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WikiLeaks Releases Iraq War Logs Which Detail Over 100,000 Deaths, Show US Ignored Torture, Expose Routine Friendly Fire
Wikileaks has lifted the embargo on what it dubs the biggest leak of American documents in history. The Guardian, which is the primary nexus of data collection, notes that almost "400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the
Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the
whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident US
army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have
leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters
and civilian killings in the Afghan war." The reports will likely do little to raise the US' standing in the eyes of the international community: "The numerous reports of detainee abuse, often supported by medical
evidence, describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists or
ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric
shocks. Six reports end with a detainee's apparent death."Additionally, the reports detail how friendly fire from US troops became routine: Americans have shot at their own troops or allies so often that in at least one case a strafed British vehicle didn't even stop. Since this will apparnetly now be the main story this weekend, might as well get a head start.
The new logs detail how:
- US authorities failed to investigate
hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi
police and soldiers whose conduct appears to be systematic and normally
unpunished. - A US helicopter gunship involved in a notorious
Baghdad incident had previously killed Iraqi insurgents after they tried
to surrender. - More than 15,000 civilians died in previously
unknown incidents. US and UK officials have insisted that no official
record of civilian casualties exists but the logs record 66,081
non-combatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities.
More from the Guardian:
As recently as December the Americans were passed a video apparently showing Iraqi army officers executing a prisoner
in Tal Afar, northern Iraq. The log states: "The footage shows
approximately 12 Iraqi army soldiers. Ten IA soldiers were talking to
one another while two soldiers held the detainee. The detainee had his
hands bound … The footage shows the IA soldiers moving the detainee into
the street, pushing him to the ground, punching him and shooting him."
The
report named at least one perpetrator and was passed to coalition
forces. But the logs reveal that the coalition has a formal policy of
ignoring such allegations. They record "no investigation is necessary"
and simply pass reports to the same Iraqi units implicated in the
violence. By contrast all allegations involving coalition forces are
subject to formal inquiries. Some cases of alleged abuse by UK and US
troops are also detailed in the logs.
In two Iraqi cases postmortems revealed evidence of death by torture. On 27 August 2009 a US medical officer found "bruises and burns as well as visible injuries to the head, arm, torso, legs and neck"
on the body of one man claimed by police to have killed himself. On 3
December 2008 another detainee, said by police to have died of "bad
kidneys", was found to have "evidence of some type of unknown surgical procedure on [his] abdomen".
A
Pentagon spokesman told the New York Times this week that under its
procedure, when reports of Iraqi abuse were received the US military
"notifies the responsible government of Iraq agency or ministry for
investigation and follow-up".
The logs also illustrate the readiness of US forces to unleash lethal force. In one chilling incident they detail how an Apache helicopter gunship gunned down two men in February 2007.
The
suspected insurgents had been trying to surrender but a lawyer back at
base told the pilots: "You cannot surrender to an aircraft." The Apache,
callsign Crazyhorse 18, was the same unit and helicopter based at Camp
Taji outside Baghdad that later that year, in July, mistakenly killed
two Reuters employees and wounded two children in the streets of
Baghdad.
Iraq Body Count, the London-based group that monitors
civilian casualties, says it has identified around 15,000 previously
unknown civilian deaths from the data contained in the leaked war logs.
Although
US generals have claimed their army does not carry out body counts and
British ministers still say no official statistics exist, the war logs
show these claims are untrue. The field reports purport to identify all
civilian and insurgent casualties, as well as numbers of coalition
forces wounded and killed in action. They give a total of more than
109,000 violent deaths from all causes between 2004 and the end of 2009.
This
includes 66,081 civilians, 23,984 people classed as "enemy" and 15,196
members of the Iraqi security forces. Another 3,771 dead US and allied
soldiers complete the body count.
No fewer than 31,780 of these
deaths are attributed to improvised roadside bombs (IEDs) planted by
insurgents. The other major recorded tally is of 34,814 victims of
sectarian killings, recorded as murders in the logs.
However, the
US figures appear to be unreliable in respect of civilian deaths caused
by their own military activities. For example, in Falluja, the site of
two major urban battles in 2004, no civilian deaths are recorded. Yet
Iraq Body Count monitors identified more than 1,200 civilians who died
during the fighting.
Legal action is already being prepared:
Phil Shiner, human rights specialist at Public Interest Lawyers, plans to use material from the logs in court to try to force the UK to hold a public inquiry into the unlawful killing of Iraqi civilians.
He also plans to sue the British government over its failure to stop the abuse and torture of detainees by Iraqi forces. The coalition's formal policy of not investigating such allegations is "simply not permissible", he says.
Shiner is already pursuing a series of legal actions for former detainees allegedly killed or tortured by British forces in Iraq.
As before, all the docs will be made available online:
WikiLeaks says it is posting online the entire set of 400,000 Iraq field reports – in defiance of the Pentagon.
The whistleblowing activists say they have deleted all names from the documents that might result in reprisals. They were accused by the US military of possibly having "blood on their hands" over the previous Afghan release by redacting too few names. But the military recently conceded that no harm had been identified.
Condemning this fresh leak, however, the Pentagon said: "This security breach could very well get our troops and those they are fighting with killed. Our enemies will mine this information looking for insights into how we operate, cultivate sources and react in combat situations, even the capability of our equipment."
There are many other stories emanating from the main portal, among which:
- The introduction- The leaking of more than 390,000 previously secret US military reports details the hidden realities of the war in Iraq (link)
- A look at Frago 242 - Secret order that let US ignore abuse;
Mistreatment of helpless prisoners by Iraqi security forces included
beatings, burning, electrocution and rape (link) - Iraq war logs: How friendly fire from US troops became routine: Americans have shot at their own troops or allies so often that in at least one case a strafed British vehicle didn't even stop (link)
- Apache crew killed insurgents who tried to surrender: US military legal adviser told helicopter crew that Iraqi men were valid targets as they could not surrender to aircraft (link)
- Iraq war logs reveal civilian body count of invasion is much higher (link)
- Civilians gunned down at checkpoints (link)
- Iran accused of plotting attack on Green Zone: Audacious strike in Baghdad among allegations against Tehran of everything from gun running to training insurgents (link)
- US fails to answer for deaths of journalists: Highest toll among Iraqi reporters caught in crossfire, mistaken for insurgents or murdered by countrymen in sectarian violence (link)
- Killings in the wake of Saddam's hanging: Brothers named after him were lynched along with their mother – while gallows mocking of dictator led to revenge bombing (link)
- Iraq war logs: US spy balloons blew towards Iran: Hi-tech JLens blimps with secret technology used to detect cruise missiles may have dropped into Tehran's lap (link)
A tabular summary of all the Associated Iraqi deaths is presented below:
The link also denotes the method of death on both sides.
