Posts by Richie

88

Report: U.S. Mistakenly fires on Wedding Party in Iraq

by dubla in

u.s. reportedly kills 40 iraqis at party .

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040519/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_attack_4.

very sad if this turns out to be an accurate report.

Richie

Yesterday (May 20, 2004), A group of American soldiers opened fire on what is being described as an Iraqi wedding party close to the Syrian border. Quite a few Iraqi men, women and children were wounded and killed. I'd give a number count, but of what purpose, since the Arabs like to inflate numbers to suit their propaganda needs. Remember the Jenin massacre that never happened?

As it turns out according to the Iraqis, the Americans mistook celebratory gunfire for hostile fire. How stupid of the Americans. Doesn't everyone know that the way to celebrate a happy occasion like a wedding, is to fire your AK47 into the air?

The American version of the story is somewhat different. According to the Americans, there were a group of armed Syrian fighters amongst the celebrating wedding party. But the Americans didn't know anything about a wedding. All the Americans knew, was that there were armed insurgents they were tracking who were firing their guns. As a result, "innocent" people died.

The other day, Israel killed and wounded several Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza. There too it was "innocent" people who died while expressing their freedom to demonstrate. But like the group in Iraq, amongst them were armed combatants.

As a side-bar: The Palestinians are only free to demonstrate against Israel or the West. Let them try to demonstrate against Arafat or Hamas, and you'd see some crowd control Palestinian style. The Arab fighters are famous for using ambulances, women, children and Mosques to hide behind as shields. Nonetheless, when an "innocent" Arab bystander gets hurt or killed while in the presence of armed combatants, the international outrage is inevitable.
TOUGH! The Leftists are always quick to search out their famous root cause. How about being with armed thugs could get you killed? Isn't that a pretty good root cause?

Another Arab/Moslem issue that bothers me is the plethora of holy cities; The Catholics have the Vatican, which is more of a tiny sovereign territory than a city. The Protestants have the Archdiocese of Canterbury, which is more of a building than a city. The Sikhs have the Golden Temple in Amristar, which is also a building. The Buddhists have Jokhang Temple in Lhasa Tibet, yet another building. And the Jews have the Wailing Wall of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. A wall.

But for Moslems, it seems that every other city is holy. I mention this only because the Americans and Israelis are always raked over the coals for attacking their enemies who hide and organize in holy cities. Why can't the news networks just say that US forces are fighting in the city of Karbala, or the city of Najaf, without the prefix HOLY. Somehow, designating the city as holy puts the good-guys at a definite public relations disadvantage. Who wants to be seen attacking something holy? A city no less.

I also find it disconcerting when the media report with a hint of outrage, when American forces fire on a Mosque, even in self-defense, as if the Mosque should be absolutely hands-off, when the building is used as a military or terrorist staging ground.

The Westernized democracies should stop judging the actions of our troops in the Middle East by our civilized standards and sense of fair-play, since those are absolutely foreign concepts to the Arab Middle East. The Arabs want us to play by our rules, while they play by their own.

A fair comparison would be telling two fighters in a boxing ring: You, the small and weak guy. You don't have to wear gloves, and you're allowed to punch, kick, bite, gouge and hit below the belt. And to the other guy in the ring who is the best of all fighters: You better abide by all the rules or you'll be disqualified. That's what the West is up against in the Arab world. What makes it even worse, is that the Arabs have eager accomplices in the Western Media, the EU, the UN, and the civil rights groups like Amnesty International.

Just today (May 21, 2004) on CNN's noon hour Wolf Blitzer show, Blitzer was interviewing James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute along with a British correspondent whose name I don't know. Zogby said that America must do more than just apologize to the Arab world in reference to the Iraqi prisoner abuse. America needs to apologize to Americans as well, AND THEN DO MORE! What more he didn't say.

