fresinha12

Body Count 1001 Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? By STAN GOFF These milestones come along, reminding us and the wrath struggles to break free again. The anger is never really absent, just dormant like a sleeping volcano. Back when the pack of professional liars in Washington DC and their slavish corporate press still had Americans brainwashed that Iraq was a threat to the United States, General Tommy Franks--then the chief military planner of the catastrophe in Iraq--said, "We don't do body counts." He didn't want anyone to know what might be behind the numbers. I could say the same thing now, as we arrive almost simultaneously at 1,000 US military fatalities in Iraq and the third anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. So I'm saying it. This is not a body count. This is not about the number of dead GIs. This is not about almost 7,000 wounded. It's not about 14,000 dead Iraqis, or any of the considerable inventory of macabre enumerations we might clinically extract from the orgy of cruelty that is now Iraq. We won't do body counts. War is more than a number. This war is an expanding ocean of unanswered pain, and it cannot be reduced to a number. One thousand times now, people have arrived home or looked out the front door only to see a military sedan, with two troops in their dress uniforms. This was my nightmare while my own son was there. An army sedan. When people see it, they know in that terrible instant that someone they pushed out of their own body, someone they saw take a first step and speak a first word, or with whom they made love, or the anchor in the stormy world that is a parent, someone called brother or sister or grandchild that sedan with the survival officer and the chaplain signifies that this someone has been erased and is no longer in the world with us, that something shocking has happened to the living body we once held close and will never hold again. One thousand times now, as George W. Bush and his entourage smirked and plotted and slapped each other on the back, those left to live have been flayed with grief then set adrift in the void of their own loss to seek some trifling scrap of consolation. Why? It's so the oxygen thieves who run the US Empire can chase after their grandiose delusions in drawing rooms, surrounded by an army of servants attending to their every whim, and so the class they represent can continue to accumulate money. That's why a thousand ripped up bodies have been shipped home--boxed and draped in bright new flags to sanitize the obscenity. These pampered fucking sociopaths have no conception of the anguish of ordinary people, of how inconsolable is this loss. When we reflect on the personal enormity and breathless depth of the sorrow of ordinary people that we know, then maybe we can begin to understand how that pain is mirrored in the ordinary Iraqi people who have been occupied--where their children have been bombed, homes destroyed, husbands and fathers and wives and mothers and best-friends and sons and daughters and grandchildren and neighbors and schoolmates killed and maimed, whole communities reduced to rubble, dignity daily kicked face first into the mud, humiliation their daily bread and fear their meat, the very soil transformed into a radioactive toxin that leaves women giving birth to pitiable monsters and people rotting in their own bodies from inexplicable malignancies. This is what we can appreciate about others when we begin with the loss of those we think of as our own. This is what we can comprehend about who is the real enemy here; when we begin to really see the kind of personal devastation that is the price of this war. And a price paid for what? The same Tommy Franks who didn't do body counts once, in his soldierly way, called Douglas Feith, one of the intellectual architects of this enterprise of grief, "one of the dumbest motherfuckers on the planet." Yet Franks--ever the obedient servant--has now climbed up on a political cross to sop up the guilt for the "Mission Accomplished" fiasco organized by Karl Rove's reptile myth-makers. Franks now enthusiastically campaigns for the election of George W. Bush, a de facto chief executive whose cognitive capacities make Feith look like Robert Oppenheimer. Franks is teaching us something right now far more significant than how to count or not to count corpses. He is teaching us with his example where our own culpability lies. Obedience. It would seem that Pete Seeger's lyrics from the last great American antiwar movement still apply: Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing? Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago? Where have all the soldiers gone? Gone to graveyards, everyone. Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will WE ever learn? Stan Goff is the author of "Hideous Dream: A Soldier's Memoir of the US Invasion of Haiti" (Soft Skull Press, 2000) and "Full Spectrum Disorder" (Soft Skull Press, 2003). He is a member of the BRING THEM HOME NOW! coordinating committee. His periodic essays on the military can be found at http://www.freedomroad.org/home.html. Email for BRING THEM HOME NOW! is bthn@mfso.org

