The idea that 150,000 soldiers are sick because of uranium bullets is ludicrous. It's so blatantly obvious that it's a lie. Another interesting thing about a lie is that they are really hard to pin down. Where do they come from? Who spreads them? What is the purpose of the lie? Sometimes you wonder if the teller even knows they are telling one. Very strange.
Cubano. I wonder if your sinature "Freedom, I have much love for ya!!" is like the bumbper sticker on the drug dealers car that says "Just say no to drugs" ?
Ludicrous......They denied Agent orange for quite sometime......that was also a ludicrous lie that turned out to be the truth many years later.....
Good one.......If only we had more openmindedness and less insulsts maybe we would get a good discussion going...... I LOVE THE USA........but the fact remains that if this is true it could happen again...If it was your child going or maybe though man dotslash...u guys might be singing a different tune.....
Bush Supports Islamic Religious Extremists Bush`s Faustian Deal With the Taliban By ROBERT SCHEER The Los Angeles Times Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this nation still takes seriously. That`s the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban`s estimation, are most human activities, but it`s the ban on drugs that catches this administration`s attention. Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading anti-American terror operation from his base in Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998. Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul government will not turn over Bin Laden. The war on drugs has become our own fanatics` obsession and easily trumps all other concerns. How else could we come to reward the Taliban, who has subjected the female half of the Afghan population to a continual reign of terror in a country once considered enlightened in its treatment of women? At no point in modern history have women and girls been more systematically abused than in Afghanistan where, in the name of madness masquerading as Islam, the government in Kabul obliterates their fundamental human rights. Women may not appear in public without being covered from head to toe with the oppressive shroud called the burkha , and they may not leave the house without being accompanied by a male family member. They`ve not been permitted to attend school or be treated by male doctors, yet women have been banned from practicing medicine or any profession for that matter. The lot of males is better if they blindly accept the laws of an extreme religious theocracy that prescribes strict rules governing all behavior, from a ban on shaving to what crops may be grown. It is this last power that has captured the enthusiasm of the Bush White House. The Taliban fanatics, economically and diplomatically isolated, are at the breaking point, and so, in return for a pittance of legitimacy and cash from the Bush administration, they have been willing to appear to reverse themselves on the growing of opium. That a totalitarian country can effectively crack down on its farmers is not surprising. But it is grotesque for a U.S. official, James P. Callahan, director of the State Department`s Asian anti-drug program, to describe the Taliban`s special methods in the language of representative democracy: "The Taliban used a system of consensus-building," Callahan said after a visit with the Taliban, adding that the Taliban justified the ban on drugs "in very religious terms." Of course, Callahan also reported, those who didn`t obey the theocratic edict would be sent to prison. In a country where those who break minor rules are simply beaten on the spot by religious police and others are stoned to death, it`s understandable that the government`s "religious" argument might be compelling. Even if it means, as Callahan concedes, that most of the farmers who grew the poppies will now confront starvation. That`s because the Afghan economy has been ruined by the religious extremism of the Taliban, making the attraction of opium as a previously tolerated quick cash crop overwhelming. For that reason, the opium ban will not last unless the U.S. is willing to pour far larger amounts of money into underwriting the Afghan economy. As the Drug Enforcement Administration`s Steven Casteel admitted, "The bad side of the ban is that it`s bringing their country--or certain regions of their country--to economic ruin." Nor did he hold out much hope for Afghan farmers growing other crops such as wheat, which require a vast infrastructure to supply water and fertilizer that no longer exists in that devastated country. There`s little doubt that the Taliban will turn once again to the easily taxed cash crop of opium in order to stay in power. The Taliban may suddenly be the dream regime of our own war drug war zealots, but in the end this alliance will prove a costly failure. Our long sad history of signing up dictators in the war on drugs demonstrates the futility of building a foreign policy on a domestic obsession.
