Posts by Trauma

75

Interesting UK Daily Mirror Article

by DakotaRed in

jw
friends

since some consider the us to be the most dangerous rogue nation currently and others have stated we are little more than corrupt thugs, i find this article from the daily mirror to be quite intersting.. .

tony parsons - uk daily mirror september 11, 2002 no matter what your views on president bush's statement of upcoming war, this is from an english journalist, is very interesting.

no, do more than remember.

Trauma_Hound

Great, we're threatening Russia now.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/12/sprj.irq.main/index.html

Source: Chile, Mexico are holdouts on Iraq

Official: U.S. still needs one vote on U.N. resolution

Wednesday, March 12, 2003 Posted: 10:49 AM EST (1549 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration believes that it is one vote shy of having nine of 15 votes needed on a U.N. Security Council resolution that sets a Monday deadline for Iraqi compliance, a senior U.S. State Department official said, and officials are focusing diplomatic energies on Mexico and Chile to secure their backing.

President Bush has spent much of the last week on the telephone, lobbying council members to support the resolution.

"Bush and [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair are attempting to do whatever it takes to get the Latins to commit," the official told CNN's Andrea Koppel.

Blair told members of the House of Commons on Wednesday that the council was considering a series of benchmarks that Iraq would have to meet to prove it was disarming -- a step that Chile and Mexico previously suggested.

The State Department official also said the United States is confident it has the support of the three African members of the Security Council -- Cameroon, Guinea and Angola -- despite a visit this week by French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin to secure their opposition to the resolution.

In addition, U.S. and Pakistani officials said Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf can be counted on for his support when a vote happens this week.

That leaves Mexico and Chile as holdouts, the State Department official said. To secure these votes, the United States, Great Britain and Spain have teamed up to work all the angles. On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell held a three-way conference call with his allied counterparts as they coordinated strategies.

Nevertheless, Russia and France have threatened to veto the resolution. Nine council votes are needed to pass the resolution, but a veto by any of the five permanent members would defeat it. Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States are permanent members.

Blair sets Iraqi benchmarks

British Prime Minister Tony Blair outlined a series of tests Wednesday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would have to meet to prove that he was complying with Security Council resolutions.

Blair told a raucous session of the House of Commons that the council was considering a number of benchmarks for Iraq that would be added to a new resolution.

These include handing over supplies of anthrax, or proving they were destroyed; allowing Iraqi scientists and their families to travel outside the country to be interviewed by inspectors; and accounting for unmanned drones that the United States and Britain say can be used to spray chemical or biological weapons.

"I believe if we set those conditions out clearly, if we back them by the will of a united United Nations, then we have a chance of even now of averting conflict," Blair said, "but what we must show is the determination to act if Saddam will not fully comply."

Blair also faced sharp questions from members of Parliament over comments from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who said Tuesday that the United States might be prepared to go to war against Iraq without Britain.

Rumsfeld suggested the British force could be spectators -- taking up a peacekeeping role after a U.S. invasion to oust Saddam. (Full story)

When asked about those remarks, Blair said that the United States could act alone and that Britain would not take military action unless it was in its national interest.

But the prime minister confirmed British commitment to disarming Iraq and pushing for a new U.N. resolution.

"I believe it's important that we hold firm to the course," Blair said. "What's at stake here is not whether the United States goes alone, but whether the international community backs up clear instructions [to Iraq] with necessary action."

Blair accused those nations threatening to veto the new resolution of undermining world security and harming the unity of the United Nations.

U.S. warns Russia

In an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia, the U.S. ambassador to Russia warned Moscow that using its veto in the Security Council could have "consequences for our relations."

"There is a big difference between Russia's veto and abstention," said the ambassador, Alexander Vershbow. "Either step will be interpreted differently by the U.S. people and by the Congress. Russia should carefully weigh these consequences."

Vershbow outlined what is at stake: a "large agenda" that includes increased U.S. investment in Russia's energy sector, new forms of cooperation in national security, joint efforts in missile defense and the fight against terrorism and cooperation in space. In addition, Russia's relationship with NATO is bearing fruit, the diplomat said.

"It will be a shame," Vershbow said in the interview, "if progress in these areas will be postponed or even reversed because of serious differences over Iraq."

CNN Correspondents Jill Dougherty, John King, Andrea Koppel and Richard Roth and Producer Elise Labott contributed to this report. For latest developments, see CNN.com's Iraq Tracker.

