Good Morning, Baghdad
Another day in paradise. This is what the Bush regime is “surging” into:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 78 people were killed and more than 150 wounded Monday after two nearly simultaneous bombs struck a predominantly Shiite commercial area in central Baghdad in the deadliest attack in two months, officials said…
The explosions left body parts [...]
Another day in paradise. This is what the Bush regime is “surging” into:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 78 people were killed and more than 150 wounded Monday after two nearly simultaneous bombs struck a predominantly Shiite commercial area in central Baghdad in the deadliest attack in two months, officials said…
The explosions left body parts strewn on the bloodstained pavement as black smoke rose into the sky. Iraqi police sealed off the area as ambulances rushed to the scene to evacuate the victims.
The bombings were a further sign of what appears to be a renewed campaign of Sunni insurgent violence against Shiite targets. Last week, 142 Iraqis were killed or found dead on Tuesday alone, including 65 students at a leading Baghdad university who died in twin car bombings…
There is no reason to continue U.S. involvement in what is clearly a civil war - a civil war in which the stakes are being ratcheted upward daily. The Bush regime has done nothing but completely destabilize the region, and there’s little we can do at this point but let it play out. Your end result may vary.
Right, we screwed up their country, now its their job to unscrew it. So lets abandon the small group that is beginning to fight the terrorists and insurgents. The Iraqis will not thank you.
It seems a shame that people are willing to ignore the small signs of change (the tribes banding together to hunt al Qaeda, the Iraqi politicians who are beginning to root out sectarianism, the increasing belief that Iraq should be for all Iraqis) and claim that we can’t do anything and should leave. We know for sure that if we withdraw now that Iraq will descend into chaos, we do NOT know for sure that the situation will be the same in one year.
“Where have you been this while away,
Johnnie, Johnnie?”
‘Long with the rest on a picnic lay,
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
They called us out of the barrack-yard
To Gawd knows where from Gosport Hard,
And you can’t refuse when you get the card,
And the Widow gives the party.
(Bugle: Ta–rara–ra-ra-rara!)
“What did you get to eat and drink,
Johnnie, Johnnie?”
Standing water as thick as ink,
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
A bit o’ beef that were three year stored,
A bit o’ mutton as tough as a board,
And a fowl we killed with a sergeant’s sword,
When the Widow give the party.
“What did you do for knives and forks,
Johnnie, Johnnie?”
We carries ‘em with us wherever we walks,
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
And some was sliced and some was halved,
And some was crimped and some was carved,
And some was gutted and some was starved,
When the Widow give the party.
“What ha’ you done with half your mess,
Johnnie, Johnnie?”
They couldn’t do more and they wouldn’t do less,
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
They ate their whack and they drank their fill,
And I think the rations has made them ill,
For half my comp’ny’s lying still
Where the Widow give the party.
“How did you get away — away,
Johnnie, Johnnie?”
On the broad o’ my back at the end o’ the day,
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
I comed away like a bleedin’ toff,
For I got four niggers to carry me off,
As I lay in the bight of a canvas trough,
When the Widow give the party.
“What was the end of all the show,
Johnnie, Johnnie?”
Ask my Colonel, for I don’t know,
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
We broke a King and we built a road –
A court-house stands where the reg’ment goed.
And the river’s clean where the raw blood flowed
When the Widow give the party.
(Bugle: Ta–rara–ra-ra-rara!)
–’the widow’s party’, by that kipling guy (no relation to kiplinger’s)
Talking Vietnam
By Phil Ochs
Sailing over to Vietnam,
Southeast Asian Birmingham.
Well training is the word we use,
Nice word to have in case we lose.
Training a million Vietnamese
To fight for the wrong government and the American Way.
Well they put me in a barracks house
Just across the way from Laos.
They said you’re pretty safe when the troops deploy
But don’t turn your back on your house boy
When they ring the gong, watch out for the Viet-Cong.
Well the sergeant said it’s time to train
So I climbed aboard my helicopter plane.
We flew above the battle ground
A sniper tried to shoot us down.
He must have forgotten, we’re only trainees.
Them Commies never fight fair.
Friends the very next day we trained some more
We burned some villages down to the floor.
Yes we burned out the jungles far and wide,
Made sure those red apes had no place left to hide.
Threw all the people in relocation camps,
Under lock and key, made damn sure they’re free.
Well I walked through the jungle and around the bend
Who should I meet but President Diem.
Said you’re fighting to keep Vietnam free
For good old de-em-moc-ra-cy (Diem-ocracy).
That means rule by one family
And 15,000 American troops, give or take a few
Thousand.
American.
Troops.
He said: “I was a fine old Christian man
Ruling this backward Buddhist land.
Well it ain’t much but what the heck
It sure beats hell out of Chiang Kai-shek
I’m the power elite. Me and the 7th fleet.”
He said: “meet my sister, Madam Nhu
The sweetheart of Dien Bien Phu”
He said: “Meet my brothers, meet my aunts
With the government that doesn’t take a chance.
Families that slay together, stay together.”
Said: “If you want to stay you’ll have to pay
Over a million dollars a day.
But it’s worth it all, don’t you see?
If you loose the country you’ll still have me.
Me and Syngman Rhee, Chiang Kai-shek, Madam Nhu.
Like I said on _Meet the Press_
‘I regret that I have but one country to give for my life.’”
Well now old Dien is gone and dead
All the new leaders are anti-Red.
Yes they’re pro-American, freedom sensations
Against Red China, the United Nations.
Now all the news commentators and the CIA
are saying, “Thank God for coincidence.”
No K, we do not know. What we do know is that this Administration has led us into a complete mess. Why we would follow this Administration’s latest ideas, after years of unrelenting failure, is beyond me. No, it is madness. That’s not 78 dead today, though. More than a 100 is the latest estimate.
http://my.freeze.com/stories/General/D8MQG7M81.shtml
“…two nearly simultaneous bombs struck a predominantly Shiite commercial area in central Baghdad in the deadliest attack in two months, officials said…”
Layla over at An Arab Woman Blues has the following to say about articles such as the one you quoted:
“The mainstream media says the slaughter took place in a “predominantly sh’ia” area, Bab Al Sharqi.
They claimed the same when Al Munstansiriya University was targeted and another 100 persons were carbonized just last week.
Bullshit! Both Al Munstasiriya and Bab Al Sharqi are very mixed areas. The latter is in the center of Baghdad, a commercial area,akin to your local downtown. Stop manufacturing sectarianism whoever you are.”
Might not be a bad idea to check out the entire article at Oh Bloody Day !.
The gist of it is: The American MSM is aiding and abetting sectarian violence. To which I would reply, “Hells bells, yes; war is profitable for others besides munitions manufacturers.”
As William Randolph Hearst is reputed to have written to Frederick Remington after he sent Remington to Cuba to cover the Spanish war against the Cuban revolutionaries and Remington cabled back (supposedly) “Where’s the war”: “You provide the pictures; I’ll provide the war”.