Just forget Saddam, no other country in the world apart from us and our puppy sees any need for military action. It's just propaganda BS from Junior, no less. Nobody is clamoring to after Musharraf of Pakistan, another dictator with ABC weapons whom WE are again supporting, even though he is the leader of a country that is a true breeding ground of terrorism, and where the state is involved in state terrorism against Kashmir. Not to speak about all the other barbaric regimes out there. It's just hypocrisy. This ridiculous propaganda about there being a factual necessity to take out Saddam with unilateral US military action has got to be the biggest piece of misguided propaganda this country has seen in a long time. Apart from Bushs favorite puppy Blair no other state in the world is falling for the facts twisted beyond recognition emanating from the White House. First we build Saddam up, let him get away with starting a war against Iran, all the way up to providing him with biological and chemical weapons, and we even accepted that he'd be using his BC weapons, not that we cared, but we're pretty good at that, after all, we also built up Osama Bin Laden and many other rogues and rogue regimes. Take our handling of Pakistan, and it's unelected military dictator, Pervez Musharraf. If any country is a breeding ground for terrorists it's Pakistan, that's where the Taliban got funding and expertise from, and of course also from the US, and that is also, where up to this day, the Islamists in Kashmir are being supported from, and where torture and killings are the order of the day. Add unto that equation that Pakistan has ABC weapons at it's disposal, as does India, and yet we're supporting Musharraf, just like we previously supported innumerous other dictators and their barbaric regimes. And yet government has the hypocrisy, of hoping that peoples memories are short, that they can then suddenly turn around and profess horror at the results of our political shortsightedness or just mere manipulations. Heck, not even Henry Kissinger sees any merit in Juniors little military adventure designed to distract from the hefty economic problems we have at home. Anyway, whatever happens, the USA are gonna go down this road alone because nobody else is dumb enough to fall for the Propaganda BS, and we'll be the only ones paying the bill. As for DU munitions, just a very quick and cursory check on google revealed the following: Of the 696 thousand American soldiers who participated in the Gulf War, about 436 thousand entered areas contaminated by DU shells. Dan Fahey (31, photo, based in Washington, DC) of the Military Toxicity Project, a civilian watchdog group investigating the environmental and health impacts of the use and dismantling of US weapons, studied material obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and announced in March 1998 that, "About 400 thousand soldiers may have been exposed to depleted uranium." The US Defense Department (Pentagon) attacked this estimate, claiming that his figures were utterly groundless. About eight months later, under pressure from the National Gulf War Resource Center (NGWRC) (head office: Washington, DC) created by Gulf War veterans, their families and allies, the Pentagon published a map of the areas in which DU shells were used. At that point, they admitted that about 436 thousand ground soldiers had entered areas where DU munitions were used in Kuwait and Iraq. The hazards of DU were known before the Gulf War. A military report in 1974 evaluating the medical and environmental effects of depleted uranium noted, "In combat situations involving the widespread use of DU munitions, the potential for inhalation, ingestion, or implantation of DU compounds may be locally significant." Another report issued in July 1990 by the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a company under contract to the military, identified the hazards even more clearly. Because depleted uranium is "a low-level alpha radiation emitter" it could be "linked to cancer when exposures are internal." It further warned, "Aerosol DU exposures to soldiers on the battlefield could be significant, with potential radiological and toxicological effects." Thus, the Pentagon knew the dangers of DU well in advance, yet did nothing to inform or educate its soldiers about that danger and took no protective measures. Highway of Death: Destroyed Iraqi tanks, trucks and cars lie everywhere. This road runs from Kuwait to Safwan at the Iraqi border and on to Basra. The American soldiers called it the "Highway of Death." (Courtesy of Cassandra Garner, taken March 1991 in southern Iraq) Click to view larger picture (51K) No Protective Equipment: These US soldiers are preparing to ship home US tanks destroyed by friendly DU fire. Here they are taking no measures whatsoever to protect themselves from radioactive contamination. All undoubtedly inhaled or ingested DU particles. (Courtesy of