Iraq Crisis

[Matthew]

Do I dare to broach this subject?&#33; http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif

I know this is totally off topic, that&#39;s why it&#39;s here http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

It looks like we are sadly on the brink of an all-out war with Iraq, who knows what will happen.

Will innocent people get hurt, and even die? Innocent men, women, children, families may suffer from poor conditions, lack of food/water/basic supplies? Where will it end?

I know it&#39;s an emotive issue and people all have many different views on it.

Personally, I&#39;m all for getting rid of Saddam Hussein - the man must be as evil as any dictator in history and the atrocities he has committed are extreme, evil, in-human and barbaric (e.g. yesterday was the 15 year anniversary where Saddam Hussein was responsible for the death&#39;s of 5000 Kurdish men, women and children at Halabja - they were killed through the use of chemical weapons, gas).

Will Saddam Hussein again target the people that cannot defend themselves during this war though? They really are the people that will pay.

The media does portray Saddam Hussein as peing a purely evil man but sometimes I think we don&#39;t hear all of it. For example, when I have been working with Kurdish Asylum Seekers in the past, the first-hand stories you hear are truly disturbing to the core; stories about husbands and wives, familes and children being murdered/abused in front of them, people persecuted, arrested and killed because they refuse to speak Arabic and not their native Kurdish for example, people who are tortured for weeks on end, etc, etc - the examples go on and on.

Is it any wonder that some Asylum Seekers are so desperate to escape their own country (often paying thousands of dollars &#036; to get out and travelling for weeks in awful conditions on next to no food/drink) and escape this mad man?

So, for me, get rid of this terrorist, but I hope it can be done whilst preserving the lives of others who are innocent.

I hope too that all serving in this war come out safely the other end.

[Mistyeyeddreamer]

So, for me, get rid of this terrorist, but I hope it can be done whilst preserving the lives of others who are innocent[/b]

If only, Matthew. I think there will be a lot of innocent lives lost and a lot of people maimed http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif I heard on tv yesterday that half the Iraqi population is under 14 years old. It will be like bombing a playground&#33;&#33;

I&#39;ve listened to all the lies spouted by Bush and Blair, the way they change the reasons for this war. But it&#39;s been planned for a long time, even before Bush stole the presidency. It&#39;s no coincidence that the Bush administration is filled with people who have very close ties with the oil industry. Although I don&#39;t believe oil is the only motive for this war. Maybe we should stop calling it a war and call it what it really will be, a massacre&#33;

Bush goes on about Saddam&#39;s WMD and then threatens him with the obscenely huge arsenal that the US has at it&#39;s disposal. What pure hypocrisy&#33;&#33; And let&#39;s not forget who helped secure Saddam&#39;s position in Iraq and who supplied him with arms and chemicals, yes the US and Britain. He was the darling of the Americans then because he was waging war with their enemy, Iran. Why weren&#39;t they protesting when he was &#39;gassing his own people&#39;. Which by the way has not been proved conclusively, there are still some who believe it was an accidental release of gas by the Iranians who also had such weapons and were fighting alongside Kurdish dissidents in that area at the time.

After seeing the &#39;highway of death&#39; on tv and hearing about the thousands of surrendering Iraqi soldiers who were buried alive by american bulldozers in the desert sands I can only register my disgust at the appalling slaughter. Why would Iraqi&#39;s think that it will be any different this time? They might hate Saddam but after what they know about the Gulf War they will believe they fighting for their own lives against an invading enemy.

I pray for the innocent men women and children whose lives may be over very soon. I pray for the lives of our servicemen who are being used as pawns in political game of chess. And I pray for the world because I think this will only be the begining.

Rant over.

Misty

[Indie]

If this war does not happen then even more innocent lives will be taken in the name of Hussein/Al Quaida.

I have watched every live broadcast by Bush & Blair, and admire their stand. I do not believe they are being deceiptful, and oil is not the basis for this.

As I type I am listening to Fox News, and Iraqi troops are already surrendering in southern Iraq. As Bush pleaded live last nite...."Surrender and you will be protected. Do not use your weapons of mass destruction. Do not follow the orders of your terrible leader. We will work with you to build a new Iraq, where you will still own your oilfields, and become prosperous again"

Nobody wants war, but after 12 years of a despicable regime, that will not adhere to democracy or disarmament, there is no other way.

