quote:PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - President Bush has decided to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, and has ordered the CIA, the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies to devise plans to remove him, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Interetsing... I didn't realize they had found Cheney...
So, we've invaded Afghanistan, and now we may be invading Iraq. How long 'til we occupy the entire mid-east?
Registered: Mar 1999
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Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
I'm not so sure that President Bush would want to be known throughout history as the person who started WWIII. (hypothetically, of course it's just one in many possible outcomes to this)
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
quote: I'm not so sure that President Bush would want to be known throughout history as the person who started WWIII.
Funny, I remember people saying that 11 years ago.
"OH, it's the FOURTH-largest army in the world! We're DOOMED!"
Man, if TWO of these guys had had matching uniforms, I MIGHT have been concerned.
"OH, it's another Vietnam! We'll be fighting for years and years!"
Say it with me. 100 hours. I've been to parties that lasted longer than World War III!
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Rob, I'm impressed. Obviously, you knew better then all the military brass who did have concerns that we would come away much bloodier then we did. Ritten, a soldier at the time, also voiced in an earlier thread on this topic that the concerns WERE justified. It wasn't just the "liberal press" as I'm sure you'd eagerly claim.
But, no matter. You Republican morons are the same guys complaining about how Clinton ruined the military, but look how it performed in Afghanistan.
posted
One day, fifty people go out and buy AK-47s. They leave these weapons in a damp, cold basement for decades. Then they manage to use the rusty, ill-maintained weapons to kill six people with people with peashooters. By your logic, one could conclude that because they managed to kill the six people with peashooters, the weapons MUST have been well-maintained.
I also believe that we were told not to call each other morons, or other uncivil behavior, correct?
[ February 13, 2002, 19:01: Message edited by: Omega ]
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Looks like this War on Terrorism could be pretty profitable for Bush in terms of money, public opinion, kudos with the oil people, and public education (how many Americans knew where Afghanistan was before the war? ) Okay, maybe I'm being a bit harsh, getting rid of terrorists is good, especially the repressing fundamentalist Taliban. I don't think that the war in Afghanistan constituted World War III though, First. More like World War III(a). Iraq will be World War III(b).
-------------------- "Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing. To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking: Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!"
The Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
There actually are some guidelines as to what qualifies as a world war. Involves continents, I seem to recall. One country getting all its military- and defense equipment destroyed and its government thwarted does NOT constitute World War. Perhaps a potential prelude, as some say.
Anyone got anything more, any manual from Jane's about world wars? Not a how-to, of course, we don't need more of that floating around the 'net. :-)
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
Registered: Aug 1999
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quote:Obviously, you knew better then all the military brass who did have concerns that we would come away much bloodier then we did.
Obviously, I did. After all, when you're right, you obviously know better than the people who say you're wrong, don't you? Isn't that a given?
Oh, the war ended faster that _I_ thought it would, too, given that no large-scale chem-bio warfare seems to have happened. Based on what I knew about the situation, I expected the ground war to last a whole month. I didn't think the Republican Guard would fold as quickly as it did, and I underestimated the damage and morale effect of the airstrikes.
(I also didn't forsee 2000 Iraqi soldiers surrendering to a guy with a camcorder. "You in the back! Don't make me USE this! I've got ZOOM! I've got ZOOM!")
Now, if Hussein HAD used a large-scale chem-bio assault, I suspect the war (in another form) might have gone on longer, because we would be a bit more likely to have invaded and occupied the whole shebang, and we would have clearly sustained more casualties. But Hussein didn't choose this option, probably because he had information similar to that in the the conversation reported to me, which went like this:
Person: What casualties do you expect in the first chemical/biological attack? General: We expect 10%-15% loss rate after the first attack, due to surprise, and soldier's inability to put on their gear properly. Person: What about the second attack? General: There won't BE a second attack. Person: Why not? General: After the first attack, Baghdad will be fused glass.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
^Bloated ego, party of one, your table is ready.
[ February 14, 2002, 15:09: Message edited by: Jay the Obscure ]
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I'll say this, Mr. bush has revived the politcal art form of waving the bloody shirt.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
There was a show on TV about a sting, that laster almost 2-3 years. about a guy who was stealing weapons, helmets, night vision gear, JET ENGINES, uniforms, explosives and the such. I'm sure it's alot easier to break into a dark damp basement to steal a multimillion dollar aircraft engine (3 of them by the way) than it would seem to be.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
quote:H, it's the FOURTH-largest army in the world! We're DOOMED!"
But, Rob, surely you would agree that if the Pentagon tells the media that tells the masses that fighting against Iraq is probably going to be costly, it's a good thing to believe, don't you?
Because, frankly, you're acting rather silly at the moment.
No one (even, as admitted, you) expected the mass defections that occured. We're talking about a military that had eight-years of combat experience against Iran. This isn't like the Taliban, whose main body of troops kept switching sides with the Northern Alliance and did a bit of skirmishing and beating up helpless civillians. This was a military with combat experience we were talking about. And a big military, to boot. Fourth largest doesn't sound that great, until you realize that a preemptive strike on Saudi Arabia by Iraq could've eliminated our beachhead, as well as any forces we had on the ground.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
) Okay, maybe I'm being a bit harsh, getting rid of terrorists is good, especially the repressing fundamentalist Taliban. I don't think that the war in Afghanistan constituted World War III though, First. More like World War III(a). Iraq will be World War III(b).
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