Saturday, November 09, 2002

Couple of thoughts, Cade... - Obviously you've got a lil' more at stake than all of us here (which is why I don't understand your relative calm...I'd be going apeshit and AWOL). But none of us wanna see this shit happen. Trust me, I'd rather see your ass unemployed and here than paid to inhale spores, molds and fungi over there. - Not saying that heads are like, "can't wait to finally take these nukes for a spin," but if Iraq or anyone launches a strike of any seriosity (that's my word, stop looking at it) on Israel, Sharon WILL open up the playbook and go Bronco. After that, someone will retaliate out of Hammurabic obligation, and of course, in our self-assumed duty as World Referee, we'll disqualify the offending nation via smoking toadstool. I don't think heads in the Middle East WANT to use 'em, but I think they WILL. And the looks on the faces of Sharon and Cheney make me wonder if they really aren't itching to push that lil' button there... - Why you keeping all this shit private when you know you're right? Wearing that uniform doesn't nullify your right to the First Amendment...I'm sure there's more heads like you who don't wanna do this, because it IS for all the wrong reasons. In '91, they OCCUPIED a neighboring country. Now, Saddam can't even control the whole of his own, and he hasn't moved since we left. He's protecting HIS turf, not looking to expand it. (Now we can't say that about every world leader, can we, George?) Speak your piece, dog...us raising up is the only way we can hope to avoid this shit. -- O 11:52:21 AM    comment []

Except for O'Leary's opinion on how anxious the world's leaders are to use nuclear weapons, I pretty much agree with all of this. But while I recognize his right to say all of this, the only feeling I keep coming back to when I hear shit like this is -- "fuck you guys, you're not going to have to go over there and DO it." I know that I'm not the only one with a right to bitch, but it's hard sometimes to listen to a bunch of people that are going to sit over here nice and safe complain about how horrible this will all be, when those of us that are going to have to be a part of the horror don't -- because we CAN'T -- say shit. So, sorry.  I'm a dick (especially since a lot of you are bitching on MY behalf), but it's hard not to feel this way about it. That said, this is all the same shit I've been saying to anyone who will listen to me about Iraq (in private, of course) -- terrorism doesn't support Saddam's agenda, Saudi is the root of all terrorist evil, what are we going to do after we kick Saddam Hussein out, every other Arab nation dials us up four notches on the Hate-o-Meter, we started helping Israel because everyone's been fucking Jews for getting theirs since the beginning of time, but now, it's mostly because there's so much Jewish money here, and although the holocaust won't be nuclear, this could easily turn into desert Vietnam with the role of Agent Orange being played by mustard agent and sarin gas. Here's some simple math that me and my boys are facing here: Iraqi doctrine states that they use chemical & biological weapons only if the regime is threatened. Iraq's conventional army is now a mere shadow of the force that we steamrolled in 100 hours in '91.Saddam isn't going to make the same mistakes twice (allowing us to build up unfettered for 7 months, not covering his minefields with indirect fire, etc.). This adds up to the Iraqi use of chem & bio weapons like 1+1+1 = 3. Our only real hope is that we turn the tide so fast that Saddam's generals who have to actually shoot the slime at us will realize that they aren't going to win, no matter what, and that surrendering to the US is much preferable to a war crimes trial.  Or suicide. All that being said, good rant, O. It's a pretty good summation of how the Haters feel about the current foreign policy situation. -- Sparxxx 11:41:46 AM    comment []

