Sunday, March 30, 2003

Powell Gives Warning to Iran and Syria [AP World News] Combined with Rumsfeld's earlier threats, it seems that the government is starting the push toward war with Syria and Iran. The real question is, which will they attack first? 11:07:27 PM    comment () Push to stamp out gun crime. The owners of illegal firearms are urged to hand them in without fear of prosecution as part of a nationwide amnesty. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition] Otherwise known as "National Evidence Disposal Day." If the British government actually cared about reducing crime, they would try to get more people to carry guns, not fewer. 8:39:16 PM    comment () British Soldiers Refuse to Fight. Two British servicemen have been sent home from the Middle East after refusing to fight in the war against Iraq, The Sunday Times reported. They said they would refuse to fight because of the civilian casualties being caused by the US-British attack. They face possible court martial and up to two years in jail for disobeying orders. [Al Jazeerah] Somehow I doubt that the Crusaders who recite meaningless slogans about "support our troops" will actually be willing to support these troops. I wonder if they will need any money for their legal defense? 7:25:42 PM    comment () There are translated versions of the Bill of Rights available in various languages on the Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership website. One of the translations is Arabic, but I won't hold my breath waiting for the invading forces to start passing copies out in Iraq. I wonder what they'd do to a civilian who tried doing so? 4:52:52 PM    comment () Truck hits US soldiers in Kuwait. The US military says a truck has rammed into a group of US soldiers at a camp in northern Kuwait. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition] Assuming this was deliberate (and there's no reason to think it wasn't), it might be a good idea to stop allowing local citizens into US military bases. 2:59:42 PM    comment () U.S. Troops Resume Slow March to Baghdad [AP World News] Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in Washington that the British are getting "increasing assistance from the local people as to where the death squads are located, where the thugs are. And they're systematically working them over." That's good news for the US and British forces. I wonder what will happen to those local people (Shiites) though. The government has already said that conquered Iraq will be ruled by an American Proconsul, thus betraying the Shiites. On the other hand, if the US actually did set up a democracy and then leave, the Shiites (who are 60% of Iraq's population) would vote themselves into power and start oppressing the Sunni Arabs and Kurds. 2:31:42 PM    comment () Bill Whittle - History - I've only read the beginning of this. As usual for Mr. Whittle, it's well written. I will attempt to read it with an open mind, but, just as he won't convince me that the War of Northern Aggression was just, I doubt he'll bring me around to his view that the killing was justified of 361-and-counting Iraqi civilians and they-won't-tell-us-how-many American, British, and Iraqi soldiers. No, this is mass murder by the U.S. government, for which they should all swing. [kimdutoit] This war is an abject and utter failure. What everyone thought would be a quick, decisive victory has turned into an embarrassing series of reversals. The enemy, -- a ragtag, badly-fed collection of hotheads and fanatics -- has failed to be shocked and awed by the most magnificent military machine ever fielded. Their dogged resistance has shown us the futility of the idea that a nation of millions could ever be subjugated and administered, no matter what obscene price we are willing to pay in blood and money. The President of the United States is a buffoon, an idiot, a man barely able to speak the English language. His vice president is a little-seen, widely despised enigma and his chief military advisor a wild-eyed warmonger. Only his Secretary of State offers any hope of redemption, for he at least is a reasonable, well-educated man, a man most thought would have made a far, far better choice for Chief Executive. We must face the fact that we had no business forcing this unjust war on a people who simply want to be left alone. It has damaged our international relationships beyond any measure, and has proven to be illegal, immoral and nothing less than a monumental mistake that will take generations to rectify. We can never hope to subdue and remake an entire nation of millions. All we will do is alienate them further. So we must bring this war to an immediate end, and make a solemn promise to history that we will never launch another war of aggression and preemption again, so help us God. So spoke the American press. The time was the summer of 1864. [End the War on Freedom] Unfortunately that solemn promise was not made or kept. Ironically, Bill Whittle's well-written essay is based on the idea that the sentiment expressed in that quote is wrong and no such promise should have been made. It's a pretty good example of how different the crusaders and libertarians are, that they could arrive at exactly opposite views of the same quote. 2:17:55 PM    comment () Israel's Sharon Dogged by Sabbath Crisis [AP World News] At issue is the work of so-called Sabbath inspectors, who enforce the ban on stores and most businesses to operate on the biblically mandated day of rest. Observant Jews follow strict Sabbath guidelines from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, a time when they do not drive, work or use electricity. Last week, Labor and Industry Minister Ehud Olmert of Sharon's Likud Party ordered Sabbath inspectors to stop working -- thus allowing entrepreneurs to keep their businesses open on the Sabbath without fear of being fined. Hopefully Sharon will stand up to the religious fanatics. 3:47:55 AM    comment () Kurdish, U.S. Forces Attack Militants [AP World News] Kurdish guerrillas working with U.S. special forces attacked well-trained Islamic militants allegedly linked to al-Qaida -- an operation that one Kurdish leader said left at least 120 militants dead and dealt "a very serious blow" to terrorism. I'm glad the military is still fighting the real threat, even while the conquest of Iraq is going on. I feel sorry for the Kurds, though--they're risking their lives to help us, and the government is certain to betray them for their troubles. 3:36:02 AM    comment () I found a mirror of the English al Jazeera site. 1:59:31 AM    comment ()

© Copyright 2006 Ken Hagler. Last update: 2/15/2006; 1:52:54 PM.