The Guardian has also released a map of the deaths (which for now apparently is not working)
For those pressed for time, the below clip summarizes most of the key findings:
Sure enough, the Pentagon has immediately responded (via the New York Times):
“We deplore WikiLeaks for inducing individuals to break the law, leak
classified documents and then cavalierly share that secret information
with the world, including our enemies. We know terrorist organizations
have been mining the leaked Afghan documents for information to use
against us, and this Iraq leak is more than four times as large. By
disclosing such sensitive information, WikiLeaks continues to put at
risk the lives of our troops, their coalition partners and those Iraqis
and Afghans working with us. The only responsible course of action for
WikiLeaks at this point is to return the stolen material and expunge it
from their Web sites as soon as possible.
“We strongly condemn the unauthorized disclosure of classified
information and will not comment on these leaked documents other than to
note that ‘significant activities’ reports are initial, raw
observations by tactical units. They are essentially snapshots of
events, both tragic and mundane, and do not tell the whole story. That
said, the period covered by these reports has been well chronicled in
news stories, books and films, and the release of these field reports
does not bring new understanding to Iraq’s past.
“However, it does expose secret information that could make our troops
even more vulnerable to attack in the future. Just as with the leaked
Afghan documents, we know our enemies will mine this information,
looking for insights into how we operate, cultivate sources and react in
combat situations, even the capability of our equipment. This security
breach could very well get our troops and those they are fighting with
killed.”
Also, remember, the banks are not allowed to reveal anything about their own criminal ways because otherwise the world will end. Ah, the parallels.
And conveniently enough, here is an interview on the very topic between Dylan Ratigan and Pentagon Papers creator Daniel Ellsberg :
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and since alex is the only human being to have ever argued or brought forth evidence on this false flag, you clearly win the argument. A trial lawyer in the making
Bob, I understand your position in protecting yourself against an enemy out of uniform and can see the catch 22 of the foot soldiers over there. However, that doesn't absolve guards of their responsibilities under the Geneva Convention when detaining prisoners of war. They have a responsibility to the rest of us at home too. They reflect our image abroad.
I agree. I think those who abused their power should be held accountable under the UCMJ.
It's impossible to be engaged in war and have 100% control over 100% of the troops, 100% of the time. There will always be bad apples, at the same time we have bad cops as well. It's just the way it is.
I feel like this wikileaks leak is engineered to make us look bad. Do they release documents stating any of the good we have done that didn't make it to the news? No.
The facts are the facts, Bob.
What good where bobby?
Give me one instance where the good might balance all the bad?
Bringing democracy to iraq?
oh wait, liberating afghan women?
Points of view such as yours always disturb me (because you do seem educated) and then I realize that you could be no match for 24/7 programming by the PTB.
Sad, good people gone bad.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
As if we really need any help looking bad...
Um..if they are not wearing uniforms, they are illegal combatants:
The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 12 August 1949 (GCIII) of 1949 defines the requirements for a captive to be eligible for treatment as a POW. A lawful combatant is a person who commits belligerent acts, and, when captured, is treated as a POW. An unlawful combatant is someone who commits belligerent acts but does not qualify for POW status under GCIII Articles 4 and 5.
In other words, we could LEGALLY hang them at will.
Your comment reminds me of the occasional excuse offered for why it has taken the US so long to "bring democracy" to Iraq and Afghanistan. We are fighting an unorthodox enemy who doesn't adhere to traditional methods of conflict.
Translation: Whaaahhhh!! They don't wear uniforms!
I suppose the British said the same thing about the colonists way back when. I find it darkly comedic that those who go on and on about the US' military mite will also accept the excuse above.
Actually, the reason is they are tribal. They do not share the western view of nationalism.
That is a serious disconnect.
Add Sunni and Shiite just can't help killing each other and you might see the problem.
They are only the Religion of Peace if it is the peace of the sword...or the grave.
And uniforms would not be a problem if the ROE allowed us to go all roman on them.
Yes what a shame, they don't share the Western view of nationalism. I assume you believe that's a good thing?
And how exactly will "going all roman" on them help the situation, if they are too backwards and foolish to embrace our view of nationalism?
I've been meaning to do a paper on the effectiveness of mass crucifixion as a way to pacify a population.
Or you could just break them up. Kurds need a homeland too.
How 'bout we start with you? Gotta start somewhere.
Little old me, Al? But I haven't invaded your home.
Why would you want to launch such an unprovoked illegal attack upon my person?
Hypocrite much?
Himmler of SS fame was a Freikorps.
Now I see the resemblance.
Traitors arise from any organization. It is the way of the world.
Guilt by association is lame, I thought.
Because most all terrorists are muslim.
Just saying.
You guys don't play much chess, do you?
Wow, guys. Why do so many of you hate the Kurds?
Why do they not deserve a homeland all their own?
Could it be you are hypocrites?
Not mentioning any countries ... but a ten year old boy throwing rocks at a tank tearing up his neighbourhood could be an illegal combatant and hung?
Only in a lefty masturbatory dream.
If it was a combat zone and I saw anyone throwing something at a tank I would have shot him/her on the spot with no respect of age or gender.
You don't have the luxury of examining in slow-motion what it is they are throwing. If you are getting shot at by bullets/rockets/grenades you wouldn't have the time to evaluate with a lawyer why there is a child throwing (something) at a tank in the middle of a combat zone.
A child throwing anything at a tank in a combat zone has bad parents and they should be locked up for child neglect.
*ROE wouldn't allow a child (or anyone near a tank) unless they were willing to engage in combat...in which case they would have been warned by at least 50 meters to include warning shots.*
the best argument yet for why the bastards who created this false war for oil are some of the biggest mass murderers in recent times. I'm not blaming you but you should be blaming those who put you there and not the kid throwing rocks. That does not wipe your conscience clean or any of ours for continuing to allow this crime to go forward
You should probably read up on Asian combat methods.
So, what happens if the enemy decides to fight naked?
Then too, what about this guy? http://www.foxnews.com/images/533513/1_21_a450.jpg
I was shipped over there and it's incredibly difficult to discern from the people trying to kill you and the innocent civilians. This was part of our enemies strategy.
If by "enemies" you mean Bush and now Obama, I agree. You do know that the US attacked Iraq without provocation, don't you?
We were attacked by a muslim faction on 9/11 (and on many instances before 9/11 to include the Clinton years) In fact ALMOST every instance in which a terrorist attack has occured has been from a muslim originated sect. Please, don't bring up Tim M. That was 1 guy. Now think...Fort Hood, 9/11, all the WTC bombings prior to that, the 1972 Olymic attack, The shoe bomber (Richard Reid), The USS Cole, the attempted car bomb in Times Sqaure, the Mumbai massacre, the cafe bombings in Indonesia, and I could go on...and on....all muslims. In all cases (except USS cole) the targets were civilians.
Had Saddam Hussein allowed international weapons inspectors into his country we would not have gone to war. All he had to do was let a team of international inspectors to check it out.
Remember "We will not forget" well...we have...and we continue to forget, time and time again.
Had Saddam Hussein allowed international weapons inspectors into his country we would not have gone to war. All he had to do was let a team of international inspectors to check it out.
