Behold the Hatred, Resentment, and Mockery Aimed at Anti-Iraq War Protesters

As someone who protested against this war (and by protest, I mean more than just post anti-war postings to a forum only 10 people read, I actually went on the streets to protest) I expected to get a good laugh out of this article. And for the most part I did, but I did have to say I connected with some of the anti-protesters' reasoning.

Brendan O'Neill opposed the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. So why didn't he join anti-war protesters? "Most of the new antiwar groups express an entirely personal opposition to war, one based more on moral revulsion than effective political opposition," he wrote.
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Ya, I kinda get that. Protesting against war is different from protesting against THIS war. It's actually more persuasive if you can make the argument why THIS war is wrong, instead of why war in general is wrong. However, there was plenty of reasons why THIS war was completely wrong but those probably got drowned out with all the war proponents shitting all over the war protesters. This is also why I believe a highly focuses agenda is better than the scatter shot we often see at these rallies - it also forces your opponents to stay on topic. Perhaps a better organized anti-war movement might have been more successful? That too needs to be considered.

There's also this part:
Jonah Goldberg** titled a column about anti-war protesters "Saddam's Idiots," and posited that "every day, various regimes around the globe carry out horrible acts of aggression. But, with a very few exceptions, the international peace movement seems uniquely concerned about what it perceives to be unwarranted aggression by the United States, Israel and Europe, in that order."
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This irks me a lot. The same ones who are quick to demonize the US are the ones who look the other way when China or Russia do the exact same thing. Russia invaded Chechnya and has occupied it since 2001 and I've yet to see a single anti-Chechnya war rally anywhere in the US or Europe.

The reason I opposed the Iraq war isn't because I hate the US, it's because I didn't want to see the US bog itself down and didn't want to see a needless escalation of the war on terror. It's not because I didn't think the so called war on terror doesn't need to be fought, it does, but you gotta do it right and you gotta know who your enemies really are. The Iraq war set us back and killed thousands of people needlessly. At the very least Americans have for the most part realized how wrong this war was from the start.
 
The reason I opposed the Iraq war isn't because I hate the US, it's because I didn't want to see the US bog itself down and didn't want to see a needless escalation of the war on terror. It's not because I didn't think the so called war on terror doesn't need to be fought, it does, but you gotta do it right and you gotta know who your enemies really are. The Iraq war set us back and killed thousands of people needlessly. At the very least Americans have for the most part realized how wrong this war was from the start.
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that's basically why I was against it. I knew it would be a giant waste of money and lives.

Peace is more subtle than simply hot-dogging it like all these cowards who personally never fight but very easily send others to die and worse.

And in 2001 the entire world was with us but all that good will was squandered by incompetence and stupidity because cheney was in love with war in Iraq rather than gathering all the allies and figuring out a complex unified action to get criminals but keep things from getting out of hand.

Intel and stealth would have gotten the criminals with minimum damage to civilians
 
The reasons I opposed the Iraq war were that it was illegal, that it was based on lies, that the justifications were bogus and Saddam was cooperating and that it would kill a lot of innocent people and it would not improve the lives of Iraqis. There was no valid self defense justification and the "human rights intervention" justification was spurious (and illegal).

I also opposed the war in Afghanistan but at least they were able to get UN backing for that one. I opposed it on the basis that the people of Afghanistan were not responsible for the attacks and therefore did not deserve to have their country blown up. I opposed it based on the fact that the Taliban were willing to negotiate the handover of Osama Bin Laden (but the US refused to negotiate and then used the lack of negotiation as a justification, as in Iraq). I opposed it because once again the humanitarian argument is bogus. You do not bomb people to make their lives better. The Taliban had softened under international pressure and internal popular pressure and we could have helped that country move into this century by peaceful and productive means rather than violent and destructive means. Further, Al Qaeda may have been training in Afghanistan but the money came from Saudi Arabia and Pakistani Intelligence. That would have been where the problem should have been solved - but taking the territory into the US security arrangement was deemed more important than dismantling terrorist networks.

Wars in general are not fought for right, they are fought for power and control and they are founded on lies on all sides. I am not opposed to fighting in self defense and all nations have that right - including nations like Iraq.
 
i was on the first train that took that track... i called george bush and stormin norman war criminals one day after the highway of death... it ended one career and started me on another... no regrets... i will post never before seen photos as soon as i can scan them.. i fished them out a couple days ago when this got posted... i witnessed a war crime... :(
 
nobody can shut me up either...

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gonna post these first then explain... hang in there...

