Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

First, remember how over the past few days I've been saying that the US will not be able to launch an effective ground assault on Baghdad “by the numbers” and would have to bomb them for a while first? Now remember how the Bush regime has been claiming that there would be no pause? Well, guess what… As much as a 40-day pause so the people of Baghdad can get bombed first has been decided on (more).

I want to very briefly also mention “dirty tricks”… The US and Britain have been whining about how Iraq is using guerrilla tactics like troops out of uniform (did you ever consider that maybe they are too poor to have real uniforms?)… Let me remind people that this is total BS. It's for the benefit of the TV audience. The US has piles of troops dressed as civilians carrying out assassination missions behind enemy lines (more), so if anyone tries to argue that point, please see through their double-standard.

Even though so far ten sites have been found that have previously been claimed to be WMD sites, so far all are turning up blank (more). That said, Americans don't seem to care that Pearl Harbor was a deception to get America into WWII (more), nor do they care that the Gulf of Tonkin incident that got them into Vietnam never happened (more)… so maybe no one will notice that Saddam actually has no WMDs. Watch Bush's speeches — notice how WMDs are mentioned less, and “freedom” and “liberation” are the new buzzwords.

But don't think Iraq or the Arab world will forget this butchery built on lies… Don't think the rest of the world will either. The American government may be able to propagandize and blind a majority of its population, but it can't do it to the entire world.

I'd like to quote from a British pilot who was attacked by America “friendly fire”. Even though he was tagged with the thermal markers provided by the US, and the A10 the Americans were flying had all the gear required to identify their tank as British, the US pilots could apparently identify them from neither the electronic signature, the design of vehicle (modern British tanks don't look like old Iraqi crap), or the Union Jack which the US pilots directly targetted…

Please read this and realize that when you call for “support our troops”, this is what you're supporting (more, more, more):

"We [in our tank] can identify a friendly vehicle from 1,500 metres, yet [the American has] an A10 with advanced technology and he can't use a thermal sight to identify whether a tank is a friend or foe. It's ridiculous."

"Combat is what I've been trained for. I can command my vehicle. I can keep it from being attacked. What I have not been trained to do is look over my shoulder to see whether an American is shooting at me."

"There was no gap between the bullets. I heard it and I froze. The next thing I knew the turret was erupting with white light everywhere, heat and smoke. I didn't even have time to close my eyes or blink. I don't know why I've still got hair or eyebrows.

"I felt I was going to burn to death. I just shouted, 'Reverse, reverse, reverse'. My headset had come off. My gunner was screaming, 'Get out, get out.' I was out of the turret in milliseconds. How I got out of that hole I don't know. Then I saw the A10 coming again and I just ran."

"I'll never forget that A10. He was about 50 metres off the ground. He circled, because he can turn on a ten-pence. He came back around. He was no more than 1,000 metres away when he started his attack run. He was about 500 metres away when he started firing."

"On the back of one of the engineers' vehicles there was a Union Jack. It's about 18 inches wide by about 12 inches. For him to fire his weapons I believe he had to look through his magnified optics. How he could not see that Union Jack I don't know."

"The plane came over again and it started shooting. I saw sparks coming from the ground or my leg. It didn't hurt, it felt like someone had kicked me in the back of my leg. I felt warm down the back of my leg. Blood was spurting everywhere. I thought I was dead."

"There was a boy of about 12 years old. He was no more than 20 metres away when the Yank opened up. There were all these civilians around. He had absolutely no regard for human life. I believe he was a cowboy."

"I'm curious about what's going to happen to the pilot. He's killed one of my friends and he's killed him on the second run."

"The more of those American bastards I get the happier I will be. I loved both Britain and America but you idiots have turned me against you. You impose punitive sanctions on this country which bring us to our knees. And now you want us to roll out the red carpet for you — you must be joking."

"Saddam Hussein is no friend of mine. But when your troops come down my street I'll be shooting at your boys all the way. But it won't be for the president. It will be for Iraq."

"You say Saddam Hussein has killed many people — I say the UN sanctions have killed our children. Does Saddam Hussein kill children? No."

"You weren't calling him a ruthless dictator in the Eighties when this place was dripping with money. Now you say you are bombing us into democracy. Yet since you've unloaded thousands of missiles on us I don't feel more democratic."

"So you should unleash another thousand — or double that, triple that or more. Maybe then I will feel more democratic. You give me the choice between Saddam Hussein or George Bush. I take Saddam Hussein every time."

"First, I carried out my little cousin, Rana — she was dead. Then I saw my sister Hana — she was dead. And I looked everywhere for my wife. And then they found her on the stairs... [holding the photo of Rana, crying] "I took you to the village because I was afraid of Bush killing you, and then Bush came to the village and killed you."

Iraqis, quite clearly, do not want to be "liberated" — even many who have long opposed Saddam's brutal regime. To the contrary, the American-British invasion appears to have ignited genuine national resistance among 17 million Arab Iraqis, just as the 1941 German invasion of the USSR rallied Russians and Ukrainians behind Stalin's hated regime.