But the British guest made an interesting point. How come the USA must apologize until the cows come home for the actions of a few, while the Saudis never apologized for the actions of many in regards to 9/11? Zogby's response was classic. THERE'S NO COMPARISON. He was right. There is no comparison. Americans never slaughtered 3,000 innocent people in a terrorist attack, and then blamed the Israelis as the Saudi royal family did.

I sincerely hope the Americans are making arrangements to move out of Iraq the day the Iraqis assume control of their own country on June 30, 2004. That day will be a reason for America to celebrate: without the gunfire.

Richie :*)

95

Realist, On Israel

by Yerusalyim in

realist,.

decided to carry our debate out of the thread it was in if that's ok.. here's an interesting article by george will...take a read and let me know what you think.. http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/columnists/8464596.htmposted on mon, apr.

19, 2004. recognizing the mideast reality.

Richie

This past week was the real end for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. When talking doesn't work, and the person you're talking to is either a liar, a thug or both, it becomes time for less talk and more action.

In the year 2000, Ehud Barak, Israel's Prime Minister at that time, and onetime General who served and led with distinction, made an extraordinary peace gesture to Hezbollah, the Iranian and Syrian supported Islamic terrorist group. Barak unilaterally ordered the evacuation of all Israeli troops from the security strip separating South Lebanon from Israel. In Barak's mind, he thought this gesture would invite a counter gesture of goodwill from the Arabs. He was wrong. Very wrong! Instead of seeing this action as a move towards conciliation, the Arabs saw it only as a sign of Israeli weakness. And instead of reciprocating, the Arabs stepped up the violence.
None of this was lost on Arafat. Arafat walked away from the Camp David Peace talks with the lesson of Hezbollah. Terrorize the Israelis and they'll cave in.

I don't blame Barak for trying to do the right thing in Southern Lebanon. He had to try something. And now we all know the results. Israel is a country of only 5 million Jews, surrounded by more than 300 million hostile Arabs. The fact that Israel not only exists, but is an economic, social and military wonder in spite of the constant threats and attacks, is proof positive that it is not governed by idiots. Israel knows that just one major mistake will spell the end of its existence. Even this past week, in a speech to his Palestinian people, Arafat once again called for the destruction of Israel and the subsequent death to the Jews. None of this is lost on most of the Israeli leadership and military.

There are no more negotiations. Why should there be? With whom should Israel negotiate? With Arafat; the Jew hating terrorist thug who says one thing in his peace-loving voice to the EU and the UN, while in his real voice he exhorts his people to murder Jews? Israel has come to the realization that there is only one way to end the so-called cycle of violence and protect its people from Arab/Palestinian terrorist attacks. DISENGAGE!

The Palestinians have demanded that Israel leave Gaza and the West Bank. So that's what Israel's in the process of doing. But not like they left Southern Lebanon. When Israel finally pulls out of Gaza, the Palestinians will have nothing to crow about. There will be no Palestinian victory. No celebration that the "brave" Palestinian "freedom fighters" drove out the Jews. There will only be death and destruction. Arafat had the generous peace deal with honor in his hands at Camp David in the year 2000, which he crumpled and threw into the garbage heap of history.

The grizzly television scenes of death, destruction and wounded Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli military makes anyone with a normal sensitivity cringe. Myself included. But what choice does Israel have, other than national suicide? The visuals of this horror have invited the condemnation from the usual suspects: the UN, EU, the Arab world and the regular human rights watch-dog groups who all seem to be blind to the murder, maiming and suffering of Israeli Jews. In Gaza, Israel is playing by Arab rules. If you're going to beat your enemy. Just do it!

At the Economic Summit last weekend in Jordan, King Abdullah advised the USA to install an Arab strongman in Iraq, and get out. Abdullah knows. His grandfather, King Abdullah the first, died at the hands of Islamists at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. King Hussein, his late father almost lost Jordan to a combined attack by Arafat's Palestinians and Syrian forces in September 1970. And only with the help of Israel; did his father beat back his enemies. When Abdullah says to install a strongman, he means a leader not frightened to reign horror upon those who would oppose him. Much like Saddam Hussein did. Perhaps that's why the Jordanian monarchy and Saddam Hussein were so close.