The Heavy Hand of Putin Russia and Chechnia After Beslan By BÃœLENT GOKAY The intentional targeting of a school by Chechen hostage-takers and the cruelty and the brutality they employed against defenceless children has horrified the world. It is an atrocity and the Chechen fighters and Islamist terrorists who carried it out are ruthless criminals. Absolutely nothing progressive can come of such terrorist attacks on innocent civilians. The terrorist methods employed by these groups are absolutely reactionary and entirely counter-productive, and can neither be supported nor defended. To recognise this political fact and state it openly in no way minimises the criminal repression carried out by Putin and the ruling elite of Russia against the Chechen people. The hostage-taking and other similar actions are the inevitable consequence of a war that has long since taken the form of state-organised terror. The brutal war carried out by the Russian army and security forces for over 10 years in Chechnia has fuelled the growth of separatist movements, increasing the desperation of the local people and driving layers of young people towards Islamic radicalism and suicide bombing. Since the time of the tsars, the Chechen people have fought for their independence. The Russian rulers, for most of the time, despised their Muslim adversaries. They considered these fanatical fighters as half-witted and primitive, and treated all Chechens as rebels, bandits and terrorists. This had been the case in the 18th century, and it has been true for all Chechen opponents of Russia since then. In the Russian perception, the only way to deal with the Chechen resistance was (and still is) the policy of massive force, implemented with single-minded ruthlessness. The Soviet press provides rich material on the numerous trials of Sufi sheikhs from Chechnia and their murids in the late 1950s and 1960s. As a rule, the accused were always tried for "banditry" and "manslaughter". Russian leaders on the face of the evidence should have learned a good deal from history. One is struck by the repetition of the same remedies and mistakes in the military and political field for the last two hundred years. Putin's own rise to power was closely bound up with similar aggressive campaigns against Chechnia. In August 1999, Yeltsin nominated the largely unknown former security service veteran, Vladimir Putin, as head of the government. Shortly afterwards a series of bomb attacks destroyed blocks of flats in Moscow and other Russian cities, claiming hundreds of victims. Although the perpetrators were never properly identified, there were many indications that the secret service agency FSB was involved. Putin used the bombings as an excuse to once again undertake a full-scale military mobilisation against Chechnia. Appealing to Russian chauvinism and making crude attacks on Chechens he was swept into office as Russia's president on a wave of nationalist hysteria. According to the story published by Anna Politkovskaia, a journalist of Novaia Gazeta, an agent of the FSB infiltrated the group of Chechen terrorists who took about 800 people hostage in a Moscow theatre in 2002. This agent succeeded in escaping the building and surviving the government rescue assault, as a result of which 129 hostages and the whole group of about 50 Chechen militants were killed. If this report is true, then Putin's government is guilty not only of a cruel and merciless overreaction to the hostage crisis, but also of directly organising one of the greatest armed provocations in recent Russian history. The Russian army established a brutal dictatorship in Chechnia based on naked terror. Ten years ago Chechnya had a population of 2 million. Today it is 800,000. At least 80,000 have died since 1994 (over 40,000 them children). All major towns, including the capital Grozny, have been razed to the ground. These are figures supported by reports of human rights organisations such as Amnesty International. The total destruction of Grozny by bombardment and military occupation of Chechnia by a force over 300,000 illustrates the continued application of a tsarist type colonial policy. Even Putin was forced to concede his surprise at the extent of the destruction of the city when he visited Grozny in May, following the assassination of the pro-Moscow governor, Ahmad Kadyrov. During the last thirteen years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian federation has been attempting to restructure its political, economic and social systems. Underlying this structural transformation has been an effort to define a new Russian identity. Today, Russians are engaged in an ever-desperate search for their own identity. The break-up of the Soviet Union caused a tide of Russian nationalism. It is now popular to talk about a mono-ethnic Russia, a state of blood, a state of soil. Almost all groups of the present day Russian Parliament are overtly or covertly trying to exploit the "Great Russian idea". In the absence of an all-embracing visionary ideology and in the context of the current deep crisis, an outdated and nostalgic "Great Russian nationalism" has re-emerged as an unstable amalgam of the "glorious Russian past" and the authoritarian Stalinist legacy. The continuation of the war against Chechnia is indispensable for Putin's regime for two main reasons. First, the war gives him the excuse he needs for the building up of the repressive sate apparatus. Putin's government employs the threat of "terrorism" to legitimise its posture as a bulwark of law and order and security. Since Putin took over as president, the powers of security and intelligence services have been massively expanded. Secondly, Putin's measures in his "war against Chechen terrorism" are aimed at asserting the Great Power ambitions of the Russian ruling elite. The loss of this small republic would decisively weaken Russian influence in the north Caucasus--a region with vast international significance because of its rich oil deposits and its strategic proximity to the key oil pipeline routes. The decade-long extreme brutality of the Russian state-run policy of terror and impunity has turned Chechnya into living hell, and those hostage-takers in Beslan were, like it or not, the children of this hell. But the genocidal policies of the Russian government in Chechnia, and tens of thousands Chechens killed cannot justify the hostage taking action in North Ossetia. Such cruel acts against civilians will only strengthen the hand of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and further antagonise the broad mass of the Russian people.

