roybatty,
Are you sure that if the US attacks that things are going to be any better? The US has already stated that they're going to be using more depleted uranium weapons. Have you seen all the cancer, birth defects, etc that depleted uranium has caused there already? Who is going to be in charge there? How much is this going to cost the US when all is said and done? Just saw a report on tv a few days ago and the estimates were that this could cost as much as a trillion dollars when all is said and done. How much of this war is being dictated by lobbying and other interests, be it oil, military, israeli, etc interests? Is this going to fan the flames of Arab hatred towards the US?
We were told over and over that Saddam isn't crazy and isn't nuts. We told him in 1991 that if he used WMD on us that we'd nuke him (to paraphrase stormin' norman's words). He didn't and thus we didn't nuke him. Now all of a sudden he is going to start lobbing crap at us knowing full well Israel has 200+ nukes and the US has $5 trillion of nukes that would make Iraq glow so bright that it would be seen from outside the Milky Way.
The people of Iraq don't really have much of a choice but to want Saddam gone. a decade+ of sanctions, the world constantly going on and on about Saddam this and Saddam that, yeah I would want him gone too just to move on. Yeah he's a dictator and a brutal one at that but so have been a lot of the US' allies in the past. We gave Saddam (as did a lot of other countries) a lot of his weapons and now we're being told we have to go in there because he has this and that. Say that everything we're being told is true. Why aren't we holding our governments responsible for this? It's like this happens over and over and nothing is done about it and it just keeps happenin' and now all hell is getting ready to break out because of another mess we've gotten ourselves into.
Not true. The US military is spending billions of dollars to develop GPS weapons so that civilians aren't killed. Also, do you think the US military is going to carpet bomb Bagdad? Why not?
Here's an interesting article about the batteries that go into these 'smart bombs.' Some are defective and it was covered up:
Civilian deaths caused by American bombings are creating tensions in Afghanistan and the country's new government has promised angry tribal leaders it will warn the U.S. to be more careful.
"The people are not happy with Americans. They promised they would not kill civilians," the government has said.
One cause of the casualties: smart weapons that have gone astray, reports CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales. United Nations officials believe more are missing their targets than the U.S. admits.
In some cases guidance systems failed. The batteries that power the guidance systems of nearly all of America's smart weapons are made at this Eagle Picher Technologies plant in Joplin, Mo. Without power from the battery, a smart bomb turns dumb.
As CBS News first reported last month, former plant workers including engineer Rick Peoples worry the batteries are failing.
"People's lives depend on those weapons working and chances are they are not going to work," said Peoples.
Eagle Picher attacked his credibility and denied the batteries were faulty. But after the reports, others came forward to support the allegations.
"There's bad batteries out there, and it's gonna kill people," said Toni Goodwin.
Goodwin has been with Eagle Picher since she was 18. The day before the interview she received a gold watch for 25 years of service.
"I'd give it back if it meant they'd spend this money to do things right," she said.
She says she was prevented from properly calibrating test equipment so supervisors could cover up bad batteries.
"They could have made that equipment say anything they wanted."
In a small town like Joplin few people are willing to risk their jobs or the anger of their neighbors by talking on-camera. But off-camera, more than a dozen former and current Eagle Picher employees confirmed the batteries had big problems.
Others, who also worry the batteries are causing civilian casualties, spoke on-camera only after CBS News agreed to protect their identities.
"I think a lot of innocent people are gonna be killed," said one woman.
"The battery would fail and the proper data to make it pass would be fed into the computer and new printouts made," said one man.
Asked if the test was faked, he said, "Yes."
Workers say key battery components and chemicals were used without proper testing.
"I've been told to falsify records. I've been told to falsify test reports," said another man.
When tests were conducted, employees said they were ordered to ignore failures.
"I wouldn't trust nothing. I've seen too many failures," said another woman.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/07/eveningnews/main323443.shtml
Has this problem been fixed? If not, does anyone care to take another guess on the amount of civilian casualities in Iraq again?
And is this going to be better than the last Gulf War? Here's an article on the war crimes in the first Gulf War:
As a result of the bombing of facilities essential to civilian life, residential and other civilian buildings and areas, at least 125,000 men, women and children were killed. The Red Crescent Society of Jordan estimated 113,000 civilian dead, 60% children, the week before the end of the war.
http://www.deoxy.org/wc/warcrim2.htm
I know you're concerned about the people of Iraq. I am, too. I just fear that this isn't going to help it and is going to make it worse. I guess time will tell. Regardless, at least we'll get to use some nice military hardware.
"What's the point in having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it" -- Madeliene Albright
Edit: Sorry on how this sounded. Was just trying to bring up some points.
Edited by - seawolf on 15 February 2003 17:10:36
Edited by - seawolf on 15 February 2003 17:13:23