Another example is the late leader of Syria, Hafez al Assad, who murdered as many, and maybe more than 30,000 men, women and children in a suburb of the Syrian City of Hama, the home and hotbed of the Moslem Brotherhood. After a month-long bombardment of this Moslem quarter, from February 2, 1999 to the end of February, no Syrian leader ever again heard a peep from the Moslem Brotherhood. They got the message. These are the rules by which Sharon is playing.

When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's troops finally do pull out of Gaza, there will be only one reality. Israel will have left on its own accord, leaving behind a beaten and humiliated enemy, who would understand the consequences before attacking the Jewish state again.

Unlike the Geneva Convention; these are the rules of engagement of the Arab Middle East. Rules the Arabs have lived by for thousands of years. Rules by which they will be punished by because they can't seem to understand any other. Whether the EU, the UN and any other alphabet combination likes it or not, this is how the game is played in the Middle East. And no one knows it better than Ariel Sharon.

Richie :*)

53

Why didn't Sadam........?

by confusedjw in

going back to the pre-war rhetoric it seemed to me that even the german and russian intelligence along with the english and american intelligence and previous inspectors all agreed that sadam had left over (and possibly made more) chemical wmd.

proof seemed to be provided about what they *knew* he had at *some point* and it couldn't be accounted for.. it seems obvious now that sadam did, in fact, destroy it long ago.. my question - why didn't he just prove it to the inspectors?

why not avoid all of this if he could?

Richie

I agree with you Yeru! Also don't forget the oil-for-food scandal, as this may have been a factor in that many high ranking officials got huge kick backs from Saddam.....

96

First gay couples wed in US state

by ignored_one in

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3719905.stm

first gay couples wed in us state

two lesbians were among the first same-sex couples to wed under a new law in the us state of massachusetts.

Richie

You brought it out beautifully: Let GOD be the judge. We cannot be judges ourselves, true, so God is the final judge. And what does God say??? What is God's opinion on this issue? Read 1 Cor 6:9-11, 1 Tim 1:9-11, Jude 7, Rom 1:24-27, Eph 4:17-24 to bring out a few scriptures....... Now who judges? It is God who judges......unless you don't believe in God and throw away the counsel that God (not me, not you, not anybody else) gives to everybody!

Richie :*)

92

One Soldier's Viewpoint of Iraq

by ThiChi in

one soldier?s viewpoint of iraq.

greetings (names withheld).

as i head off to baghdad for the final weeks of my stay in iraq, i wanted to say thanks to all of you who did not believe the media.

Richie

This is an excerpt from Fox News Sunday (shown May 10/04) on some of the good news about Iraq (you can go to FoxNews.com and download the video as well, so you can see for yourself):

"As many of you may know by now, we thought the ABC News program, "Nightline", made a mistake by listing all the brave men and women who died in Iraq but without providing the context of what they died for. So we said that we would put together our own tribute, our own list of what these brave men and women have built in Iraq.

A couple of points before we begin. Some of you have written in saying that we're pushing the White House agenda. As you saw in the last segment, there are plenty of hard questions to ask about the Bush administration's policy in Iraq, and we will keep asking them.

There were also times this week when you couldn't help but wonder about putting on the good news from Iraq, as we saw those ugly pictures from inside Abu Gharib prison. But the more we thought about it, what better time to talk about what the vast majority of our troops are doing there? What better time to try to make sense of the sacrifice of the 767 men and women who have died in Iraq?

We call our tribute, "What We've Accomplished."

First, ending the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein . Ending the systematic torture and murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Since Saddam was overthrown, investigators have found dozens of mass graves, in which more than 300,000 Iraqis were buried.

Ending the theft of billions of dollars from the Iraqi people. Since 1991, Saddam built 48 palaces, at a time when his regime said it did not have the sources to build housing. And an investigation has found Saddam stole more than $11 billion from the U.N.'s oil-for-food program.