what do u think russia has been doing in chechnya for the past 100 years?? terrorist should be dealt with in a police type action? the terrorist represent groups not nations....military action is too big and there is a huge collatoral damage, doesnt help the situation, what is needed is surgical police action, go after a group of em or individuals hiding in places...... militaries are good in destroying assets such as strategic bases, armory, tactical units such as armored division, light armor division and light infantry units....none of these apply to terrorist, they drive in one or two cars, look like any other car on the street, they dress like other people on the street etc....what we need is a police/intelligence driven action, go after em one by one, it takes time but that IMO is the only way to deal with it!

ladies: question for y'all. I was reading this thread somewhere about hairstyles etc, and i noticed.... Lately at clubs, I have had my hair pulled by women alot. First they start by rolloing their finger thru and then when they get excited they just grab it full force followed by a "ahhhh" sound....whats with that? is that a new trend? cuz if it is stop it....I am afraid a few ladies pulled some of my hair off...LOL but what is that turns you onn about hair and hair pulling/grabing? I mean is it turn on or is it just a way to stay balanced while I am doin ma salsa??

well i dunno about what syle is in, but i can vouch for the fact that the ladies like to run their fingers thru my hair and grab it....lately out clubbing i have had a quite a few number girls just roll their fingers thru my hair and when the get excited they would just grab it....weird, i tell ya..weird....

