Harry, you suggest that I am taking bits of your post and linking them in a way that misrepresents your thoughts.
But here, word for word and without omissions, is the text of your email re. the 'shrapnel on the market' issue. I think you must concede that it needed no cobbling on my part, but we'll let readers decide for themselves: Harry said: "> The market explosion was either a mistake, or an Iraq missile > coming down. > In a contested air raid, on the street one is in danger from shrapnel and > failed missiles. (I recall how with another 16 year old, we stood at the > street entrance of our Air Raid Headquarters 'harmonizing' like imaginary > Inkspots, or Mills Brothers, when something came howling down. We > collided > two floors down, our hair standing on end.) > > It was shrapnel. We soon learned to recognize it. > > During an air raid a lot of stuff comes down from the sky. I rather think > that is what hit the market." > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Harry Pollard > Sent: Mon, March 31, 2003 7:27 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [Futurework] FWD: An Outrage, An Obscenity > > > Lawry, > > You should try to stop yourself taking different aspects of a > post and link > them together as that makes them mean something. > > I pointed out that all the stuff that is shot into the air comes down > somewhere. I didn't suggest that the market place disaster was caused by > shrapnel. It may have been caused by a ground to air missile that didn't > explode in the air. I didn't see any large hole at the market. An errant > bomb would surely have caused a large crater. Didn't seem to be there. > > Fisk says it was two missiles from a jet. I have no idea how he > knows - but > he writes with the authority of certainty so perhaps he's right. > > I was relating the wild reports of lives lost by the hundreds to three > coffins in a street crowded with people. In fact, the crowds of people in > the streets along with the street markets apparently doing business seems > to me to be an indication of a populace that doesn't believe American > bombers are indiscriminately bombing. > > If the bombing was killing hundreds of people, don't you think the > Saddamites would have lined them along the street, while the cameras > lovingly focused on every body? > > You then bring in something that happened after my post. A loss of 58 > people and you try to relate it to my discussion of shrapnel. > Shame on you! > > I don't think I related my mild experience with Hitler's bombs to > civilians > in Baghdad. Rather, I said that we received nothing like the > Germans got. I > also mentioned the palpable feeling of sympathy for the Germans as we > watched and heard the 1,000 bomber raids on their way to Germany. > I suppose > the comment of the average Briton would have been "Poor sods!" > > I mentioned that the morning London body count was likely to be in the > range of 400. However, the major casualties were in the dock areas which > were a sea of flame with firefighters struggling hopelessly as more bombs > came down on them. > > Later the German airmen were as scared as the people on the ground. They > would simply unload a string of bombs, then head for home - without > particularly aiming at anything. We could actually guess where > the next one > would land and try to be somewhere else. > > However, compare this with hundreds of Tomahawks, maybe thousands > of bombs > including 'bunker busters' with explosives unknown back in the forties. > > The result? - Three coffins and a mob filling a Baghdad street. I also > mentioned the Red Cross report of 200 injured, also the Iraqi report of > three dead and 200 injured. It seems to me that 58 dead reported > by Iraq is > a more likely result of an errant bomb. But, I must confess that > I wondered > whether it might have been a Saddamite effort. However, we just > don't know. > I assume it was one of ours. > > I've been wondering why they keep pounding away at Baghdad. Surely, it's > been bashed enough? But, apparently they have been targeting missile > batteries and have wiped them out allowing medium level bombers to be put > to use. (Except, strangely, many missile batteries around > northern Baghdad > which the Iraqi haven't used.) This makes misses more likely, I > would think > - particularly if the missiles are sited in residential neighborhoods. > > I gave the reasons why it could have been American missiles, before you > made your remarks about American missiles, so I won't repeat > them. I would > say that the miracle is that so few civilian deaths are taking place - > considering the weight of explosive that is raining down. > > I was lucky in WWII. When eventually I was in embarkation camp, > Gwen had a > baby and I was given 48 hours leave. When I got back, my unit had > left for > Singapore. After messing around for two or three weeks, I was posted to > Newquay on the coast of Cornwall in the west country - about as nice a > place as one could be. > > Then there was this US President who dropped a couple of horrible > bombs and > stopped the war - so I never left England. As anyone who has been in the > military, or in a war, one never knows what will happen and luck is the > determinant of your service career. > > I wonder, as did Ed, won't anyone say something nice about the Americans? > > Harry > ---------------------------------- > > Lawrence wrote: > > >Shrapnel just happens to 'come down' and kill 58 people? I'm > not sure what > >war you are following, Harry. > > > >Both Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been hit by US cruise missiles aimed at > >Iraq. Can you really not conceive that a cruise missile may have hit a > >market in Baghdad, given that sort of accuracy? > > > >You see a picture of three coffins in Iraq and conclude from that that > >casualties are light. You see a picture of the market and > conclude that it > >must have been done 'shrapnel'. > > > >Can you not conceive that war is nasty business (despite your > own survival > >of WWII), and that maybe US policies and actions are > questionable? Though I > >AM intrigued by your comparing yourself as a young boy facing > the weaponry > >of Hitler, to civilians in Baghdad facing the weaponry of the US..... > > > >Cheers, > >Lawry > > > > ****************************** > Harry Pollard > Henry George School of LA > Box 655 > Tujunga CA 91042 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Tel: (818) 352-4141 > Fax: (818) 353-2242 > ******************************* > > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
