Thank you for this, Liz, and welcome. I daresay, though, there have been some relevant posts on biofuels topics, as well as politics, almost every day though...maybe only a few, but you never know when an absolute gem of a biofuels thought will appear, and we must all be diligent in watching and waiting. A bit like fly fishing while swatting mosquitoes some days...you wonder why you are there, and then....
;-) Edward Beggs http://www.biofuels.ca On Friday, February 28, 2003, at 06:24 AM, Burnett, Liz wrote: > It is at this point I feel compelled to write for the first time to > this > mailing group. I originally signed up out of professional interest as > my > company are in the middle of producing a publication regarding > biofuels, and > I wanted to increase my knowledge on the subject. Of late, I have not > learned anything due to the political debate. > > I am now so angered by what I have read in the email below (that there > will > be "minor physcial damage to Iraq") that I felt a genuine need to > express my > feelings. In every war that has ever been of magnitude, there is > always > wide spread destruction and suffering, and mostly to the innocent, not > those > who should prehaps be taken to task. A full scale attack on Iraq will > not > rid the world of Saddam - you can be gauranteed that he will be in the > safest possible place. It will be the average Iraqi citizen who will > be > maimed by war, thus perpetuating the general hatred and distrust of > the west > thoughout the middle east. > > As a british citizen, I am amazed that our respective governments have > got > even this far in their quest for blood shed. A hail of bombs is not > going > to solve the problems in the middle east - and there will always be > another > Saddam or Bin Laden. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Keith Addison [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 28 February 2003 13:38 > To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [biofuel] Shock and Yawn > > > Posted on another list by a pro-war American: "Normally only a major > shock changes the course of history---the impact of a > professionalized Roman Legion, the Revolutionary War, utter, > unconditional, devastated wasteland defeat of WWII Japan and Germany. > The shock of an unconditionally defeated Iraq, accompanied by minor > physical damage and Iraqi fatalities is not of such magnitude." > > Not an ill-informed person, but how can he think that? Minor damage > and fatalities - 800 cruise missiles in two days? Pentagon planner > Harlan Ullman said: "You have this simultaneous effect, rather like > the nuclear weapons of Hiroshima, not taking days or weeks but > minutes." Minor damage? > > Yet that's what the pro-war folks think - minor damage. Just another > major disconnect in the pro-war thinking - they just can't seem to > focus on what's going on. Such as the oil connection. > > Keith > > > http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=14544 > WorkingForChange- > > Geov Parrish > workingforchange.com > 02.24.03 > > Forget duct tape; we need protecting from the Bush White House, and > from the record levels of new and deepening anti- American sentiment > it is generating daily. > > Shock and Yawn > Plan could kill millions in 48 hours -- why don't Americans care? > > Exactly a month ago Pentagon planner Harlan Ullman, in a CBS-TV > interview, publicly revealed for the first time the Pentagon's "Shock > and Awe" plan for its assault upon Iraq, should (or when) George W. > Bush orders it. > > Ullman's information was subsequently confirmed by a number of > sources; it's for real. Here is what I wrote about it in my column of > January 30: > > http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=14425 > > "The plan includes simultaneous ground invasions from north and > south... It also includes a sudden decimation of Baghdad by raining > down on its people, in two days, over 800 cruise missiles -- more > than were used in the entire Gulf War. Ullman... characterized the > Baghdad assault thusly: `You have this simultaneous effect, rather > like the nuclear weapons of Hiroshima, not taking days or weeks but > minutes.' It would be a firestorm, a Dresden or Tokyo with 60 years > of new technology. It would be a war crime of quick and staggering > proportions. > > "Such a plan, of course, makes a mockery of Donald Rumsfeld's ritual > insistence that the Pentagon takes enormous care to avoid civilian > casualties; the plan apparently is to kill a staggering percentage of > Baghdad's civilian population in the first day alone. ... The name > refers to the demoralizing effect such an attack would have on > Iraqis, an effect, presumably, similar to the instant (although > already planned) surrender of Japan after the gratuitous bombing of > Hiroshima (and even more gratuitous bombing of Nagasaki. But those > were, both military and diplomatically, demonstration attacks -- > suggesting what could be done to the imperial rulers themselves and > to Tokyo, a city far more valuable and populous than Hiroshima and > Nagasaki combined. > > "In Iraq, Baghdad is the capitol." > > Now, those plans, and sentiments of horror similar to mine, have been > echoing around the Internet for a month; they've been featured > extensively in alternative publications that have come out during > that time. Which is precisely the problem. > > The United States is planning to suck all the oxygen out of the air > with a fireball over the heads of the five million residents of > Baghdad -- so