President Bush has given 48 hours to Saddam and Sons.

[TeknoAXE]

This is just a heads up. President Bush has given an address in the last ten minutes and given Hussein and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq. This is it. Whether you agree with it or not, this is it.

AXE

[MrMiyagi]

woke up and got out of bed just to listen to that crap... had to listen to it with Japanese translators talkin at the same time... they stuttured badly at one point, they didnt know how to translate "thugs and killers"

[TeknoAXE]

Originally posted by Monk
Mr. Miyagi doesn't know Japanese? :confused:

He does. I think he said the Japanese translators couldn't translate some of the words readily.

AXE

[burnt]

From www.SomethingAwful.com

Attack, Destroy, Kill! Please!
.......
Whatever. You see, I don't care. I shrug it off. It registers on me, no change for that guy again, but I'm not going to let myself lose sleep over it.

What does that have to do with Iraq and me being sick of it? The world needs more apathy. I'm thinking specifically of Israel and Palestine here but it has a direct correlation on the Iraq issue. In Israel if there's a terror bombing what do you expect the Israeli government to do afterwards? Occupy and attack, right? What if an Israeli Hellfire missile flies in through the window of some two story shit-hole in Gaza and blows the bones right out of a couple Hezbollah nuts? What then? What do Hezbollah or Islamic Jihad or Al-Aksah Martyrs Brigade do next? That's a lot of question marks but the answers are always the same; attack, destroy, kill. It's circular, and we just got served up a hot cup of it.

While teenage Flash animators around the globe were firing up their tweening tools on rough approximations of the World Trade Center, George W. Bush and his clan of scoundrels were in the bunker drawing bold red arrows across maps of Afghanistan. I admit, I was right there with them. Attack, destroy, kill! Give them a taste of what they just fucked with! And we did! We lit that little dirt ball of a country up like it was a marquee for the final showing of "Cats" on Broadway. Paveways, Hellfires, Tomahawks, JDAM's, daisy cutters, gatling guns, and that big fucking cannon on the AC-130. All of them went tearing ass through a country with a power grid about as sophisticated as one of those potato radios. Why couldn't those worthless bastards have just given us a nice big skyscraper to send crashing to the ground? Something satisfying and cathartic.

It was over. It was anti-climactic. We didn't get our masses of people running in terror or huge Al-Qaeda edifices crumbling into clouds of dust. For a few days it was silent. Thump, thump, thump.

"No!" I cried. "No, this is what they want!"

Amazingly the television didn't respond as our president began writing checks with his fool mouth that our country will be attempting to cash for generations.

"Axis of Evil!" He said.

"We must disarm Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein!" He insisted.

"Freedom loving people of Iraq!" He explained as best he could.

I stifled a second bout of outrage at what I was seeing, instead sitting mutely at what I perceived as the beginning of the end. The first steps in a slide into obscurity, enmity, and eventually nothingness.

That was weeks ago, when this shock and awe - to use the favorite term of the Pentagon - was fresh in my mind. Thump, thump, thump. Any time I turned on the TV it was beating, like the Telltale Heart beneath my floorboards but I could not hasten to silence it. I shut it out as best I could and watched the parade of goofy faggots around the world, the anti-war demonstrations never failing to bring out the biggest losers this side of a "Magic: The Gathering" tournament. I watched France and Germany, hilariously standing together in the face of American aggression. What a pathetic tag team to have in my corner, speaking my mind. A country as duplicitous and unctuous and pathetic as could be imagined matched up with a country that had invaded them twice and had a legacy of ultimate brutality. Philosophers and luxury sedans to our nation of technology, prosperity, and violence. No match, not even close.

Oh look, there's China in the corner looking smug. Hi China, how many of your own people were put to death for petty theft while we were listening to that speech? Veto? Oh, faaaaantastic.

I had to face facts, there was no stopping us. The good guys in this fight were no better than us, and for reference we're the bad guys, and we're going after the really bad guy. Throw in North Korea for a wild card and the party never stops. My righteous indignation boiled, seethed, and then the pilot light went completely out. Apathy. 24 hours a day the drum beat, news alert e-mails from CNN that might as well have just contained "thump" repeatedly, talking heads that described in almost sexual detail how the new biggest bomb that is even bigger than the last biggest bomb would send a mushroom cloud high into the sky over Baghdad. Shock and awe. Shock and Awe!

Barely a whisper as black sedans in cities fill their back seats with suspected terrorists and drive them off to a location so secret that even God is in the dark about it. Maybe they caught one. They'll tell us they did either way and we'll feel safe. All big news if it weren't for a war, great ratings on this one Tom! They're sending some of our field reporters out with the troops, we've got three Hummers tricked out with live satellite feeds. Live from the previous location of Baghdad! It'll be fantastic. Show some tracers, few explosions, maybe a twisted tank and a charred corpse for the "war is hell" angle. Close on a fresh-faced GI handing his special non-melting desert Hershey bar to some kid that lost his dick to a guided bomb. Perfect! Golf tomorrow at nine, right Tom? See you on the links.