Are you lying or just woefully misinformed? UN inspectors had access to the entire nation of Iraq and found nothing. How can you say it didn't happen when it played out for weeks on live TV? Everybody here knows it happened, why don't you?
Hey Dumbolina, just google USS Liberty.
Start from there. You can string sentences together, you must have basic logical analysis capabilities, yes?
Since you are clearly a jingoist, you really should know who your enemy is. Else you are just a danger to yourself.
Need more? Read about the reasons for the Korean war and Vietnam war.
Then, when you come down from your kool-aid high, look up the Afghanistan pipeline question, the CIA drug dealing operations....
The rabbit hole is deep and dark and you'll probably feel afraid at first.
But once you get used to the idea that you are a product of decietful conditioning and that no-one hates you for your free-dumbs (joke is that you are the most im-prisoned than most), you will feel better. Lighter. Awake.
I can almost guarantee it.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
Christ bob, roll another one.
Get off your rap habit dude!
Geez, you are a dumbass!
Jeopardy answer for you.
Who was Hans Blix
Iraq ain't World War II.
Exactly.
god bless wikileaks!!!!
the elitist death mongering rulers of this country have turned it into a barbaric murderous evil empire - all deocorated with lies, hypocrisy and half truths....
the united states has no business in the middle east - many of the terror problems are of its own making...the war is funded and demanded by the plutocrats to slake their bloody thirsty lust for oil...
both bush and obama are the evil filth behind the deaths each one working for the cia and doing the will of its masters.
but you can bet your next bayonet plunge that the new york times, washington post, allied liars will make excuses for the military industrial complex. any paper which covered up the murder of jfk for its confederates will cover up for the cia.
fuck obama, fuck bush, fuck the cia, and fuck the fed.
Gee, welcome to the club. I hope this didn't just dawn on ya.
Uh, you have foam running down the corner of your mouth there....take a breath, it'll all be ok.
@ Tony Bon - Let it out...the shit is so deep now, honestly, where else but in the anonymity of the net can you let out your true feelings (unless/ until TSHTF).
Truly, US has no moral high ground and in fact we appear to occupy the low ground with folks we never believed would be our neighbors...and all this done in our name under the direction of our democratically elected leaders (aka, we are responsible for what our country does here and abroad and don't try to say it wasn't you or me)...we know where the evil lies and if we don't try to stop it, we are responsible for it.
3 reasonable options - agree with it, change it from within, or relocate elsewhere.
where else but in the anonymity of the net?
Would not be too sure about that
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8075563/Every-email-and-websi...
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/10/21/cyber-attack-strikes-freedomworks/
http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-tells-pentagon-to-attack-%E2%80%9Ccybe...
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53194
http://www.chris-floyd.com/articles/1-latest-news/2035-obamas-finest-hou...
http://www.activistpost.com/2010/10/war-what-is-is-good-for.html
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/10/19/mn-state-legislators-speak-out-a...
Let me guess tony, you hang out at the coffee shop with your apple laptop for hours at a time. You ride a bike, don't own a car. You don't have a job, or maybe it's juts part time min wage. You live off food stamps and welfare and subsidized rent and you rage at the machine...cause you're too fucking lazy to take care of yourself. And, because of that, you have no idea how the real world works and that some thigs are worth fighting for...enjoy your coffee.
Projection is a beach
I worked hard and it paid me well. As much as I have taken a hard hit in this economy, I still live in a nice house on 5 acres overlooking the Pacific ocean. How's that for projection fucktard?
Fuck you. How's that for fucking you?
I moved to the States and worked hard. Co-inventor on a patent that has been granted. New product ideas that resulted in a number of people being hired. Project lead on some government projects. Did I miss my cafe au lait - absolutely. Did I learn tons in my years in the states - yes. Do I wish some posters like you would be a little more open-minded - that would be priceless (seriously).
And you can bet that the same anti-U.S. Europeans who will salivate over this stuff and preen about their moral superiority will want us to come and rescue their asses if they're invaded...and they won't give a s**t about this kind of nonsense.
And we WILL come and rescue their asses again. Because as much as they hate it, we ARE the good guys. Without us their world gets a lot bleaker.
Beg to differ. We were the good guys.
If you think that stuff is right, then yes we are WAY superior.
Imagine your wife is raped, your daughter is gang banged and you get to watch it all.
And after that, you'll say: THANK YOU VERY MUCH, WE DESERVED IT, CAN WE HAVE SOME MORE PLEASE?
Is that the kind of man you are? Do your wife and children know you would let that happen to them?
Me, I'm a European yes. And I want people to be handeld like I would be.
Also, your reference to WOII. That's just idiotic.
Did you know that America would not have existed without the French who helped you fight the English? Otherwise you would only be nothing more then farmers right now.
Do you hear the French reminding you on that one on a daily basis?
Weren't the French hacking at the British in the usual manner before, during, and after the American Revolution? The American Revolution was a side show for the British. The real war was with the French.
The Louisiana purchase was a side show for the French. Then, the real war was with the British.
How about the Russian sale of Alaska? What war was that money for?
All told, a case can be made that the future looks bright for the United States.
The French and Indian War between the British and the French for control of America (Drums Along the Mohawk, Last of the Mohicans, Amherst and Washington biowarfare with smallpox blankets) was but a Seven-year part of a century-long European conflict called by Churchill the First World War.
Russia sold Alaska cjeap after the Civil War thwarted an attempted bidding war between America and Britain, knowing after the Crimean War neither Britian nor Russia had the means to protect Alaska. Russia would love to repo Alaska. Today we have DEW, HAARP, Trident Bering Submarines etc.
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_23/north2.htm
The Crimean War was fought over control of the Holy Land.
How little things change, even with petroleum jelly now available for the little people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years%27_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Hundred_Years%27_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase
*
Sorry but had to junk you again - you need to start with some basic North America history books.
I was going to say I'll see what the kids are studying and get back to you but realized that might be a little cruel.
Will t try to think of history books that might be appropriate.
wtf. WITH us, the world has gotten a lot bleaker. Where have you been the past few years while the US was dragging the world down in its neo-Keynesian nightmare?
We're not in the same US we were taught about in public school as kids. This is no longer a free country, we're not fighting for freedom. We're fighting for the people who are in power and want to maintain power.
The wars are just bailouts and stimulus packages. Expect them to continue.
"We're not in the same US we were taught about in public school as kids."
We never were. There was no hallowed age of freedom in this country when we just "followed the Constitution." It's false nostalgia.
The Old South was the epitomy of the Constitution.
Journalism In Tennessee
The editor of the Memphis Avalanche swoops thus mildly down upon a correspondent who posted him as a Radical:--"While he was writing the first word, the middle, dotting his i's, crossing his t's, and punching his period, he knew he was concocting a sentence that was saturated with infamy and reeking with falsehood."--Exchange.
