How is this any less disturbing than what the Jihadists come out with?
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov 6 (AFP) - With US forces massing outside Fallujah, 35 marines swayed to Christian rock music and asked Jesus Christ to protect them in what could be the biggest battle since American troops invaded Iraq last year.
Men with buzzcuts and clad in their camouflage waved their hands in the air, M-16 assault rifles laying beside them, and chanted heavy metal-flavoured lyrics in praise of Christ late Friday in a yellow-brick chapel.
They counted among thousands of troops surrounding the city of Fallujah, seeking solace as they awaited Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's decision on whether or not to invade Fallujah.
"You are the sovereign. You're name is holy. You are the pure spotless lamb," a female voice cried out on the loudspeakers as the marines clapped their hands and closed their eyes, reflecting on what lay ahead for them.
The US military, with many soldiers coming from the conservative American south and midwest, has deep Christian roots.
In times that fighting looms, many soldiers draw on their evangelical or born-again heritage to help them face the battle.
"It's always comforting. Church attendance is always up before the big push," said First Sergeant Miles Thatford.
"Sometimes, all you've got is God."
Between the service's electric guitar religious tunes, marines stepped up on the chapel's small stage and recited a verse of scripture, meant to fortify them for war.
One spoke of their Old Testament hero, a shepherd who would become Israel's king, battling the Philistines some 3,000 years ago.
"Thus David prevailed over the Philistines," the marine said, reading from scripture, and the marines shouted back "Hoorah, King David," using their signature grunt of approval.
17 comments:
Ok, put the hash pipe away and listen carefully...
1. Uniformed soldiers pausing their rebuilding efforts to conduct precision military strikes, seeking strength in their religion before battle. (Picture Iraqi soldiers doing the same, seeking strength from Islam.) The battle, by the way, intended to eliminate indiscriminate mass murder of predominantly-Muslim Iraqis (not these soldiers' religion).
2. People in civilian clothes indiscriminately mass murdering British civilians or fellow Iraqi Muslims.
Stay away from the drugs until you can plainly see the difference. Call a pastor (militant Islamist leaders don't count) and ask him/her to explain it. Seek help from friends. Seek professional help.
Funny you should suggest it! Exactly the plan I have hatched. (With the hash pipe)
Well you may doubt my sanity.
Because of something I decided to do out of anger at being put in a situation I did not choose I now spend my time nervously phoning people to make sure they haven't been arrested.
Why?
Listen I might be stoned, but aren't you sort of suggesting that even if the Pentagon consider some of thes guys to be innocent, they still shouldn't complain about being painted in their own urine and being called "nigger"?
Two groups of Fundamentalists fighting over a city full of Muslim's places of worship, both groups in the country uninvited. Both guilty of killing innocents. Sorry what was the difference again?
The difference is one group PURPOSEFULLY kills innocents and the other does everything in it's power not to.
Big difference.
Totally. I'd feel a lot better about being dead at the hands of uninvited foreigners.
Honestly guys. My friend has just finnished editing a film which includes events in Falluja.
I've seen pictures of some of these precision military targets in hospital.
I heard an interview with a guy used by Saddam's troops as a human shield (in the first gulf war). He said that if the last thing he saw was US troops or warplanes coming his way to kill him along with his brutal captors, he would have died satisfied. (And this was on liberal NPR.)
As you watch your friend's video, the question to ask is, "why did those insurgents hide behind the civilian population?" If they would have met our forces away from the city (in accordance with the Geneva Conventions), innocents wouldn't have been killed. Too bad your friend didn't catch Saddam's butchery on film.
"Uninvited?" As though Saddam got to power legitimately. In fact, many of the hundreds of thousands Saddam murdered did invite us in as they tried to overthrow him in 1991.
Sober up.
I should imagine that as Falluja is a city of Mosques, Muslims believed it was right to defend those Mosques.
Dont know. Wasn't there. Saddam was long gone when Falluja started.
I'm supposed to be fXXXing working and here I fXXXing am again...
"As though Saddam got to power legitimately. In fact, many of the hundreds of thousands Saddam murdered did invite us in as they tried to overthrow him in 1991."
NO! His blood-soaked rise to power was facilitated by agencies of the USA. The story is too long and too well-known to re-tell here - poke around on the internet, seek and you shall find.
DO YOU DENY IT???
