Greenwood) it really was emotional.

This world is so crazy, I can’t believe that with all we know, with all we can do, with all these devices we have to communicate with one another, we still haven’t managed to move towards World Peace. It doesn’t matter how you feel about war, you still get a weird feeling when you know someone is about to go towards it…

Iraq = Monty Python Land?

Thursday, July 12th, 2007

Now this is funny, but, when are we? Is this really 2007?

Much like “She’s a Witch – Burn her!” Iraqi Civilians are blaming British soldiers for bringing a “man eating Badger” and releasing it to create panic! What sort of a world are we living in? No wonder they used to believe that Minister of Information…

Only 29% think the war was right?

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

Ok so, if we knew what we knew now, most of us probably wouldn’t have agreed with going to war. But back in those joyful days, we didn’t know what we know now, did we?

Just the other night in Chicago there was an anti-war march, as Sheila and I sat in the Chili’s restaurant (I love the “oldtimer burger, with cheese”) everyone was finishing up and coming in with their banners in hand…

Is there really any point in protesting the war right now? Short of Barak Obama’s “promise” of bringing the troops home, there really is no end to the war in sight and I honestly believe that pulling out now is a bad idea.

Remember the Gulf War? Do any of you remember that? Frankly I am glad we finished the job somewhat because Saddam brought his Iraq to the brink of war many, many times. Infact why not read some information about that yourself.

Hindsight… Hindsight is the major factor in people’s belief that the war was wrong… The fact is, we can’t do anything now but ensure that we leave Iraq as a country we want to communicate and do business with in the future, not one that is more likely to turn into a terrorist state. Why do I think Iraq would turn that way? LOOK AT IT. We should not, no… cannot leave yet.

War for Oil?

Friday, March 16th, 2007

You know… I’ve been thinking. ;)

Why is everyone in the Middle-east complaining that the U.S. may have gone to war for oil? Having visited quite a few gas stations now during my time in the USA, I have to say that most of the gas stations here seem to be owned by people either with Indian or Middle-eastern ancestry… I am yet to see a “white guy” in a gas station kiosk since June, 2006. I’m almost certain a lot of the profit from oil ends up in the hands of people who came from where the oil did…

I know, it’s just an amusing thought and not meant in a serious way, but it made me chuckle to myself when I thought it up. :)

Apple iRack

Monday, March 12th, 2007

Iraqi Voting Form

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

I believe this was produced before Saddam was found, probed or martyrized. But it is still funny! It is the work of this guy but I found it here.

iraq-vote-form.jpg