that, as another Pentagon interviewee said, "nobody in > Baghdad will be safe," whether above ground or below. This has been > well-documented public knowledge for a month, widely reported in the > rest of the world. But in America it has been roundly ignored, > confined to the fringes of the media landscape and probably, by many > Americans, dismissed as a result as conspiracist nonsense. > > This raises two questions: > > 1) Are Americans -- politicians, media executives, and ordinary > citizens -- so numb, or oblivious, or callous to the horrors of war > that we cannot raise ourselves to be bothered by what would be, if it > works as planned, one of the greatest massacres, one of the greatest > war crimes, in the history of the world, committed in our name and > with our money? > > 2) Forgetting for a moment those apparently irrelevant concerns about > millions of innocent lives, war crime tribunals, and the like, do > America's war planners seriously think such an action would decrease > the motivation or effectiveness of terrorists, who are presumably the > target of the "War on Terror" and who will most certainly not be in > Baghdad? (More, in fact, are likely to be huddled in any major > American city. Perhaps we should preemptively bomb Philadelphia or > Houston.) > > To take the last question first, whether it is ever implemented or > not, even the publicizing of this plan does incalculable damage to > the already-abysmal reputation of the United States in the Islamic > world and beyond. Any country that would even seriously consider such > a monstrous act certainly isn't going to be shown mercy when war is > brought to its civilian population. That's you and me. > > According to captured Al-Qaeda documents, planners of the 9/11 > massacre had originally considered flying jets into American nuclear > facilities, but decided not do so to on "humanitarian" grounds. Does > anyone think that, after our amphetamine-soaked pilots casually > incinerate a major world city and its inhabitants, that they'll show > such restraint next time? You know the answer. > > Muslims, who, like the rest of the world, seem to have a longer > memory than we do, will also recall that a massive famine, killing up > to six or seven million Afghans, was only narrowly averted in fall > 2001, even though the U.S. bombing campaign cut off badly needed > supplies almost until it was too late - - and would have continued to > do so had the Taliban not retreated. Shock and Awe, then, is the > second serious brush with genocidal civilian death from the Bush crew > in only 15 months. And we genuinely wonder why anyone hates us? Who > wouldn't? > > It is as if Bush and his sociopathic advisors want stronger terrorist > groups -- want further attacks on Americans -- so as to justify their > lust for global military dominance. Regardless, they're certainly > doing their best to provoke it. > > And this brings us to the initial question: why don't Americans seem > to care? Again, setting aside niggling questions of morality, plans > like this, whether executed -- er, carried out -- or not, put every > single person living in this country in far greater danger. Forget > duct tape; we need protecting from the Bush White House, and from the > record levels of new and deepening anti- American sentiment it is > generating daily. > > Some would point to corporate control of media as the culprit in the > lack of publicity given to Shock and Awe, but I suspect the more > significant factor is more banal. Such images of mass suffering are > so overwhelming in their scope that they mean nothing to most of us. > If 9/11 seemed like a movie -- as many Americans said at the time -- > Shock and Awe represents a horror so sweeping it has only rarely been > depicted on film, and never by Hollywood. You simply can't have an > action hero take on a nuclear bomb in mid- detonation, or a barrage > of cruise missiles (and munitions using un- depleted uranium) that > have a similar, instantly lethal effect. What you would have is an > action hero called The Shadow, because that's what would be left of > him, burned into the sidewalk along with a few million husbands, > wives, moms, dads, and children. > > Politically, this country's leaders could not even conceivably > propose turning America into a nation permanently at war, let alone > one capable of such monstrosity. Unless, under the leadership of both > major parties, we had not spent decades being inured to American > militarism, and, in the last few years, to bombings, invasions, and > civilian deaths in faraway lands. Granted, most of the least > desirable aspects of American militarism have been carefully excised > from U.S. media, but even so, what we do get to see and hear should > horrify anybody. It doesn't, and so, an apocalyptic vision like Shock > and Awe becomes just another abstract headline, part of the arcana of > military planning, completely divorced from the daily reality of our > extremely comfortable lives. No wonder news editors don't think we'd > care. > > But, of course, as February 15 literally demonstrated, many of us do > care. And hopefully, many of us will keep caring long after Bush > either backs down or incinerates the cradle of civilization. (Ashes > to ashes, indeed...) The problem, ultimately, isn't Saddam Hussein, > or Iraq, or even George Bush. The problem is militarism, and a > purported democracy in which its leaders think themselves above > accountability for their actions. 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