Hi. Reasons to date me: - I am a man. This means the following: - I have a penis (dimensions upon request) - I have two testicles (dimensions upon request) - I complain - I have a poor morning disposition (references upon request) - I emit occasionally offensive odors - I will embarrass you more than you embarrass me (extrapolated from historical data) - I eat meat (see note above re: offensive odors) - I drink - I drink more than you (assuming you weigh less than 175 pounds) - I drink to get drunk (see note above re: poor morning disposition) - I drink to make you fun - I curse (if you don't like it, fuck you) - I am fun (ask anybody, except your friend Jessica - she's a bitch anyway) - I employ logic to solve a problem - Predicting my disposition is as simple as knowing the winning percentage of the NY Giants - I hate your ex-boyfriends - I like fire, with or without the cigarettes - I do stupid shit like testing the absorbancy of spinach gnocchi at a dinner party whenever the conversation bores me - I recognize that when someone utters the phrase "This is so fun/great/exciting/etc" they are internally miserable - I lie, but only to avoid offending you ("Those jeans look great on you") - I watch porn (frequency is inversely proportional to our sexual frequency) - I am presumptuous (see note above re: our sexual frequency) - I watch sports - I listen to music that makes me feel good - I say your friend is getting fat when I know damn well she weighs less than you do - I hate PDA - I think you have at least 2 hot friends - I am messy - I think your friends suck - I am confident, mainly as a result of general indifference - I smell like one of the following: cologne, soap, deoderant, your cigarette - I am smart enough to know when to end a pointless argument - I love me, with or without you What I'm looking for: - A woman This means the following: - You have a vagina (details on plumage to be sent with picture) - You have two breasts (dimensions to be sent with picture) - You bitch - You have a poor disposition (every 28th day or whenever you feel like blaming your own problems on me) - You emit occasionally offensive noises (like that laugh you fake over the phone when responding to a joke you know isn't funny) - You are easily embarrassed (thanks to a genuine concern for what strangers think of you) - You eat chicken and sushi - You drink apple martinis - You drink fewer apple martinis than I do (assuming you weigh less than 175 pounds) - You drink to forget abusive ex-boyfriends - You drink to make me bearable to be around - You curse (and I like it) - You're fun, whenever you're not around your girlfriends (that Jessica turns you into such a bitch) - Your arguments lack cohesive thought processes and logic (your solutions are most often supported by all the empirical evidence contained in the sentence "just because.") - Predicting your disposition requires an intimate knowledge of string theory - You somehow cannot deduce that all of your ex-boyfriends are still trying to fuck you - You like to smoke socially, but only so as not to feel excluded - You do stupid shit like use my toothbrush to fish your mascara out of the toilet, or open a toxic can of paint with a knife taken from the same drawer that the screwdriver is in - You lack the ability to recognize that when you say "This is so fun/great/exciting/etc" that you are forcing it - You like it when I lie - You hate porn, but only because you know it can replace you, if only temporarily - You are presumptuous ("Where are we going for dinner?") - You watch reality TV - You listen to music that makes you cry - You say you're getting fat while wolfing down your 3rd slice of pizza - You like PDA because you're starved for attention - You hate knowing I think your friends are hot, and tell me embarrassing stories about them behind their backs in an effort to make them seem less desirable, when in actuality, you're making them seem more attainable - You are somehow messier than I am, but it's always my fault - You think your friends suck more than I think they do, but you'll never admit it - You have self-esteem issues, mainly as a result of nothing I can control - You always smell like your shampoo - You hate it when I am smart enough to realize when pursuing an argument is futile (see note above re: logic) - You love being with someone - Deep down inside, you know all of this is true

coporate world=your life, think about it! out of 24hrs of the day, you spend 8-9 hrs working, 2hrs commuting to work, 1-2hrs having lunch, 6-8hrs sleeping. that, guess what? leaves you with a full 5hrs to shit, shave, shower, sex and socialize with your other non-work friends...and of course that all screws up if you boss calls you home to ask for some small extra time to complete the project!

we'll see when u get a job! and have to take shit in order to see those benjamin franklins......you can b a doc or a McDs burger flipper, you just sometimes have to present yourself in a way that appeases people! and good for you, you should go for that doctorate! btw what field are you in? after working for sometime now, i am finally going for my JD next fall! but your degrees dont matter, still you sometimes got to appease people you would'nt even hire them to polish your shoes.... u'll learn, when as they say "when the rubber meets the road!"

that approach goes away when u age over 21...its called maturity! does wonderful things to ya kid! at least for me, now that I have been working for some time in the corporate world, peoples opinion is important, how much money you make, how much prestige you get is all dependent on peoples perception about you...you wont get that corner office when people around you think you are an asshole, believe me I know of no one who had the image last long in a company....i have come across boses who were real dicks! but somehow they all either got fired cause of that image or their big egos could'nt last with the bigger egos of their boses....

