Early news reports sound like the military phase of the war on terrorism is kicking into gear. Air drops?
Sustained air strikes for several hours to come with huumanitarian aid air drops - Pentagon. They say they’ll take out Taliban air assets right away.
News junkies - you’re on!
Prez is on the tube.
I say with full appreciation of the irony.
Did you see his prerecorded speech in which he cast the blame back on the US, and simultaneously ststed that this is, in fact, a war between Islam and non-Muslims. What a disingenuous, self-righteous, ankle-biting asp.
He also accomplished something else. He all but admitted his involvement with the 9/11 attacks, thereby giving us all the justification we need for screaming for his head. And if you look very closely, I believe he also admitted his own cowardice by not owning up to the actions dictated by his moral stance.
One can only hope that in the near future the Taleban will only be a gruesome footnote in the history books. What a bunch of scum! As for bin Laden, I still think giving him a sex change operation and releasing him in Afghanistan is the best idea yet. No martyr, no prisoner for which hostages might be taken, just a thoroughly twisted maggot getting what he richly deserves. He should be fed whatever they snip off from him in the process.
I hate war. I hate it with a burning passion. I pray for all the innocent lives that are going to be lost, this whole thing makes me sick.
But I also understand that there is no other alternative. I wish there were. I know this post is disjointed, I am just so upset right now that I can’t think straight.
Unfortunately you’re right Scotti; there is no other way. I can’t help but wonder how this is all going to play out. I’m afraid it may not be all that easy, in both the short term and the long.
I like what Rumsfield had to say: “There is no silver bullet. There is no single thing that will remove this threat forever.”
Unfortunately, very true. I echo what Scotti said above.
Any troops on the ground yet?
One Marine is worth a hundred Taliban punks.
It feels like I’ll never sleep again.
I woke up at 2:30am Australian time. I couldn’t get back to sleep. At 3:20am (or thereabouts) I found the news about the bombings.
You know, I haven’t slept through the night in nearly a month now. I’ve been dreading this day all that time, and America’s day is my night.
I hope we all live long enough to tell our grandchildren about this terrible time in history. Has the world ever before faced a war with so many weapons of mass destruction out there?
Aw, to hell with all this hand-wringing. It’s ass-stompin’ time!
This is not going to be a hundred hour war. I listened to a congressman earlier who said it probably won’t take as long as the Cold War (33 years! :eek: ), but it could take years. There’s a lot of positive change that could come, but so much that could go wrong.
Oh well, one thing is for sure and that is that it’s unavoidable and underway.
I was at a football game when I heard. I was buying fries, and they broadcast it on the radios out in the concession stand area. I got really, really scared.
Then, at halftime, they showed Bush’s address. As soon as it started, the stadium went silent. Dead silent. Like, 6,200 people, many of whom were probably pretty buzzed from the stadium beer, and every single person was sitting there looking at the screen. Nobody said anything.
At that moment, I realized that as bad as this has the potential to be, we are doing it for the right reasons, and the kind of unity that I witnessed is what is going to make sure that we come out of it having won, and done some good in this process. God bless America, and all of our troops over seas.
The Dept of Defense stated last week that special forces troops were already in-country. Of course, they won’t say exactly who or what they’re up to, but there are some serious ass-kickers on the ground over there. Likely candidates include:
The British Special Air Service (SAS) - the original Special Forces outfit. Tough does not even BEGIN to describe these guys.
The Delta Force - Top-secret US Army special warfare, hostage rescue and anti-terrorism unit.
US Navy SEALs (Sea, Air, Land forces) - Born out of the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT’s) of WWII, they are trained to fight in any environment and win while outgunned, outmanned and separated from friendly support.
US Army Rangers - created along the lines of the SAS, battle-tested since the Normandy invasion. These are the famous Green Berets.
US Marine Corps Force Recon - Like regular Marines, only tougher and more dangerous to the enemy. Hoo-rah!
US Air Force Special Operations - Use specialized aircraft to insert special forces from other services behind enemy lines, also conduct psychological warfare and propaganda operations. Aircraft include heavily armed helicopter transports, various converted C-130 transports, etc. including the AC-130 gunship - a cargo plane with 20mm rotary cannons and 40mm howitzers pointing out the left side of the aircraft. Can concentrate fire on a single point by flying a tight orbit.
US Army Airborne - not technically “Special Forces,” but they have earned their reputation as the toughest of the conventional US Army forces.
The Australians have stated their intention to supply around 100 of their own SAS troops - these guys train in the Outback and enjoy it - and may already be involved. Potential exists for German and Canadian special forces and the French Foreign Legion to join up before long - both nations have pledged to join the fight with military forces.
I guarantee you that I have probably left several organizations out of this little summary. Folks, feel free to correct me or add to this list.
From his column of September 25:
***** “Any troops on the ground yet? One Marine is worth a hundred Taliban punks.”
“Aw, to hell with all this hand-wringing. It’s ass-stompin’ time!”
etc.
Isn’t that special? I love it when John Carroll waxes poetic.
And what does this genius think we should do? Hide under the bed?
This has nothing to do with what happened for the past 50 years. It has everything to do with destroying a vicious, murderous group of terrorists.
All you need to do to answer that question is read the section I quoted above. If you need a little more context, click on the link and read the whole column.
The only thing JC advocates here is acknowledging the truth of what is going to happen. He makes no statements containing the words ‘we should’ or ‘should not.’ He makes a statement concerning what troubles him. Seems clear enough to me.
Cute. Because, as we all know, events that occur in the real world have no relationship with the historical context in which they occur. Any action taken by any person is an isolated occurrence, existing only in its own moment and sharing nothing with any other moments past or present. Right? Please. Here’s an example of what this could have to do with.
Oh, please.
We all have an idea of what will happen, and we certainly don’t need John Carrol to point it out.
But since he has gone to the trouble of pointing it out, perhaps, in the interests of balance, he should have pointed out that America has not been the only villian these past 50 years.
He can talk down to his readers if he likes, but some of us won’t appreciate it.
I guess I can sum it up by saying, “John, stop with the breast beating and tell us something we don’t know.”
We all have an idea of what will happen, and we certainly don’t need John Carrol to point it out.
[/QUOTE]
Well, obviously, I disagree. I don’t think we ‘all’ have an idea of what will happen. You’re not making a point, so all I can say is what I’ve said already.
The Unites States is going to kill innocent women and children, on purpose, and be glad of it. This isn’t a game. It’s not funny to bomb people. This isn’t ‘ass-stompin time.’
People do not get that. And I think there should be more people talking about it, not less. I think as many people as possible should be using as many media of communication as they can to talk about how we’re undertaking to knowingly commit acts of destruction that will dwarf the terrorist attacks on the world trade center, and we are undertaking to commit them on people that did nothing more to deserve to be killed than did anyone that died on September 11 in New York City or Washington DC.
I understand that this is probably a contentious opinion. Please note that I’m not saying we shouldn’t be going to war, and I’m not saying that we should do nothing but cower in fear from terrorism. I’m saying that we should acknowledge the truth of what we are doing. That’s all. I also probably should not have expressed such a contentious opinion right now, since I’m leaving for work and won’t be back for hours. But what are you gonna do.
White Lightning:
Who says we’re going to be glad of it? I completely support what we’re doing. However, despite our technology and our best efforts, it’s pretty much inevitable that some innocent lives are going to be lost. It will not be on purpose. This aspect does not make me “glad” in any way. Nor does it make the rest of the American people “glad,” with the exception of, I imagine, a few bigots.