Posted on 11/02/2004 3:07:05 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
Britain's most famous scientist, Stephen Hawking, condemned the U.S. led invasion of Iraq as a "war crime" and said Tuesday it was based on lies.
The physicist spoke at an anti-war demonstration in London's Trafalgar Square timed to coincide with the U.S. election. Protesters read out the names of thousands of Iraqis and coalition troops killed since the March 2003 invasion.
"The war was based on two lies," said Hawking. "The first was we were in danger of weapons of mass destruction and the second was that Iraq was somehow to blame for Sept. 11.
"It has been a tragedy for all the families that have lost members. As many as 100,000 people have died, half of them women and children. If that is not a war crime, what is?"
Hawking, the best-selling author of "A Brief History Of Time," was joined by other public figures. Similar events were being held in Spain, Italy, Australia, the United States and Iraq.
"Our message to the U.S. is that the war is illegal and unnecessary, and we want our troops to come home," said Andrew Burgin, a spokesman for demonstration organizer Stop the War Coalition. "We also want to highlight the enormous number of Iraqis killed in this conflict who are so often ignored."
In Trafalgar Square, hundreds of spectators holding candles or placards opposing President Bush listened as speakers read the names of the dead while their images were projected onto a large screen.
One group of students from London's Imperial College waved anti-Bush signs, hoping to send a message to U.S. voters.
"If enough people show up tonight at the demonstration, I think a few more voters might notice what we're saying," said Emma Thomson, a student from Scotland who said she was able to cast a vote in Pennsylvania because she was born there.
He wants Kerry to win so he can walk;~)
That's my middle name -- don't wear it out.
Kinda hard to see the world from the confines of your living room.
Sir, with all due respect, do I go into your lab and start telling you what to do? No? Well, then why don't you stick to your area of expertise and the rest of us will go about the business of keeping you safe while you do it.
What you have there is the worst of all conditions - a blonde brain trapped in a dysfunctional body.
Lovely night 'round here, isn't it?
He's smart in physics and mathematics, obviously. But that just goes to show that the "physics" part of the brain can steal cells from the other parts of the brain.
Oh, zank you doktor....my body verks great, but I can't seem to get rid of zis blonde hair.....pearhaps there is still hope for me?
"I sense a bitter mood moving over FR..."
How many mass graves filled with thousands of dead men, women and children does it take to say that a dictator is evil and needs to be removed from power? What if Hawking were an Iraqi and he and his family had been exterminated because they defied Saddam? What a loss for science! Considering how many Jewish physicists escaped the clutches of Nazism, it alarms me that the following generations of physicists are ultraliberal and apparently unconcerned about totalitarian regimes. They are ostriches with their heads in the sand.
One of my physics mentors spent some time in a Nazi concentration camp. He was forced to work on high energy experiments as he was a student of Bohr. When he taught his classes after the war, he always reminded us to learn the material so you never had to use a book, because someday, he said, all the books may be burned. He told us to learn to use physics in a common-sense way because someday you may be in a political prison and need to use your wits to escape. At the time (1970s) we thought he was a little senile, but now I understand exactly what he meant.
Just unplug his mike.
Such a great man, hasn't a damn clue that he will be one of the first to be killed if the mullahs come to rule in the UK. All that western science that kept him alive all these years, how can people be so blind?
I give the poor pathetic fool a break only in this; his helpless condition makes it easier for him to be a coward.
Poor devil!
I say we roll him into one of these radical muslim kidnappers area and disable his wheelchair.
Yeah, Stephen, to paraphrase Laura Ingraham, "Shut up and think about the cosmos".
I'm not stupid, you simply disagree with me.
I'll listen to Stephens opinion on politics as soon as he listens to mine on quantam physics.
I was English and European. They didn't distinguish between bad guys acting to back Saddam and colaterals. The women and kids no. has to come from those Saddam killed, if true at all. Hawking nor most of the other. "scientists" never bother with facts and when they're too obvious, they just ignore them.
From my experience in life, the CS quotient beats IQ nine times out of ten. Common sense trumps Stephen.
Stupid people shouldn't talk too much!!!
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