Fuck it, get it over with. No, I don't need a blindfold, just a last cigarette, a Miller Lite, and photons beaming across my living room Live From Iraq.

basically, I just hope there aren't too many "friendly fire" casualties....I don't think our kids can afford to fight additional dirt-fed camel-humping terrorists while they're trying to fend off North Korea's million man army

other than that.......fuck it......fucking.....Saddam knows the ultimatum. he now has a choice. either back the fuck up, or understand that his nation's capital is going to get burnt the fuck up.

oh well...apathy.......fuck it all. fuck it all, up its stupid ass....

[seattle science]

That quaint little article sounds like it was written by a 6th grader for his weekly current events assignment.

[DJ Rawkus]

And it's still better than anything you've managed to steal and take credit for. :D By the way, don't you have some flags to be waving or Muslims to be thumping instead of being on here?

[StarPhox]

Does anyone else hear the Imperial March from Star Wars?

:D

[DJ Rawkus]

Just in case ANYONE forgets what this hooha is all about:
http://i.timeinc.net/time/daily/special/photo/salgado/kurds.jpg

...because Bush did love the Kurds and Iraqis so much that he gave his only begotten solution, that whosever should believe in him shall not perish, but have everlasting freedom. Fleischer 3:16

[LordWoon]

44 hours and counting.

[ZupanGOD]

See men shredded, then say you don't back war
By Ann Clwyd
“There was a machine designed for shredding plastic. Men were dropped into it and we were again made to watch. Sometimes they went in head first and died quickly. Sometimes they went in feet first and died screaming. It was horrible. I saw 30 people die like this. Their remains would be placed in plastic bags and we were told they would be used as fish food . . . on one occasion, I saw Qusay [President Saddam Hussein’s youngest son] personally supervise these murders.”

This is one of the many witness statements that were taken by researchers from Indict — the organisation I chair — to provide evidence for legal cases against specific Iraqi individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. This account was taken in the past two weeks.

Another witness told us about practices of the security services towards women: “Women were suspended by their hair as their families watched; men were forced to watch as their wives were raped . . . women were suspended by their legs while they were menstruating until their periods were over, a procedure designed to cause humiliation.”

The accounts Indict has heard over the past six years are disgusting and horrifying. Our task is not merely passively to record what we are told but to challenge it as well, so that the evidence we produce is of the highest quality. All witnesses swear that their statements are true and sign them.

For these humanitarian reasons alone, it is essential to liberate the people of Iraq from the regime of Saddam. The 17 UN resolutions passed since 1991 on Iraq include Resolution 688, which calls for an end to repression of Iraqi civilians. It has been ignored. Torture, execution and ethnic-cleansing are everyday life in Saddam’s Iraq.

Were it not for the no-fly zones in the south and north of Iraq — which some people still claim are illegal — the Kurds and the Shia would no doubt still be attacked by Iraqi helicopter gunships.

For more than 20 years, senior Iraqi officials have committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. This list includes far more than the gassing of 5,000 in Halabja and other villages in 1988. It includes serial war crimes during the Iran-Iraq war; the genocidal Anfal campaign against the Iraqi Kurds in 1987-88; the invasion of Kuwait and the killing of more than 1,000 Kuwaiti civilians; the violent suppression, which I witnessed, of the 1991 Kurdish uprising that led to 30,000 or more civilian deaths; the draining of the Southern Marshes during the 1990s, which ethnically cleansed thousands of Shias; and the summary executions of thousands of political opponents.

Many Iraqis wonder why the world applauded the military intervention that eventually rescued the Cambodians from Pol Pot and the Ugandans from Idi Amin when these took place without UN help. They ask why the world has ignored the crimes against them?

All these crimes have been recorded in detail by the UN, the US, Kuwaiti, British, Iranian and other Governments and groups such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and Indict. Yet the Security Council has failed to set up a war crimes tribunal on Iraq because of opposition from France, China and Russia. As a result, no Iraqi official has ever been indicted for some of the worst crimes of the 20th century. I have said incessantly that I would have preferred such a tribunal to war. But the time for offering Saddam incentives and more time is over.

I do not have a monopoly on wisdom or morality. But I know one thing. This evil, fascist regime must come to an end. With or without the help of the Security Council, and with or without the backing of the Labour Party in the House of Commons tonight.

The author is Labour MP for Cynon Valley.

[Headphones Dude]

Can you believe it? When I wake up tommorrow, we're actually going to war. Let's just hope it ends as quick as it's about to begin.....

[Odizus]

If saddam gets out with all his sons, there will be no ruler. Bush will automatically assume this position and will remain there even after his presidentcy is up. But apparently Congress must agree on that or on how much power he will have. That means all the oil America will ever need. See it was all about oil right? If this is true.

JEN

[HexRei]

Originally posted by kAnDi-KiDJeEeN
If saddam gets out with all his sons, there will be no ruler. Bush will automatically assume this position and will remain there even after his presidentcy is up. But apparently Congress must agree on that or on how much power he will have. That means all the oil America will ever need. See it was all about oil right? If this is true.

JEN

Wtf? Bush will become the ruler? And will continue to be after his presidency is over? Where did you hear this, it doesnt even make sense!

