-Caveat Lector- ~~for educational purposes only~~ [Title 17 U.S.C. section 107]
Uncle Sam's a Bigger Bully Than Saddam by James Ridgeway Spun through the gears of Bush's PR juggernaut, Saddam Hussein becomes the subhuman demon incarnate. Saddam will terrorize usand not just our troops, but our civilians. He, or the terrorists he shelters in Iraq, will wipe out our cities with nuclear bombs, poison our schools and subways with bioweapons, cut off our water supplies, threaten our hospitals, strangle our economy. We'd better get him before he gets us. Let's use any means short of nuclear attack, or maybe we'll resort to that, too. But by Bush's own standards, America is the true global bully, with a record not just of perceived threats but of action. During the Gulf War, we bombed Iraq's cities. We took out transportation, communication, and power facilities. Our push for long-term sanctions rendered a generation unable to obtain basic vaccines and left a nation thirsting for clean water, a situation the UN says has resulted in the deaths of well over 500,000 small children. And a decade earlier, in the 1980s, the U.S. government fully supported Iraq's use of chemical warfare against Muslim fundamentalists in Iran. In the end, we haven't so much miscast Saddam as the bad guy as covered over our own heinous acts against innocent men, women, and children. Now a Bush-led White House is again preparing to use every effort against Saddam's militaryand more generally against the civilian population. The average citizen of Iraq remains vulnerable, having never recovered from the Gulf War. The infrastructure is still in ruins. There are no seeds to grow crops, no fertilizer, no pesticides. This year's drought has made everything worse. But all of this suits Vice President Dick Cheney real fine. He's stumping again for blowing away Saddam, showing the same bluster as when he trumpeted the American victory in 1991. Speaking to reporters in July of that year, then secretary of defense Cheney addressed the issue of our bombing Iraq's civilian infrastructure. Every Iraqi target was "perfectly legitimate," he said, adding, "If I had to do it over again, I would do exactly the same thing." The only real question for the U.S. military this time is what's left to hit in the upcoming turkey shoot. Much of the firing may end up taking place in the cities, putting Yankee soldiers in the position of carrying out their own urban jihad. But with production lines working overtime to convert old bombs into high-tech smart ones, America could always just flatten the entire nation. Among the heavy weapons to consider: Fuel air explosives: Big, horrific bombs, these send out a volatile mist that spreads through any openinga doorway into a building or underground bunker or, as at Tora Bora, a cave. The bomb then detonates, its explosion rocketing through underground passages. Daisy cutters: Used in Afghanistan last winter, these 15,000-pound monsters wipe out everything in a 300-feet radius. "You're not literally so close that the bomb is breaking you apart or you catch on fire or anything," explains Carl Conetta of the Project on Defense Alternatives, "but the shock wave is so powerful that it crushes internal organs." Microwave weapons: Supposedly nonlethal crowd controllers, these beam-blasting transmitters can cause third-degree burns. In combat, the weapons might be used to clear urban riots. But their power source is cumbersome, which might prohibit using them. Cluster bombs: Tossing these sweethearts around has been likened to laying a minefield from 15,000 feet. We used these as many as 1500 times in Afghanistan. To prevent infantry from walking in front of the tanks and picking them up, anti-personnel explosives are mixed in. The cluster bombs wait on the ground to go off in predetermined sequences. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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