The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #68685   Message #1158749
Posted By: GUEST
10-Apr-04 - 03:59 PM
Thread Name: BS: Iraq Not Becoming Another Vietnam
Subject: RE: BS: Iraq Not Becoming Another Vietnam
Yes they did. They died in Iraq. They died in Kosovo. They died on the USS Cole. They died in a whole lot of places while Clinton lied about his blowjobs.

It is truly frightening to see that for the majority of Democrats, their presidents can do no wrong.

That is really scary.

It is a scandal in contemporary international law, don't forget,
that while "wanton destruction of towns, cities and villages" is a
war crime of long standing, the bombing of cities from airplanes
goes not only unpunished but virtually unaccused. Air bombardment
is state terrorism, the terrorism of the rich. It has burned up
and blasted apart more innocents in the past six decades than have
all the antistate terrorists who ever lived. Something has
benumbed our consciousness against this reality. In the United
States we would not consider for the presidency a man who had once
thrown a bomb into a crowded restaurant, but we are happy to elect
a man who once dropped bombs from airplanes that destroyed not
only restaurants but the buildings that contained them and the
neighborhoods that surrounded them.      

There appears to be something about launching bombs or
missiles from afar onto cities and people that appeals to
American military and political leaders, as well as to American citizens. In part it has to do with a conscious desire to not risk American lives in ground combat. And in part, perhaps not entirely conscious, it has to do with not wishing to look upon the gory remains of the victims, allowing American GIs and TV viewers at home to cling to their warm fuzzy feelings about themselves and their government. The reaction of the US military to the killing and desecration of the 4 American mercenaries in Iraq is a perfect example of this double standard.
   

Washington officials are careful to distinguish between the
explosives the US drops from the sky and "weapons of mass
destruction" (WMD), which only the officially-designated enemies
(ODE) are depraved enough to use. The US government speaks
sternly of WMD, defining them as nuclear, chemical and biological
in nature, and "indiscriminate" (meaning their use can't be
limited to military objectives), as opposed to the likes of
American "precision" cruise missiles. This is indeed a shaky
semantic leg to stand on, given the well-known extremely
extensive damage to non-military targets, including numerous
residences, schools and hospitals, in the bombings of Iraq and
Yugoslavia from American "smart" bombs.
   
Moreover, Washington does not apply the term "weapons of
mass destruction" to other weapons the US has regularly used,
such as landmines and cluster (anti-personnel) bombs, which are
highly indiscriminate.

WMD are sometimes further defined as those whose effects
linger in the environment, causing subsequent harm to people.
This would certainly apply to landmines, cluster bombs, and
depleted uranium weapons, the latter remaining dangerously
radioactive after exploding. It would apply less to
"conventional" bombs, but even with those there are unexploded
bombs lying around, and the danger of damaged buildings later
collapsing. But more importantly, it seems highly self-serving
and specious, not to mention exceptionally difficult, to try to
paint a human face on a Tomahawk Cruise missile whose payload of
a thousand pounds of TNT crashes into the center of a densely-populated city, often with depleted uranium in its warhead.
   
The only difference between the US military and the terrorists (be they Al Qaida, or some other Muslim group) is a terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force.

To refresh your memory kendall, here is a list of the bombings we've carried out around the world since WWII, including during the term of yer man in the White House.

China 1945-46
Korea and China 1950-53 (Korean War)
Guatemala 1954
Indonesia 1958
Cuba 1959-1961
Guatemala 1960
Congo 1964
Peru 1965
Laos 1964-73
Vietnam 1961-73
Cambodia 1969-70
Guatemala 1967-69
Grenada 1983
Lebanon 1983, 1984 (both Lebanese and Syrian targets)
Libya 1986
El Salvador 1980s
Nicaragua 1980s
Iran 1987
Panama 1989
Iraq 1991-2000
Kuwait 1991
Somalia 1993
Bosnia 1994, 1995
Sudan 1998
Afghanistan 1998
Yugoslavia 1999

Plus?
China, 1999 -- its heavily bombed embassy in Belgrade is legally
Chinese territory, and it appears rather certain now that the
bombing was no accident. That also happened on Clinton's watch.