OT: The statue of Sadam
brother william
pushed forward and began jumping on it. The flag of Iraq (pre-Sadam) has
been put on the pillar the statue was on.
The smiles on the faces of the coalition soldiers as they walked away
through the crowd I think answers the question "was it worth it?".
Elizabeth of the Tudor Tarts
Jailed Iraqi children run free as marines roll into Baghdad suburbs
Tue Apr 8,12:30 PM ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) - More than 100 children held in a prison celebrated their
freedom as US marines rolled into northeast Baghdad amid chaotic scenes
which saw civilians loot weapons from an army compound, a US officer
said.
Around 150 children spilled out of the jail after the gates were opened
as a US military Humvee vehicle approached, Lieutenant Colonel Fred
Padilla told an AFP correspondent travelling with the Marines 5th
Regiment.
"Hundreds of kids were swarming us and kissing us," Padilla said.
"There were parents running up, so happy to have their kids back."
"The children had been imprisoned because they had not joined the youth
branch of the Baath party," he alleged. "Some of these kids had been in
there for five years."
The children, who were wearing threadbare clothes and looked under-
nourished, walked on the streets crossing their hands as if to mimic
handcuffs, before giving the thumbs up sign and shouting their thanks.
It was not clear who had opened the doors of the prison.
Civilians also took advantage of the collapse of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein (news - web sites)'s authority to grab weapons from an army base,
said Group Sergeant Jeff Treiber.
As marines were alerted by radio that civilians had seized weapons,
Treiber warned that anyone seen to be armed could be a target of US-
British coalition forces.
"With the weapons they are becoming combatants," said Treiber. "If they
don't take the weapons they will be fine."
Other residents stole air conditioning units, television sets and
furniture from government buildings in an echo of the looting that was
seen in the southern city of Basra.
A 19-year-old called Haider said people had been ransacking government
compounds since the morning to steal weapons and furniture.
"Since the morning, nine o'clock, they have been looting. They are
stealing weapons and I took three doors," he said.
At one stage the marines opened fire after coming under attack from
snipers, leaving at least two civilians wounded.
One man needed treatment for gunshot wounds to his stomach and left arm.
But his friend, Abdul Amir Jaffa, said he did not resent the Americans
despite the shooting.
"Americans are coming to free us," he told AFP.
The marines became increasingly edgy as crowds of people took to the
streets to observe their progress.
"It's a problem with so many people in the area. Its hard to tell if
there are enemy forces among them. You have to be careful returning fire
with civilians all over the place," Lieutenant Anthony Sousa said.
Troops from the Marines' 1st Expeditionary Force also entered Baghdad on
the east of the city Tuesday as thousands of armoured vehicles and
Humvees poured into the capital for a showdown with Saddam Hussein's
troops.
--
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"brother william" <wagr...@charterSpamMeNot.net> wrote in message
news:v98ddsl...@corp.supernews.com...
Avilion20
our Armed Forces!
Sandy
Brad Daeda
the coverage of the Berlin Wall. It is hard for me to understand how
Americans can *still* say we should never have gone over there. We have
now done for Iraq what we did for Kuwait. We've liberated them from the
Saddam Regime. I don't like that we had to get involved, but I sure do
like the results :-)
(-Brad/Reinhardt
John W. Kennedy
Well, we don't know for sure, yet. We _cannot_ know yet. If Iraq can
somehow be brought into the community of decent nations, fine. But if
it ends in an orgy of internecine tribal wars of succession, it may be
that we should have left bad enough alone. Or again, the very same
Iraqis we have liberated from present torture and certain death are
already saying that they are grateful _now_, but are gravely suspicious
about our long-term goals. If we act injudiciously, we may yet reap the
whirlwind.
--
John W. Kennedy
"Only an idiot fights a war on two fronts. Only
the heir to the throne of the kingdom of idiots
would fight a war on twelve fronts."
