Iraq - the comedy of it all

by Where did all those pro-war guys go Fri Apr 25, 2003 15:53

From Schnews

LIBERATE THIS!

"25,000 litres of anthrax. 38,000 litres of botulinum toxin. 500 tons of sarin, mustard [gas] and VX nerve agent. Several mobile biological weapons labs. An advanced nuclear weapons development program." - what George W. Bush reckoned Saddam was hiding under his moustache. Remember why the US/UK went to war? Supposedly Iraq had a massive stockpile of weapons of mass destruction and was therefore a threat to world peace. Hans Blix and his team of UN weapons inspectors went looking for them, Saddam Hussein grudgingly cooperated, and the inspectors found... er, not a lot.

But despite the blatant lack of justification, Emperor Bush invaded Iraq anyway (he'd been told to by his dad's mates) and Iraq used its weapons to defend itself - not mustard gas or intercontinental ballistic missiles after all, but rifles and crappy old tanks against the world's foremost military superpower. Someone should have listened to former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter who described the Iraqi army as being "in total disarray, capable of little more than manning security pickets along the Iran-Iraq border... I have visited numerous Iraqi military barracks and have seen soldiers in tattered uniforms and bare feet."

So, where DID all those supposed evil weapons of mass destruction get to? Well, your on the ball SchNEWS has managed to track down some of them at Britain's own Faslane naval base in Scotland. 166 people were nicked at the base on Tuesday when hundreds of protestors blocked the gates for hours while others jumped the fences, sparking a security alert and waving banners that read "Here Blix, we've found them."

Faslane is home to three of Britain's four Trident submarines. Each submarine carries 48 nuclear warheads, each one 8 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima which destroyed the city and killed 140,000 people. British Minister of War Geoff Hoon was keen to use them, threatening Iraq that if they unleased THEIR weapons of mass destruction, his country would do the same. But Saddam never did unleash anything, which is a bit strange since he never seemed one for restraint.

And now, if Bush doesn't turn up some weapons of mass destruction soon, he will be exposed as the bullying liar he truly is. Tony Blair is worried too - worried that no big bad weapons will be found, or that if they are, the Americans will be accused of planting them (surely not!). Last week, Blair said that "some sort of objective verification" of any weapons found might be a "good idea." Smart boy, Tony.

Thank-you and goodbye

Saddam's statue in Baghdad was pulled down by a US tank for the benefit of the Western corporate media, who fell all over themselves to show a crowd of happy Iraqis on the scene (Who wouldn't be happy that a scumbag tyrant had been overthrown?). But if the TV cameras had panned out just a little, you'd have seen that the square was really quite empty. Maybe it was because those who had been maimed or killed by US bombs (we'll never know how many cos' the US can't be bothered to find out) just couldn't be asked to join in welcoming their liberators.

And now the army of "liberation" is all too quickly and predictably becoming an army of occupation. "No to America, no to Saddam, no to tyranny," people chanted in Arabic on Tuesday during a religious pilgrimage organized by Shia leaders in Iraq. In the city of Kerbala on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Shia protested at America's first attempt to put together a puppet government, while in Mosul thousands protested and the pro-American governor's car was torched. American soldiers killed at least 10 Iraqis and wounded dozens of others when they fired on the rally. One Iraqi demonstrator warned, "If the US prevents us having a religious leader as president, we will reject it. If al-Hawz a [the Shia leadership] orders us to turn ourselves into bombs, we can make the US leave Iraq. We say, 'Thank you for getting rid of Saddam. Now goodbye.'"

Respected journalist Robert Fisk observed, "All across Baghdad you hear the same thing, from Shia Muslim clerics to Sunni businessmen, that the Americans have come only for oil, and that soon - very soon - a guerrilla resistance must start. No doubt the Americans will claim that these attacks are 'remnants' of Saddam's regime or 'criminal elements'. But that will not be the case." As Dr Wamid Omar Nadmi, a leading political scientist at Baghdad university commented "What we're faced with today is not a choice between secularism and religion. We're facing an invasion and foreign rule. We have to work together to end it."

* Read 'War Plan Iraq' by Milan Rai (Verso 2003)

'OIL 'AVE IT!'

Fancy that! Amnesty International has accused US-led forces of better "preparation to protect the oil wells than to protect hospitals, water systems or civilians." Ever since US forces rolled into central Baghdad, one of the sole public buildings untouched by looters has been the massive oil ministry, which is under round-the-clock surveillance and guarded by 50 US tanks, with sharpshooters positioned on the roof and in the windows. "They came from the other side of the world. Do you believe they're going to do much for me? They've just come for the oil," fumed Salam Mohammad Hassan, a doctor who lives near the ministry. Just next-door, the Irrigation Ministry has been torched, with US soldiers apparently unable to do anything to help.