I dont know about you, but my opinion about myself is based on a constant feedback system along with my ability to judge how accurate that feedback is. It is important that I know how others view about me, yet it is important to know when they are way off, you should know better. Life is based on simple principles, learn to be humble, learn to respectful to others, be considerate but be direct when you need to be. As for physical appearence, my view is cant do much about it, god decided on that one! so i'm happy with what the lord has given me, i am better of thinking, thank god, the lord gave me 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 hands, one big monsterous dick, a mind, a nose, 5 fingers, 5 toes, 2 legs, etc...... but peoples views about your personality are important and should be taken into account, particularly when it comes to political views, your fairness in judgement etc...

killing can get some people aroused..some sick ppl aroused like u...why would anyone want to watch death and destruction on a sex board.....

ASk yourself why would anyone come after u to kill u.....I for one havent hurt anyone or violated anyone, I have no reason to believe anyone will come after me.... if u believe u r wanted, then its clear u have some shady past to hide...y dont u come clear explain what u did babbo?

no i think the article is a piece of shit...more like moslem hating...just like anti-semitism...based on prejudicial view points, I notice that its a lot more common amongst people from NY...and i believe Igloo is one of those! chechens are at least thought to be moslem but actually some are totally ignorant of islam. The famous black widows of chechenistan are group of women who lost a loved one either a husband, father, son or brother at the hands of the russian army. they are just simply out to take revenge on the russian and settle a score...one of these black widows was arrested and later interviewed by a british paper, and the author was shocked to learn that these women didnt know abc of islam, there is an excellent program on BBC on the black widows, I suggest you watch b4 u cut paste total crap... I for one have no particular desire for any religon, but I take as duty to learn what so many fellow humans follow, this concept of god and haven seems very strange to me personally but, I see some very logical and socially beneficial aspects to all religons...I think after talking to some of my chrisitan, jewish, moslem, hindu friends...I have come to a conclusion each person describes religon based on their personal views...forget the rituals, I am talking about the essence, the spirit of the religion and its unique to each person.....therein lies the problem in my opinion, It is not the fault of a religon but rather the fault in humans who follow it...

since when did u get to be the judge who belongs to human race and who doesnt?? as for one sound principle, I have lived by, dont piss off anyone to the extent that they are willing to kill u, even if it means their own death... I believe what we all need to understand is that fanatism is a very dangerous disease, even more than aids etc, and it inflicts a lot more of humans than we like acknowledge. fanasticsim infects us americans as much as it does to other nationalities..maybe a bit more for us, since we are brought up watching too much violence on TV.... I remember during one of my tours of duty prior to 9/11 one of our privates (he happened to be hispanic) came to me that there was short fall of amunition, I asked what the hell happened, he replied they guys at the base were using the bullets on seagulls as target practise....I dont know about you, but it shocked me that those seagulls were shot so we could sharpen our skills to kill...even though it meant taking a life of a creature...without knowing its language, we didnt even know if those seagulls were part of family or not....since we dont speak and those birds dont belong to our species somehow we were OK to use as targets...

Vote Nader......

not really....isrealis used to blow up market places, george washington used to attack civilian convoys with his militia army.... we bomb weddings in iraq and afghanistan killing innocent merry makers, they bomb us killing inncoent workers in buildings...... my friend the only way to keep terrorist as terrorists is to stop em from achieving their idelogical/political goals, as long as they dont achieve their goals, history will consider em to be terrorist.....

You dont need to thank us...thank the lord above for makin u so beautiful....

One mans terrorist is another mans freedom figher, I am sure King George thought of George Washington as a terrorist, isrealis consider Shimon Perez and Yitzak rabin as Freedom fighters, british and arab rulers thought of em as terrorists.... Our great soldiers are considered liberators but the iraqis think of em as occupiers.... As a person once said to me, there is a very fine line between a genius and a mad man, a genius is a mad man who succeeds! A freedom figher/ leader is a terrorist who has succeeded in his political objective!

man....this is getting explosive, it seems they are also investigating if this spy dude in some way or the other altered US DOD Policy... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/27/eveningnews/main639143.shtml

JAG are a central pool that represents all the branches of the military, though traditionally its headed by a Naval admiral reporting to the Secy of the NAVY....and to CNO. man dont question me on this...I spent 6 months at the Army War collge and National Security University just learning how are military is organized. It can be confusing....