I was told by the physician that a Southern climate would improve my health, and so I went down to Tennessee, and got a berth on the Morning Glory and Johnson County War-Whoop as associate editor. When I went on duty I found the chief editor sitting tilted back in a three-legged chair with his feet on a pine table. There was another pine table in the room and another afflicted chair, and both were half buried under newspapers and scraps and sheets of manuscript. There was a wooden box of sand, sprinkled with cigar stubs and "old soldiers," and a stove with a door hanging by its upper hinge. The chief editor had a long-tailed black cloth frock-coat on, and white linen pants. His boots were small and neatly blacked. He wore a ruffled shirt, a large seal-ring, a standing collar of obsolete pattern, and a checkered neckerchief with the ends hanging down. Date of costume about 1848. He was smoking a cigar, and trying to think of a word, and in pawing his hair he had rumpled his locks a good deal. He was scowling fearfully, and I judged that he was concocting a particularly knotty editorial. He told me to take the exchanges and skim through them and write up the "Spirit of the Tennessee Press," condensing into the article all of their contents that seemed of interest.
I wrote as follows:
SPIRIT OF THE TENNESSEE PRESS
The editors of the Semi-Weekly Earthquake evidently labor under a misapprehension with regard to the Dallyhack railroad. It is not the object of the company to leave Buzzardville off to one side. On the contrary, they consider it one of the most important points along the line, and consequently can have no desire to slight it. The gentlemen of the Earthquake will, of course, take pleasure in making the correction.
John W. Blossom, Esq., the able editor of the Higginsville Thunderbolt and Battle Cry of Freedom, arrived in the city yesterday. He is stopping at the Van Buren House.
We observe that our contemporary of the Mud Springs Morning Howl has fallen into the error of supposing that the election of Van Werter is not an established fact, but he will have discovered his mistake before this reminder reaches him, no doubt. He was doubtless misled by incomplete election returns.
It is pleasant to note that the city of Blathersville is endeavoring to contract with some New York gentlemen to pave its well-nigh impassable streets with the Nicholson pavement. The Daily Hurrah urges the measure with ability, and seems confident of ultimate success.
I passed my manuscript over to the chief editor for acceptance, alteration, or destruction. He glanced at it and his face clouded. He ran his eye down the pages, and his countenance grew portentous. It was easy to see that something was wrong. Presently he sprang up and said:
"Thunder and lightning! Do you suppose I am going to speak of those cattle that way? Do you suppose my subscribers are going to stand such gruel as that? Give me the pen!"
I never saw a pen scrape and scratch its way so viciously, or plow through another man's verbs and adjectives so relentlessly. While he was in the midst of his work, somebody shot at him through the open window, and marred the symmetry of my ear.
"Ah," said he, "that is that scoundrel Smith, of the Moral Volcano--he was due yesterday." And he snatched a navy revolver from his belt and fired--Smith dropped, shot in the thigh. The shot spoiled Smith's aim, who was just taking a second chance and he crippled a stranger. It was me. Merely a finger shot off.
Then the chief editor went on with his erasure; and interlineations. Just as he finished them a hand grenade came down the stove-pipe, and the explosion shivered the stove into a thousand fragments. However, it did no further damage, except that a vagrant piece knocked a couple of my teeth out.
"That stove is utterly ruined," said the chief editor.
I said I believed it was.
"Well, no matter--don't want it this kind of weather. I know the man that did it. I'll get him. Now, here is the way this stuff ought to be written."
I took the manuscript. It was scarred with erasures and interlineations till its mother wouldn't have known it if it had had one. It now read as follows:
SPIRIT OF THE TENNESSEE PRESS
The inveterate liars of the Semi-Weekly Earthquake are evidently endeavoring to palm off upon a noble and chivalrous people another of their vile and brutal falsehoods with regard to that most glorious conception of the nineteenth century, the Ballyhack railroad. The idea that Buzzardville was to be left off at one side originated in their own fulsome brains--or rather in the settlings which they regard as brains. They had better, swallow this lie if they want to save their abandoned reptile carcasses the cowhiding they so richly deserve.
That ass, Blossom, of the Higginsville Thunderbolt and Battle Cry of Freedom, is down here again sponging at the Van Buren.
We observe that the besotted blackguard of the Mud Springs Morning Howl is giving out, with his usual propensity for lying, that Van Werter is not elected. The heaven-born mission of journalism is to disseminate truth; to eradicate error; to educate, refine, and elevate the tone of public morals and manners, and make all men more gentle, more virtuous, more charitable, and in all ways better, and holier, and happier; and yet this blackhearted scoundrel degrades his great office persistently to the dissemination of falsehood, calumny, vituperation, and vulgarity.
Blathersville wants a Nicholson pavement--it wants a jail and a poorhouse more. The idea of a pavement in a one-horse town composed of two gin-mills, a blacksmith shop, and that mustard-plaster of a newspaper, the Daily Hurrah! The crawling insect, Buckner, who edits the Hurrah, is braying about his business with his customary imbecility, and imagining that he is talking sense.
"Now that is the way to write--peppery and to the point. Mush-and-milk journalism gives me the fan-tods."
About this time a brick came through the window with a splintering crash, and gave me a considerable of a jolt in the back. I moved out of range --I began to feel in the way.
The chief said, "That was the Colonel, likely. I've been expecting him for two days. He will be up now right away."
He was correct. The Colonel appeared in the door a moment afterward with a dragoon revolver in his hand.
He said, "Sir, have I the honor of addressing the poltroon who edits this mangy sheet?"
"You have. Be seated, sir. Be careful of the chair, one of its legs is gone. I believe I have the honor of addressing the putrid liar, Colonel Blatherskite Tecumseh?"
"Right, Sir. I have a little account to settle with you. If you are at leisure we will begin."
"I have an article on the 'Encouraging Progress of Moral and Intellectual Development in America' to finish, but there is no hurry. Begin."
Both pistols rang out their fierce clamor at the same instant. The chief lost a lock of his hair, and the Colonel's bullet ended its career in the fleshy part of my thigh. The Colonel's left shoulder was clipped a little. They fired again. Both missed their men this time, but I got my share, a shot in the arm. At the third fire both gentlemen were wounded slightly, and I had a knuckle chipped. I then said, I believed I would go out and take a walk, as this was a private matter, and I had a delicacy about participating in it further. But both gentlemen begged me to keep my seat, and assured me that I was not in the way.
They then talked about the elections and the crops while they reloaded, and I fell to tying up my wounds. But presently they opened fire again with animation, and every shot took effect--but it is proper to remark that five out of the six fell to my share. The sixth one mortally wounded the Colonel, who remarked, with fine humor, that he would have to say good morning now, as he had business uptown. He then inquired the way to the undertaker's and left.
The chief turned to me and said, "I am expecting company to dinner, and shall have to get ready. It will be a favor to me if you will read proof and attend to the customers."
I winced a little at the idea of attending to the customers, but I was too bewildered by the fusillade that was still ringing in my ears to think of anything to say.