May God bless all those who involved during this extremely worrying time.

[Beth]

just to let you all know that the home office have issued a statement saying although it is unlikely, we all need to have a supply of tinned foods. bottled water and a battery powered torch.

If this is so unlikely then why are they telling us this?????????

makes you a little nervous

[hollygolightly]

I am against any action going ahead without the backing of the UN. I can&#39;t believe how Bush and Blair can contemplate going ahead without it.

Beth, you&#39;re right, why tell us about getting a blanket, torch and water? They&#39;re not going to help much are they?&#33;

I got an e-mail from my dad the other week, which is scary (copied here for you):-

Israel: Tourists can pay to fire weapons and hunt terrorists Visitors to the Middle East are being offered terror tours of Gaza and the West Bank, during which tourists are being given the chance to fire weapons and sit in the cockpit of a fighter plane. Organiser Jake Greenwald told the BBC News Online service that the four-day tours also include aerial tours of terrorist strongholds. He said the idea for the tours developed while he was watching coverage of the 11 September attacks: "I realised that Israel, which has great expertise in dealing with terror, will be able to teach people to deal with fear, so there is not mass panic when something happens”. Some 20 people ** including doctors, a Middle East lecturer and a judge ** have so far signed up for the tours at the cost of US&#036;5,500 each. And, according to the BBC News website, one of the “highlights” is a paintball fight where participants are able to go from room to room clearing out Arab terrorists.

My dad travels a lot around the middle east (& everywhere else&#33;), writing books and helping with eco-tourism sort of things (&#33;?) and the situation for the innocent people out in that area is appalling.

I think a lot of places will be very quiet at 11am the day after war breaks out (most of the LA services where I am have agreed a walkout).

HGL...very worried for the world.

[Mistyeyeddreamer]

As I type I am listening to Fox News[/b]

Fox news, another highly censored American &#39;news&#39; service owned by Rupert Murdoch. Their own reporters have taken them to court for forcing them to lie&#33; In a recent Florida court case an appellant judge virtually gave them carte blanche to lie&#33;

Do I support Saddam? NO&#33; Do I care about the people his regime has murdered and tortured? YES. Do I think this war will solve the problem? NO. Not all the suffering inflicted on the Iraqi people has come from Saddam. UN Sanctions and weekly bombings in the last eleven years have also taken their toll. And when Medalaine Albright, the then US Secretary of state was asked if half a million dead Iraqi children was worth it, she replied "I think it is a price worth paying&#33;"

Blair and Bush not deceitful? Then why have their reasons for the war changed? First it was they wanted Saddam to disarm, then they wanted regime change then they want to &#39;liberate&#39; the people. They have produced virtually no evidence that Saddam has WMD. If they had, why didn&#39;t they give it to the inspectors? What &#39;evidence&#39; they did give turned out to be false.

Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and others decided in 1997 that this would be the American century. This war has been planned for a long time and has absolutely nothing to do with &#39;liberating&#39; the people of Iraq. It about oil and hegemony. If they were so keen to &#39;liberate&#39; oppressed people why haven&#39;t they started with North Korea who proclaim they have WMD and where the population is starving? Could it be because Iraq is virtually defenceless while N.Korea has nuclear weapons capable of reaching America? There are evil dictators all over the world but none of them are sitting on the world&#39;s second largest oil field. And after they have witnessed the happenings over Iraq and North Korea these other dictators will be busily stockpiling their own WMD.

I&#39;m sorry if I upset anybody, but I feel strongly that this war is illegal and that far from making the world a safer place it will incite more wars, yes maybe even the third world war and there are millions of people all over the world that would agree, even in the USA.

If it has to go ahead I pray it will be short and the casualities low.

Misty

[Scooby]

To be honest with you all - totally honest - I just don&#39;t know what to believe, I really, really don&#39;t.

I&#39;m very much sitting on the fence with this one - I am listening to both sides of the argument and I am still confused.

I personally would like to fast forward this whole issue to twenty years from now and see what has been achieved and what the outcome has been. How has America and for that matter the UK too, profitted out of the oil.