Ending the threat that weapons of mass destruction will be developed and used. Since the invasion, U.S. inspectors have not found WMD. But during its time in power, Saddam's regime manufactured chemical and biological weapons and, at one point, actively pursued nuclear weapons.

Second, quality of life . Daily life has improved dramatically for the average Iraqi since the fall of Saddam, but it has come at a cost. These three soldiers were killed last July while they guarded a hospital in Baquba.

Under the old regime, little money was spent on education and there was no schedule for maintaining school facilities. So far, 2,500 schools have been renovated, with another 800 to be finished soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They put in electricity for us and a fan for us so we could get some air, and I say thanks to god.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD (through translator): Before, the school was dirty and not clean, and even the bathroom was not good. This year they made a new bathroom for us, and they changed the building and painted it well.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

What children are learning in school has also changed. Before the war the government fired teachers for not following the party line. Almost 9 million new math and science textbooks have been printed and distributed. Old books were filled with pro-Saddam propaganda.

And here are U.S. troops handing out napsacks full of school supplies in Samarra. This just days after those four American contractors were killed and their bodies mutilated in Fallujah.

Major progress has also been made in health care. Under Saddam, the Ministry of Health spent $16 million a year. The current budget is almost $1 billion. The health care system is now open to all Iraqis, with 30 percent more people now using the facilities. Doctors, who used to get $20 a month, now earn up to $180. Modern medication such as cancer drugs are now available, something unheard of during the Saddam years.

Last Sunday, these five Navy Seabees were killed in the Sunni triangle while on assignment rebuilding schools and medical facilities for the Iraqis.

Third, human rights. Since the end of Saddam, a fully functioning legal and judicial system has been developed. More than 600 judges are working in courtrooms across the country. Iraqis charged with crimes now have rights that would have been laughed at under the old regime: the right to remain silent when they're arrested; the right to a fair, speedy and open trial; the right to a defense lawyer at all stages of the process.

Iraqis now enjoy freedom of speech. Street protests against the U.S. occupation are now routine in Baghdad, something that in the past would have earned these demonstrators imprisonment or death.

There is also something approaching freedom of the press. Under Saddam, all newspapers were controlled by the government. This woman was a reporter for 27 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Before, we write as they tell us to write. Now we write what we believe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Now, 120 papers are being published, some of them critical of the U.S. The coalition has shut down only two papers, which it said were inciting violence.

This is another sign of new freedom: Internet cafes. Before, few people had access to computers, fewer still to the government-monitored Internet. Now people can communicate, get information or sound off in Web blogs.

And here's more technology that was banned under Saddam Hussein: satellite dishes. Now more than one-third of Iraqi households receive news from around the world by way of these dishes.

Finally, the economy and infrastructure. There's a new currency in Iraq. Gone are those ever-present pictures of Saddam in a country that used to have two weak currencies, there is now one stable form of money.

Iraq's most important resource, oil, is showing a strong revival. Production now exceeds pre-war levels, averaging half a million barrels a day more than when Saddam was forced from power.

Still, gasoline shortages have meant that U.S. soldiers often have to guard filling stations to prevent looting. Private First Class Jason Wright from the 101st Airborne Division was killed by a drive-by shooter as he protected Iraqis who were buying gas.

One crucial area that has seen solid improvement is basic utilities. After years of neglect, Iraqis have electricity for only part of the day. By this summer, the average Iraqi will have electricity for 16 hours a day, 40 percent above pre-war levels. Under Saddam, only half of the country had access to clean drinking water. Now extensive renovations of water plants have brought cleaner water to more people, almost 15 million, on a more reliable basis.

Before the war, few areas had proper sewage facilities. One example of what soldiers are doing on the ground is in Mosul, where a neighborhood was swamped with raw sewage for 17 years. The U.S. Army spent $40,000 to hire local workers, and the problem is fixed.

Improvements in the infrastructure are widespread. Here are some key examples. Baghdad airport now has 43 passenger flights a day, including regular commercial service to Jordan.