In 1991 the US air and ground forces obliterated Iraqi resistance in one of the most one-sided battles of modern times. A large part of the Iraqi regular army was wiped out or surrendered en-masse. A large part of the elite Republican Guard survived because Saddam didn't even try to throw them into combat with the Americans, preferring to keep his divisions intact in order to deal with his internal enemies.
Encouraged by the US, Kurds and Shias rose against Saddam's regime, expecting large-scale military support from the US. That support never arrived and their insurgencies were crushed. Where was the US support??
DO YOU DENY IT???
M: "His blood-soaked rise to power was facilitated by agencies of the USA."
Sorry, no evidence. (Surprising, since wikipedia is known for having an an anti-American theory for everything!) But I'm sure somebody blames the CIA. (Stalin blamed the CIA for his purges, even before the CIA existed.)
M: "Encouraged by the US, Kurds and Shias rose against Saddam's regime... Where was the US support??"
Absent, sadly. President (former) Bush listened to analysts who predicted they could win, and wouldn't cross the UN (who refused to get involved).
"Sorry, no evidence. (Surprising, since wikipedia is known for having an an anti-American theory for everything!)"
I refer you to, for example, this story on BBC, scroll down to the sub-heading "Iraq's special relationship". The source is a US diplomat who worked at the Baghdad embassy at the time.
M: You're absolutely right (given that the BBC article is accurate). In fact, a closer reading of the wikipedia article I mentioned tells the same story (I misread Qassim's relationship w/the Ba'athists).
So early on (c. 1963), the CIA did provide vital help to Ba'athists because of their anti-Communist position, though not Saddam specifically. I can see how they looked relatively innocent, as they were unknown and the Soviets had already murdered 30 million. An ugly situation all around.
The minor help provided to the Baathists in '63 (consisting mainly of hit-lists of Communists to get rid of, I think) pales into insignificance beside the fact that the US shipped Saddam's Iraq 100 tons of anthrax culture as well as botulinum toxin and other biological agents. LOOK IT UP!!!
"According to a 1994 Senate report, private American suppliers, licensed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, exported a witch's brew of biological and chemical materials to Iraq from 1985 through 1989. Among the biological materials, which often produce slow, agonizing death, were:
* Bacillus Anthracis, cause of anthrax.
* Clostridium Botulinum, a source of botulinum toxin.
* Histoplasma Capsulatam, cause of a disease attacking lungs, brain, spinal cord, and heart.
* Brucella Melitensis, a bacteria that can damage major organs.
* Clostridium Perfringens, a highly toxic bacteria causing systemic illness.
* Clostridium tetani, a highly toxigenic substance.
Also on the list: Escherichia coli (E. coli), genetic materials, human and bacterial DNA, and dozens of other pathogenic biological agents. "These biological materials were not attenuated or weakened and were capable of reproduction," the Senate report stated. "It was later learned that these microorganisms exported by the United States were identical to those the United Nations inspectors found and removed from the Iraqi biological warfare program."
The report noted further that U.S. exports to Iraq included the precursors to chemical-warfare agents, plans for chemical and biological warfare production facilities, and chemical-warhead filling equipment.
The exports continued to at least November 28, 1989, despite evidence that Iraq was engaging in chemical and biological warfare against Iranians and Kurds since as early as 1984."
etc etc
I don't trust propaganda outlets like doublestandards.org, but we did side with Iraq against Iran. Many agonizing decisions that I'm not glad about, and won't defend. Dictatorship (Iraq) or mad religious fanatics (Iran)?
An ugly situation all around.
Well do you trust Senate committee reports?
Rightwingsnorkel: "The difference is one group PURPOSEFULLY kills innocents and the other does everything in it's power not to.
Big difference."
Fairly typical posting from "A Combat Leader" on hackworth.com:
"The reports of 54 enemy killed sound great... but the greater story is much more disturbing and needs to be told to the American Public... Hack, most of the casualties were civilians, not insurgents or criminals...
During the ambushes the tanks, brads and armored Humvees hosed down houses, buildings, and cars while using reflexive fire against the attackers... The convoy continued to move, shooting at ANY target that appeared to be a threat. RPG fire from a house, the tank destroys the house... Rifle fire from an alley, the brads fire up the alley and fire up the surrounding buildings with HE rounds...
We really don't know if we kill anyone, because we don't stick around to find out... This is done in many cases knowing that there are people inside these buildings or cars who may not be connected to the insurgents...
We are turning many Iraqi against us and I am afraid instead of climbing out of the hole, we are digging ourselves in deeper."
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