From Infomation Clearing House

They're Leaving as Heroes?


Things which don't go away. Things the American government and media don't let go of. And neither do I.

By William BlumSeptember 01, 2010 "Information Clearing House"

"They're leaving as heroes. I want them to walk home with pride in their hearts," declared Col. John Norris, the head of a US Army brigade in Iraq. 1

It's enough to bring tears to the eyes of an American, enough to make him choke up.
Enough to make him forget.

But no American should be allowed to forget that the nation of Iraq, the society of Iraq, have been destroyed, ruined, a failed state. The Americans, beginning 1991, bombed for 12 years, with one excuse or another; then invaded, then occupied, overthrew the government, killed wantonly, tortured ... the people of that unhappy land have lost everything — their homes, their schools, their electricity, their clean water, their environment, their neighborhoods, their mosques, their archaeology, their jobs, their careers, their professionals, their state-run enterprises, their physical health, their mental health, their health care, their welfare state, their women's rights, their religious tolerance, their safety, their security, their children, their parents, their past, their present, their future, their lives ... More than half the population either dead, wounded, traumatized, in prison, internally displaced, or in foreign exile ... The air, soil, water, blood and genes drenched with depleted uranium ... the most awful birth defects ... unexploded cluster bombs lie in wait for children to pick them up ... an army of young Islamic men went to Iraq to fight the American invaders; they left the country more militant, hardened by war, to spread across the Middle East, Europe and Central Asia ... a river of blood runs alongside the Euphrates and Tigris ... through a country that may never be put back together again.

"It is a common refrain among war-weary Iraqis that things were better before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003," reported the Washington Post on May 5, 2007.

No matter ... drum roll, please ... Stand tall American GI hero! And don't even think of ever apologizing. Iraq is forced by the United States to continue paying reparations for its own invasion of Kuwait in 1990. How much will the American heroes pay the people of Iraq?

Iraq - 7 Years On - Shame, Shame, USA

I came accross a heap of anti war slogans the other day. Something grabbed me inside, gut wrenching.

Iraq is English for Vietnam.
Bomb a child, make a terrorist.
How many lives per gallon
How did our oil get under their soil
God does not bless only America
Born to drill, born to kill

I saved the best for last. If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention.

All of these were tagged "Iraq". I didn't see much on the Gulf War, nor the deliberate use of Depleted Uranium to poisen Iraq's water supply. Not much about the horrific birth defects and cancers caused by DU and it's ever lasting effects.

The combat soldiers have now left, so we're told. Look at the bloody mess they have made, it's like Vietnam. A complete and total cockup. We promised never again to treat our soldiers like we did after that war, and as far as I know we haven't. In the West we tend to believe out Governments. Who to blame? The US Administration, and not just Bush, this goes back a long way before him.

Say what you like about Saddam, but Iraq was better off with him there. There were no suicide bombers, people were going about their daily lives, they had jobs, homes, and their children, Mothers, Fathers, brothers, sisters were alive. They lived side by side the majority of the time with no problems. Sunni, Shia, Christian inter married.

My Mum told me this while Bush was chest beating, prior to Shock and Awe, "if they remove Saddam they take the lid off Pandora's Box, and while Saddam is not perfect he knows what would happen to the country without a strong ruler". She was so right, it happened.

The US has torn her apart limb from limb, sliced and diced, destroyed her people. anarchy now rules.

Will they ever be able to put themselves together again? Will they be able to find a man to put that lid back on Pandora's Box? My heart says yes, and my head says no.

SHAME SHAME USA

One last quote from Madeleine Albright on the loss of 500,000 Iraqi children: It was worth it.

Australian Election - Hung Angel

Australia with a hung Parliament?

Watching the results of the Federal Election on TV,
interesting the swing to Liberal, and most probably because of the way Kevin Rudd was disposed of.

One person called Julia Gillard "Lady McBeth in Mary Poppins" clothing. What a mess Labor have made of things.

The Labor power brokerers, including the AWU have made the biggest mistakes of their lives by stabbing Rudd in the back. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

I have always voted Labor, I did so today as well, but with trepidation. I wouldn't vote Green or Independant, because no matter what anyone says, it's a wasted vote.
They HAVE to throw their vote with either Labor or Liberal, no choice there.

There will be (they predict) in the Senate 1 Green and 3 Independants, with an equal amount of Libs and Labor Senators. So, a hung Parliament.

Either major party need 76 seats to win, and neither party's number cruncher is confident that will happen.

.................Australians wait and wonder.

Angel Tears - R.I.P. Diesel

Diesel had been a bit "0ff" the last couple of months, not wanting to walk, but was eating OK. Thought he had a bit of Arthritis.

He collapsed yesterday, and was taken to the vets. They put him on a drip and did blood tests. He had Kidney failure, which effected his heart. Died 11am today.

RIP Diesel, forever in my heart.

Israel Attacks Flotilla - PIRATES

How does Israel get away with all this stuff?

The flotilla was in International waters, Israel had no right to board, yet they do so in darkness and then claim they were attacked first.

Errr, that sounds to me like an act of piracy, yet it gets ignored. Why? If Sadaam had done this, you would have hanged him. Again.

If someone landed on my boat without asking, I would be hitting first and asking questions later.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25592.htm, All at Sea. This article makes a lot of sense.

So, what were those Israeli Commando's doing landing on boats in International Waters? ABSAILING?