And look at something as simple as phone service. Under Saddam, cell phones were a luxury, reserved only for top party and government officials. Now, more than 340,000 Iraqis have cell phones, and business is booming.

There's one other big difference: When Iraqis make a call now, they say no one is listening in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I call him now on the phone. Now we can discuss anything. We are not -- I am not afraid to say anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

As we struggled to put all of this together, we were astonished by all that our troops have accomplished. And we'll keep an eye out so we can update you on some of the ways our troops are making life better for so many Iraqis."

(copied from Fox News Sunday)

Richie :*)

60

Do NOT watch this...

by blacksheep in

i know i was warned.

i had to see for myself the berg video.

saw it at work this am.

Richie

Blacksheep; I didn't want to watch this video but curiosity on my part got the better of me......and I tell you, you are so right: I should have never watched it!!! After I did, I felt sick and was trembling with fear and anger. This was 3 days ago and I am still thinking about it and can't get the picture out of my mind. This barbaric act could not have been done by "humans', but clearly it was performed by demonic savages, who had no regard for human life.

Richie :*)

134

This is horrible....

by desib77 in

.

i know that the issue of the man being beheaded by the iraqis has been discussed already but they just played the sound of the beheading on talk radio (shawn hannity).

this is absolutely horrible.....the sound of him screaming just makes me ill.

Richie

I heard an American discuss the photos of the Iraqi prisoners being "humiliated" by American guards on US radio this afternoon. And what he said made me rethink my initial feelings of outrage. Before I tell you what he said, I will say just this:

What the Americans did to those Iraqis pale in comparison to what Arabs and Islamists in general have done to their enemies, continue to do, and will do well into the future. Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street journalist wasn't just humiliated, he was butchered before the cameras. Not just once, but twice, because the first time wasn't sufficiently gory. Nicholas Berg wasn't just humiliated, he was also butchered before the cameras.

As the story begins to unfold, it has become clear that Nicholas Berg was taken into custody by the Iraqi police because he had a Jewish last name, and an Israeli stamp in his passport. After being released by the Iraqis, he was told by the Americans that it wasn't safe for him to be in Iraq. It will take a mountain of convincing to make me believe that the Iraqi police didn't finger Berg for being a Jew and a possible Israeli spy.

The 6 dead Israeli soldiers weren't just blown up (May 12, 2004) in an act of war at Gaza, their bodies were desecrated, with the severed head of one Israeli kicked about by children as if it were a soccer ball. Nice children.

Now I'll tell you what the American on the radio had to say: The pictures were taken not just to humiliate the "victims", but rather to use them against the "victims" to extract information.
Instead of using physical torture, the Americans used humility in the belief that the Iraqis would say what the Americans wanted to hear, just so the photos would never be shown to their families and friends.

To the Arab and Islamist mind-set, humiliation, especially at the hands of a woman, might very well be a sentence worse than torture or death. It's a stink that can live with them forever. The photos were also used to show what fate awaited other Iraqi prisoners who might want to think twice about not cooperating.

So, I ask myself: What's worse, a plate-full of humility, or a slow agonizing decapitation before the lens of a camera? No matter how hard I try, I can't imagine the horror the victims felt at the hands of their Arab murderers. What kind of savages can do such a thing?

The Iraqis are killing, wounding and maiming American soldiers and American non military supporters every day. Nicholas Berg wasn't a soldier, he was there as a humanitarian who wanted to help out. For his goodness, he was murdered in an incomprehensibly horrible way for all to see.

Perhaps, if one of those "humiliated" Iraqis spilled the beans as a result of this crass American behavior towards their prisoners, Berg would still be alive. Perhaps the other 4 American non military workers who were murdered and then strung up in Fallujah would also be alive. Maybe fewer Americans and cooperative Iraqis would be alive today too. But we'll never really know.

Those horrible images of "humiliated" Iraqis have touched a raw nerve amongst most of us civilized folk of the modern Western world. But we're not the ones in Iraq fighting a vicious enemy who will slowly cut off our heads as the camera rolls. Are we?

