War With Iraq - When?

[JoeJoe440]

Hi,

How close do you all think we are to war with Iraq now?

I'm thinking that it could be in the next week or so, what about all you?

How many troops do the US and the UK have over there?

Thanks,

Joe,

[aerpix]

About 300,000, and war is imminent. I expect it to start on Wednesday or Thursday at the latest. That is the time needed by the UN to recall their weapons inspectors, and for other countries to recall their diplomatic personnel.

Regards,
Peter

[JoeJoe440]

300,000!

To bad we have to go to war but its the only way to get rid of saddam and get Iraq partly back to normal

Thanks,

Joe,

[aerpix]

You don't have to! It's Tony B who thinks war is inevitable, together with his playmate from Texas.

Regards,
Peter

[philip]

Hmm war can not be avoided anymore I am afraid...
I just cant understand the attitude of the USA and the UK...its such a egoistic decision to start a war. They forgot what the UN is there for and that they are not alone in this world!
How many innocent people have to die for "Freedom" ... and guess what, this war will help to increase terrorism not to avoid it! oh well if oil is worth all that...

just my cup of tea!
Philip

[aerpix]

Agree 100 % Philip!

Regards,
Peter

[aerpix]

Further to the above, read this:


Monday, March 17, 2003

A Letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush on the Eve of War

George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC

Dear Governor Bush:

So today is what you call "the moment of truth," the day that "France and the rest of world have to show their cards on the table." I'm glad to hear that this day has finally arrived. Because, I gotta tell ya, having survived 440 days of your lying and conniving, I wasn't sure if I could take much more. So I'm glad to hear that today is Truth Day, 'cause I got a few truths I would like to share with you:

1. There is virtually NO ONE in America (talk radio nutters and Fox News aside) who is gung-ho to go to war. Trust me on this one. Walk out of the White House and on to any street in America and try to find five people who are PASSIONATE about wanting to kill Iraqis. YOU WON'T FIND THEM! Why? 'Cause NO Iraqis have ever come here and killed any of us! No Iraqi has even threatened to do that. You see, this is how we average Americans think: If a certain so-and-so is not perceived as a threat to our lives, then, believe it or not, we don't want to kill him! Funny how that works!

2. The majority of Americans -- the ones who never elected you -- are not fooled by your weapons of mass distraction. We know what the real issues are that affect our daily lives -- and none of them begin with I or end in Q. Here's what threatens us: two and a half million jobs lost since you took office, the stock market having become a cruel joke, no one knowing if their retirement funds are going to be there, gas now costs almost two dollars -- the list goes on and on. Bombing Iraq will not make any of this go away. Only you need to go away for things to improve.

3. As Bill Maher said last week, how bad do you have to suck to lose a popularity contest with Saddam Hussein? The whole world is against you, Mr. Bush. Count your fellow Americans among them.

4. The Pope has said this war is wrong, that it is a SIN. The Pope! But even worse, the Dixie Chicks have now come out against you! How bad does it have to get before you realize that you are an army of one on this war? Of course, this is a war you personally won't have to fight. Just like when you went AWOL while the poor were shipped to Vietnam in your place.

5. Of the 535 members of Congress, only ONE (Sen. Johnson of South Dakota) has an enlisted son or daughter in the armed forces! If you really want to stand up for America, please send your twin daughters over to Kuwait right now and let them don their chemical warfare suits. And let's see every member of Congress with a child of military age also sacrifice their kids for this war effort. What's that you say? You don't THINK so? Well, hey, guess what -- we don't think so either!

6. Finally, we love France. Yes, they have pulled some royal screw-ups. Yes, some of them can pretty damn annoying. But have you forgotten we wouldn't even have this country known as America if it weren't for the French? That it was their help in the Revolutionary War that won it for us? That our greatest thinkers and founding fathers -- Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, etc. -- spent many years in Paris where they refined the concepts that lead to our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution? That it was France who gave us our Statue of Liberty, a Frenchman who built the Chevrolet, and a pair of French brothers who invented the movies? And now they are doing what only a good friend can do -- tell you the truth about yourself, straight, no b.s. Quit pissing on the French and thank them for getting it right for once. You know, you really should have traveled more (like once) before you took over. Your ignorance of the world has not only made you look stupid, it has painted you into a corner you can't get out of.

Well, cheer up -- there IS good news. If you do go through with this war, more than likely it will be over soon because I'm guessing there aren't a lot of Iraqis willing to lay down their lives to protect Saddam Hussein. After you "win" the war, you will enjoy a huge bump in the popularity polls as everyone loves a winner -- and who doesn't like to see a good ass-whoopin' every now and then (especially when it 's some third world ass!). So try your best to ride this victory all the way to next year's election. Of course, that's still a long ways away, so we'll all get to have a good hardy-har-har while we watch the economy sink even further down the toilet!

But, hey, who knows -- maybe you'll find Osama a few days before the election! See, start thinking like THAT! Keep hope alive! Kill Iraqis -- they got our oil!!

Yours,

Michael Moore

https://www.michaelmoore.com

Regards,
Peter

[herpa2003]

No offense aeropix, phillip, but i'm glad that you can't vote in our country!!! The MAJORITY of Americans support the war WITHOUT the UN approval. And it sounds like Bush will be reelected, so thats fine with me!!!

[indian airlines]

Hey, it seems you really like Bush!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On another note, war cannot be avoided, but i wish it could have been. I am totally anti-war. It is a pointless war (why can't we use profanity on this forum ), and there should never have been a problem in the first place. It is only when the Bush family comes into power that Iraq becomes a problem.

[dave4164_Z]

No offense aeropix, phillip, but i'm glad that you can't vote in our country!!! The MAJORITY of Americans support the war WITHOUT the UN approval. And it sounds like Bush will be reelected, so thats fine with me!!!

