TIME FOR TRUTH
(Green Peace Action: London)
Yesterday Marked the First Anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq
Ankara
WHY ARE WE MARCHING?
Amsterdam
By Medea Benjamin
Thousands of Americans today will mark the first anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq by marching against the war. Why, if the war is officially over and Saddam Hussein has been captured, will residents of some 200 American cities join others around the world and take to the streets? Those of us who have traveled to Iraq to witness firsthand the effects of this occupation have returned with some profound reasons.
Austin
We are marching for Jesus Suarez, a Marine who died when he stepped on an American cluster bomb in Iraq on March 27, and for the more than 500 U.S. servicemen and women who have died in Iraq.
Baghdad
“Iraq didn’t have weapons of mass destruction and wasn’t connected to the September 11 tragedy. George Bush lied, and my son died,” said Fernando Suarez
Bangkok
We are marching because we don’t want any more of our soldiers to die.
Barcelona
We want the United States out, and the United Nations in.
Berlin
We are marching for Yanar Mohammad, head of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, and others who are aghast at how the U.S. invasion has undermined women and strengthened the hand of conservative Islamists.
Bern
Iraqi women were stunned when the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council recently tried to nullify Iraq’s 1959 family code, considered among the most progressive in the Middle East, and place such vital issues as marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance under Muslim religious jurisdiction.
Bombay
“Yes, we wanted to get rid of Saddam Hussein, but the U.S. has appointed people to power who would like to institutionalize and legalize the oppression of women,” Mohammad said at a Baghdad protest on March 8, International Women’s Day. “This is not liberation.”
Budapest
We are marching to support the call from Iraqi women for significant representation in the new Iraqi government.
Buenos Aires
We are marching for Bushra Said and the thousands of innocent Iraqis who have been killed, wounded or hurt by the occupying forces.
Cairo
Said, a young mother, was widowed when U.S. soldiers, driving by in their tanks, pumped eight bullets into the chest of her husband, Mazen Nouradin, as he waited to hail a taxi to go to work. The soldiers, always nervous from being under attack, had heard shots and fired randomly into the street.
Calcutta
The bereaved Said asked U.S. authorities for an explanation, an apology, help with the funeral, and financial assistance for her children. She has received nothing.
Chicago
We are marching because more than 10,000 innocent Iraqis have died since the U.S. invasion and many thousands more have been wounded, and because we believe the U.S. government must count, acknowledge and provide assistance to them.
Copenhagen
We are marching for Fala Hassan and the staff of the Qadissiya Hospital in Sadr City.
Denver
The staff told our U.S. delegation that children in the hospitals were dying because of shortages of basic medicines and equipment such as catheters, IVs and oxygen cylinders.
East Timor
The staff complained bitterly that even at the height of U.N. sanctions, when shortages were rampant, the hospitals were not as barren as they are today.
Glasglow
We are marching for Issam Achmed, an unemployed engineer, and the thousands upon thousands of skilled Iraqis who want to rebuild their country but are not given the opportunity.
Havana
According to Achmed, one of the main reasons the United States has done such a bad job of fixing basic infrastructure destroyed by the war is that the reconstruction is in the hands of U.S. companies such as Halliburton and Bechtel instead of Iraqis themselves.
Hong Kong
We are marching because we believe that the United States has a responsibility to pay for rebuilding Iraq, but that Iraqis, not American companies with friends in the administration, are best positioned to do the work.
Istanbul
We are marching for our children and our families, who have been put at risk by the growing anti-American sentiment stemming from George W. Bush’s doctrine of preemptive strikes, his arrogant use of force and his contempt for international law.
London
We are marching because we don’t want to continue to squander billions of our tax dollars on war when the funds are needed to provide the public with health care, decent schools and new forms of energy that can eliminate our dependence on other nations’ oil.
Los Angeles
Finally, we are marching to say that come November, the American people must hold their leaders accountable for taking us into this illegal, unnecessary and disastrous war.
Madrid
The Writers is the Co-founder of the human rights group Global Exchange and the women’s peace group CodePink.
Managua
Manila
Mariettaga
Mexico City
Multan
Munich
Nagoya
New Delhi
New Jersey
New York
Oviedo
Paris
Phiadelphia
Portland
Ramstein
Rio
Rome
San Francisco
Santa Barbara
Santiago
Seoul
Sringager
Sydney
Teguciglapa
Tokyo
Toronto
Vancouver
Venuzuela
Warsaw
We are Marching for the PEACE MOVEMENT
Worldwide protests mark first anniversary of US-led invasion of Iraq
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Hundreds of thousands of anti-war protesters around the world took to the streets to denounce the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq (news – web sites) on the first anniversary of the war.