It's easy for us to sit in judgement because we don't have to live from minute to minute not knowing which Jihadist monster is going to murder us or our friends. It's a very different story between imagining what it's like and actually being there. Let the Americans "humiliate" these horrible creatures until the cows come home, if it will save just one Nicholas Berg. His life was worth all of theirs combined.

I'm sick and tired of hearing about the Iraqi prisoner "humiliations". North American university frat houses do worst to their pledges. If I was an American soldier in Iraq, knowing what could lay before me from a hostile American press, and a politicized Congress, I wouldn't be too quick in wanting to take any prisoners. Dead Iraqi insurgents are far less trouble, and won't ever be able to do harm to anyone. And they can't be "humiliated".

The next thing we'll hear from the world press, especially the American press and the Leftist elitists is that the Iraqi insurgents should have full Miranda Rights. Perhaps someone should remind the media and the Leftists that America is at war where the rules of the Marquis of Queensberry don't really apply. And to the Arabs, the Geneva Convention is nothing more than a suggestion.

The President of the United States should never have apologized, since his apology has never been accepted in the good faith that it was given., and the enemy would only see the apology as weakness. But knowing this didn't take any great intellect. It's just the way it is.

But now it's time to apologize for the apology. Screw the insurgents. Do what has to be done over there. And get the troops home as soon as possible. The Iraqis are just not worth this pain.

Richie :*)

25

FORMER ELDERS CAN YOU PLEASE HELP??

by MZINDEPENDENT in

jw
friends

hello, i am writing because i was disfellowshipped a week and a half ago.

i have not been to the meeting in over two and a half years.

you would think they would leave me alone.

Richie

Let me get this clear: You said that you were disfellowshipped without you knowing anything about this beforehand. Also I understand that they did not contact you BEFORE to ask you to come to a judicial meeting to discuss "certain things". If you would have refused to go to a judicial meeting on several occasions, they would have a "right" to df you. Normally when you go to a judicial meeting and they then decide to df you, they will not df you for at least 1 week, as you would have the option to appeal their decision BEFORE they disfellowship you by announcing this to the congregation. In case they did not contact you to ask you to come to their judical meeting, they (the elders) certainly acted without following the proper procedures. In that case you will have an excellent chance to have this overturned, but then what I would suggest is to follow exactly what Nina said to you. Focus on the fact that they disfellowshipped you wrongly and totally against procedure,. and do not give them a chance to turn things around by them asking you probing questions, such as "do you still consider yourself to be a JW" etc..., but just focus on the wrong only THEY committed! I wish you good luck...

Welcome to this board by the way!

Richie :*)

398

Wasn't Saddam ousted for doing precisely this sort of thing?

by Simon in

utterly disgusting.

those responsible should be lined against a wall and shot.

publicly.. i think that would win more hearts and minds than bombing cities and using gunships on civilian areas.. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4855930/.

Richie

The American Press has to balance what they present as news, and what is sensationalism. Without the balance, they'll be no more credible than reality TV.

No one will ever be more supportive of a free press than me. As far as I'm concerned, the very fabric of democracy is contingent upon a press that is free to report, investigate and criticize. Without it, there would be no checks or balances. However; at one point, freedom of the press crosses a line where it supercedes journalism to become voyeurism (reality TV) camouflaged as news.

With the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq, the media has crossed the line. It is remarkable how every visual news reporting service in print and television can't seem to publish and air too many images of humiliated Iraqi prisoners that make America and Americans look as bad as they possibly can. This is no longer news. The constant display of this sorry event has become nothing more than titillation with the promise of much more to come.
Where in all of this is there value to the people (you and me) who have a right to know? How am I served by seeing the same sordid images virtually every time I open a newspaper, magazine or turn on my televison set? There are several other factors in this orgy of news sensationalism that should also be very bothersome to anyone paying attention. Especially the media double standard!

