Think loosing your keys is a big deal? Try 190,000 weapons

[osanowo]

Please read the short article nicely translated by Google.

This is ridiculous. Situation does not need to be any more difficult than it currently is - so why take the chance to arm these guys?
The military leaders act like spoiled brats with too much money on their hands. Since when do you loose track of your equipment in the army?? Since when do you give without regards or verification such equipment to troops that are far from being reliable?

I'm really sad to see so much incompetence.

 

[great bear]

How well armed will the insurgents be in Iraq when the U.S. leaves? Do you think the Turkish and other stable mid east gov'ts hasn't considered this possibility?

 

[great bear]

I should have added that the US did not protect
Saddam's armories when we invaded. The US then
disbanded the 1 million man Iraqi army. The result,
a trained militia that recaptured their weapons to
fight the Coalition forces.

They protected the oil fields but not the armories. Short term thinking for long term pain.

 

[maxweber]

try 'em & fry 'em!

I should have added that the US did not protect
Saddam's armories when we invaded. The US then
disbanded the 1 million man Iraqi army. The result,
a trained militia that recaptured their weapons to
fight the Coalition forces.

Strategy on the cheap. Those criminal goddamn morons. Never mind impeached, Bush and Cheney should be indicted for criminal negligence causing death, 4 thousand times over.

MW

 

[maxweber]

like will to like..

What about the Iraqi deaths and casualties?

Well, that'd take an international war crimes tribunal. And Americans have been conditioned to feel they have no responsibility whatsoever to the world community; so that, deserved and justified as it is, is too much of a stretch. Actually, I have a pretty pessimistic sense that the bastards are gonna get away with it. I don't know if there are any polls on such questions, but I would imagine the number of Americans who would actually use the word "crime" to describe what Bush & Cheney did would be considerably less than 10%. But remember Khrushchev's secret speech? In 1956, he couldn't use that "c" word either, not even to describe the worst outrages of Joseph Stalin. The principal euphemisms included "mistake" and "excess"..

MW

 

[maxweber]

in vino veritas?

Max, my dear friend

You've a distorted version of Americans through the prism of you're Canadian vision.

You couldn't be more wrong.

Mebbe so; I admitted that what I said was very speculative. The prism of my perspective, however, was history, though, specifically postwar German history. Being hugely lied to on a daily basis wears down the moral fabric of a people, and erodes their sense of responsibility. In guessing that less than a tenth of the American people--my people, by the way, despite my residence and citizenship here--would support delivering Bush and Cheney to the Hague to face justice for their crimes, I was making an observation that may even be easier to see from the outside. Living in the greed-crazed madhouse that was once a great nation presents problems in perspective, too, no? Both of my brothers, and all of my close friends down home all read foreign journals to find out the truth about national affairs..

Cheers,

MW

 

[lookingforitallthetime]

Truth is a speculative term. It depends how you
define it.

I, too, read news, magazines and journals as well
as authors from other countries.

My question to you: Aren't all publications and
media subjective? Authors from different locations
will view those events through their social/cultural
prism.

We're dealing with nations comprised of many cultures.
Many ethnic groups, from virtually every region of the
globe.

America doesn't have a definable culture. We're similar
to you in that we are a nation of immigrants with a long
history of assimilation [not perfect].

When I say I'm an American I mean I accept a legal
and political system based on the rule of law. There
is no national religion; there is no dominant ethnic
group; there is no preasure to conform to a specific
value system. There is a dominant race [caucasian]
a dominant language [English], and a dominant
economic system [regulated Capitalism] but that's
about it.

We're not as geographically large as Canada, but we're
larger than either China or India. We're very regional,
just as in those countries.

In many respects Canada is very similar. Probably the
biggest difference is the dominance of one City, Toronto,
in the economy of your nation. Toronto is equal to both
Chicago and New York in national influence. There is no
one city in the US as influential.

I challenge you to define the American culture.
I assure you any definition you draft will meet
with dissent.

As a Canadian who has spent considerable time in the U.S., I can attest to this. I suspect most Canadians who are bent on "slamming" our American neighbours have never travelled extensively in the U.S. They fall into the same trap as Europeans who mistake the current inept leadership as a representation of the entire country.

 

[osanowo]

As a Canadian who has spent considerable time in the U.S., I can attest to this. I suspect most Canadians who are bent on "slamming" our American neighbours have never travelled extensively in the U.S. They fall into the same trap as Europeans who mistake the current inept leadership as a representation of the entire country.

Well that's common to all countries... the US towards France is just an example, and unfortunately no one is above that insulting mistake.
Now it is a choice we make, as a democracy, and hence a price we have to pay. The only problem is that the US has "elected" Bush twice. Difficult not to represent then...