-- "Babylon 5"
zski
I don't like that we had to get involved, but I sure do
> like the results :-)
And I'm gladder that our friend Keith (Kit Hatton from MiRF) had his
deployment delayed, and is still in Indiana.
It'd be nice if they got all this nasty shooting-people nonsense over
with before he ships out.
------------------------------------------------------
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Cozit/Liz
were having way too much fun blowing it out of proportion for
propoganda. I saw bits and pieces of the process (I was flipping during
commercials this morning) and they started talking about the crowd of
people working on it well before the tank or whatever drove up to it.
Looked like *maybe 50-60 people at the time, many of whom were walking
up nearby then walking away... only vaguely showing any interest at all.
Not all that many were actually wielding the sledgehammer, or waiting
to.... and of the 4 I saw swinging it, 3 of them looked like college
aged "kids" who might have been doing it 'because they could'. Same
thing with the looting going on... (which, btw, is *not* going to look
so great in the long run that none of the forces nearby while it was
happening were doing anything to stop or discourage it at all...
remember, part of the "reason" for the people sent there is also to help
set up a a provisional government... which includes the welfare of the
people there... and stealing tires and such when you're driving a donkey
cart without doesn't look to me anything like stealing to fulfill a need
that can't be filled otherwise. Food, clothes, appliances would be more
understandable at least.)
Sigh... war's stupid... even if people *do* come up with "good reasons"
for it.
Here's hoping that they get things under control so that the majority
can get back to their lives (hopefully somewhat improved) as soon as
possible... and that the minority doing the destruction don't ruin it
for everyone.
-Elisabeth (knew there was a reason I usually avoid these threads...)
Elisabeth Reyes
with hindsight (and 12 more years of watching Saddam!)
we can say this should have happened during the Gulf War-- but better late
than never.
I'm still keeping the American POWs in my prayers, hoping whoever has them
will do the smart thing, so our soldiers come home soon.
--
Elisabeth Reyes (the other other one)
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"Brad Daeda" <daed...@nospam.sgi.com> wrote in message
news:3E944BA7...@nospam.sgi.com...
Robin the Scribner
said that the coalition forces *were* stopping people from looting once they
secured the area.
--
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"Cozit/Liz" <co...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:3E947687...@comcast.net...
Cozit/Liz
who were looting... but who were looting stuff that might be of actual
use to the individual who was stealing it.
Dunno... somehow it's not *quite* as bad if it seems like someone is
taking something they'll use... rather than something that they might
hope to sell/trade later...
I'm just one of those people who don't understand mob mentality... and
whose only desire is to get as far away from what is going on in those
situations as possible (and yes, that started *before* I was almost
squashed in a crowd... thank goodness for the two guys who grabbed me
when I was somehow lifted off my feet then tilted (no, no one grabbed
me... it was the press fo the crowd that did it))
Sigh... well that and that honor and duty thing that I seem to have
ingrained that's usually considered more than a bit oldfashioned nowdays...
-Elisabeth
paximus
war that is in fact not over. It's a only a part of the city that is
in Anglo-American control at this time although, within the next few
days that should be taken care of. The north part of the country is
still a tenous holdout especially when it comes to Tikrit, the home of
Saddam and hopefully, the U.S. forces will be able to get the Kurds to
disengage from Kirkuk now that the city has been taken by them
thereby, preventing the Turks from moving in to dislodge them.
And although, I am very glad that this part of the Bush Doctrine is
almost over it is incredibly important to remember that Anglo-American
forces will be staying in country for at least 6 months to a year so
that, a new interim government can be placed in control and then,
finally handed over to the Iraqi's themselves. Hopefully, during this
time period we will not see ethnic tensions brought to the surface
between the Shiite majority, Sunni minority and the Kurds who want to
create their own independent Kurdistan something which no one in the
region wants.
So all in all, in my opinion it's hardly time to celebrate not until
we remove every single american and british soldier safely and alive
from both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pax Smith
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Roosevelt said during WWI, "is not only unpatriotic and servile, but
is morally treasonable."