If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Read the community guidelines before posting ✨
Options
Essential support for under 25s
Essential support for under 25s
Take a look around and enjoy reading the discussions. If you'd like to join in, it's really easy to register and then you'll be able to post. If you'd like to learn what this place is all about, head here.
Comments
Evolution in warfare, you mean. There is an Israeli who wrote a great book on the 3 stages of war, can't remember his name though. He was wrong, because there is at least a fourth emerging, but its a good read nonetheless.
True - but most civilians victims of war die from disease and starvation, not from direct enemy action. This happens even today in wars like the Congo war so I expect it must have happened even more in medieval Europe where plague and starvation were already common.
US Marines 'summary execute 15 innocent men, women and children' in revenge for roadside bomb attack
Hearts and fucking minds, eh?
they were too soft and lax after the intial war was over, the rmeains of the forces still loyal to saddam had to be fought and that allowed the inurgents to build and anti american feeling to build and criminals to rise in number, terrorists to surge in (which is a plan in itself) and they were allowed to geta foothold.
these people had just come out of a country ruled by a regime of fear, fear the new and worked on them. The allies needed to carry ont hat sense but obviously not in the same way as saddam.
they needed to present a strong front. they should have had tanks in the streets and soliders out patrolling on every corner. This would show the potential insurgents what power the allies had and created psychological barriers to resistance.
But treat your locals right, still build up the political side, get facilities back online fast like water and electricty, fix up the hospitals. That would all have won support.
But now th einsurgency is so huge and easy sucide attacks all the time, the people , well some of them, are demoralised and now its a right fucking mess.
More plan and action, less PR is what was needed.
The only 'hearts and minds' policy the US seems to be pursuing in Iraq these days is to splatter the hearts and minds of Iraqis all over the walls of their own houses.
And the americans are getting away scot free?? They don't have a couple of thousand body bags sent home??
2 sides my friend.
Id like to repost something I did before as feel its relevent, reading whats above. can you beleive Walkindude but for a couple of phrases designed to make it humerous my post could be one of his, or one of the opinion of millions of Americans
I fully support the American action, more Bombing is definatly the way forward, especially if there dropped from airplanes and helicopters at a great height.
Its just the other day I was thinking about Iraq and obviously what they realy need there are more bombs, frankly they havnt had nearly enough explosions there. Some people would maybe disagree with me but then theyd be just commies, pinkos, homosexuals and anti-Americans.
The sooner Iraq's wake up and realise the selfless actions of the Americans are only for their benefit, to bravely bomb a country and dispose of its evil dictator, some of the far left comentators might think thered be other reasons for this action, but what do you expect from people who dont watch exclusivly Fox News.
Those Iraq's who arnt gratfull for the American presence in their country clearly deserve to die.
This will be the last push as the insergency is just the reminents of Sadam's regeime and a few forign fighters put there by the evil state of Iran, who isnt selflesly thinking of only the Iraqie people but just want to further their own power and they dont care how many people they kill to get it. They couldnt be more different than the saintly christian administration of George Bush
He is right, after the initial invasion American forces should have aggressively gone about hunting down th elast of Saddams old regime, while simultaneously protecting Hospitals, Schools, Electricity and Water facilitites. instead america went about protecting the oil industry and let everything fall in on itself in the country.
As for this Massacre story, as soon as the investigation is over and there is an official verdict saying they are guilty (most likely even though much of it seems exagerated from both sides) it will be clear to all concerned that America is losing control of its troops, much like they did in Vietnam. When will Iraq have its own Mai Lai Massacre i wonder, one much worse then this one.
18th March - Johann Hari writes a column titled "Why I was wrong about Iraq."
http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=831
What Walkindude (and apparently you too) have failed to see is that no approach the US could have possibly tried after they toppled Saddam's regime would have worked. They are still seen as unwelcome, highly despised and unstrusted illegal invaders in the eyes of the immense majority of Iraqis, including those who hated Saddam.
And more to the point, what the antiwar lobby had warned about 5 hundred trillion times in the build-up to the war also came to be true: removing Saddam in such fashion would create a very dangerous vacuum of power and order, and would let the country open to any and all sorts of fighters, insurgents and terrorists, from hardline Islamists to professional hijackers. Not to mention the different tribes and ethnic groups of Iraq to start fighting amongst themselves of course.
Still, it doesn't help that the US army chooses to break even more articles of the Geneva Convention and shows a total disregard for innocent lives.
All allied troops must be removed immediately and in full from the totality of Iraq and replaced by an UN peacekeeping force.. It might still not stop a civil war- perhaps nothing now will- but at least it will not make things steadily worse than they are.
about 33,000 to 37,000 civilians killed so far
Probably most shot by the fucking yanks.
I can't beleive how stupid/evil they are... some of the stuff they've shot couldn't be more obviously freindly if it tried. And shooting down a Tornado... when NO IRAQI PLANES EVER TOOK OFF.
Its sheer stupidity... not to mention the A-10 Pilot who shot at a British lot... for no reason... he went on a cowboy run just like that... obviously British too.
I admit i said specifically Saddams followers, i should have used the term "insurgents" as it is more broad. But that is what they should have done after the war ended and the "Peace" began. I am not talking or arguing on the merits of going to war, i think that has been argued out enough already and we would all just be going over ourselves for the umpteenth time.
Many Iraqis see the coalition as invaders to be hated, but an equal number would not want them to leave for fear of what might happen if they did. Sadly the UN has no military of its own and with out America or British muscle to back up the UN they would lose control of the country and fail miserbly as they did throughout the entire Bosnian war and in other parts of the world where the UN has basically fucked up over and over again.
Regrettable, but not unforseen - he is a leftie after all.
There are notable exceptions - George Orwell springs to mind.
the world isn't black and white aladdin, and you shouldn't be so smug.
You're quite fond of daft comments with no basis in reality aren't you?
The stop the war coalition is one of the most repulsive organisations in the UK and, along with the Respect party, is absolutely devoid of any laudable principles.
The mainstream face of the left in the UK has given up on the struggle against fascism - and for that they can never be forgiven.
No notice need be taken of these people. It does not matter what they think. It never mattered what they thought.
What sort of principles are you talking about exactly?
It isn't.
I'm with you on that as it goes. Respect are a joke.
Opposition to fascism and solidarity with oppressed people across the world.
They are actually a front for Respect/SWP.
What are you on about now?
Principles which anti-war leftists abandoned long ago.