The US Casualty Rate in Iraq: 9%

by redjade Sat Nov 27, 2004 12:48

Some US Hawks push deep cuts in forces in Iraq
Boston Globe

A growing number of national security specialists who supported the toppling of Saddam Hussein are moving to a position unthinkable even a few months ago: that the large US military presence is impeding stability as much as contributing to it and that the United States should begin major reductions in troops beginning early next year.

Their assessments, expressed in reports, think tank meetings, and interviews, run counter to the Bush administration's insistence that the troops will remain indefinitely to establish security. But some contend that the growing support for an earlier pullout could alter the administration's thinking.

Those arguing for immediate troop reductions include key Pentagon advisers, prominent neoconservatives, and some of the fiercest supporters of the Iraq invasion among Washington's policy elite.

The core of their arguments is that even as the US-led coalition goes on the offensive against the insurgency, the United States, by its very presence, is stimulating the resistance.

by redjade Sat Nov 27, 2004 12:49

Embedded with the Marines in Iraq
Dead-Check in Falluja
by Evan Wright
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0447/wright.php

Another Marine in the unit I followed—a Democrat's dream, he returned home from fighting in Falluja in time to vote for Kerry—added, "Americans celebrate war in their movies. We like to see visions of evil being defeated by good. When the people at home glimpse the reality of war, that it's a bloodbath, they freak out. We are a subculture they created and programmed to fight their wars. You have to become a psycho to kill like we do. To most Marines that guy in the mosque was just someone who didn't get hit in the right place the first time we shot him. I probably would have put a bullet in his brain if I'd been there. If the American public doesn't like the violence of war, maybe before they start the next war they shouldn't rush so much."

by redjade Sat Nov 27, 2004 13:19

Smoking while Iraq burns
Naomi Klein
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1359871,00.html

Iconic images inspire love and hate, and so it is with the photograph of James Blake Miller, the 20-year-old marine from Appalachia, who has been christened "the face of Falluja" by pro-war pundits, and the "the Marlboro man" by pretty much everyone else. Reprinted in more than a hundred newspapers, the Los Angeles Times photograph shows Miller "after more than 12 hours of nearly non-stop, deadly combat" in Falluja, his face coated in war paint, a bloody scratch on his nose, and a freshly lit cigarette hanging from his lips.

[....]

A few days later, the LA Times declared that its photo had "moved into the realm of the iconic". In truth, the image just feels iconic because it is so laughably derivative: it's a straight-up rip-off of the most powerful icon in American advertising (the Marlboro man), which in turn imitated the brightest star ever created by Hollywood - John Wayne - who was himself channelling America's most powerful founding myth, the cowboy on the rugged frontier. It's like a song you feel you've heard a thousand times before - because you have.

But never mind that. For a country that just elected a wannabe Marlboro man as its president, Miller is an icon and, as if to prove it, he has ignited his very own controversy. "Lots of children, particularly boys, play army, and like to imitate this young man. The clear message of the photo is that the way to relax after a battle is with a cigarette," wrote Daniel Maloney in a scolding letter to the Houston Chronicle. Linda Ortman made the same point to the editors of the Dallas Morning News: "Are there no photos of non-smoking soldiers?" A reader of the New York Post helpfully suggested more politically correct propaganda imagery: "Maybe showing a marine in a tank, helping another GI or drinking water would have a more positive impact on your readers."

- - -

Marine Whose Photo Lit Up Imaginations Keeps His Cool
LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-marine13nov13,0,5449010.story?coll=la-home-headlines

FALLOUJA, Iraq — The Marlboro man is angry: He has a war to fight and he's running out of smokes.

"If you want to write something," he tells an intruding reporter, "tell Marlboro I'm down to four packs and I'm here in Fallouja till who knows when. Maybe they can send some. And they can bring down the price a bit."

Marlboro man

by redjade Sat Nov 27, 2004 13:22

“This protracted fighting and instability is wreaking havoc on Iraqi children,” UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said.

In addition to the ongoing difficulties of living amidst daily violence and widespread insecurity, children are also suffering from the inadequacy of basic services such as water and sanitation, Bellamy said.

“Latest reports are showing that acute malnutrition among young children has nearly doubled since March 2003,” she said. “This means that hundreds of thousands of children are today suffering the severe effects of diarrhoea and nutrient deficiencies.”

She noted that Iraq already had severe problems with malnutrition, water service and sanitation before the war, when 1 in 8 Iraqi children died before the age of five.

by redjade Sat Nov 27, 2004 13:33

The State of Iraq: An Update
By ADRIANA LINS de ALBUQUERQUE, MICHAEL O'HANLON and AMY UNIKEWICZ
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/26/opinion/26ohanlon.html
username: mediajunkie / password: mediajunkie

by Barry Tue Nov 30, 2004 16:54

Its alright to kill 100,000 plus Iraqis, steal their oil and blow up their towns - but a GI having a smoke is absolutely SCANDALOUS ?

Is it any wonder they are the mosted hated nation on earth.

by toneore Tue Nov 30, 2004 21:53 toneore at eircom dot net

How come over 10,000 people try to cross illegally into the US EVERY DAY?

by Barry Tue Nov 30, 2004 22:28

Learn how to fly maybe.

by Devil Dog Tue Nov 30, 2004 22:29

Come on Bazza, don't be hiding your support for the Islamofascists under a bushel, out with it, it'll make you feel better.

by Barry Tue Nov 30, 2004 22:53

Finally caught out by the Dog-man

Better an Islamofascist than a health fascist.

A country which reckons its totally acceptable to lay waste to an entire town with everything but the kitchen sink, but reckons its setting a bad example to show a GI smoking a fag (pardon the pun) has its priorities and values absolutely warped.

Even in the soldiers defence, if I was a yank in Fallujah Id be smoking 2 cartons a day with the stress. (except at night because of the snipers)

And yes thankyou, I feel much better Ive gotten that of my chest. Imay now even check out Hezbullahs excellent website at Manar TV.COM, for some inspiration. (and Ill have a smoke while Im at it)

by Klaus Dieter Tue Dec 07, 2004 23:56

why, because the misery US imperialism has brought about in the world around them (which is sadly enough today almost the entire globe) is even greater than the poverty most (illegal) immegrants have to face in the US.

by Pete Mon Dec 13, 2004 21:40 zeeboid at yahoo dot com

Do you know the staticics for troops being killed, physically wounded, or psychologically traumatized in:

US Independance
Cival War
WWI
WWII
Vietnam
Desert Storm

because it would be best to compair them to other wars we've been in... and seeing as how the Death Rate for IRAQ is only 0.41%, I'd say this is the safest war we've been in.

by kintama Tue Dec 14, 2004 00:50

things have moved on since the American Civil War and kevlar has saved quite a few of the good ol boys . they are however buying it at a rate of at least 3 a day ,are demoralised and apart from the Kurds (god bless their foolish wit) are hated throughout Iraq. things are so bad we are soon to be faced with the unedifying sight of 60 year old female pensioners giving their all in the desert sands for the motherland. the only good news is that the vast majority of the members of the House and the Senate won't have to bury their offspring. come on ye Humvees.