Go Freeway Blogger...
Shock and Awe
A friend of mine flew A-10 Warthogs for the Air National Guard during the first Gulf War. This is how he described the last three days of battle:
"We'd load up with everything we had, fly for about twelve minutes and then just unload it on them. Everything. Then we'd fly back, load up and do it again. Over and over. Those poor fucks didn't stand a chance." The Iraqi retreat out of Kuwait was a rout. Tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers were killed by air bombardment. When I asked him how many people he thinks he killed he said "Hundreds." And he said it in a way that didn't mean two or three hundred, but some number in the unthinkable beyond.
My friend is, and always was a good guy. He joined with the Air National Guard because he wanted to fly. He knew that it might require him to kill, but he had no idea he'd end up killing so many. The result, as he put it, was "I'll never be happy again. Not like you, or other people... not like I used to be. I'll have good days, better days, good things can happen. But happiness... no. That's never really gonna happen again."
Even by the most conservative estimates, some 55,000 Iraqi soldiers lost their lives in the first Gulf War. Add to that however many tens of thousands were killed in this last go around, and we're talking a lot of men in uniform who died without a chance: blown to pieces by people like my friend who can only guess at how many they killed.
Next time you want to "Get" someone like Saddam Hussein, Mr. President, you do it with a goddam exploding cigar or something. This bullshit where we "get" someone by dropping high explosives on tens of thousands of people who aren't that guy... that's just got to stop. All this multi-billion dollar whiz-bang shock-and-awe technology isn't making us safer, it's making us assholes.
freewayblogger.blogspot.com
And on a more serious note...
Just a little memory boost...
WASHINGTON (IWR News Satire) - The Department of Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff today denied that he is the dreaded vampire Nosferatu. Many bloggers became suspicious after it was discovered that the paper Michael Chertoff read last Tuesday about New Orleans dodging the bullet was the Transylvania Times. "Look, I can't be the only person in Washington who doesn't have a reflection in a mirror or a crucifix phobia. Sure like many kids in the 60's I was blood sucking vampire, but I haven't bit anybody on the neck since 1987," said Chertoff to the hypnotized Washington press corps.
Do not miss this...William F. Buckley of the National Review...
It Didn’t Work
"I can tell you the main reason behind all our woes — it is America." The New York Times reporter is quoting the complaint of a clothing merchant in a Sunni stronghold in Iraq. "Everything that is going on between Sunni and Shiites, the troublemaker in the middle is America."
One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed. The same edition of the paper quotes a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Reuel Marc Gerecht backed the American intervention. He now speaks of the bombing of the especially sacred Shiite mosque in Samara and what that has precipitated in the way of revenge. He concludes that “The bombing has completely demolished” what was being attempted — to bring Sunnis into the defense and interior ministries.
Our mission has failed because Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an invading army of 130,000 Americans. The great human reserves that call for civil life haven't proved strong enough. No doubt they are latently there, but they have not been able to contend against the ice men who move about in the shadows with bombs and grenades and pistols.
We are upon Apocalyptic days...
Sumo, loved the freeway blogger spot. I have friends that, well, carry a heavy burden too.
Posted by
Yukkione |
3:42 AM
Sometimes I wonder if any of us will ever be happy again; that George Bush has ruined a good life for many and destroyed life altogether for others. Some great posts here, Sumo.
Posted by
Anonymous |
3:49 AM
War changes people, but not as much as the people who were killed and their families. All sad, and sadder still that it continues on. I'm in a "Sold" state!
Posted by
PBS |
4:25 AM
LOC...I think it is terrible that this has needlessly put pain in peoples lives whether here or in the middle east...or wherever they set their sights on.
PM...I wish I didn't feel this way...but I think we will not be the same. America has turned a corner and I don't think we'll like what we see.
PBS...I am in a blue state...but the city I live in is full of conservatives that are good old boys. Needless to say I don't spend my time with these people. And yes it is very sad that there seems to be no end in sight for the the families suffering the loss of their loved ones.
Posted by
sumo |
11:58 PM
Hey, I've been sold too! And he didn't even send me a damn check!
Posted by
Neil Shakespeare |
3:09 AM
Damn asshole for selling us out!
Posted by
sumo |
10:07 PM