So far, regular Iraqi army units, militia groups and guerrillas have been delaying and harassing the northward advance of U.S. forces by assaulting their overextended supply lines, then retreating into cities and towns. Any 18th century general worth his snuff would tell you never leave enemy garrisons athwart your communications (supply lines). Napoleon said lines of communications were the most important factor in war, a lesson U.S. forces are painfully relearning in Iraq.

So 100,000 more American troops are being rushed to Iraq, meaning almost half of the U.S. Army will be stuck in Mesopotamia at a time when North Korea is threatening war. And this before U.S. forces have even clashed with Iraq's Republican Guards.

"Several large explosions have just shaken my building... It's funny, but you actually get used to it. U.S. bombs are dropping everywhere. They have broken windows in my hotel. These bombs are not that smart... The only effect (the bombing) has on the Iraqis is that it pisses them off, and they can't wait for the U.S. soldiers to arrive on the ground so that they can put up the fight of their lives."

"[upon hearing stories that ice cream trucks are coming] I hope it's true!. I like ice cream, the way they put strawberries in it, and the seeds stick between your teeth."

- USMC Cpl. Jason St. Pierre

"[describing his tanks running living people over] Killed one, ripped the legs off another..."

- USMC "Monty"

"[complaining that their access to TV and newspapers has been restricted] Day to day you have no idea what you're doing or what you're getting yourself into... I think everybody should have a chance to know what's going on, we're all in this together."

- USMC Pvt. 1st Class Antonio Garcia

"To say God bless America as it goes to war is blasphemy of the worst kind. I used to think of the U.S. as a peace-loving country, but the picture we have today is of a belligerent sheriff deciding which regimes will be changed. I continue to be concerned at how easily the hand over the heart drops to the holster."

"This is a crime. Yes, I know they say they are targeting the military. But can you see soldiers here? Can you see missiles?"

(more)

"We had a great day! We killed a lot of people! We dropped a few civilians... but what do you do? [describing shooting into a civilian crowd to hit a suspected soldier] I'm sorry, but the chick was in the way."

- Sgt. Eric Schrumpf, US military
(more)

Jalil Ali, 25, a well-educated and polite trainee scientist at the Ministry for Higher Education, threw a bottle of water on to the ground. "Take it back! Why are they giving water and food when they are bombing us as well?"

(more)

"I don't remember so many injured people, so much blood everywhere, in this hospital before... Even doctors and nurses were shocked. People were so badly injured that they were dying in our hands."

- Dr. Haqqi Razouki

"I don't believe America is doing it by accident. Every day, they kill civilian people. Every day, injured civilians are brought to our hospital. It is not a war. It is slaughter."

- Dr. Abbas Ali Abbas
(more)

"It was mad chaos like you cannot imagine. You couldn't see anything except all those hues of red and the sound of fire from all sides. It was not earthly. I'll have nightmares about it."

- "Cobra 6" (US tank commander)
(more)

[In Basra] the young man's eyes smoulder with hatred. "Enemy," is all he can say in English. "It's a living hell in there," I am told by one military official. "People are too afraid to come out of their homes. They don't know who is friend, who is foe. Water and food is scarce, there is no electricity."

(more)

"Our floors are covered with blood of our people, the walls are splashed with blood. Why, why, why? Why all this blood? I'm a doctor, but I can't understand such things. They say [they] come to free us? Is this freedom?"

- Dr Ahmed Sufian
(more)

There will be no honor in this victory. We have attacked and will defeat a small country that doesn't stand a chance. As you can see, as of this writing, so far the main dangers to our people have been accidents and friendly fire. Our tanks shoot at 5,000 meters; the Iraqis' old Soviet tanks shoot at 2,000 meters. Our field intelligence is out of the space age. We have satellites and predators and U-2s and all-seeing radar. The Iraqis have binoculars. We have more than 1,000 of the world's most sophisticated aircraft. The Iraqis have a few dilapidated MIGs that they haven't even bothered to try to get off the ground.

Inside a small, bare livingroom with two old wooden benches, a pine box lay covered by a blanket. The 12-year-old boy stared blankly [from the coffin], his arm folded awkwardly under him. His mother Tisar reached into the coffin, grabbing hold of [her son] and began calling him back from the dead. 'My baby, you are my only son,' she said as relatives pull her off the corpse. 'My baby, my son, my son.' When they closed the coffin, Tisar beat the coffin with her fists and wailed, pulling her hair.

(more)

All those children died, in large part, because the United Nations — at the behest of Britain and the United States — insisted upon maintaining economic sanctions on Iraq. These sanctions prevented basic items from getting to Iraq, items like chlorine to purify the water supply there. For years, human rights activists urged a lifting of these economic sanctions because of the terrible toll they exacted, a toll that only now Tony Blair seems concerned about, only now when he can use that toll as an excuse for war. Madeleine Albright notoriously told Lesley Stahl of Sixty Minutes that this civilian death toll was "worth it." Albright understood and acknowledged U.S. complicity in those deaths, but accepted them anyway.

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea would have already met the same miserable fate as Iraq's had it compromised its revolutionary principle and accepted the demand raised by the imperialists and its followers for 'nuclear inspection' and disarmament. The DPRK will increase its self-defensive capability and fully demonstrate its might under the uplifted banner of the army-based policy."