He continued, "Jones will be here at three--cowhide him. Gillespie will call earlier, perhaps--throw him out of the window. Ferguson will be along about four--kill him. That is all for today, I believe. If you have any odd time, you may write a blistering article on the police--give the chief inspector rats. The cowhides are under the table; weapons in the drawer--ammunition there in the corner--lint and bandages up there in the pigeonholes. In case of accident, go to Lancet, the surgeon, down- stairs. He advertises--we take it out in trade."
He was gone. I shuddered. At the end of the next three hours I had been through perils so awful that all peace of mind and all cheerfulness were gone from me. Gillespie had called and thrown me out of the window. Jones arrived promptly, and when I got ready to do the cowhiding he took the job off my hands. In an encounter with a stranger, not in the bill of fare, I had lost my scalp. Another stranger, by the name of Thompson, left me a mere wreck and ruin of chaotic rags. And at last, at bay in the corner, and beset by an infuriated mob of editors, blacklegs, politicians, and desperadoes, who raved and swore and flourished their weapons about my head till the air shimmered with glancing flashes of steel, I was in the act of resigning my berth on the paper when the chief arrived, and with him a rabble of charmed and enthusiastic friends. Then ensued a scene of riot and carnage such as no human pen, or steel one either, could describe. People were shot, probed, dismembered, blown up, thrown out of the window. There was a brief tornado of murky blasphemy, with a confused and frantic war-dance glimmering through it, and then all was over. In five minutes there was silence, and the gory chief and I sat alone and surveyed the sanguinary ruin that strewed the floor around us.
He said, "You'll like this place when you get used to it."
I said, "I'll have to get you to excuse me; I think maybe I might write to suit you after a while; as soon as I had had some practice and learned the language I am confident I could. But, to speak the plain truth, that sort of energy of expression has its inconveniences, and a, man is liable to interruption.
"You see that yourself. Vigorous writing is calculated to elevate the public, no doubt, but then I do not like to attract so much attention as it calls forth. I can't write with comfort when I am interrupted so much as I have been to-day. I like this berth well enough, but I don't like to be left here to wait on the customers. The experiences are novel, I grant you, and entertaining, too, after a fashion, but they are not judiciously distributed. A gentleman shoots at you through the window and cripples me; a bombshell comes down the stovepipe for your gratification and sends the stove door down my throat; a friend drops in to swap compliments with you, and freckles me with bullet-holes till my skin won't hold my principles; you go to dinner, and Jones comes with his cowhide, Gillespie throws me out of the window, Thompson tears all my clothes off, and an entire stranger takes my scalp with the easy freedom of an old acquaintance; and in less than five minutes all the blackguards in the country arrive in their war-paint, and proceed to scare the rest of me to death with their tomahawks. Take it altogether, I never had such a spirited time in all my life as I have had to-day. No; I like you, and I like your calm unruffled way of explaining things to the customers, but you see I am not used to it. The Southern heart is too impulsive; Southern hospitality is too lavish with the stranger. The paragraphs which I have written to-day, and into whose cold sentences your masterly hand has infused the fervent spirit of Tennesseean journalism, will wake up another nest of hornets. All that mob of editors will come--and they will come hungry, too, and want somebody for breakfast. I shall have to bid you adieu. I decline to be present at these festivities. I came South for my health, I will go back on the same errand, and suddenly. Tennesseean journalism is too stirring for me."
After which we parted with mutual regret, and I took apartments at the hospital.
- Mark Twain
This is just plain idiotic, brainwashed nonsense you are spewing.
Until the American public in general wakes up to their immoral, lying military. Oh I give up you folks are hopeless. You can't even see how idiotic your comment is. Rescue? You fool.
Sure, just look at how many "Patriots" we just shipped to France to "save" them from their government.Because they don't have their own set of balls to do so.
And who is going to "invade" Europe these days? Saudi Arabia? Come on!
Don't take it personally, but this is the FUCKIN STUPIDEST meme that exists in the United States right now: that we SAVED the world, ever. Fuck, we were 3 years late to World War II, if you have any idea of history.
And the French saved the US' ass back when we fought the British. Look deeper......
Save our asses???? Killers as charitable army?
Drop dead and your alikes. Yes, we hate you without saluvating, that was spitting!
And we WILL come and rescue their asses again.
You did not come to rescue us.
WWI would have terminated with a European victory, which side would not have mattered.
You had to give up trading with both sides and enter WWII because Germany and Japan declared war on you. But, again, what if Europe had become Fascist? It wouldn't have been the end of the world.
what if Europe had become Fascist? It wouldn't have been the end of the world.
Then the turkey would be the national bird, we would be speaking German and implanted with chips.
the turkey would be the national bird
Eagle and Swastika, surely.
we would be speaking German
I can think of worse fates.
implanted with chips
Ah! An Alex Jones fan. Explain how fascist surveillance differs from that of the 'free' world.
(BTW: I did not junk you.)
.
The French could turn to us and say, "We told you so." It is greatly to their credit that they have not.
Will you join the fight, MN? I'm assuming you are not in the military, but I could be wrong. If I'm right, why aren't you fighting for US superiority right now?
MnMark, you are a barely evolved European yourself. Let me make that devolved. Even 200 year old immigrants are early. You live on a land that was taken through genocide of an ancient race.
In you and your relatives names, your country has visited mind-numbing misery on a good portion of this planet.
Even THE bomb was dropped on a nation begging to surrender. Dresden was already done for, starving and fire-bombing was un-necessary.
Get real, wake up, use your mind, study some history, slap yourself a few times while looking in the mirror.
Wake up.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
fuck you. Boo hoo that we have oppressed your backward lives with refigeration, electric power, and modern medicine.
we've saved orders of magnitude more lives than we ever took.
Screw the brown people...wtf did they ever do for anyone?
some of our founders did "screw the brown people" while their wives weren't looking. Now that you've simplified things, how brown do these people (or their oil) need to be before we can invade. Do you have a color chart we can borrow? Oh, and we'll need a "backward lives" chart too. Do we qualify now that we're out of "modern" oil and other conveniences and in debt up to our eyeballs?
.
dup
some brown people invented modern day numbers in India, which were discovered by Europeans in the Middle East. We call them "arabic numerals" and they are in your call sign "trav777".
without them the advances you cite would not have been possible. how is that for technology that you cannot live without?
...a simple 'thank you' would be nice.
i disagree. you have your facts wrong and have not studied the cultural history of Japan. Japanese military leaders had hijacked the government and had indoctrinated the populace over many years. They were defiant to the point of suicide. They believed deeply that no invasion of Japan would ever succeed because no invasion ever had succeeded. Not even Genghis Kahn's. We need only look at kamekaze pilots as blantant evidence of institutional suicidal defiance. Finally, an invasion of Japanese mainland would have cost millions of American lives. These lives take priority over Japanese lives when it was the Japanese who were the aggressors.
yes, Dresden was the state-sponsored firebombing of women and children. this is true. However, Germans were engaged in genocide themselves, so this is hardly a defense for them. And, frankly, I've never considered adult women to be innocent. After all, were these 'innocent' women actively opposing the brutal aggression of their husbands and brothers?