What progress has been made and whether they have been able to track down Osama Bin Laden (last reported sighting of him, he was working in a fish and chip shop in Barnsley) and caught Maddas (sorry Saddam).

I think that this will be the true test of whether the Allies have kept their side of the bargain and gave the people of Iraq and the Kurds the ability to rebuild their own country.

Then and only then can we say hand on heart that the war was worth it and that the Allies were able to bring stability and peace to a troubled region.

I agree with Misty on the point about the third world war. This whole world is very unstable and it only takes one idiot to press a button and effectively - for us minions at least - it will be Goodnight Vienna &#33;

One life lost through war is one life too many and a price too high to pay.

[Beth]

fact: saddam hussein is a dictator who has taught his own children to be expert torturors (no I dont think he deserves capital letters)

fact:100s will die in what ever happens

fact: the UN have not agreed to war yet

fact: thousands have already been tortured by this man and his followers

fact: husbands have had to watch their children and wifes raped and tortured and ultimately killed

fact: I do not support this war

[Beth]

thought I would share this little *joke* and I use the word ironicaly

President Bush and Colin Powell are sitting in a bar.

A guy walks in and asks the barman, "Isn&#39;t that Bush and Powell sitting over there?"

The barman says, "Yep, that&#39;s them."

So the guy walks over and says, "Wow, this is a real honor. What are you guys doing in here?"

Bush says, "We&#39;re planning WW III ".

And the guy says, "Really? What&#39;s going to happen?"

Bush says, "Well, we&#39;re going to kill 140 million Iraqis this time and one blonde with big T*ts.

The guy exclaimed, "A blonde with big T*ts? Why kill a blonde with big T*ts?

Bush turns to Powell, punches him on the shoulder and says, "See, smart a**, I told you no one would worry about the 140 million Iraqis&#33;"

[poor tom]

http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif Love the joke E. Beth. Not bad getting sexism, racism and blondism into one&#33; I guess you have to laugh or you&#39;d have to cry.

I too have worked with asylum-seekers (more Afghans than Iraqis) and know that the UK public&#39;s and Government&#39;s attitudes reveal a deep hypocrisy. Only when it&#39;s convenient are the despots running their countries seen for what they are, and the refugees as victims WHO NEED OUR SUPPORT. I&#39;m sure the Iraqi soldiers know how we treat our asylum-seekers (their friends/family etc&#33;&#33;) and won&#39;t respond by drefecting at the first opportunity. I mean, an indefinite holiday in the Caribbean sounds good, but if it&#39;s going to be in my own private cage at Guantanamo Bay, then you could certainly count ME out.

Incidentally, the leaflets dropped over Iraqi troops instruct deserters to leave their vehicles etc, and move 1km away, but not to approach US/UK forces. I.e. stand in the open where loyal Iraqis can easily pick you off. http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/withstupid.gif Come on, Dubbya, get serious&#33;

This seems to be all about who&#39;s the biggest and best bully in the playground. (NFH members know about bullying...) This is NOT the right way of getting rid of Saddam http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif . It&#39;s not acceptable to flout the authority of the UN (no 2nd resolution) in order to uphold it (1441). But he does need to be got rid of. Peacefully if at all possible. So do many other despots around the world of whom - having no oil - we hear nothing. And let&#39;s deal with N Korea&#39;s illegal nuclear weapons (still in development) AFTER we&#39;ve dealt with Israel&#39;s well-established nuclear arsenal. (no offence intended to N London footballers)

[poor tom]

Originally posted by april@Mar 19 2003, 11:22 PM
I would like wish the troops well.

http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif
Oh, yes. And a safe and speedy return to their families, for all troops on all sides.

[Matthew]

Originally posted by Badger@Mar 20 2003, 12:36 AM
My favourite quote was from a labour backbencher in the commons yesterday:

"It is right and proper that the US as sole superpower should lead the world, but first the US must deliver us with a world leader."

Not sure I agree with the first sentiment, but the second seems appropriate.
That&#39;s a good one Badger, I missed that because of the constant analysis and re-runs of all the info, which is quite frankly mind-boggling&#33; Analysis after analysis - especially on SKY News........

