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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bilow who wrote (45929)	4/16/2004 4:04:48 PM
From: Michael Hart	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

<U.S. military is ruthlessly slaughtering hundreds of innocent women, children and elderly> It seems that the imagery one gets when reading the above statement is much different than that of soldiers attempting to make tough decisions about who the enemy is in a guerrilla battlefield situation which I believe is Mr. Kellogs intent. In the statement above I see soldiers walking into a family home and purposely (ruthlessly slaughtering hundreds) killing a family of children, parents and elderly for no reason. I choose to believe this is not the case and that people who carelessly toss this accusation about intend it to be taken as a wanten disregard for human life by the coalition soldier. In the second I see a soldier(s) under attack.....or just recently attacked........ from a home by Guerrillas who have purposely put innocent lives at risk by hiding amongst families to purposely camouflage themselves from the soldier(s). In this case I can see "innocent women, children and elderly" being injured or killed. That's war. Get used to it. Go ahead and deny it, if you like. A lot of these guys are getting out of the service soon and they'll be telling their stories, probably before the election in November. Be well, Mike

To: Bilow who wrote (45929)	4/16/2004 6:44:57 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Respond to of 50167

Bilow, I think you'll like this "take" on reality. I sure did. I'm very much looking forward to Michael Moore's new film, "Farhenheit 911: The Temperature at Which Democracy Burns". Coming soon to a theater near you! *** Personal Voices: Setting the Record Straight _________________________ By Michael Moore AlterNet April 15, 2004 alternet.org I have never seen a head so far up a Presidential ass (pardon my Fallujah) than the one I saw at the "news conference" given by George W. Bush. He's still talking about finding "weapons of mass destruction" – this time on Saddam's "turkey farm." Turkey indeed. Clearly the White House believes there are enough idiots in the country who will buy this. I've been holed up for weeks in the editing room finishing my film ("Fahrenheit 911"). That's why you haven't heard from me lately. But after Tuesday night's Lyndon Johnson impersonation from the East Room – essentially promising to send even more troops into the Iraq sinkhole – I had to write you all a note. First, can we stop the Orwellian language and start using the proper names for things? Those are not "contractors" in Iraq. They are not there to fix a roof or to pour concrete in a driveway. They are MERCENARIES and SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE. They are there for the money, and the money is very good if you live long enough to spend it. Halliburton is not a "company" doing business in Iraq. It is a WAR PROFITEER, bilking millions from the pockets of average Americans. In past wars they would have been arrested – or worse. The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow – and they will win. Get it, Mr. Bush? You closed down a friggin' weekly newspaper, you great giver of freedom and democracy! Then all hell broke loose. The paper only had 10,000 readers! Why are you smirking? One year after we wiped the face of the Saddam statue with our American flag before yanking him down, it is now too dangerous for a single media person to go to that square in Baghdad and file a report on the wonderful one-year anniversary celebration. Of course, there is no celebration, and those brave blow-dried "embeds" can't even leave the safety of the fort in downtown Baghdad. They never actually SEE what is taking place across Iraq (most of the pictures we see on TV are shot by Arab media and some Europeans). When you watch a report "from Iraq" what you are getting is the press release handed out by the U.S. occupation force and repeated to you as "news." I currently have two cameramen/reporters doing work for me in Iraq for my movie (unbeknownst to the Army). They are talking to soldiers and gathering the true sentiment about what is really going on. They Fed Ex the footage back to me each week. That's right, Fed Ex. Who said we haven't brought freedom to Iraq! The funniest story my guys tell me is how when they fly into Baghdad, they don't have to show a passport or go through immigration. Why not? Because they have not traveled from a foreign country – they're coming from America TO America, a place that is ours, a new American territory called Iraq. There is a lot of talk amongst Bush's opponents that we should turn this war over to the United Nations. Why should the other countries of this world, countries who tried to talk us out of this folly, now have to clean up our mess? I oppose the U.N. or anyone else risking the lives of their citizens to extract us from our debacle. I'm sorry, but the majority of Americans supported this war once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sacrifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe – just maybe – God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end. Until then, enjoy the "pacification" of Falluja, the "containment" of Sadr City, and the next Tet Offensive – oops, I mean, "terrorist attack by a small group of Baathist loyalists" (Hahaha! I love writing those words, Baathist loyalists, it makes me sound so Peter Jennings!) – followed by a "news conference" where we will be told that we must "stay the course" because we are "winning the hearts and minds of the people." I'll write again soon. Don't despair. Remember, the American people are not that stupid. Sure, we can be frightened into a war, but we always come around sooner or later – and the one way this is NOT like Vietnam is that it hasn't taken the public four long years to figure out they were lied to. Now if Bush would just quit speaking in public and giving me more free material for my movie, I can get back to work and get it done. I've got four weeks left 'til completion.

To: Bilow who wrote (45929)	4/16/2004 7:31:37 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Fullajah is at the heart of the Sunni triangle the infamous geographical area where the ruling baath party found its die hard zealots to enslave the majority of Iraq. Now that new freedom is ushering all over Iraq and new found freedom is absolutely chaotic unlike 'feeble stability' as a result of mass murder of dissent in case of tyranny, the Fallujah district is at the heart of privilege class inhabitants and its associated uprising has lot to do with the ideology and privileges of colonialism of Baathist party; these in this triangle were the ones, who would suck 80% resources for one million of their populace as other 44 million would go shoeless and breadless, now these diehards have their very keen agenda to destabilize the freedom and democracy or free elections where every one can be criticized and held accountable, the problem with freedom and accountability as it ushers is that it looks very messy but its eventual outcome ensures permanence of freedom and thought. I am sure that media hype that surrounds Fallujah tragedy fails to take into account the disproportionate number of very estranged Sunnis who would like to reestablish the Sunni triangle domination of a federal Iraq that has Kurds, and Shiites and other minorities. The ugly scenes are last sigh of the diehards.