Finally, Native Americans routinely fought and slaughtered each other for territory long before Europeans arrived. Were those acts of aggression any less vile?
people are barbarians. skin color makes no difference. Moors enslaved Celts. Egyptians enslaved Jews. Do not make this racial. we are all cousins within 30,000 years and our DNA proves it. color labels are used by politicians to divide us.
finally, as an aside, I firmly disagree with the invasion of Palestine.
to serve and protect right?
this isn't what it should be.
And the fact we can't be open about it, is proof they really know that whatever shit they pull is wrong.
I'm not confronted by it directly but I can imagine that if you're born in the wrong country and are faced with these things that this shit smells.
Now also tell me: If they do this shit to people in other countries. Can you give proof that don't do this domestically?
Exactly, just wait for the FEMA camps to open.
"and will not comment on these leaked documents"
Gee, three paraghaphs worth of "no comment" sure says alot.IMHO
This story is a borderline ZH story. We have bigger fish to fry. Just saying.
A more revelant story...
http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=812
All geopolitical crap posted here is borderline 'classic' ZH.
The financial articles are what i come here for. The rest are simply, unnecessary.
You are wrong and confused. How can I help you? I can not. Zeropower is so appropriate as you are the rat in the cats mouth. I want to thank you for being the fertilizer for someone who has better hope.
And yet you comment... tsk
the monkeys in the peanut gallery are eating out of the palm of your hand. ...oh, the critics!
Indeed - but not about the story at hand.
Don't forget the roots of the blogspot-ZH. While the direction of this site is clearly whatever the you choose, i always felt like financial investigation & stories were more important than Iraq or Russia.
peak oil, our strategic response and ongoing wars have no financial impacts?
there is nothing "financial" about the Middle East?
war is a racket. http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
All geopolitical crap posted here is borderline 'classic' ZH.
The financial articles are what i come here for. The rest are simply, unnecessary.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/kellys-zeroes-banzai7s-subprime-movie-week
This wasn't a fucking "war". This was a greater bully coming in like a wolf in sheepskin to take what it wanted (oil) and give the goodies to fucking cronies. This was / is federal corruption gone international.
Gee, why am I not suprised that the same folks robbing us blind at home under the protection of the government are doing the same round the world.
Oh bullshit.
Your betters appreciate both your sacrifice and your stupidity. Keep up the good work!
Jlee,
You come here and complain about the banksters and how the govt. abuses its power. Why then do you disagree with the possibility that the same folks robbing us blind at home under the protection of the government are doing the same round the world?
No it wasn't. Didn't you listen to any of Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld's speeches? It was all about finding weapons of mass destruction, freeing the poor Iraqi people from the brutality of Saddam Hussein, and bringing peace and democracy to the Middle East. Geez, you need to be a little more trusting of our leaders. Don't be so unpatriotic!
<sarcasm off>
(Oil) and hopium.
hambone, do you really believe it was ONLY about oil? What about our 'entangling alliance' with Israel? What about all of the other industrial beneficiaries of war besides these 'oil barons'?
the racket of war extends far beyond simply "oil". http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htmAmerican foreign policy is much larger than any one President or any one single issue such as "oil". I find this to be an over-simplification that enables supporters of the war to label you as irrational. Of course, you are not. However, there are many who supported the war for all sorts of other reasons, including religious ones. For example, it is easy to dehumanize others when they do not share the same label.
Again, "It was about oil!" falls on deaf ears because that is just one reason we invaded Iraq. Vietnam, for example, did not have "oil" but the Military Industrial Complex found a way to falsify the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Incident
my point is: you are on the right track, but back away from the "George Bush is the devil" rhetoric and realize that the reasons for foreign wars have plagued us long before the last Presidential administration. When you draw attention to this, then you have a much better chance of reaching those folks who label themselves "Christian Republicans".
just my two cents, mate.
I am the a huge fan of our troops, I just hope it's not JP Morgan & Google they are fighting for.
Oh but it is. Big oil; big banks; big power mongers; infrastructure to be bilt on the ruins; banks to be taken over; resources to be stolen; slaves to be bought.
The poor guy or gal wearing the uniform and toting the gun is so completely out of the loop.
I admire anyone who stands and fights for what is morally just. I do not condemn the individual soldier. As always the slaves fight and die while the powers collect the wealth on their dead bodies.
War is a racket. The old, rich and powerful sending the young to die, either to assuage their own sense of inadequacy over never serving (i.e. Cheney) or to make themselves more money (i.e. all of Cheney's friends).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
God blessed America when he gave us good ole Smedley.
Or scaring the conservatives into believing the gays (e.g. Cheney's daughter) are going to take over if they didn't re-elect Bush in '04.
I love our troops, too. That's why I don't want them fighting endless, silly wars overseas. I'm not speaking to you directly when I say this, but it amazes me how many people don't understand this distinction.
Wow and still somehow the lands we occupy don't love us. I can only hope karma is not real. It's not even a war, still waiting on congress to declare. It basically a party zone for the mil/industrial complex to make some money and kill some people.
just keepin our hand at the table to get dealt some of that central asia pipeline pie
if anyone wants to see brutal, go see what is happening to the white farmers in south africa right now.. you won't believe that sick shit
The world is full of brutal savagery. My issue is the claim of moral superiority. If it's for oil fine. Let us just admit it. It's clearly not about democracy or because Saddam was a "Bad Man". If we are going to be scum, lets just come out and be murdering scum.
I know I would feel better if our leaders came out and said "We are a global empire. Our wars are to secure oil and to keep our military funded with the latest toys and to keep us supplied with commodities. We can and will murder anyone who stands in the way of our hegemony". Call me crazy but I love honesty in government.
Wait...whaaa?
Mugabe still around?...we'll get to him shortly...it's all about heroin, oil, lithium, imperialism etc. right now.
The good news is...the extinct culture that predicted the end of time in 2012, but could not forsee their own extinction, is apparently wrong...ROTFL.
A little ray of sunshine on an otherwise bleak thread ;-)
Rhodesia Zimbabwe not South Africa
It's all about integrity now
While 2012 not here yet, tough times always prompted apocalyptic memes providing opportunities for the courageous with cash
"Rhodesia Zimbabwe not South Africa"
Maybe you can explain the typo reference to "south africa"...I assumed he meant Zimbabwe hence my reference.
Are you following me Alex? ;-)
;
First off, it's kharma, and second it means cause and effect. It's not some hippie spiritual aura, it means you will reap as you sow, and it's sure as shinola; no hope about it.
This is why they hate us enough to fly planes into our buildings!!!!! Our country will fail because we are not smart enough to get along with the world. Our leaders are war criminals
Most of the world is waiting for the the demise of the smug US of A.
Most of the world's thug rulers and would-be conquerers are waiting for the the demise of the US of A.
Fixed it for you.
There are few things funnier than a slave who thinks he's a master.