No offence to our American cousins and as much as I like the American people, but sometimes I get the impression they think they are the only country capable of being civilised - that&#39;s what Bush sometimes delivers anyway, intentionally or not. http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif

It&#39;s so odd to get so much media coverage on a War/Crisis (whatever you want to term it) - wouldn&#39;t it have been strange and I wonder how WW1 and WW2 would have been affected it they&#39;d had as much coverage as we get today. Just the Pictures and the Wireless then eh. http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

[Matthew]

I have to admit it, I&#39;ve watched quite a bit of coverage on the Iraq situation so far on Television and read a good amount on the Internet. One of the best, informative, interesting and realistic accounts came today when I accidentally saw CBBC&#39;s &#39;Newsround&#39; on the Iraq crisis (the repeat on BBCi) - really excellent and well put together information.

Good to hear about issues that affect children/young-people too and their worries/concerns.

Of course Newsround has always been good&#33; I remember John Craven really, he was fabulous&#33; http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif

[Mistyeyeddreamer]

Isn&#39;t it ironic that Geoge W.Bush is so ready to send young soldiers off to war when he was too much of a coward to go to war himself during the Vietnam conflict? Fortunately we in this country haven&#39;t had conscription for a long time so we can&#39;t say the same of our own leader, however I wonder if he&#39;d be much different, after all he was in CND at one time wasn&#39;t he?

Of course Bush isn&#39;t the only &#39;chickenhawk&#39; in the US government, you might be surprised just how many of those who handed power to Bush knowing he would wage war are also chickenhawks. Maybe if they&#39;d been in a war they would be less likely to start another.

In case you&#39;re interested you can see just how many US politicians evaded active service at this site: http://www.nhgazette.com/chickenhawks.html Makes you think&#33; Oh, and I hope Tony Blair is watching his back, American administrations have a track record of turning on their &#39;friends&#39;.

I hope this war won&#39;t last long or escalate and I hope our troops are soon on their way home to their families and that casualties amongst the Iraqi population are kept to the minimum.

Misty

[Tracy]

Just thought i would share this with you all.
Today i found out that my EX husband is out there.
I was told this by my eldest son who heard it from his Housemaster&#33;
Long story, won&#39;t go into it but as you can imagine i have 2 boys terribly concerned for their dad and will he return.
Lets hope it is over soon and he comes back.
Since finding out we have been glued to the television and all the goings on out there.
Well at least this took my mind off the NFH.
Tracy.

[Mistyeyeddreamer]

God willing, he will come home safe, Tracy. I&#39;m being selfish because my son is determined to join up and I want it over before he gets in, but they&#39;re already talking about attacking Iran http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif

Just heard many Iraqi soldiers are surrendering, hopefully they&#39;ll all surrender soon and they and our servicemen and servicewomen will be home safely. I feel deep sympathy for the families of those already lost http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif

Misty

[Tracy]

Misty.
My Eldest leaves school this year and has already made an appointment at the Army careers centre for next week.
He has grown up with the Army and is currently at a Army Boarding school.
I am trying my hardest to deter him into joining yet and suggesting he go onto the Army foundation college first and try for Officer training at Sandhurst.
But i think deep down he just wants to follow in his dads footsteps.
I guess as a mum i can only suggest and it is up to him what he does.
Tracy.

[horsefans]

Matthew,

I think the phrase " can of worms" springs to mind &#33;

Just like to say that whether we believe the war is "just" or a "criminal" act the absolutely important thing now is that we all wish our brave service personnell and their families our 100% support at this time.

I really hope they come home soon

HF&#39;s
http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif

[Mistyeyeddreamer]

Tracy, I know what you&#39;re going through with your son wanting to join up. My lad has decided to do it as well, he goes away for his two day recruitment course next month. I don&#39;t want him to join up.

I&#39;ve stopped saying anything to him, he just goes into a mood. He thinks I&#39;m being a hypocrite because both my husband and I were in the army. But we weren&#39;t on the verge of WWIII then http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif

Oh, well, he&#39;s a big lad so I&#39;ll just have to accept it http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif (Anybody got a cellar and some chains I can borrow?)