75

Interesting UK Daily Mirror Article

by DakotaRed in

jw
friends

since some consider the us to be the most dangerous rogue nation currently and others have stated we are little more than corrupt thugs, i find this article from the daily mirror to be quite intersting.. .

tony parsons - uk daily mirror september 11, 2002 no matter what your views on president bush's statement of upcoming war, this is from an english journalist, is very interesting.

no, do more than remember.

Trauma_Hound

http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,57959,00.html

U.S. Stocking Uranium-Rich Bombs?

By Elliot Borin | Also by this reporter Page 1 of 2 next »
alt

02:00 AM Mar. 10, 2003 PT

U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf may be armed with radioactive bombs and missiles hundreds of times more potent than similar weapons used during the Gulf War and the U.N. military campaign in Bosnia.

As evidence that the United States is expanding its use of depleted uranium weapons beyond the relatively small 30-millimeter to 120-millimeter armor-piercing bullets and shells used by tanks and tank-killer aircraft in the Gulf and Balkans, weapons watchdogs cite the so-called "bunker-buster" bombs and missiles unleashed on Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has not confirmed the use of uranium or depleted uranium in the bunker-busters, and it has refused to identify the composition of the dense-metal warheads that enable the missiles to penetrate structures deeply buried under earth, steel and reinforced concrete.

But critics such as British researcher Dai Williams contend that only uranium -- in one form or another -- possesses the density and other characteristics necessary to achieve the penetration levels attributed to such weapons as the 2,000-pound AGM 130C air-to-ground cruise missile, and the guided bomb unit, or GBU, series of laser-guided hard-target penetrators intended to pierce bunkers and other reinforced structures.

Williams and others also claim that patents covering conversion or modification of earlier generation bombs for use as bunker-busters indicate that depleted uranium is being used in these weapons.

For example, the patent application for a narrow-profile version of the BLU-109B bomb (which is delivered by a GBU-24) specifically refers to penetrating bodies made of tungsten or depleted uranium.

"If they're really using tungsten, why keep it classified?" Williams said.

Depleted uranium, a byproduct of the nuclear fission process that powers both atomic bombs and power-generating plants, is an ideal material for munitions intended to blast holes into armored or otherwise reinforced targets that can only be pierced by projectiles possessing enormous amounts of kinetic energy.

Since the kinetic energy of an object is one half its mass times the square of its speed, the denser the projectile, the higher the kinetic energy. When it comes to density, uranium (2.5 times heavier than iron and 1.7 times heavier than lead) is rivaled only by tungsten, which lacks depleted uranium's intense incendiary properties.

Tungsten has another drawback: It's expensive. Depleted uranium, on the other hand, is dirt cheap. Tons of it, over 500 million pounds the last time anyone counted, is lying around in various states of nuclear "decay" at government repositories throughout the country.

In an attempt to reduce this over-abundance of nuclear waste, the Defense Department provides depleted uranium to munitions makers such as Alliant Techsystems -- the largest maker of depleted uranium projectiles in the world -- at no cost and buys it back as completed weapons.

Depleted uranium has a few drawbacks. It is 40 percent as radioactive as pure uranium and has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. In addition, the very volatility that makes it blaze like an atomic furnace upon impact converts a large percentage of the spent projectile into microscopic radioactive oxides that, when borne by the wind, may be inhaled by civilians miles from the battlefield.

Despite this, Pentagon and Veterans Administration brass are adamant in insisting that depleted uranium is absolutely harmless to both combatants and non-combatants, and is in no way responsible for any of the symptoms associated with so-called "Gulf War syndrome."

Perhaps the most extraordinary official endorsement of depleted uranium's benign nature came from former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, who once deemed it as safe as "leaded paint." Federal law has banned the use of leaded paint in residential structures since 1978 because of its extreme toxicity.

But not everyone connected with the military is convinced that depleted uranium is risk-free.

In early 1991, the Army sent physicist Doug Rokke to Iraq as part of the task force charged with assessing the after-battle effects of the estimated 300 tons of depleted-uranium weapons expended during the Gulf War. In the mid-1990s, he was recalled to active duty and made director of a project intended to develop training and management procedures for handling depleted uranium contamination.

According to Rokke, "we are seeing adverse health effects among the entire group of warriors exposed during combat in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (and) civilians exposed in Iraq" and at U.S. and foreign installations where depleted uranium weapon testing and training has been carried out.

Rokke also said the Pentagon was aware of "the probable hazards" prior to the Gulf War, a contention bolstered by an Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command report -- issued shortly before Iraq invaded Kuwait -- that stated that depleted uranium is "linked to cancer when exposures are internal."

Rokke said on-site investigators in Iraq found that 40 percent of the initial mass of the depleted uranium penetrators was converted to radioactive oxide while 60 percent was left on and around the impact area in solid form.