[Tecknowledgy]

Of course it does Peter...you see, Bush knows his stay here is only 8 years at the very most, but in the middle east he can rule FOREVER!!!

HA HA HA HA!!!

I'm so moving to Iraq if he rules there, I can't get enough of his awesome leadership abilities.

[kristinachilds]

Originally posted by burnt
From www.SomethingAwful.comsums up mine, too. i've been warding off the hopeless and helpless feelings pretty well until i read that. they all just rushed up again.

Glenlivet neat, please. just leave the bottle.

[Effendi]

.
Bush's Administration Ready to Lose 63 Thousand People in Iraq

Colonel-General Valery Manilov thinks that the outcome of the war in Iraq is not obvious

This was said by the former first deputy chief of the Russian Headquarters, a member of the Federation Council, Colonel-General Valery Manilov. He is certain: if the American administration launches the ground operation, America's supremacy in arms and defense technologies will be brought to nothing with the Iraqi climate. Valery Manilov believes that the outcome of the war is not obvious at the moment.

What is the most probable way for the situation to develop during the first stage of the war?

First and foremost, one should say that nothing depends on the quantitative correlation of forces. Quality is much more important than quantity at the first stage of the war. It is an open secret that the USA is ready to use up-to-date arms during its operation in Iraq. At first, the USA will try to discourage the enemy with strategic facilities. I hope that Americans will exclude an opportunity to use mass destruction weapons. They will strike blows with their aviation and battleships that are concentrated around Iraq. They will also use missiles and heavy bombs. It goes without saying that bombings will result in numerous casualties, no matter how smart those bombs might be. Baghdad will have to respond with ABM systems that it has at its disposal. Long-distance blows are only a start. The USA will have to launch the ground operation, for it will not be possible for America to achieve its goals at a distance. If Turkey allows American troops to approach Iraq from its territory, the ground blow will be struck from the north, which is controlled by Kurds, and from the south, from the direction of Kuwait. The start of the operation will depend on the US intelligence – on the information that it will provide about the results of air strikes. However, I believe that it will not be possible for the United States to conduct a fast operation. I think that the offensive will stumble on account of climate, geography, demography and other factors.

I think that American arms will be deprived of their qualitative predominance under Iraqi conditions. Abrams tanks, for example, are equipped with turbines, which go out of order in case of a sand storm. Laser and electronic facilities will turn to a pile of rubbish on account of dust storms and smoke from burning oil terminals. This will be the time for another kind of logic: direct shots, direct visibility, human eyesight and courage. The USA’s qualitative advantage will be brought to nothing with local Iraqi conditions. American and British troops might face the danger of losing a lot of their military men.

What can you say about those losses?

As American officials say that themselves, every three of ten US soldiers might die. This means that the losses might make up 63 thousand people from 211 thousand. There might be even more victims, for the Iraqi army is rather determined. To crown it all, the war will not have a political or diplomatic cover. If Bush launches the war without the UN approval, the whole world will think of America as of an aggressor. It will be an aggression against another state – a member of the United Nations Organization.

Do you think that the war in Iraq will seriously complicate the issue of USA’s security?

I would not like to talk about that. If the war starts, it would be correct to expect that an attacked state would do something against aggressor’s allies. Iraq might attack Israel and other USA’s allies by means of terrorist acts, subversive activities, not to mention armed clashes. Do you know the number of fanatic Muslims? One is not supposed to underestimate the consequences that such subversive activities might have for the American leadership.

In other words, you mean that the operation will last long?

Speaking about strategic and military issues, the military part of the operation might become rather short. It is not ruled out that Iraq’s resistance will be broken at the expense of huge losses. This variant is rather possible to happen. It is already known that ten million of Iraqi people will be left without any water as a result of air strikes. This was said by the UN. How long will Iraqi people manage to live? Three or four days? How many refugees will there be, not to mention casualties? Iraqi regime will be crushed, Saddam will be forced to leave for the sake of his nation. Then the post-war process will start. Here is another variant. The American blitzkrieg will fail, and Americans will refuse from conducting the ground operation further on. If it happens, other Iraq disarmament projects will come into effect. Russian and French officials currently talk about those projects. In other words, the problem will be settled within the framework of the United Nations.

Don’t you think that this is not likely to happen?

The operation might turn to a long war either way. That war will be accompanied with the humanitarian disaster. It will be like a spit in the face of the world community. We have to do our best in order not to let the war start. This is a very hard case to deal with both for the US, for Iraq and for the whole community, including Russia, Britain, France, China – permanent UN Security Council members. The system of post-WWII international relations is being trampled on. This is the beginning of the new stage, and it is impossible to predict its consequences.

Anton Brazhitsa
Gazeta.Ru

[Odizus]

Originally posted by kAnDi-KiDJeEeN
If saddam gets out with all his sons, there will be no ruler. Bush will automatically assume this position and will remain there even after his presidentcy is up. But apparently Congress must agree on that or on how much power he will have. That means all the oil America will ever need. See it was all about oil right? If this is true.

JEN

So is it? I didn't get a straight answer, i don't think? :(