Misty

[Matthew]

Misty,

Out of interest, did your son decide to join because of the Iraq situation or was he always going to join? Maybe this was the deciding issue for him or has he always expressed an interest?

I seem to remember the Americans all signing up fast when the Gulf war happened before, and the irony was by the time they&#39;d got through basic training etc, the &#39;war&#39; had pretty much completed. Obviously WW1 and WW2 were totally different and much longer, and people were called-up etc and did serve.

I think if people were called up for this (talking ordinary &#39;civilians&#39;) then they&#39;d be so many conscientious objectors, they&#39;d have to open Traitor&#39;s Gate at London Bridge again...&#33; Out of interest, these days, if someone refused to participate in a war, I would imagine it would still be classed as &#39;treason&#39;?

[Tracy]

Misty.
My son is already at a Military Boarding school so he has already done most of the basics and at the moment he is only 16 yrs 8 months old.
Just the right age, but with his Education he really should be going for Officer training, yet he is adamant he wants to follow his Dad and go through the Ranks.
What is Sad is that my Two eldest by my Ex husband haven&#39;t seen their dad for Ten years and now they are panicking that they may not see him again.
All i pray for is that he returns and we can all perhaps try and forget the past and get on for the boys sake as much as his as he has never had anymore children with his new wife.
Sorry about this but i am at the moment going through a guilt trip and trying to work out where me and the ex failed in the communication so as to stay friends for the boys sake.
Tracy.

[Scooby]

Tracey,

Is your ex out in the Gulf now serving or do you not know where he is at the moment ?

If he has not had any other children since then there is a good chance that when the boys go into the Army or whatever he will want to take a more keen interest in them.

Do you and the boys know where he is living ? Could you send him a letter explaining that your son is in training and would like dad to come along and be part of that.

It maybe that your ex just thought that he would let you get on with it, and left all the domestic stuff with the boys to you maybe he felt that was best. There could be hundreds of reasons why, but I agree that it is natural given the current circumstances of this Iraq war that your thoughts are going to be not positive and somewhat guilty. Try not to beat yourself up about this. Turn a negative into a positive force.

By offering an Olive Branch from your side now to your ex could make the difference - if he chooses not to take it well thats his problem and no-one can say that you did not try. But if he does take that opportunity to get to know his boys again well that will all be down to you and you have the right to feel proud about that (even quietly smug if you want to).

An awful lot of water will have passed under the bridge since ten years ago and you never know he could be thinking the exact same things as what you are particulary if he is out in the Gulf region war does strange things and you mull over things which is a bit like what you are doing now.

Make that difference Tracey, you have it in your hand and grasp to do it just pick up the phone or write a letter you never know what might come out of it.

http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif

[Mistyeyeddreamer]

Out of interest, did your son decide to join because of the Iraq situation or was he always going to join? Maybe this was the deciding issue for him or has he always expressed an interest?[/b]

Matthew, he&#39;s been thinking about it off and on since he left school. I&#39;d managed to talk him out of it before. It just happened he was getting fed up with his job, joined the TA and then decided he wanted to do it full time. He&#39;s not one of these gung ho types but he says he&#39;ll have a chance at a proper career in the army. He also has really bad timing http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cry.gif

I saw the pics on tv of those American POW&#39;s and their dead comrades and I felt such a surge of emotion. My heart aches for them and the families of all the fallen,also for those Iraqi children we saw in the hospital http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif Makes you wonder if there really is a God http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif

Misty

[Beth]

Tracy you are going though a truly difficult time with this.

It is very sad that your boys have lost contact with their father and I can understand the worry they must be going through.
children will stay loyal to their families even if circumstances are have been hard for them.

