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jack3566Bush on Iraq - The Illustrated Speech April 10, 2008
Posted on April 16, 2008 by Brian McConnell
In response to those who insist on portraying U.S. occupation of Iraq as an ‘Awakening’, here’s a YouTube contribution containing President Bush’s pledge of continued military support last Thursday.
WARNING - This video contains extremely graphic content (images).
Filed under: Politics
I am wary of such videos. You could illustrate any speech on almost any given military action with images of violence, and obtain the same effect. The videos are powerful, but only vaguely so. We don’t know where the images come from, or how authentic they are. We just know that becuase we see dead people behind a speech from Bush,we are supposed to assume the president is an evil liar. I don’t support the Iraq war, but I don’t know if these videos are the an honest form of protest.
Thank you, fifth columnist; the beheaders need all the help they can get to win in the only arena they have a chance in.
Now for a few words from the other side; you know, those American and Iraqi troops in the field and those that travel with them:
The second video here, under Stringers, has got bodies for you if that’s what you want to see. But the entire report is very telling. Like most descriptions of the realities involved, it is a bit lengthy.
Of course, then for a complete sampling of all views from those over there, the Mudville Gazette has lots of links
Sometimes pictures speak louder than words, in this case the only thing I can get out of this bunch of gore is “Just bring our boys home”
If the Iraqis want to kill themselves let them do so, without our help.
“There was never a good war or a bad peace.”: Benjamin Franklin
Thank you, O Most Highly Exalted Ministers of Official State Truth. I’ve already challenged Mike to put documentation where his mouth is (see A ‘War on Terror’ comments) but . . . I’m still waiting.
In the mean time, has anybody given any thought to taking a second job?
Actually, gospel, normally I am maintaining two jobs; currently down to one. The second was for funding my charity work.
I just went back and saw your request for a better source for numbers (the Lancet study has already been shot to pieces; a sad ending to the reputation of my Dad’s favorite medical journal). I will endeavour, when my one job and caregiver duties permit, to look up figures that are actually being gathered, rather than manufactured for political purposes.
Norm: try asking the ghosts of the killing fields in Cambodia and Rwanda about whether there is a bad peace. neither of those multi-million tallys involved a war. And did not Ben Franklin participate in the Revolutionary War; do you think he thought that was a bad one?
I merely wish the world was as simple as the snippet and images of your reponses; the realities are a lot more complex and that is why you’ll see me link to longer and more detailed works; of people who are there, not pontificating from here.
Hey Mike e
I actually thought you would bring up the killing fields in response to my post I thought I covered that by saying “If the Iraqis want to kill themselves let them do so, without our help.”……… As selfish as that sounds I bet a high percentage of americans feel the same way, if not I don’t mind being a minority.
Mike’s delusions stem from seeing himself and government as a divine crusader whose mission is to inflict Democracy on an uncivilized world . . . regardless of how many ‘native’ lives it costs.
But perhaps I’m oversimplifying . . .
Guys, try to be nice ;)
The problem with the Rwandan genocide, Mike, is who is to say our government might have helped the “wrong” side, only to be involved in the mess that might involve a different genocide by the other people 15 years later? I’d like to know your opinion on it since you’re more in tune to what’s went on in Rwanda than I am.
No, gospelnous, I’m just not deluded enough to think that all would be peace and harmony without an American presence. Because I seen places without American influence where the body count monthly- to this day- matches the annual body count in Iraq (that vast majority of which are do to the other side deliberately targeting civilians). Heard of the Congo? And if you somehow want to link that to evil Westerners, you’ll just force me to go back into Japanese, Chinese, Zulu, Mayan, Polynesian, Egyptian history. People have always slaughtered other people and George W. Bush hasn’t always been there. The basic nature of humanity changes very slowly, if at all.
BTW: count for documented violent death in Iraq for the entire war: < 91,000 by this definitively anti-war site. That’s the number to take to the bank.
And I finally got around to actually viewing the tape; I’m actually familiar with many pieces of that tape; Fallujah 2005; a funeral for a leading AQ commander foolishly attended by his entire unit before they figured not to bunch up like that (ground forces that had visual on the makeup of the procession cleared the strike). The minaret shooting was to whack the snipers that were using it as a shooting platform, a desecration common by the terrorist ‘insurgents’; again, many years ago. The children, as the vast majority are, were victims of the other side, often deliberately targeted. The gun camera piece conveniently left out the first part where these guys were placing an IED beside the road; again, at least 2 years old. I saw that one when it first became available.
A standard propaganda piece for the fifth column using tape from actions scattered through the entire length of the war, trying to imply that all of that was recent.
“People have always slaughtered other people.” There Mike you said it yourself, Are we suppose to police the world?What ever happened to no nation building? Iraqis have been slaughtering each other for centuries, why not tell them fix their own mess? Why use our Blood? Perhaps this threat of leaving will give them incentive to grab the ball and run with it.
Because Germans, French, Italians and Japanese have stopped slaughtering others. Democracy can- but not always does- make the change. Even semi-democracy tends to significantly reduce the amount in most places; South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya (till recently, but that’s pretty well settled ‘democratically’)
The Iraqis know will be reducing our presence substantially and are working up to that; they are not stupid or politically naive. That’s one thing the Basra operation was about; wholly planned and executed by the government with just minor air support. Sadr City still involved a little of us, primarily to direct really tight air support. It also flushed the Sadrists, always known to been there, right out of the police and military. Mookie realizes what a mistake that was and that’s why he’s wailing for them to be reinstated. Won’t happen; he’s lost his inside sources.
There were civilian rallies in Basra to that the Iraqi Army for kicking the Madhi out of control. The Awakening is happening there now as well; no delusion.