Our Noble Cause
John Bonanno
Wednesday that sources within the military have told him that an internal
investigation will show that "there was no firefight, there was no IED
(improvised explosive device) that killed these innocent people. Our troops
overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent
civilians in cold blood."
Military officials say Marine Corp photos taken immediately after the
incident show many of the victims were shot at close range, in the head and
chest, execution-style. One photo shows a mother and young child bent over
on the floor as if in prayer, shot dead, said the officials, who spoke to
NBC News on condition of anonymity because the investigation hasn't been
completed.
One military official says it appears the civilians were deliberately killed
by the Marines, who were outraged at the death of their fellow Marine.
"This one is ugly," one official told NBC News." - Jim Miklaszewski and Mike
Viqueira, NBC News
The rest is here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12838343/
"War paralyzes your courage and deadens the spirit of true manhood. It
degrades and stupefies with the sense that you are not responsible, that
'tis not yours to think and reason why, but to do and die,' like the hundred
thousand others doomed like yourself. War means blind obedience, unthinking
stupidity, brutish callousness, wanton destruction, and irresponsible
murder." -Alexander Berkman
John Bonanno
nor for territory'; we have the word of a president [McKinley] for that.
Observe, now, how Providence overrules the intentions of the truly good for
their advantage. We went to war with Mexico for peace, humanity and honor,
yet emerged from the contest with an extension of territory beyond the
dreams of political avarice. We went to war with Spain for relief of an
oppressed people [the Cubans], and at the close found ourselves in
possession of vast and rich insular dependencies [primarily the Philippines]
and with a pretty tight grasp upon the country for relief of whose oppressed
people we took up arms. We could hardly have profited more had 'territorial
aggrandizement' been the spirit of our purpose and heart of our hope. The
slightest acquaintance with history shows that powerful republics are the
most warlike and unscrupulous of nations." -Ambrose Bierce, Warlike America
"I think the devil will not have [you] damned, lest the oil that's in [you]
should set hell on fire."-Wm. Shakespeare
"Q: I'm Satoru Suzuki with TV-Asahi of Japan. Mr. Secretary, eleven weeks
have passed since the coalition forces moved into Iraq. Yet you've found no
weapons of mass destruction in that country -- no convincing evidence yet.
Given that, are you still convinced that you'll be able to find such weapons
eventually and, in the absence of such weapons, how can you still justify
the war, and what would you say to those critics in Japan and the rest of
the world who've been saying that the war was mainly about oil?
Wolfowitz: Well, let me start with the last part. The notion that the war
was ever about oil is a complete piece of nonsense. If the United States had
been interested in Iraq's oil, it would have been very simple 12 years ago
or any time in the last 12 years to simply do a deal with Saddam Hussein. We
probably could have had any kind of preferred customer status we wanted if
we'd been simply willing to drop our real concerns. Our real concerns
focused on the threat posed by that country -- not only its weapons of mass
destruction, but also its support for terrorism and, most importantly, the
link between those two things."
DefenseLINK transcript Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz Media Availability at the
U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, June 3, 2003
John Bonanno
"John Bonanno" wrote
> "Q: I'm Satoru Suzuki with TV-Asahi of Japan. Mr. Secretary, eleven weeks
> have passed since the coalition forces moved into Iraq. Yet you've found
> no weapons of mass destruction in that country -- no convincing evidence
> yet. Given that, are you still convinced that you'll be able to find such
> weapons eventually and, in the absence of such weapons, how can you still
> justify the war, and what would you say to those critics in Japan and the
> rest of the world who've been saying that the war was mainly about oil?
>
> Wolfowitz: Well, let me start with the last part. The notion that the war
> was ever about oil is a complete piece of nonsense. If the United States
> had been interested in Iraq's oil, it would have been very simple 12 years
> ago or any time in the last 12 years to simply do a deal with Saddam
> Hussein. We probably could have had any kind of preferred customer status
> we wanted if we'd been simply willing to drop our real concerns. Our real
> concerns focused on the threat posed by that country -- not only its
> weapons of mass destruction, but also its support for terrorism and, most
> importantly, the link between those two things."
>
> DefenseLINK transcript Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz Media Availability at
> the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, June 3, 2003
>
>
"Vital economic interests are at risk as well. Iraq itself controls some
10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. Iraq plus Kuwait controls
twice that. An Iraq permitted to swallow Kuwait would have the economic and
military power, as well as the arrogance, to intimidate and coerce its
neighbors - neighbors who control the lion's share of the world's remaining
oil reserves. We cannot permit a resource so vital to be dominated by one so
ruthless. And we won't."
Address to congress by G.H.W. Bush on September 11, 1990, known as the
"Toward a New World Order" speech.
John Bonanno
> "Q: I'm Satoru Suzuki with TV-Asahi of Japan. Mr. Secretary, eleven weeks
> have passed since the coalition forces moved into Iraq. Yet you've found
> no weapons of mass destruction in that country -- no convincing evidence
> yet. Given that, are you still convinced that you'll be able to find such
> weapons eventually and, in the absence of such weapons, how can you still
> justify the war, and what would you say to those critics in Japan and the
> rest of the world who've been saying that the war was mainly about oil?
>
> Wolfowitz: Well, let me start with the last part. The notion that the war
> was ever about oil is a complete piece of nonsense. If the United States
> had been interested in Iraq's oil, it would have been very simple 12 years
> ago or any time in the last 12 years to simply do a deal with Saddam
> Hussein. We probably could have had any kind of preferred customer status
> we wanted if we'd been simply willing to drop our real concerns. Our real
> concerns focused on the threat posed by that country -- not only its
> weapons of mass destruction, but also its support for terrorism and, most
> importantly, the link between those two things."
>
> DefenseLINK transcript Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz Media Availability at
> the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, June 3, 2003
>
North Korea and Iraq is that we had virtually no economic options with Iraq
because the country floats on a sea of oil. In the case of North Korea, the
country is teetering on the edge of economic collapse and that I believe is
a major point of leverage whereas the military picture with North Korea is
very different from that with Iraq. The problems in both cases have some
similarities but the solutions have got to be tailored to the circumstances
which are very different."-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz,
Saturday, May 31, 2003 , DOD Transcript
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030531-depsecdef0246.html
>