Geelong Cats: Stars AGAIN!

You are fantstic Cats, and rose to the occasion last night against the Pies.

What an amazing game game of footy, so hard fought by the you and the Pies, 2nd and 1st on the ladder respectively.

I have a hard time watching games, I get so damn emotional, my son attended the match and lost his voice due to all the cheering.

Anyway, well done.

GO CATS

Aussie Angel - No Longer Stateless

I wrote about being stateless here. http://angelsangst.blogspot.com/2008/03/stateless.html

Guess what? No longer!!!! Finally a Citizen. I'm ecstatic.

They "found" me, actually they didn't really but after all this time I guess they decided that I had earned the right. I had a lengthy interview, sat my Citizenship Test, filled in piles of paperwork, had to get photo's authenticated, etc.

Anyway, here I am. Australian. BUT I will NEVER forget my roots.

Electrrifying Angel

Electricity. What would we do without it?

Had a really frightening encounter with electricity on Good Friday.

Our power had been going on and off every few minutes, computers and microwave beeping all the time. We thought we were having power surges. Not so.

About 2pm we had no power to the appliances in the kitchen, then the toaster worked but not the microwave, swapped plugs and the same thing. Weird. We thought maybe the microwave have given up the ghost, the next thought was that we could be up for some rewiring, which we can ill afford.

All of a sudden the computer box in the kitchen went up in smoke. While I raced around and turned things off G got the computer outside. Next thing the monitor in G's "junk" room was pouring out smoke. This became seriously scary for me as G had to leave for a nightshift and I was by myself.

I rang the power company and was told there had been no power surges in my town since 6am when the guy had started his shift. I explained what had happened, and said I was too scared to turn on anything for fear the house would burn down. He was great and sent out 2 guys to have a look.

The repairman came to the door and said he could see a major problem from the ground, and pointed to a damaged cable running from the power pole to the house, there was about 10 inches of melted rubber, with exposed wires underneath. They replaced the wire and turned the power back on, nothing else went up in smoke, thank goodness. He placed the blame solely on that cable as they had checked everything else as well. He also said the cables in this area were quite old and it was probably the original cable, circa 1975.

I spent a really nervous night, each time I turned something on I stood and watched it just in case.

I think we were very lucky we were at home to turn things off , and that it didn't happen at night. We could easily have lost the house and possibly our lives. We do have smoke alarms, but I sleep like the dead and wouldn't hear the alarm. Burglars, that is NOT an invitation to you!!!

We lost a heap of stuff which the power company takes no liability for, but will pay pro rata, something to do with depreciation. The contents insurance was due on the 25/3, and hadnt been paid, so no joy there.

We are down a lot of dollars, but have our lives and the house. I am truly grateful.

Indians in Australia - Reverse Racism

A very touchy topic at this time, never -the - less, I have a fairly strong opinion.

There has been a lot of press in India re their students being targeted by Australians, hence the title "Australians are racist". The Indian press even went so far as suggesting Victorian Police were akin to the American KKK, showing pictures of the same.

I have lived here most of my life and have only heard one person make what I considered a truly RACIST remark, and it was about me. Odd don't you think, given my background? Just one comment.

There are of course the Aussie jokes about other countries, and I'm sure every other country has their own set of jokes about Aus. Jokes aside, this is no laughing matter.

In fact I think the bad press from India has stirred the proverbial pot, and made most Aussies furious about the comments. If they were sitting on the fence kicking back before, they definitely are not now.

In one particular attack, the people were of Asian appearance, quite possibly students themselves. Also, I wonder if Pakistanis are involved, given the conditions between themselves and India? In fact statistics show Indians are far more likely to be killed in their own country, more likely to be bashed and robbed, and more likely to be blown up.

So I ask you, why are there such large Indian / Asian / Italian / Greek / Middle Eastern etc. communities in Australia? Why did these people immigrate and / or come to study here? Because conditions are horrendous? Because they are likely to murdered or attacked?

Yes, people do get targeted, every race including so called "white" people get their fair share as well. This is REVERSE RACISM by India , and most unfair.

Then we get to "no one from India commits a crime here". Bullsh*t! This week a very tragic case, the murder or a gorgeous 3 year old Indian boy, Gurshan Singh. The crime committed by? A 23 year old member of his own household, Gursewak Dhillon. I know how Gurshan's parents are feeling, as I have also lost a child.

Then we have the rape of a 40 year old woman in a Taxi committed by the 21 year old driver, an Indian student, Rajveer Singh. Also I will cite the case of the Indian student who was charged with Manslaughter and drink driving after the car he was driving crashed, killing one person. He was given bail, and fled back to India.

Do you think I would label all Indian's as murderers and rapists because of the examples shown? No, I definitely would not, and neither would the majority of Australians.

So India, get over your REVERSE RACISM.

Iraqi Writer / Blogger Hiba Al-Shamaree

Hi Readers, I have just read An Arab Woman Blues, link provided.

http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2010/01/urgent-update-iraqi-female.html

Please read Layla's article and support Dr Hanan Ali Ahmad Al Mashadani. ala Hiba Al-Shamaree.

We don't know how lucky we are until something like this comes to light. We need to remember the simple things we take for granted are not a "given" in other countries.

http://www.intheshadowofthepalms.com/

Shlama. (Thank you Carol and Hilda for the Assyrian Lessons!)