I mentioned in some thread earlier that this guy doug feith is a very dangerous character, he has dual isreali-us citizen, and an admant arab hater, he along with wolfowitz and richard perle were the key architects for this war on iraq.... So somehow we have Gov Mccgreevy's lover an isreali citizen as a head of homeland security and now this....I think there is something more sinister going on..... FBI Probes if Official Spied for Israel 37 minutes ago Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo! By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The FBI (news - web sites) is investigating a Pentagon (news - web sites) official for allegedly spying for Israel, including the passing of classified materials about secret White House deliberations on Iran, a federal law enforcement official said Friday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the investigation is continuing and no arrests have yet been made. The investigation was first reported Friday evening by CBS News. David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said: "We categorically deny these allegations. They are completely false and outrageous." The law enforcement official would provide few details about the investigation, except to confirm that U.S. investigators are looking into the possibility that the Pentagon official passed classified information to employees at the main pro-Israeli lobbying group in Washington, the American-Israeli Political Action Committee, which then allegedly gave them to the Israeli government. AIPAC officials would not immediately comment. The federal law enforcement official refused to identify the Pentagon employee who is under investigation, but said the person works in the office of Douglas J. Feith, the Pentagon's No. 3 official. Feith, the undersecretary of defense for policy, is a key aide to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, working on sensitive policy issues, including American policy toward Iraq (news - web sites) and Iran. The federal law enforcement official, and another law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the investigation centers on whether the employee in Feith's office passed secrets about Bush administration policy toward Iran to the Israelis. President Bush (news - web sites) has identified Iran as part of an "axis of evil," along with North Korea (news - web sites) and the former Iraqi regime. Pentagon officials refused to comment, referring all questions to the Justice Department

yo nigga why dont u go and join the special ops??? they need men like u....all I am saying is, ppl like u say they died cuz they signed of for this, that is contemptious, respect the soldiers by becoming one....GOD when will people in this country stop pretending to be patriots and start becoming one.... U dont show any patriotism by saying so and so I know is in the army...I would b proud when u say u are one....that is such a fucking hypocritical statement u all make....become a soldier son....join the army or navy or whatever service u like.

b a real soldier son....not some pretty JAG officer....btw JAG are part of the US MARINE AND NAVY Service establishment, the army and air force actually dosent have its own JAG branch....

hey guys...as i had been saying this guy doug Feith (who is an under secty of defense) is an arab hater and an isreali agent...herz a breaking news on this.... .... FBI Probes if Official Spied for Israel 37 minutes ago Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo! By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The FBI (news - web sites) is investigating a Pentagon (news - web sites) official for allegedly spying for Israel, including the passing of classified materials about secret White House deliberations on Iran, a federal law enforcement official said Friday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the investigation is continuing and no arrests have yet been made. The investigation was first reported Friday evening by CBS News. David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said: "We categorically deny these allegations. They are completely false and outrageous." The law enforcement official would provide few details about the investigation, except to confirm that U.S. investigators are looking into the possibility that the Pentagon official passed classified information to employees at the main pro-Israeli lobbying group in Washington, the American-Israeli Political Action Committee, which then allegedly gave them to the Israeli government. AIPAC officials would not immediately comment. The federal law enforcement official refused to identify the Pentagon employee who is under investigation, but said the person works in the office of Douglas J. Feith, the Pentagon's No. 3 official. Feith, the undersecretary of defense for policy, is a key aide to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, working on sensitive policy issues, including American policy toward Iraq (news - web sites) and Iran. The federal law enforcement official, and another law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the investigation centers on whether the employee in Feith's office passed secrets about Bush administration policy toward Iran to the Israelis. President Bush (news - web sites) has identified Iran as part of an "axis of evil," along with North Korea (news - web sites) and the former Iraqi regime. Pentagon officials refused to comment, referring all questions to the Justice Department

I dont get it why they did'nt foul in the last minute and why they didnt take any 3 point shots in the last minute....