* The US is demanding North Korea halt its nuclear weapons programme, but the US has, after a 14-year break, recently resumed production of plutonium parts for nuclear bombs. Where's Hans Blix when you need him?

------------------------------------------------------------ ---------

PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE

Next Thursday is May Day, when hoards of rioting anarchists try to bring the very foundations of our society crashing to the ground....or something like that. This year it's time for our very own war on terror, with pre-emptive strikes and "an attack on the real weapons of mass destruction: oil companies, the arms manufacturers, multinationals and banks." In London there will be a number of autonomous actions with main meet ups at 2pm at Lockheed Martin - the biggest arms company in the world whose F-16 and F-22 fighter jets were used extensively by the US during the war in Iraq and whose profits have shot up accordingly. Meet 2pm Berkshire House, corner of High Holborn & Endell St. There will also be a critical mass bike ride meeting 11am under Waterloo Bridge, South Bank, and a 1pm Mayday Picnic at Queen Anne's Gate. There is also a 2pm meet up at the Home Office, Birdcage Walk, SW1. Later, everyone will be meeting up at the headquarters of oil company Shell UK, on The Strand, 4pm.

** London Class War have called a picket of the Wilkinson store in Stratford, London. Wilkinson's use prison slave labour to make many of their goods, picket 11.30am-1pm at Wilko's, 78-102 The Broadway, Stratford.

** To help your day run smoothly send an SAE to BM Mayday, London WC1N 3XX http:/www.ourmayday.org.uk

** For the incomplete history of the origins of Mayday
http:/www.midnightnotes.org/mayday

** There's a Mayday benefit this Saturday (26), music featuring Headjam, The Lams, Fusing Naked and the Serum Soundsystem. At Eton Mission Social Club, Hackney Wick, London E9. 8pm till late. £4/3

by Yankee Doodle Fri Apr 25, 2003 17:06

Please don't wake the Americans. They are deep in slumber.

by US Angel Fri Apr 25, 2003 18:31

Hey, I'm awake!

Too much massive girly action on the net to let a night pass without some go-pills and a puss full of Freedom Fries™.

EVERY
BODY
TALKIN'
'BOUT
AMERIKA
GOD-DAMN!

by Barney Fri Apr 25, 2003 19:36

So I don't give a toss anymore about the deluded immature rantings posted here. I just wanted to people to think twice before opposing a war that has done infintely more good than harm. Ain't technology wonderful?

by US Angel Sat Apr 26, 2003 07:03

Having been exposed to some of your contentless drivel before, I don't think that you are in any position to judge anyone else's immature, deluded rants, Mr. Fife.

And furthermore, your post made little sense.
Is it the continued interruptus of some other drivel-a-thon you were involved in?

And are you akin to the great seer
Nostadamus? You wanted us to think BEFORE the war started that our deluded opposition to the use of WMD in international affairs was a mistake? You knew BEFORE that our Fearless Leader was about to usher in a time of Peace and Plenty not seen since the days of Augustus?

Yes, Barn-o, we shall all get our wars. And I know that MY war will do much more good that
harm.

How do I know this, Barn-o? I am the US Angel and I am close to the bosom of the Lord. And He given me His Terrible Swift
Sword.

by Evil Dave Sat Apr 26, 2003 14:27

It should be patently obvious to everybody that the French would have been 100% right to veto the call to war on the grounds that Saddam had WMD America are still going to punish them for doing the right thing. It's frightening

by Josef Sun Apr 27, 2003 11:33

Iraq was an unacceptable risk to international security, a menace to the world, with a government killing thousands of it's own people every year and while the UN pottered about looking for chemicals a million people died of sacntions. For most people this was sufficient casus belli, there will be no outcry if no chemical weapons are found.

France wanted no attack on Iraq cos it's owed billions of $ by Iraq and French firms were doing very nicely form the oil for food.

by Matthew Mon Apr 28, 2003 10:53

"there will be no outcry if no chemical weapons are found"

"Iraq was an unacceptable risk to international security, a menace to the world"

Josef, with this illogical bullshit you truly are spoiling us.

Even if Iraq is floating on WMD, the fact that it wasn't prepared to use them even in self-defence clearly demonstrates they were not a threat. Iraq's army had been severely weakened by Gulf Wars 1 and 2, and due to military sanctions was in no fit state to fight in Gulf War 3. Even in conventional terms, Iraq's army was not a threat to its neighbours. Hence Iraq had not engaged in ANY agressive acts since Kuwait.

If the US wanted to free the max number of oppressed people and get rid of the max number of WMDs they would invade China. Of course they won't do that, because US corporations are busy making a fortune in new WTO member China.

All Hail Josef the Illogitian