But one of them is the fool who thinks he's wise.
I believe the term is Useful Idiot.
Yes, you are a useful idiot when you defend the military-industrial complex by conflating it with "America." But the good news is that recognition of your problem is the first step on the road to recovery.
That's all you got? "I know you are, but what am I?"
And a little bit of parlor psychology. Dr. Phil would be proud of you.
The military isn't your enemy. They are citizen soldiers drawn from all across the nation. They take orders from the civilian leadership. They are good people.
BTW, "military-industrial-complex" is a sign you've been propagandized to the gills.
Ike, one of the greatest American Generals, at the end of his stint as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, warned of the entrenchment of those very same people and their machine. I would think that his insights, interactions, observations and warnings, might carry a modicum of weight.
Foot from mouth time.
I always thought he was way too timid.
The phrase is old and tired. It has been overused by the left. Couldn't you guys jazz it up for the new century?
Of course, if you like Ike, you might want to look up "More Bang for the Buck."
Summarized in the popular slogan "more bang for the buck," Massive Retaliation was intended to be both a deterrent to an enemy and an economy of scale if deterrence failed. [5]
The doctrine was proclaimed in its most absolute form by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations on January 12, 1954, in which he said, "Local defenses must be reinforced by the further deterrent of massive retaliatory power
I'm good with this option.
I always thought he was way too timid.
Yeah. Ike really fouled up D-Day, that limp wristed, pinko SOB.
Nice side step.
So...what do you think of More Bang for the Buck? Should we go back to that and just use nukes as a first option?
If y'all want quote Ike, why not quote all of him?
They are good people because they are good people or because they do good things?
Probably whatever they do is good things as they are good people and good people can only do good things.
They are a cross section of america. Just regular people.
Planes flew into building first if you care to be accurate. Extremist no more want to hold hand sing cumbaya anymore than we do. It's a two way street.
Planes flew into building first if you care to be accurate.
Right. There was never any US involvement in the Middle East before 9/11.
and how exactly did they make it through NORAD all that way?
Show us the planes that hit the Pentagon and WTC7.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/20/al-qaeda-terror-leader-dined-pentag...
http://pubrecord.org/special-to-the-public-record/8406/covert-origins-af...
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=58181
Watch closely. Planes vaporize when they hit at high speed.
800 KM/H CRASH TEST. PLANE AGAINST WALL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7eI4vvlupY
kewl for a fighter.
Pentagon walls were that thick and passenger jets leave holes the size of cruise missiles and security tapes just disappeared?
WW2 concrete. Good stuff.
Governments don't do anything well. We are lucky all the armies on Earth are run by even more screwed up bureaucrats than we have.
That's why Clinton lost his mind when mercenary forces started kicking govt. ass in Africa, and used the UN to come down on them.
You will believe what you want to believe.
I love the "1200 civilians killed in Falluja were not counted" statement. I have family that were in the marines fighting in Falluja and those fucking civilians were armed to the teeth trying to kill as many Americans as possible. They were not civilians and got what they deserved.
Wikileaks typical lefty crap that only serves one purpose to beat down America.
No apologizes here.
Your family members should not have been there to begin with; PERIOD.
Would you defend your home?
I want you to take note of something. They all went as volunteers. That's right, everyone in the US Military started out AS A VOLUNTEER YOU FUCKING MORONS.
Now you should begin to understand just how stupid you all are to piss on America. Gimp is 100% right, those were terrorists...who would come here unless they were killed over there. And since 9-11 actually happened, that isn't all talk. It's reality, whether you like it or not. Fight them there, or here in my backyard. My choice? Over there.
FOX news much?
Real Americans are ashamed of you JLee2027.
JLee, I'm with you all the way.
Of course you are. The America haters will stick together until they hang together.
They were defending their homes. That's why they were there.
You are insane.
Those fucking civilians were armed to the teeth trying to kill as many Redcoats as possible. They were not civilians and got what they deserved.
Too lame to respond to.
Right on Gimp...we're certainly not perfect and we sure do have some things to sort out at home, but we are the only country with a conscience and the balls to back up what we stand for. I for one am damned proud to be an American, and no apologies here. It really amazes me to see the huge number of USA haters on this site.
You hate America. You kill babies in the name of America because you are a perverse piece of crap.
Amazing, you really think you can read my mind...you are a sad ignorant fuck! I love my country, it nutballs like you I dislike. I don't kill babies and my soldiers don't kill babies...they kill bad guys. More than any other society in the world the USA puts value on life...instead of wiping people out we actually try to minimize 'collateral damage'. What's perverse is how you justify the murder of 3,000+ civilians on 9/11 and pretend to be the victim. You are a sad little person.
Pretending that you're moral while you cheer the deaths of innocents doesn't make you a good person, ya know? And inviting the conditions that lead to the deaths of three thousand Americans on 9/11 makes you an America hater.
The left in america kill around one million of our own babies every year. Suddenly y'all are against infanticide?
How do you make the distinction between good and bad infanticide?
The right in America bemoans abortion but supports the war, and George Bush, when commenting on Stem Cell Research, said, "I'm against a policy where you have to destroy life in order to save life."
So the Iraq invasion and the deaths of innocents known rather callously as Collateral Damage is what?
How do you make the distinction between good and bad infanticide?
Infanticide is wrong.
The Left does it on purpose.
That seems like a clear distinction.
Our killing our own children is the womb is the single best argument Islam has to show we have devolved into an evil people.
I hate giving them the moral high ground on anything, but in this they own.
"I have family that were in the marines fighting in Falluja and those fucking civilians were armed to the teeth trying to kill as many Americans as possible. They were not civilians and got what they deserved."
The Marines wrote a message to the killers of the men described below...on the very same bridge they were strung up on after they were killed & brutalized...then they waited...and waited...and waited some more.
There were no takers.
Robert Fisk
April 01, 2004 "The Independent" -- "The bodies were hanging upside down on each side of the bridge. They had no hands, no feet, one had no head." My old Iraqi friend had been driving into Fallujah just after the massacre, the stoning, the burning. He was shaking as he told me what he saw. "They were hanging upside down above the highway, on the old railway bridge which bridge, now a road bridge. The people of Fallujah were just driving over the bridge as if nothing was happening, right past the bodies." The bridge is on the west side of the Sunni Muslim city, across the Euphrates river, and the corpses had been tied to the girders about six feet above the road. "When we left, there were no helicopters, no police, no soldiers, it all seemed quite normal; except for the bodies. They were burnt brown. I couldn't tell if they were men or women."
In fact, there were four Western men slaughtered in Fallujah yesterday - all contractors for the Americans, some apparently armed - and they had been dragged from their cars, mutilated, stoned, burnt, beaten with iron pipes. One of them was decapitated, then dragged through the streets behind a car. What the Anglo-American occupation power later called a "particularly brutal" crime - a somewhat restrained comment in the face of such barbarity - was all too real on the videotapes filmed by Iraqi camera crews in Fallujah but which were not shown on Western television stations last night.