Now I know why I like this guy so much (even if his site doesn't get updated nearly as much as advertised): Ted Rall kicks ass. And in this piece, he's right on point. Again. http://www.uexpress.com/tedrall/site/viewru.htm There's a lot of stuff I don't get about the mindset of our current administration. And there's a lot of stuff I don't get about the people that are letting them do what they do. The pins in the bowling alley of worldwide calamity are set up, and Bush and Co. are working on a 300 game. - How on earth (besides the obvious media neglect, I mean) has no one noticed that Afghanistan quickly became a non-issue? We have essentially made the nation MORE unstable than it was, and all our occupation does is ensure that we can build our pipeline. But the "get bin Laden at all costs" thing? Forgotten. Sad thing is, we probably DO have him...and we're keeping him alive. - As Rall points out...why on earth, seeing what a mess we've made in Afghanistan, would we go and do the same thing in Iraq? From what I've read, Saddam sounds like the most stable (and, scary as it sounds, perhaps the most humanitarian) option there...is Dumbya so hell bent on avenging Daddy's incomplete pass that this needs to happen? Nothing good...and I mean NOTHING good...can come out of this at all. Sure, Saddam's a dick. But is he a threat to anyone aside from his own people? Not really. - Who on earth buys into Bush's line of bullshit? He said we would find the "evildoers" in Afghanistan, yet as far as anyone knows, both bin Laden and Omar are alive and well. He says that Hussein harbors terrorists, and uses that as his excuse for the venue shift, yet there are probably more terrorists operating IN AMERICA than in Iraq, and again, as Rall says, those who are in Iraq are in regions Saddam doesn't control. - Where on earth aren't we going to attack on a whim? Anyone who doesn't run their country as we want them to is automatically a target -- and our missiles are seemingly misguided. Hussein poses no threat to America at all as it stands now, yet North Korea is standing to the side shouting "hahaha...we have nuclear weapons...yoo-hoo...over here...NUCLEAR WEAPONS"...and we don't seem to care. That's a back-burner project for the hawks to handle later. - Has anyone considered what the hell might happen in the Middle East if we do go into Iraq? They've already so much as said that if we come in, they're going after Israel (who I'll get to more in a second), and do you think Israel is going to sit on its mammoth US-donated arsenal and let that happen? No. They're going to come back with guns blazing...which likely means a lot of Iraqis will be doing 'shrooms...or at least clouds that resemble them. In the probable chain reaction, someone else vaporizes Israel, and inevitably we retaliate, setting up a global food fight. Only the "food" is in the form of megaton "nuculer" missiles flying every which way...including at us. - At the risk of appearing anti-Semitic, why are we still involved with Israel? It's clearly the number one reason that the entire Arab world hates our ass. Terrorists don't plot shit against us because we're so rich and cool and fun. They do it largely to protest our support of Israel. Clinton did try to get Palestine to reach an accord, and Arafat turned away...but I don't see Bush or Sharon making much effort right now. If something big happens with Israel (and if we go into Iraq, it likely will), this country is setting itself up for a huge Jewish Hate-fest...because people will inevitably infer that we support Israel to appease rich Jewish-Americans. True or not, that may become the perception, and it could get kind of ugly over here. Then again, if we set up Jewish labor camps, it would be one more parallel between Dumbya and you-know-who. Hppefully, we won't sink THAT low. - If we're truly in a "war on terror," why aren't we going after Saudi Arabia, who is currently ranked a unanimous #1 in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Friends of Terrorists poll? Bin Laden was almost exclusively bankrolled by Saudis, so what's up? Maybe it's because many of these same Al-Qaeda backers were also Harken investors. Regardless, we know Saudi Arabia is the key to the whole thing (late FBI terror guru John O'Neill had a ton of evidence), they have been completely uncooperative in the "terror war," and yet we cozy up to them like they're the homecoming queen. Can 20 percent of the world's oil really be that big of a factor? Actually...never mind...I get it. - First Carnahan. Then O'Neill's corpse HAPPENS to be trapped in the WTC rubble. Then Wellstone. I'm starting to wonder if this might not be coincidence. - We may be unrivaled right now, but I don't like the idea of what might happen if we go into Korea next and wind up pissing China off. World's biggest nuclear arsenal or not, I have some reservations about going into a war with a nation who has virtually limitless manpower. And if Russia chimes in? Oooh boy... The Bush administration is a loose cannon right now. They're well aware that we are the world's lone superpower and no one can keep us in check, so they're making every effort to bully the UN and all of our allies until we get our way. Even if Saddam cooperates, I'm sure Dumbya will find some way to claim that he fucked up, and then it's on. After we torch Iraq, he'll move on to North Korea, and then maybe Iran. Then what? World War III won't be limited to one continent like the first two. This one could get real bad, especially if an Iraq-Israel melee sets off a worldwide avalanche of nuclear attacks. Which it easily could. We've set a really bad precedent with this whole unilateral movement thing. It's gonna bite our ass sooner or later. Bush has made a political living off of fear since stealing the election two years ago. He's used 9/11 to make Americans afraid of themselves, he's used it to take away our civil liberties, he's used it to change Afghanistan from a parking lot to a parking lot with a lot of potholes, and now, even though there is no relevant connection whatsoever, he's using it to go into Iraq. He's using fear to make us all believe that Hussein is a global threat, even though Bush will have attacked more nations in his four years than Saddam has in his 30. The media is a very eager accomplice (fear = ratings), but I'm sure Rizz or someone else can hit on that portion of this mess later on. Right now, my head hurts. I'm going to sleep in peace. Will Iraqis be able to do that in the near future? Don't hold your breath, guys. You'll probably only be able to exhale for so much longer. -- O 3:42:44 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2002 Ryan O'Leary. Last update: 12/1/2002; 1:26:54 AM.