People need to be *very* aware of the barbarians that our decent, brave freedom fighters are facing.
V for Victory
Posted on 03/28/2003 5:08:17 AM PST by RippleFire
MAR. 27, 2003: AMERICAN PHILISTINES?
Simon Jenkins, a columnist for the London Times, says that the war in Iraq is being conducted by a bunch of Philistines. Says the culturally concerned Mr. Jenkins, there are a huge number of historic treasures in Iraq. "The Art Newspaper has published an awesome list of Iraqi sites near bases, factories and scientific works, some of them damaged by bombing errors in 1991." Mr. Jenkins would apparently allow Saddam sanctuary for himself and his troops anywhere there is art or history, and he would add to the list of America's crimes the crime of destroying Iraqi culture. Where do guys like this come from?
Thursday morning, we were treated to a press conference with some of America's finest who had been wounded in action. Marine Lance Corporal Joshua Menard sat with Army Sergeants Jamie Villafane and Charles Horganof. Their wounds were not life-threatening, but serious all the same. They described matter-of-factly they combat in which they were hurt. Horganof described how his Humvee was hit with a wire-guided rocket, and when he found he couldn't stand, he discovered his foot was gone. Villafane, a guy with a great gruff New York accent, talked about how he was wounded and then proceeded to keep fighting, capturing several Iraqis. We need to be clear with the likes of Mr. Jenkins. The life of one of these young men is worth all the art treasures of the Middle East. Given the choice between saving one of those lives and burning the Louvre, I'd donate the gasoline and strike the match.
With all the attention to America's misbehavior by the effeteniks in Europe and at home, there is still almost no attention to the institutionalized pattern of war crimes in Iraq.
I have confirmed that the Al-Jazeera tape, all twelve minutes of it, is merely an excerpt of the hour-long version being shown regularly in Egypt and elsewhere. The short version shows the interrogation of some U.S. soldiers and the defamed dead bodies of others. The longer version includes all that, plus the murders and later abuse and mutilation of the bodies. Apparently, the whole thing is out there on the internet. I don't want to watch it tonight. Maybe tomorrow morning, when the mind is fresher, more able to withstand it.
Today British P.M. Tony Blair condemned the murder of two captured British soldiers, and Marine General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the joint chiefs, confirmed the murder of Americans. I cannot for the life of me understand the lack of outrage at these horrific crimes.
Over the past few days, the press coverage of the war has been drifting to the dark side. It began when they hammered Big Dog Rumsfeld into snapping at them, demanding to know why he created the expectation of a short war, which he hadn't. The press is divided among three camps: the embedded reporters, who are on the side of the troops they're with; the conservative press, which wants to stand by the troops, and their commander in chief; and the ivory tower types, who brought you Vietnam. They want to bring it to you again. The increasingly hostile questions pointed to the CENTCOM briefers reached their first climax when one reporter demanded more general information about the war, and asked why he should keep coming to the briefings if he didn't get it. Gen. Vince Brooks, the briefer, told him he could stay or go as he liked. It will only get worse. Some of the decay is the Pentagon's fault. It believes, foolishly, that by seeking more arab press, and welcoming them into the briefings, minds can be changed. Fat chance.
We will encircle Baghdad in the next few days. Before that, you will see what shock and awe means to the Republican Guard. Those divisions dug in around Baghdad and Tikrit will soon be subjected to a tremendous bombing campaign, far more than television viewers have seen, far greater as to be almost unimaginable. To all but our war planners, it is. Go back to your cloister, Mr. Jenkins. The only art we can be concerned with now is the art of war.
11:35 PM
Indeed. I fear they're all dead, including the five POWs (after the Iraqis got their jollies torturing them in unimaginable ways).
There is no lack of outrage, what we are seeing is an excercise in self-control. Our leaders have determined that it is incumbent upon the Allies to fight this war in a humane way so that we will be seen as liberators. Saddam's strategy seems to be to make it as bloody as possible to manipulate world opinion and to wear down our resolve.
These atrocities against American and British prisoners are probably an attempt to enrage us so much that we respond heavy-handedly and kill a lot of innocents, so that world pressure will demand a cease-fire before we enter Baghdad and finish the job. And we saw in Afhganistan how these "cease-fires" at the moment of truth in battles were simply an opportunity for enemy leadership to escape. Tricky plan, but it's not going to work because we've seen it before.
But back to my original point. There is plenty of outrage among the military. They just haven't allowed themselves to get distracted by a desire for payback until the mission is secured. Then these bastards who did this to our troops better find another planet to live on, because THEY will become "the mission". And Justice WILL be brought to them.
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