Another man gave a chilling description of how the men were dragged from their car, begging for their lives. "They had gasoline splashed on them and were set alight," he said.
Maybe someone remembers the message...the Marines who were there do.
You're just full of gasoline on this thread, aren't you?
+1
always good to be reminded.
With the 24/7 news it's easy to lose track of events.
Here the Marines offered battle to the "brave" jihadis in terms any soldier or general from either side could understand.
They basically said we have your bridge...we know you fight from behind children & the skirts of women...come here and fight us like men, like the warriors you profess to be.
The jihadi & AQ didn't. Because they are fucking cowards. We had to go into Fallajuh and get them.
There are those on this thread who know what I'm saying but will not comment and I respect that.
But I remember and I recognize their valor.
SeeYa
"fucking cowards" lie to their own citizens and their own solidiers on the real reason for their wars. And our actions have not had any effect on any single civilian? We've displaced or killed a million people. Using constant adjectives to describe these people as subhuman or cowards or fanatics or primitives reminds me of the pope's edict in the sixteenth century debating whether american natives were human. It is a pathetic self justification and psychological reassurance that you are doing "god's work" as Goldman would tell us. It removes all analysis and all debate. Its imperialistic, pathetic and the ultimate act of hiding behind the skirt
my thoughts are these:
Our constitution was against a standing army for the exact reason that it could be exploited by industrial forces in foreign wars. Since our army was never disbanded after WWII, this exact scenario has been realized again and again.
Our Constitution allows for a Navy to protect our shores. These days, an Air Force to protect our borders is also in order. Otherwise, State militias and an armed citizenry is more than sufficient to repel/discourage foreign invaders and, more likely these days, to repel/discourage oppressive Federal government tyrants.
As it relates to torture, of course, America is far from the only perpetrator of these types of crimes, which is why I am reticent to self-loathe with everyone here. The phrase "War is hell" may sound cliche, but it is also quite factually true. Our soldiers are young kids who lose buddies virtually every single day. For them, the war IS very, very personal. I can understand how some of them might freely torture their enemies for the purposes of revenge and/or if they felt it could save some of our own soldiers in the future.
Remember, "the enemy" is sawing off the heads of the living. This, too, is torture of the highest order. I can see where war turns each side into the very animals we claim to fight. I do not condone it, but rather understand the complicated psychological effect upon those young men and women who wear our uniforms and fight our State sponsored battles.
ABOVE ALL, this is a WAR OF IDEAS. As such, it will be won in the minds of global inhabitants long before it can ever be won in fields of battle. Importantly, we cannot win this war by engaging in the exact type of brutality that we condemn. This gives "the enemy" rightful ammunition against our way of life. Any "policy of torture" is out of the question, and all other torture should be reprimanded severely as a war crime or otherwise because we have too much at stake. Again, if we do not win the war of ideas, then we have no chance of succeeding long-term. Right now, I do not believe that we are winning the war of ideas, because it has become clear to me that our country has been hijacked by industrial forces.
Muslim folks are like any other folks that simply wish the best for themselves and their children. What makes some Muslim folks "wrong" is that some believe that those of us who do not believe in the full message of Islam should either convert to Islam or be executed as infidels. Of course, this is not liberty, so if any crusading Muslim ever showed up on my doorstep to convert me or my family, then I would be forced to defend myself accordingly.
Obviously, today, this is not what is taking place overseas. We have become the aggressors. Retaliatory efforts from the attacks on September 11th should have been targeted and carried out with targeted intelligence and special forces/air strikes. Nation building has helped nobody but the Wall Street and Military Industrial Complexes. We could defend our country and our borders ten times over with the money we have handed over to the private enterprises, along with the precious lives of our brave young men and women, in order to destroy Iraq and (what exists of) Afghanistan.
bottom line: these wars WOULD NOT EVEN BE POSSIBLE if we did not allow for deficit spending at the Federal level, fiat-based money, centralized money planning, and fractional reserve lending, all of which currently facilitate the enrichment of the banking and military industrial complex at the expense of our freedom.
Great strides would be made towards ending current and future foreign wars if we were to end The Fed, outlaw fractional reserve counterfeiting, and open up our economy to competing currencies including gold and silver.
Achieving this would pull the teeth of both the banking cartel and the military industrial complex who continue to collude against both us and what few liberties we still have in America. Future wars would only be fought by volunteer armies with volunteered private gold and silver in pure defense of our lives and freedoms here. Any war would then be just and I would pity the invaders.
This is a far cry from where we find ourselves today. It is very, very sad, and should enrage us all.
Rest assure, there are far greater terrorists in Washington D.C. and within the Federal Reserve Bank of New York than there are in either Iraq or Afghanistan. These truly "domestic terrorists" will continue to cost many more lives as they relate to foreign wars, in addition to the divorces, murders, and suicides that are caused by artificially prolonged boom/bust cycles that these career politicians and private bankers propagate with their elitist agendas.
One day I look forward to us all defeating them through a velvet revolution OR OTHERWISE.
The U.S. has no business being in Iraq.
Whatever you say, baby killer.
Enjoy your descent into police state Orwellian hell.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for the five minute hate. I hear we are hating the Chinese today. That should be fun.
What's more sick than the torture and lies? The apologia from the moral relativists. Please, throw some more lines out from some war movie you watched a bunch of times about how "war is hell" or "shit happens" or "this is what happens in war". Maybe you even believe that you still live in a "good country" or get goosebumps when the national anthem is played at a sporting event. Just give it up. Honestly. This shit happens because they know there's always a section of the country willing to support it. And those of us who would like it to stop generally get ridiculed by the testosterone-laced diatribes of the unprincipled nationalist retards calling out "the pussies". Just shut the fuck up. You're not being enriched by this. It does not speak ill of you personally if the US just retreats. And nothing about this war is about "protecting" the US.
Catullus, you are naive. Would you stand by with a prisoner knowing he knew where your wife and kids were being held and that they were going to be raped and executed. If you would, then you have high ideals and I respect you. Me, I'd start carving on the fucker, slowly, till he told me where my family were. Once I had them back I'd kill him quick. If they laid a finger on them I'd torure his ass slow, slow, slow.
Are we strategically deploying the troops wives and children into the fight before the soldiers now? I don't get how troops wives and children are getting captured from across the globe. Or do cave dwellers have advanced tech that allow them to teleport to the US make a stealthy grab and then teleport back to their caves? Wonder how they are so easily captured when they clearly must have teleportation tech.
If you have torture fantasies that's fine. Just come out and say you have torture fantasy and would torture someone if you could get away with it. It's the Internet it's not like any harm will come from admitting it.
You are missing the point. The torture was Iraqi on Iraqi... you know, a cultural thing.
Their laws, their norms.
Ah, but you knew that. They torture to get time sensitive information. You crow about torture for political advantage. When walking down the street in your world, do you ever turn and look away? Do you ever say to yourself... don't get involved...
Shameful... simply shameful...