Douglas Rokke, taken May 1991, in Saudi Arabia) Click to view larger picture (49K) Investigation: These US soldiers are investigating radioactive contamination and potential protective measures after firing DU shells at this Iraqi tank brought to the US as a "spoil of war." They are wearing protective clothing and masks to prevent contamination. (Courtesy of Douglas Rokke, taken June 1995, at the nuclear test site in Nevada) Click to view larger picture (40K) In 1993, a report compiled by the General Accounting Office (GAO) stated, "The Army was not adequately prepared to deal with depleted uranium contamination." The reason given would be hard to defend to those who became casualties of this decision. "Army officials believe that DU protective methods can be ignored during battle and other life-threatening situations because DU-related health risks are greatly outweighed by the risks of combat." This attitude cost thousands of young men and women in their twenties and thirties their health and even their lives long after the war. Other Factors DU munitions were not the only source of the health problems that emerged after the Gulf War. Many soldiers were given medicines never approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They were exposed to intense smoke pollution from oil field fires, post-war destruction of Iraqi chemical weapons storehouses, and various toxic substances released during the war. Thus, numerous factors may be involved. Among the medicines the soldiers took under orders from their officers was an antidote to biological weapons called pyrisdostigmine bromide (PB). They also received a vaccine against botulinum and a drug to protect against anthrax. According to an investigation by the NGWRC, 250 thousand troops took PB, 8,000 received botulinum vaccinations, and 150 thousand took the anthrax medicine. A total of 696 thousand American soldiers took part in the Gulf War from August 2, 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, until July 31, 1991, when the last of the soldiers came home after shipping home American tanks destroyed by friendly DU fire. Of these, 579 thousand had left the military and 117 thousand remained enlisted as of July 1999. The Persian Gulf War On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded and conquered neighboring Kuwait, triggering the Gulf War. Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, insists that Kuwait, one of the world's major oil producing countries, is actually Iraqi territory. Taking the move as a grab for oil fields and a more dominant role among the Arab states, the US and other Western nations reacted ferociously. US President Bush, obtaining assent from the former Soviet Union and China, created a multinational force of troops from 28 nations endorsed by the UN and led by the US. Air attacks began on January 17, 1991, the ground war on February 24. With an overwhelming show of power, the multinational force freed Kuwait on the 26th. The fighting ended on the 28th. On March 3, Iraq accepted and signed a cease-fire designed by the UN Security Council. That cease-fire agreement prohibited Iraq from researching, developing, or possessing nuclear weapons, and required it to accept a survey team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/special/index3.html more: http://www.consultclarity.com/blazing/uranium.html http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/du.htm
There you go Rigel...something to back the Colonels smack up...now maybe u can show us were u got your answers from...thank you Tony the tiger... Just look up Rigel .....
That's really funny. On the one hand you try to pass off an out-and-out lie and at the same time you ask that we be more open-minded. It reminds me of one of Dante's sayings, "The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, during a moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.".
ok getting back on track... I agree that the US has done a lot of good in this world but that it has also unzipped its proverbial pants and whizzed on a lot of countries. I give you that. But at some point you have to realize that talking about the 'why' (whatever it may be) of the situation is not going to solve it. Some say that Saddam is there because of the US, some say its because he is a raging lunatic. Some say....whatever!! Everyone agrees that this guy is one hell of a dangerous sonofabitch. He sacrifices anyone and anything to get and keep power. He is hell bent on revenge for the Persian Gulf war. He is unpredictable and a psychotic with an army at his command. Now. I ask you: will talking about why Iraq is in such a mess help us to clean it up? will pointing fingers and blaming remove the massive burden on the shoulders of the innocent Iraqi civilians? will criticising the US hegemony save one child's life in Baghdad? So other than war what do you propose the world do about Iraq? If you were Kofi Anan what would you ask the UN do?