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i've been in some gawd awful places over the course of my life... :(
 
i have more... i'm gonna explain this but i have to take my friend to newton ks so she can see her father
 
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this is the publicly available... i'm just giving u "google street view" from then.. you'll notice the lack of armored vehicles as most of them were iraqui "half breeds" who felt no particular reason to avoid hussein.. they were afterall largely the wealthamites who had gained wealth from stealing the rumallah oil field blind erstwhile telling saddam that nothing was amiss... and they were emerging as a new political party and gaining favor... hell in saddams eyes they were breeding like rats and the new digs they got didnt last long once they made the transition from "wandering tribe" to "citizens guarding an oil supply line"... the treachery came forth over the oil money... the kurds were taking more than the deal and when he tried to renegotiate, "the deal" he was met with rocket fire...
 
but here... any one of you... look at that shit... look at that huge mess of shit and show me more than 12 apc's.... those are protection equipment... armed escort... no weapons found except on the apcs... those people were fleeing what they thought was a safety zone and you slaughtered every one of them... it took a only dozen air assault vehicles (a 10s and ah64s) you bragged of this
... it was" a turkey shoot"; your words not mine.. you sad sorry mother fawkers...disgraceful!! even by the lowered conduct standards of war!! disgusting and fawking shame on you!!!
 
schoolbuses... a {bleep} hearse... cars... nothing armored... (jamies packing ;)) she knows none of this and yet finds me amazing for other reasons... (always show up when she needs somebody) :D
 
robert l. bentham said:
this is the publicly available...
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I remember that. They called it the Highway of Death or something like that, didn't they? I don't recall if I saw it on the news or not - did Americans see this?
I also remember being for that war, in as much as I cared either way. Later, when I learned that most of the reasons I was for it were actually lies (PR) I lost my faith. Then I found that the Kosovo war what not what I thought either and the justifications were also fabricated. I approach all new wars with the same lessons in mind and these days I know the lies before the war instead of finding out afterwards.
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
I remember that. They called it the Highway of Death or something like that, didn't they? I don't recall if I saw it on the news or not - did Americans see this?
I also remember being for that war, in as much as I cared either way. Later, when I learned that most of the reasons I was for it were actually lies (PR) I lost my faith. Then I found that the Kosovo war what not what I thought either and the justifications were also fabricated. I approach all new wars with the same lessons in mind and these days I know the lies before the war instead of finding out afterwards.
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im gonna actually wait to drive a stinkin car cause i can't get that stinkin nonsense out of my head.. it fucks with me to even think about it cause i have smell o vision in my head... makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up loud and proud.. and all my nose smells is burnt meat...gawd... and i can't wash it off me...
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
I remember that. They called it the Highway of Death or something like that, didn't they? I don't recall if I saw it on the news or not - did Americans see this?
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They sure did, and when it hit the news the war ended the very next day. Highway of Death

I also remember being for that war, in as much as I cared either way.
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I was against it for some reason, can barely remember why. I was still in highschool and probably feared it might lead to a bigger, regional war, possibly a world war. Thankfully I was wrong about that. Well, maybe I was right, the aftershocks of that war are still felt today. After all, if there was no 1991 Gulf War, there probably would be no 9/11 and no Iraq invasion either. Saddam may have been correct when he said it would be the mother of all battles. Not really what he had in mind, but that war set a lot of balls in motion and the dust is far from settled. I think we would have all been better of if it just never happened. On the plus side, thanks to the Gulf War we now have the Big Lebowski, and that makes it almost all worth it!

 
i think the worse part is... no redemption... who do you say sorry to for the 1000th time as you look at their deformed children... when you look at what once was one of histories largest and most well developed cities laid to ruin at your feet.. how do you say "i'm sorry" after the systematic slaughter of entire generations of families... the grief is more than i can bear at times... at least times like these... gawd.. i wanted so bad to be a noble lad... and i failed myself... i failed all of you... it wasnt what i thought, my only defense... handful of shit in one hand and pocketful of great dreams in the other... i failed you all.... and i am so {bleep} sorry... so... sorry... just sorry...
 
I was against it for some reason, can barely remember why.
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well, I was against it because I didn't want my nephew growing up seeing a stupid war. I think he was about a month old - but it wasn't just him. It's ALL the babies.
 
gawd.. i wanted so bad to be a noble lad... and i failed myself... i failed all of you... it wasnt what i thought, my only defense... handful of shit in one hand and pocketful of great dreams in the other... i failed you all.... and i am so {bleep} sorry... so... sorry... just sorry...
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Well, unlike others in these wars, those mistakes are honest ones. Hopefully you can take consolation in failing due to the human nature and frailties of us all.
 
robert l. bentham said:
schoolbuses... a {bleep} hearse... cars... nothing armored... (jamies packing ;)) she knows none of this and yet finds me amazing for other reasons... (always show up when she needs somebody) :D
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Yes, but keep in mind that a lot of those vehicles were actually stolen Kuwaiti vehicles. The Iraqi army was routed and it was each man for himself. I'm pretty sure there wasn't a school field trip going on in the middle of the largest concentration of firepower since WW2. Also, a lot of those vehicles were simply abandoned as the US dropped mines at the head of the column forcing the lead vehicles to stop and that forced everyone else to stop too. Still, they estimate far less then 10,000 Iraqis were killed and over 70,000 made it back home on foot.

The interesting thing about 1991 is that the US deployed it's army and armored units and these were all designed and trained to counter a Soviet attack. Against the Soviets, you certainly wouldn't hold back on retreating units as they would eventually regroup and rejoin the attack. The US army and airforce were trained to attack and that's what they did.
 
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