But the number of demonstrators in many major cities was nowhere near the massive turnout seen at pre-war rallies.
Still, thousands marched, from Los Angeles to Madrid, which is still reeling from the March 11 train bombings that claimed 202 lives.
Protesters halted traffic in San Francisco.
Crowd estimates ranged from around 20,000 to a claim by organisers that 50,000 people took part in the protest, also attend by Hollywood star Woody Harrelson.
But the demonstration, while spirited and outspoken, appeared much smaller than those held here in the run-up to the war when more than 50,000 attended one of the protests.
Around 2,500 placard-waving and chanting demonstrators joined a rowdy protest in Hollywood.
In Chicago, 53-year-old Connie Cominsky said she had lost faith in President George W. Bush (news – web sites).
“When they first went over there, I really believed Saddam was a bad guy, and they had weapons of mass destruction,” she recalls, adding ruefully: “Shame on me for being so stupid, so naive, for believing my president.”
As many as 50,000 marchers in New York, the largest of the US demonstrations, demanded an end to the occupation of Iraq.
Sue Niederer, from New Jersey, carried a sign with photos of her son, Seth, in military uniform and the words “Bush, You Killed My Son.”
“We have to get the goddamn troops out of there. They should never have gone to Iraq in the first place,” said Niederer, whose son was killed while trying to defuse a bomb in Iraq.
In Canada, which opposed the war, thousands protested in Montreal.
Large crowds opposing the occupation gathered across Spain and Italy, whose governments backed US President George W. Bush’s call to war to oust Saddam Hussein (news – web sites) despite massive public opposition.
In Spain, where 11.6 million converged in several cities the day after the March 11 attacks, hundreds of thousands of people joined anti-war marches.
“Solidarity with the victims of Madrid, Iraq and Palestine,” read one banner.
Some 200,000 people marched in the northeastern port city of Barcelona, and while a similar demonstration in Madrid was barely half that size it was no less vociferous.
Italian anti-war organizers were the most successful, claiming up to a million people had crammed into the streets of Rome, but police put the figure at about 250,000.
A sea of people of all ages, waving red balloons and rainbow flags with the message “Peace,” stretched between Rome’s Republic Square to the ancient Coliseum.
Elsewhere in the world organizers attracted more modest turnouts.
In central London, 25,000 anti-war activists, according to police, marched from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, carrying banners reading “No more lies,” and shouting “Anti-Bush,” “Anti Blair,” and “Anti-war everywhere,” a reference to British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news – web sites).
Police arrested two Greenpeace activists who Saturday scaled London’s landmark Big Ben clock tower and unfurled a banner proclaiming “Time for the Truth.”
Hundreds of thousands had turned out in London before the war.
In the Irish capital Dublin police said about 2,000 protesters marched behind a large black banner calling for “the end to the occupation of Iraq and Palestine.”
“Bertie Bertie Bush, blood blood on your hands,” shouted the demonstrators, aiming their wrath at Bush and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.
Tens of thousands turned out in cities across France and Germany, with a group of about 2,500 gathering outside the central police headquarters in Paris and 500 in Berlin, where 70,000 had turned out before the war.
Thousands more protested across Europe, from Portugal to Poland, whose government deployed 2,500 troops to Iraq.
In Warsaw, about 500 peace activists protested in front of the US embassy. Marchers waved banners proclaiming “No to war,” “Pull troops out of Iraq,” and “No blood for oil.”
Thousands of protestors also took to the streets across Turkey to denounce the occupation and a planned visit by US President George W. Bush to the country for a NATO (news – web sites) summit in June.
Around 100 Syrians marched in central Damascus to denounce the conflict and the continued US-led occupation of Iraq.
Carrying Iraqi, Syrian and Palestinian flags, they chanted nationalist and anti-US slogans and burned US and Israeli flags.
“Down With the United States,” and “No to Capitalist Globalisation,” they chanted.
About 2,000 protestors in Egypt carried banners mocking the failure of the US-led coalition to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD), whose alleged existence Washington and London used to justify the war.
“No WMD, but 20,000 Iraqi civilians killed … this is Bush’s democracy,” read a banner in English.