Don't forget, a majority of Americans polled still think Iraq was involved in the 9-11 attacks, and a majority of Americans cannot even find Iraq on the map.

In addition, a majority of Americans voted for Bush's opponent.

[aerpix]

Don't forget, a majority of Americans polled still think Iraq was involved in the 9-11 attacks, and a majority of Americans cannot even find Iraq on the map.

In addition, a majority of Americans voted for Bush's opponent.

You forgot that a majority of the Americans have no idea of the world beyond the US borders. Let me illustrate that: When visiting the UN in 1994, our guide asked where we are from. Later a guy from Minnesota approached me and asked "What's the name of the place you are from?". "Switzerland, Europe" was my reply. He, after a longer pause: "How far's that by car?".

That says it all, I have met many more of this kind in the US. I am GLAD I can not vote in the US, as if I lived there I would probably get infected by all this false patriotism, and I don't need that. I like to stay realistic.

Regards,
Peter

[indian airlines]

That says it all, I have met many more of this kind in the US. I am GLAD I can not vote in the US, as if I lived there I would probably get infected by all this false patriotism, and I don't need that. I like to stay realistic

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 100% True

[Aeronautics]

Hey, it seems you really like Bush!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On another note, war cannot be avoided, but i wish it could have been. I am totally anti-war. It is a pointless war (why can't we use profanity on this forum ), and there should never have been a problem in the first place. It is only when the Bush family comes into power that Iraq becomes a problem.

The real problems came with the dividing in the UN security councel. And that was because Donald Rumsfeld thought he could joke about Europe.

[Richard]

I know there are many hard-liners who are 100% in favor of going into Iraq. I really hafta let off some steam here, I watched Bush's speech at school today (it was about 8am-ish HK), I wanted to puke. I say NO to war. Heres why:

BTW, these are cold hard facts

1. Saddam has no WMD's. Inspectors have found NOTHING. When inspectors left in 1998 they in a report stated that Iraq had destroyed its WMD's and had NOTHING. Iraqi insiders, well aware of internal affairs in Iraq, fiercely anti-Saddam, whose info is widely respected by the US, say Iraq has NOTHING.

2. Has Saddam been harboring terrorists? Has he provided them with aid and training? NOPE. For crying out loud, BIN LADEN HATES SADDAM!!! Why on earth would he choose to then collaborate with him? Bush and others say that Hussein is aiding terrorists, but this hasn't been proven AT ALL!!!!

3. America backed Hussein. America turned a blind eye to his atrocities when he used chemical weapons on the Kurds in the north and the Iranians in the east. Let's not forget his extremely repressive rule which America, until 1991, turned a blind eye to. So, Bush wants to liberate the world from dictators as he said? Well, that's interesting seeing that America has supported and in some cases installed repressive regimes in Panama, Chile, Iran, Vietnam et al. Come on! Don't give us that we'll free the Iraqi people rubbish!!! America didn't care about their freedom when they were America's "friends", and now they do!!!? Right........

4. There are those who believe that UN backing for war is superficial. Sure, America is strong enough to fight Hussein, but it's not the force that the UN provides, it's the moral support. So far, America has very little moral support from the world. Well, what does that tell you? Well, it tells you that war isn't such a good idea. DUH.....

5. OK, so we intend to overthrow Saddam. But how many innocents will be killed as a result? In the last Gulf War more than a million people died in the first year after the war. Why? the war created powercuts, lack of water, poor sanitation, and food shortages....And the US is going to do this again? Yeah, let's kill more innocent people so that we can oust a leader we don't like and subsequently benefit from this. YEAH, BRILLIANT.

6. Iraqis want to see Saddam gone, quite frankly, so do I. But they don't want to see America overstay their welcome. Heck, most Iraqis have a strong dislike towards America anyway. It is most likely that America WILL overstay their welcome. Heck, they'll probably install some pro-western puppet. Who's to say that the Iraqi's will accept this new government? What if they revolt and a fundamentalist government is born?

7. Why does America have the meager support it has in the first place? Trade incentives. Britain, well they are very close with the US to begin with. What about Spain, Portugal, Aussie, and other fmr. communist-cloc countries? Well, my friends it's trade. Let's not deny the fact that these countries will receive handsome trade benefits as a result of their support for the United States. Why is Turkey reaccesing whether to let US troops in? Trade benefits. Their economy is in tatters at the moment, they previously denied US use of Turkish bases. Why? They oppose War. But now they are changing their minds. Why? Not because they agree with Bush's policies, but because a war could potentially help their ailing economy.

Look, the present time to invade Iraq simply isn't legitimate. Saddam has yet to to mess up. Sure, he's messed up in the past. But might I add, any force used against Iraq between after the Gulf War, and what will be Gulf War II, was not because Iraq wasn't disarming, it was because they were breaching the no-fly zones (such as troops, anti-aircraft missiles, cannons, guns, planes flying into, etc...). Hey, even fmr. President Clinton opposes war. Now he was an intellectual, unlike the incumbent President.
Well, actually I heard there's an anti-war protest on in front of the US consulate this weekend, I think I might go along....

I think I've explained my point sufficiently. Anyone who outright denies these facts and dismisses it in my opinion needs to crack open their heads and see if they still have a brain inside. Honestly, I don't care if someone comes along and attacks me for what I've said. I have three words: Bring it on.

I've heard the pro-war side. I feel that this post counters any pro-war rhetoric sufficiently.

Richard.

PS-"We are a peaceful people"-George W. Bush.
YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!!

[aerpix]

Anyone who outright denies these facts and dismisses it in my opinion needs to crack open their heads and see if they still have a brain inside.

Thank you, Richard, there is not much else to say!

Regards,
Peter