I am hoping that for their sakes it turns out ok and their dad is safe.

hopefully your son and Mistys son will be spared the horrors as I am hoping with all my heart that this gets sorted out before they get to the stage of "going out"

otherwise Misty will have to use our cellar (as long as you supply your own chains&#33;)

longing for peace
Beth

[Tracy]

Scooby.
He is out there my eldest was told by his school as his dad had put him on list of contacts incase of&#33;&#33;
Things were tough ten years ago as during the last Gulf conflict he was out there when i gave Birth to our daughter in Germany and everything went horribly wrong she was born with Brain damage and i decided for her best Interest to return to England.
He returned from the first conflict and found us packing up and coming home, obviously at the time my first thoughts were with our daughter and getting the best care i could for her.
He managed to get a posting back to the U.K once the conflict was over out there.
However our daughter only lived for 2&#33;/2 years and i took it rather badly and took it out on him and the Army.
Sadly the boys suffered but at the time i didn&#39;t think of the consequencies it would have later on.
Hence my guilt at the moment.
Also that is what makes me fight for my right to stay put where i am now as my daughter died here in the house we have and i am not prepared to give up the fight yet as all memories me and the boys have of her are here in our first home in England.
My NFH will go before me and that i can promise&#33;
Tracy with a fighting head on&#33;

[Mistyeyeddreamer]

Oh, Tracy, I&#39;m so sorry to hear about your daughter http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif What a terrible time you must have had.

I really admire your tenacity and determination to stand up to your NFH bullies. I&#39;ll bet they&#39;ve had a life cushioned by the welfare state, they obviously care for nobody but themselves, not ever their kids, otherwise why would they allow them to behave the way they do.

I think even at the best of times army life can be detrimental to family life. I do hope your son&#39;s father comes through all this unscathed. But he must be proud to have a mum like you http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

Misty

[Scooby]

Tracey,

You never ever get over the loss of a child, my brother died 11 years ago at the age of 28 and my mum has never come to terms with his death. She has got better as time has gone on but there is an unspoken void that only a mother can know.

Tracey, he wants his sons to know about him should anything happen, he has stated that in writing, the chances are that he wants a reconcilation as much as you do deep down.

Do it and you will feel better with everything about your sons and knowing that you did it for them. It will be a totally selfless act that you put your boys before your own feelings and they WILL thank you for it Tracey, not straight away but, they will. It will also help you come to terms about all the events that happened between you and him and it will help to go a long way to heal the wounds.

Maybe, just maybe your ex is carrying the guilt of his only daughter with him and that because he wasn&#39;t there when you needed him it just made the situation worse.

Once you make that first contact I doubt that he would walk away from it, give the man a chance to put things right, he probably just didn&#39;t know how to deal with not only his daughters death but your grief also. Men are built different to women in the emotional stakes.

Give him an opening Tracey and let him do the rest - it will be all down to him then.

[Leajay]

If he wants to join the army then he will be wanted to fight not just in Iraq but about three other countries too, basically the whole eastern basin is going to kick off, if i was younger i would go too. http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif

[Beth]

And theres me thinking this whole "war" thing was also illegal.....certainly no UN or eurpeon backing&#33;&#33;

there is big troubles ahead guys, palastine/Isreal borderships are kicking off again,
USA is trying to pick a fight with Russia
Korea is up to something...because Mr Bush in his wisdom is telling them to disarem as well and they do have nuclear war heads
so all in all I think it is going to get nasty.

peace to the world is all I can wish for.

[Mistyeyeddreamer]

When asked about the Gaunatanamo Bay anomaly, they insist that they have right on their side as the people held there are "terrorists" or "irregular forces" or "unlawful combatants" or any other number of words used to hide the fact that they are humans being held in cages.[/b]

Double standards working here I think. I have every sympathy for those US POW&#39;s and their families, my heart goes out to them. But I think the US shot itself in the foot when it put captured Taliban into Guantanamo Bay. You can&#39;t treat people like that and expect your own POW&#39;s to be treated properly. Interesting piece from the Guardian at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,...,921192,00.html (http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,921192,00.html)

Misty

[Mistyeyeddreamer]

Is it just me or does anybody else think that the Iraqi information minister was released from the local mental hospital and given this job as soon as the war started? The poor man is totally out of it&#33;&#33;

Another thing, does anybody else think that an inordinate number of journalists have met sticky ends? I find it all very suspicious. If you look at the ratio of dead journalists to living journalists and then transferred that ratio to troops the loss of life would be enormous. Makes me wonder what they may have seen that certain people don&#39;t want reported. I know it is a war, albeit a rather uneven sided war but the more I see the more I am against it. Oh, and don&#39;t get me started on &#39;friendly fire&#39;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;

Misty