In Honduras, hundreds converged on the US embassy to demand the return of 370 Honduran troops from Iraq.
President Ricardo Maduro sent Honduran troops to Iraq where they are under Spanish command. The troops are scheduled to return to Central America in July.
Anti-riot police oversaw the protest as demonstrators called Bush a “fascist” and shouted: “You’re the terrorists.”
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 
Wow, amazing photos. Iraq has really polarized the world. The most remarkable thing to me is that more people in the US support the war effort than do not, whereas the reverse is true in most other places in the world
A couple, though, showed a lack of understanding of the issues, like the New Delhi photo with the fellow holding a placard that read “Free Iraqi leaders immediately and unconditionally.” I would wager that even the majority of Iraqi people would disagree. Or the photo of Ramstein (Germany?) with the banner that reads “US Evil Forces Get Out”, which in my mind manifests some serious anti-american sentiment. Or the one from Philidelphia which reads, “End colonial occupations … ” The US clearly is not colonizing Iraq, so the banner is an unjust characterization. Or the poster from Paris, declaring Bush and Blair “assassins”, which is character assassination itself, as the world is not so black and white. The photo from Munich (in which I studied as an undergrad – a jewel in Europe’s crown) showing a young man being restrained by Polizei suggests that the fellow is being arrested for simply protest, but surely there’s more?
American companies performing the work in Iraq are using nearly all Iraqi labor in infrastructure reconstruction.
The photo from Ankara, with the fellow carrying an image of el Che Guevara, seems to suggest support for the guerilla movement that carries out attacks on American troops (as well as other Iraqi citizens!) every day. You captured the question well by asking, “What are we marching for?”
Interesting pictorial glimpse into the worldwide protest effort against the War in Iraq. Your post provides insight into prevailing sentiments in different parts of the world, even though I may disagree with them.
Thanks for making this available!
LikeLike
Great photos, love the one in budapest with the people making the giant peace sign. Also love the one, from Rio I think, with the fake american money with the 9-11, “project for a new american century” and Bush’s face on it. Got to hand it to peace protesters, they can get very creative sometimes.
I’m all for peace but I don’t think I can agree with some people who say that coalition troops should withdraw right now. We (US, Spain, UK, Australia) did the damage,I think we should fix it up or at least get it to a point where the iraqi people can take over. I don’t have a problem with getting rid of Saddam but I question the means in which it was done. This whole process might take a long time but I reckon it has to be done now. I think the UN should have a role but then again I thought that they should have been allowed to do their job before the war too. Whatever the point of view on the war, it’s good to see so many people not afraid to express their views and wish for peace.
LikeLike
Tom. You’re right. Lots of people harbour anti-american sentiments. You can sit behind your computer and feel bitter about it all and accuse people for “not understanding the issues” many would say the same about you, because of what your country has done. Look at today’s news. US needs to stop funding Irseal. Blair and Bush ARE assassins.
Yan
LikeLike
Giving aid to a country in a dire security crisis, which does engage in assassination, is not assassination itself. You could draw that implication, but it’s an extended inference of events.
In my opinion, it’s a political statement without substance.
I don’t just “sit behind my computer and feel bitter about it.” I talk with friends from the middle east about the issues. (Detroit hosts the largest population of immigrants of Mid-East descent in the US). I also talk with Israelis in my community, and Jewish friends about the issues.
Please don’t accuse me of being detached – I make every effort to inform myself on BOTH SIDES of the issues before drawing conclusions. I will not make such demands as “Free Palestine, US/UK get out of the mid east”, or “Bush and Blair ARE assassins.” Those demands and interpretations are far too simplistic. To understand the issues, you need to speak with the people from the place, investigate the issues as best you can, educate yourself on the history of the region and the people. You don’t read a few newspaper articles of questionable objectivity, and listen to the impassioned political banter of an admittedly destitute, stateless people, some of which are targeted for assassination because of their direct complicity in murderous act.
I find your statement about me “sitting behind my computer and feeling bitter about [anti-american sentiment]” offensive.
What has my country done to the Palestinians, Yan?
Please explain to me how assisting a country who, without US security arrangements would be obliterated by Arab hostile forces on all sides, is assassination? Israel’s economy is in a shambles; it’s citizens live in daily fear of being assassinated by suicide bombers, or gunmen firing into crowds, or of Palestinian lunatics throwing grenades into night clubs, etc. The country is nearly paralyzed itself.