"Equipment contamination included uranium oxides, other hazardous materials, unstable unexploded ordnance and byproducts of exploded ordnance," he said. "In addition, other radioactive materials were detected that could pose a risk through inhalation, ingestion or wound contamination.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/osceola/orl-locbegg09030903mar09,0,3150445.story?coll=orl-news-headlines

ST. CLOUD -- In Rachel Begg's quietest hours alone at home, when she's hanging out with the guys at the downtown Kissimmee fire station, while she's studying to fulfill her dream of becoming a firefighter, memories of her husband, Dallas, are never far from her mind.

Every class, every ambulance ride, every jogging session propels her back to the day in July when rookie firefighter Dallas Begg and Lt. John Mickel rushed into a burning Osceola County house during a training exercise and didn't come out alive. What were they thinking? What were their last words? Was there time for fear or suffering?

Rachel Begg arrived at the Florida Hospital Kissimmee emergency room two hours after the blaze, too late to say goodbye to her husband of four months. Sobbing paramedics grabbed her by the arm and begged her not to look at Dallas' face, but she needed proof that her husband really was gone.

Maybe they have the wrong person, Begg thought to herself. Maybe this man is burned so badly that they only think it's Dallas. But when a weeping nurse pulled back the bedclothes to reveal his feet, Rachel Begg recognized them immediately and knew she was a widow at the age of 20.

The loss, instead of frightening Begg away, only strengthened her resolve to pursue the career she longed for even before she met Dallas. She understands why he loved the job that cost him his life because she loves it, too.

"That feeling like when you're riding a roller coaster, and you go down and your heart jumps out of your chest -- that excitement. I love that," Begg said, her eyes lighting up. "I like the big trucks, and I like the sirens, all the perks of work as a firefighter. Going down the road, people move out of your way."

Last semester, Begg took an emergency medical technician class at Valencia Community College. Now she's building up her endurance as she prepares physically, psychologically and emotionally to enter fire college in the fall.

Few female firefightersIf she reaches her goal, Begg will become one of a growing but still small number of female firefighters. Nationwide, slightly more than 2 percent of paid firefighters are women, statistics show. In Florida, the percentage is nearly two times higher. In Orange County, the figure jumps to 9 percent, while 13.6 percent of firefighters are women in Miami-Dade County, which has an aggressive recruitment program.

"Women are drawn to it for the same reasons that men are," said Terese Floren, executive director of Women in the Fire Service. "You're providing something that people really need. It's a physical job. You use your body as well as your brains."

Sandra Waldron, the first woman to work in the United States as a paid firefighter, said that when she went to rookie school, she had to work twice as hard to be considered half as good. That was 30 years ago. Today, she said, barriers are not as strong.

"If you show you can do the job, if you show you're really interested in being there and you show you're willing to go the extra mile, everyone accepts you," she said.

Begg found acceptance -- and respect -- in her class at Valencia. Her teacher, Kissimmee firefighter David Knepper, said her presence was an inspiration to other students.

The hazards of the job hit close to home July 30, when Dallas Begg and Mickel were victims of a flashover, a superheated burst of flame, at the former Florida Bible College.

"They can see from her perspective how things are overcome," Knepper said. "There are difficulties in life. Our job is full of danger."

Rachel Begg is not the sort of person who springs to mind at the mention of the word firefighter. She is slender, with the perfect skin of youth and a mane of long hair that's red in its latest incarnation. She's prone to laughing and making silly faces.

"Can I be the victim?" she asks eagerly while munching on a peanut-butter cup during a class on immobilizing patients with spinal injuries.

Yet reminders of the pain of her young life are always with her. A tattoo of a red heart with Dallas' name and the dates of his birth and death, 1981 and 2002, adorn the small of her back. She still wears her wedding ring and the diamond engagement ring Dallas gave her when he blurted out, "Do you want to be my wife?" on Aug. 6, 2001 -- after first asking her mother's permission to take her to New Smyrna Beach. Their shared Jehovah's Witness faith frowns on unchaperoned dating.
"I grabbed the ring and I gave him a hug, and he was crying," she recalled. "He was on two knees. He was really begging."

Just about everybody told Rachel and Dallas they were too young to get married. They became friends when she was 15 and a student at Cypress Creek High School in south Orange County. When they realized they were in love, they didn't want to wait.

"They were absolutely perfect for each other," said Rachel's mother, Cindy Fallin. "The day she married him, we never worried about her again. We were so happy. We just felt he would take care of her."

