I'm Worried!

[firstsgtmike]

We are in a "damned if you do, and damned if you don't" situation. And I'm not sure exactly what would be better in the long run. Right now, in Iraq, we seem to be on a roll, that's great, but I recognize it also ensures a long term downside, and it worries me.

Granted, there is a different type of reporting now, than in Desert Storm, but the differences in the two actions are part of my fears.

Where is the Iraqi air force? I've heard no mention of it.

Where are the Iraqi units standing to face us? The Elite Guard has been withdrawn to Bagdad, but I haven't heard about troop coincentrations being bombarded. Buildings, Palaces, and barracks, but not the troop concentrations.

Where are the WMD's. So far, several SCUD missiles have been fired, nothing else found that would justify our invasion.

There has been no count of civilian casualties. When that count is verified and compared to the number of US and British casualties, we may have more to answer for.

What about the reports of tons of explosives being sent to the oilfields? They weren't used (yet). are they still there, have they ever been there?

Promised, and anticipated, chemical and biological attacks, have not materialized.

WHY?

Do I want to see ANY of these things happen? HELL NO!

But we WILL pay a price for them NOT happening, when we cannot prove to the peacenics of the world that we were right and they were wrong.

Damned if you do, and damned if you don't. And THAT'S what worries me.

So far, it would seem that the greatest power the world has ever known has picked on a poor defenseless country for our own sinister purposes.

Do I believe that, about sinister purposes? NO! But most of the rest of the world will.

They will not consider, or give us credit for all of the details and preparations that went into ensuring a relatively bloodless victory. Unless taking Bagdad bloodies us. And I don't want THAT to happen either.

Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

I'M WORRIED!

[SheWolf]

you've got a point

[Art Petersn]

First Mike I have been wondering the same things.

It could be they know if they do use them that it will even get worse for them and surrender would not be an option.

[SheWolf]

was gonna add that it won't matter, if we find wmd's someone will accuse us of planting them there............

[Sgt Sostand]

I think the USA is be Smart at it

[firstsgtmike]

Since I first started this thread, the action has heated up. Still, I would write it again today. Let me add something to it, that gives me cause to pause.

Every news report I have read contains the following disclaimer:

EDITOR'S NOTE: This report was written in accordance with Pentagon ground rules allowing so-called embedded reporting, in which journalists join deployed troops. Among the rules accepted by all participating news organizations is an agreement not to disclose sensitive operational details.

This tells me that the press releases are reviewed (censored). I can't believe that not one of the "reporters" was anti-war, anti-military. You cannot see this in their "approved" dispatches.

As an outsider, looking in on the human race, I'm curious as to what articles, books, and papers will be written by these embedded correspondents AFTER they are released from the Pentagon's ground rules.

"The Truth Can Now Be Told" by ...........(war correspondent).

(I'd make a fortune if I could reserve the rights to that title, and variations thereof.)

My outlook on "current events" was forever changed by two events. Reading Michner's "The Source", and viewing the top of, and then floating down the river through, the Grand Canyon.

If I were to add a third, it would be an understanding of the significance of "And this TOO shall pass away."

Unfortunately, even historians must live through a specific period in time, and are unable to pick and choose their times.

As an outsider, viewing the human race in THIS period of time, I'M WORRIED.

[firstsgtmike]

Here's a newspaper article for you. An example of failed expectations we and our brothers will be paying for.


Hunger turns Iraqi civilians against self-proclaimed US saviors

NASIRIYAH -- Days into the US-led war, Iraq's civilians are still waiting for the food, water and other help Washington and London promised they would distribute behind their advancing soldiers.

But with unexpectedly tough combat holding up the humanitarian aid convoys, hope is rapidly turning to anger against the invaders.

"This war has quickly turned us into beggars," an old man who gave his name as Farak said as he sat on the side of a road in southern Iraq Monday.

In this part of the country, at least, years of UN economic sanctions that stripped cupboards have now been replaced by a fierce war, which is depleting the few remaining valuable provisions, resulting in a severe penury.

With no running water and no electricity, and food all but gone, the inhabitants of the desertic south have slipped into despair, no longer believing in the US promises they would be taken care of. There are no celebrations to greet the Western troops.

"We've been abandoned to our fate. Nobody has given us anything to eat. Nobody is providing security. All they do is arrive here, attack Saddam's forces, then leave," said Hussein Yaber, a 20-year-old shepherd living in a barn south of Nasiriyah.

Monday, he was forced to buy 300 litres (65 gallons) of water from various trucks driving down from the north because his family now had no more drinking water.

"We can't remember when the situation has been so bad," he said -- a telling comment in a region with a Muslim Shiite majority long oppressed by the Sunni minority that runs Iraq.

Because of the desperation, incidents of looting and assault have broken out in recent days, resulting in several people being hurt.

On Sunday, a 10-year-old girl died when she stepped on one of the innumerable landmines laid by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's followers around the border town of Safwan.

"Why did an innocent girl step on it and not an American?" asked Yaber, a resident.

According to the only doctor in Safwan, Ali, basic medicine is urgently needed, including analgesics, antibiotics, and drugs for gastroenteritis -- a constant health problem because of frequently contaminated drinking water.

The nearest hospital is in Umm Qasr, the port town 20 kilometres (12 miles) to the east where a small group of Iraqi fighters have been able to hold out and fire shots at coalition soldiers for four days despite aerial bombings and artillery shelling.

"If the (US and British) soldiers are among us for only a short time, we could try to respect them. But if they have come to stay, there are going to be a lot of problems because the United States only wants to destroy Islam," affirmed a young Safwan man driving a car with a white flag flying from its roof.

Nowhere in Safwan were the scenes of celebration or relief US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair had been counting on to confront their critics.

Although the town was the first to fall to the coalition troops without resistance last Friday, by Monday the British patrols were receiving no victory signs from the children in street.

The atmosphere is tense, and the soldiers posted at the entrance and exit of the town can do little to assuage the growing anger directed at them.

Near one of the tanks stationed next to a torn-up portrait of Saddam, a local man said: "The United States hasn't understood that it's not going to be able to kill Saddam Hussein with this war. For better or for worse, he has already become a legend." AFP



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