--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Oct 27, 2007, at 8:08 PM, Angela Mailander wrote: > > > I've lived through carpet bombing. It was called saturation > > bombing back then. I was using the term as a synecdoche. a > > That's how I got what you said, it wasn't about the oil wells > per se, but the collective idea of what that implied and on > another level symbolic image to imply wide devastation -- am I > getting that right?
Nope. The context was specifically oil wells--how the Chinese would react if we bombed Iran's oil wells, given that Iran is a major source of oil for the Chinese. But by the same token, if the reason we go to war with Iran is to take control of its oil, as has been alleged, the last thing we're likely to do is bomb its oil wells. (Not to mention that even if we did, the bombing would have to be highly targeted.) > In fact, presumably they'd nuke all the military installations, > esp. nuclear facilities. What they'd like to think of as a > "surgical strike". Correct. And carpet bombing is now largely outdated given the capacity for "surgical strikes." What Angela wanted to do was to convey brutality and ruthlessness on the part of the U.S. As apt as that judgment may be, her choice of words didn't fit at all with the context.