Looking for positivesSitting in the living room of the home she and Dallas shared, Rachel Begg watches her wedding video in rapt attention, a faint smile on her face, as if she is seeing it for the first time. Rachel loved being a wife. She got a kick out of cooking dinner for Dallas, who would thank her by doing the dishes and leaving a mushy card for her in her car. One of her fondest memories is of making more pancakes than the two of them could possibly eat and enjoying them together on the porch on a lazy Saturday morning.

"He was the most honest person I ever met," she said. "He taught me how to go through life and how to take things as they come. To live right now rather than worry about what's going to happen or regret what did happen. Always think that something positive could come out of everything."

It's hard to turn the kind of loss Rachel Begg endured into a positive. She had to grow up fast, do things women her age rarely have to do -- pick out a casket, bury her husband, learn how to live alone again.

Their first wedding anniversary would have been Monday. She plans to visit his grave.

'Not a normal 21-year-old'People recognize Begg because of her misfortune. She knows some feel pain or pity, and she doesn't want either. With her new status as something of a public figure -- she got sympathy cards from all over the United States and Europe and a call from Gov. Jeb Bush -- comes responsibility.

"I'm not a normal 21-year-old," Begg said. "I need to show people that I'm a good person, that I'm not going to forget about this or not learn by it."

Last weekend, Begg moved out of the St. Cloud rental house she and Dallas shared and into her own home a couple of miles away with her cats, Anastasia and Booger. The old house was too full of memories.

"It was just too much sadness for her," Fallin said. "She knows the things she has to do to move on."

Begg is taking small steps. The young widow no longer wears her husband's wedding ring on a chain around her neck, but she displays it with other keepsakes. His yellow fire hat, No. 215. A brick from near the window where his fellow firefighters pulled him out of the burning building. A red rose from the stage at his memorial service. A posthumous medal of honor from the International Association of Fire Fighters.

Sometimes, she draws back into the past. She'll open the drawer where Dallas' clothes remain and steal a whiff of his scent that still lingers. She closes the drawer quickly, not wanting the smell to dissipate.

Most of the time, though, Begg focuses on the future. She spends time eating and watching TV with firefighters who work with Knepper, her teacher. She says she feels welcome at the firehouse, where the guys tell her war stories and give her tips.

"They make fun of me," Begg said. "They joke around. It's just like having a lot of brothers."

The next step for Begg is to attend the Central Florida Fire Academy in August. She hopes Osceola County will hire her because that was her husband's department, but she says she just wants to work as a firefighter somewhere.

Although her husband always will be a part of her, Begg is ready for the transition from grieving widow to just plain Rachel Begg, firefighter candidate.

"I think I'm relieved that I get to start over again," she said.

Susan Jacobson can be reached at [email protected] or 407-931-5946.

7

J.W. Receives Poly Heme

by Kenneson in

the san bernardino sun has three related articles, written by annette wells, on a "blood substitute" called poly heme that was administered to a j.w.

after reading this article, look to the right of the page and click on to the other two stories: "church let's faithful opt for poly heme" and "for witness faithful it's all in the blood.".

after reading the stories, it seems to me that poly heme is really recycled blood and i fail to see how it is a blood substitute.. http://www.sbsun.com/stories/0,1413,208%257e12588%257e1230929.00.html

Trauma_Hound

Try this:

http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~1230815,00.html

30

Al-Amiriya...The Ultimate Mistake From The Last Gulf War

by ISP in

jw
friends

friday, october 4, 2002. shrine to victims of tragic error.

wreaths, flags, prayers mark place where hundreds of civilians died.

seattle post-intelligencer foreign desk editor.

Trauma_Hound

Simon you forgot spent uranium also, how many thousand of innocents has that killed, including some of our own civilian clean up crews. I'll tell you what folks, you side with murders, I myself I have more compasion for my fellow man. There are ways to take Saddam out without a full war. But it's not about taking him out, it's about taking the country over, and putting a puppet government in place.

4

Blair is a David!

by ozziepost in

this week's issue of "private eye" carries this nice little story.

well, it's kinda political but it is religious!!.

remember the story of david and goliath in the bible?

Trauma_Hound

Do they do drugs there alot? If you were going to use that anology, the US would be more like Goliath, since it has a stronger millitary force, it's the 500 lb gorilla not iraq.

Trauma_Hound

Posts by Trauma_Hound

Source: Chile, Mexico are holdouts on Iraq

Official: U.S. still needs one vote on U.N. resolution

Blair sets Iraqi benchmarks

U.S. warns Russia

U.S. Stocking Uranium-Rich Bombs?