The Arab/Islamists have been recorded on video and in photographs doing far worse to their victims. Yet; we are virtually always told by the same media serving us this daily diet of how horrible America is, that for the sensitivities of their viewers, they can't show the details of Arab (or other) atrocities because they are too graphic. Or they never make what happens on that side public.

A perfect case in point was the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl. Even though the execution was carefully recorded by his Islamist murderers, it was too much to be shown on US or Canadian television. Why? Was the media worried, that showing the graphic murder of Pearl would somehow affect the way we viewed Islamists? Shouldn't we have had that option, the same way the rest of the world has the option to decide how to view the Americans?

The same can be said about hundreds (or more) of atrocities that make the Arab world look bad. Especially the murder of Palestinian Arabs at the hands of other Palestinian Arabs for the "crime" of maybe collaborating with the Israelis. It is no secret that the Palestinians take their victims out to places where they murder them in public view, and then either drag the body for all to see, or leave the corpse as a reminder. This the media doesn't show us. Why not?

During the days of Apartheid in South Africa, every image that could be shown to make the White government look bad was published and aired ad infinitum. However; the murders of dissenters to Winnie Mandela, by way of a burning tire placed around the neck of her victims, was mostly kept off the television screens and out of the publications. It is true that the "necklaces" were reported, but virtually never shown in their truly grotesque reality. Why not?

The same can be said about the slaughters in Rwanda. There are vaults of video and photographs that recorded the gruesome murders of some 800,000 people, and the dismemberment of many thousands more. Yet, according to the Western media, these images were too much to be shown. Why?

The media likes to have it both ways. Let's make the Americans and the Israelis look bad. But at the same time, let's not show the other side. To many "journalists", the argument for this double standard, is that we in the West must be held to a higher account. It sounds good. But in reality, it's a crock. If we want truth and integrity in journalism, there is only one standard that fits all.

What the American media (and others) are doing with the images of the Iraqi prisoner abuses is nothing more than self promotion and political posturing. It is simply to sell more publications, get more viewers, and inevitably get Bush. It is unfair, unprofessional, and in the final analysis detrimental to the well being of America, American troops in the field, and America's quest to bring a little democracy to the rest of the world.

Should the media have the right to do what they're doing? Absolutely! Should they be milking this event to the detriment of their country and the safety of their troops? Absolutely Not! But that won't stop them.

The good news, is that the American people are starting to get more pissed-off with the media, than they are with the Bush administration.

George W Bush went on television today (May 10, 2004) with a ringing endorsement for his Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. And in the latest polls, it seems that more than 2/3rds of the American people agree with the President. If the media aren't real careful, people will be turning to the late night talk-show hosts and Conservative talk-radio for their daily dose of news.

In the meantime, remember what your parents told you: Don't believe most of what you hear. And only half of what you see.

Richie :*)

59

Changd My Mind About the War In Iraq

by roybatty in

i don't want one more u.s. soldier to die for the iraqi people.

it's now obvious to me that the international community was right.

the people of iraq do not deserve to live in a free society.

Richie

George W Bush told the Arab Media how sorry he and the American people were for the abuses caused to Arab prisoners by a few American soldiers. In my opinion, this was a mistake. A huge mistake! As reprehensible as the conduct was of the few members of the US military in their behaviour to the handful of Arab prisoners, it was no big deal in comparison to the overall picture. What makes it real bad, is that it shows we can behave as despicably as them. And more than that, it is small potatoes compared to what the Arabs do to each other. But to listen to the Arabs: it is the worst calamity to have fallen upon them since the Ten Plagues.

Where have the voices of the "downtrodden" Arabs been during the days of mass murder, torture and rape of Saddam? And where are the voices of outrage against ALL Arab communities which routinely practice torture and murder against their own citizens? It is no secret, that when the Americans want to fully interrogate a prisoner, they allow an Arab state to do it for them. Where are all the voices of moral outrage against the psychological and physical torture that is inflicted upon women throughout the Arab and Moslem world every day? Where's the outright condemnation for the murder, torture and ethnic cleansing carried on in the Sudan by an Arab government just named to the United Nation's Commission For Human Rights?

