Slashdot Mirror
Major Strike on Iraq Underway
The major news sources are reporting that much larger scale attacks are now underway in Iraq. Here is CNNs story. Pentagon officials have confirmed that this is "A-day" for war, presumably the so called "Shock & Awe" mentioned by the White House earlier. In other words, it starts now. Update: 18:01 GMT by CT : Iraq has apparently ordered
CNN out of Baghdad.
Updates as events warrant.
This is what American democracy looks like !
America was the country that was the primary "sponsor" - in terms of weapons, training and funding - of Osama Bin Laden and his fighters during the 1980s.
American spokesman saw "nothing objectionable" in the Taliban's seizure of power in Afghanistan in 1996.
America unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in December 2001.
America renounced the efforts to negotiate a verification process for the Biological Weapons Convention and brought an international conference on the matter to a halt in July 2001.
America unilaterally withdrew from the Kyoto treaty on global warming in March 2001.
America is the world's biggest polluter.
America prevented the United Nations from curbing the gun trade at a small arms conference in July 2001.
America is the world's largest exporter of arms.
America was responsible for a car bomb which killed 80 civilians in Beirut in 1985, in a botched assassination attempt, thereby making it the most lethal terrorist bombing in modern Middle East history.
American illegal bombing of Libya in 1986 was described by the UN Legal Committee as a "classic case" of terrorism.
Aside from Somalia, America is the only other country in the world to have refused to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
America is the only country in the West which still permits the execution of children (i.e. "persons under the age of 18").
America is the only G7 country to have refused to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, forbidding the use of landmines.
Aside from China, America is the only other nuclear power to have refused to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
America rejected the order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to terminate its "unlawful use of force" against Nicaragua in 1986, and then vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling on all states to observe international law.
America is the only G7 country to have voted against the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998.
America refuses to hand over a variety of indicted war criminals, terrorists and mass murderers - all residing within its borders - to Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti.
America has provided approximately $110 billion in aid to a country [Israel] which has maintained a 34-year occupation of land in defiance of international law.
America was the only other country to join with Israel in opposing a 1987 General Assembly resolution condemning international terrorism.
America refuses to fully pay its debts to the United Nations yet reserves its right to veto United Nations resolutions.
America was the only country that ratified the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide in 1988, *40* years after its passage at the United Nations.
America was accused by a UN-sponsored truth commission of providing "direct and indirect support" for "acts of genocide" against the Mayan Indians in Guatemala during the 1980s.
America was the driving force behind the economic embargo on Iraq - responsible for the death of over half a million Iraqi children and described by one of its own legislators as "genocide masquerading as policy".
America is the only country in the world to have dropped bombs on twenty other countries since 1945.
America is the only country in the world to have used all three types of "weapons of mass destruction" (chemical, biological and nuclear).
Yes, exactly. Killing Arabs will make them more friendly.
Other stupid thoughts of the same nature:
1) Americans are real people, killing anyone else is just an adult video game.
2) The rich are better than you. Support their desire to make easy money in weapons and oil.
3) U.S. government violence is justified. All other violence is immoral.
True thoughts:
Killing is the least socially sophisticated way of solving problems.
What you do comes back to you. The level of fear in the U.S. has risen even higher. The quality of life has fallen to a new low. People are losing their jobs as money is sucked into the violence economy.
Throwing away resources on killing other people and destroying their property makes everyone poorer.
Tomahawk cruise missile: Rich country's car bomb.
A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force.
If you support violence, you are, at least partly, violent person.
The U.S. government has bombed 24 countries in the last 58 years:
- Afghanistan 1998
- Bosnia 1994, 1995
- Cambodia 1969-70
- China 1945-46
- Congo 1964
- Cuba 1959-1961
- El Salvador 1980s
- Grenada 1983
- Guatemala 1954, 1960, 1967-69
- Indonesia 1958
- Iran 1987
- Iraq 1991-2000
- Korea and China 1950-53 (Korean War)
- Kuwait 1991
- Laos 1964-73
- Lebanon 1983, 1984 (both Lebanese and Syrian targets)
- Libya 1986
- Nicaragua 1980s
- Panama 1989
- Peru 1965
- Somalia 1993
- Sudan 1998
- Vietnam 1961-73
- Yugoslavia 1999
Source: Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only SuperpowerFor those in this thread complaining about Iraqi deaths, remember that almost all of the Iraqis who are being killed are soldiers.
For months (years?) the US and UK have been dropping leaflets over Iraq instructing Iraqi soliders how to surrender. If Iraqis try to surrender and are then summarily shot, there should be strong uproar and coalition forces on trial for war crimes.
The coalition forces are there enforcing international laws (specifically UN Resolutions 678 and 687) that are still in effect that required Iraq to declare and surrender all WMD as a condition of the Persian Gulf War ceasefire. Since Saddam did not cooperate, the ceasefire is no longer in effect, and the invasion resumes after a 12-year hiatus.
We've given Iraqi soldiers months of advance warning, and are practically televising our movements so they know when the tanks will be arriving. If they choose to fire on our soldiers, our soldiers will fire back, and probably with bigger weapons.
To summarize: I feel little pity for a soldier who has been given every opportunity to surrender with dignity and honor and be peacefully returned to his family, but instead chooses to be wiped out by the largest military on the planet.
My legal education, in nifty podcast format