The Arabs can spare the civilized world the theatrics and their crocodile tears. What the few Americans did to the prisoners was wrong. But in comparison to what the Arabs do to each other as part and parcel of their "normal" way of doing business was literally nothing.

I thought the best way to handle this in the beginning: let the Americans get in, do what they have to do, and get out. The Americans have not yet seen much more than the tip of the iceberg of what the Middle East Arabs are all about.

George W Bush offered his apologies for the vulgar acts of a few Americans. By having done that, he has added rocket-fuel to an already burning fire. The Arabs will not see anything more in this spectacle of US contrition than weakness in America. The Arabs will only view the words of the President of the United States as a sign of approbation in their belief that the USA is the Great Satan, and the guilt freely admitted to by the leader of the Great Satan has to be punished with Jihad. He has given disparate Arab and Moslem groups the reason to temporarily bury their differences to come together in an American hate-a-thon. Where's the benefit in that?

When Ehud Barak tried to do the right thing by unilaterally pulling his troops out of Southern Lebanon in 2000, his gesture only emboldened the Arabs to further push the terrorist envelope. What was meant to be a demonstration of good faith, became a show of weakness and an invitation to more violence.

Two weeks ago, the American military surrounding Fallujah installed Saddam Bathists to take over from the marines who were poised to storm the city. To me, this might be the first step by the Americans to disengage from Iraq. The solution for America to save whatever face they have left in the Arab and Moslem world is to allow the Bathist Sunnis to establish themselves in the centre, the Shiites in the south, and the Kurds in the North. Screw the Shiites and Sunnis. Make a deal with Turkey to leave the Kurds alone. And then do whatever is necessary to protect and defend the Kurds and all the oil wells that come with their northern territory.

When the late Syrian dictator Hafez Al Assad was threatened by members of the Moslem Brotherhood from the city of Hama (population of appr. 300,000); on February 2, 1982, he began a siege and bombardment of the Moslem Brotherhood enclave of Hama that lasted for 27 days.
No one was allowed to leave or surrender. Not even innocent men, women or children. After the shelling stopped and Assad's killing squads finished their ugly business, it is estimated that more than 30,000 to 40,000 people were murdered, with another 15,000 unaccounted for. Hafez Al Assad never had to worry about the Moslem Brotherhood ever again. And neither does his son Bashir. This is what the Arabs seem to understand and respect most, since hardly a whisper of condemnation for this act of genocide could be heard from anyone.

The Middle East is about to implode. Saudi oil fields and their delivery systems are already under attack. The Gulf states are incredibly vulnerable to similar attacks. Egypt's Hosni Mubarak is sitting atop a powder-keg. And the Americans are beginning to look like easy targets.

The only nation in the world (Israel) that can be called upon to protect American interests, democracy and modernity in the Middle East is under attack from the UN, the EU and the entire Arab and Moslem world. None of this is good.

If there is anything the Americans can do to extricate themselves from this mess, that does not further empower the Arab world, it is to leave in a blaze of glory. Bush should beat the crap out of those who have shown the US the greatest level of hostility, withdraw to the north (the Kurds) and call it a day. Iraq will probably convulse in a brutal civil war, where real prisoner-abuse will be the norm, and bloodletting will become a national pastime until at least one strongman wins control.

The Iranian Shiites will probably enter the fray, which will possibly invite a response by the Saudis, causing the Middle East to redesign itself. All of which will play hard on the oil thirsty industrialized world. Maybe Syria, Jordan and Egypt will jump in as well. Maybe the nightmare can be contained in the Middle East. And maybe the democratized world will finally understand the absolute need to conserve existing energy, while discovering and developing new forms of energy.

I can see no other alternative. The Middle East will implode with or without the contrition of George W Bush. And when that happens, hang on tight, because the Arabs will be taking us for quite a ride.

Richie :*)