Suppose I give a friend, who is severely down on his luck and can’t find work, $1000 to get some groceries, put gas in his car, have resumes printed so as to find work, and buy a firearm to protect himself in downtown Detroit (it can be very dangerous here). Now suppose he’s out one day and someone threatens him with a knife, maybe stabs a few passengers in his car, including his child, and then lowers the knife and says, “So what are you going to do about it?” And then my friend shoots him. Does this mean that I am an assassin b/c I provided him with the money with which he bought a weapon that he used to kill someone?
The recent assassination of the Hamas founder certainly won’t stop the cycle of violence in the middle east. But I won’t shed many tears over the death of the sheikh. Hamas sends men, women and children, laden with bombs, onto public buses, trains, coffee shops, discos, restaurants, in order to blow themselves, and as many Israelis as possible into as many pieces as possible. The dead sheikh was the founder of Hamas, and oversaw suicide bombings, regular mortar and shelling campaigns along Syria’s south border into Israeli settlements and northern border cities, and other war activities, in order to KILL.
Hamas carries out a few social welfare activities, but mostly its stated intent is to force Jews out of the middle east. Hamas is good enough to give an alternative to those Jews who believe that Israel is their homeland and refuse to leave: death.
The Palestinian PM Abbas’ statement that the Israeli assassination was “a clear indication to the world that the Israelis are not ready to sit with the Palestinians for peace” is an example of the pot calling the kettle black, typical mid- east politics, plain and simple. Each side claims a moral imperative on one hand, while sharpening a knife to plunge into his opponant’s back with the other. (The PLO, the “party” representing the Palestinian nation, for example, has roots in the terrorist Fatah movement from Lebanon in the 1980’s – and many other militant movements. It’s composed of many warriors and murderers itself – yet Israel has tried time and again to engage it in effective dialogue, to no avail. Israel offers a fig leaf, and the next day a Palestinian suicide bomber blows a group of Israelis to bits.)
Israelis are heavy handed in their dealings with terrorists in Palestine. BUT – the Palestinian terrorists, the TARGET of the recent attack, are bloodthirsty zealots.
The middle east is NOT so black and white that one can say “Free Palestine, US/UK out of the middle east”. That approach ignores reality.
Whether the US should get out of the Mid-east is up for grabs. Can it? Can it leave Iraq to itself now? Have you read up on the news? Do you think it could really manage itself at this point?
And are you aware that the US was scheduled to leave Iraq June 30? But that Iraqis are clamoring for the US to remain and restore some semblance of security? Or that the US is negotiating with the UN replace US forces with a contingent of multi-state UN peacekeepers?
Do you think that the US government wants to keep it’s soldiers in a situation where they being killed every day? Don’t you think that elected officials have tremendous pressure on them to get the US military out of hostile territory as soon as possible?
LikeLike
All the above was written with respect for your point of view in mind. I don’t mean to be offensive, or litigious; just putting my thoughts down.
LikeLike
wow. just wow.
I was at the Toronto one, or maybe I should say I saw the T.O. one. I was in the area but didn’t spend the whole day like many (I feel guilty about it now though).
An interesting point, for every 3 or so anti-US protestors, there was 1 pro-US one. There were riot cops and everything – fortunately it didn’t get messy..
I’m still speechless.
LikeLike
What percentage of marchers pictured (from US cities) voted in the 2000 Presidential race? And of those, which voted for Ralph, (as in puke), Nadir, ensuring a Bush victory?
NB: Media Benjamin gets her money from DADDY THE DEVELOPER.
Havana, where Castro ALWAYS wins. Now that’s Democracy.
Just a few argument starters, I want Bush retired too. Curious about the view as seen from Hong Kong.
LikeLike
And are you aware that the US was scheduled to leave Iraq June 30? But that Iraqis are clamoring for the US to remain and restore some semblance of security?
LikeLike
Interestingly, my friend asked me after taking my usual anti-American stance, now that the Americans are in there and are running Iraq, what do you propose now? If the Americans go home, what now? What is the alternative? What policies are being suggested by those around the world who protest against America being in Iraq to solve the Iraqi situation? How was this any different to Afghanistan?
To be honest, I didn’t really have an answer on that. Maybe the UN could go in, but it seems they are even softer targets than the Americans. Maybe we could just leave the Iraqi’s to go and kill each other. I mean, now that Saddam is out of power, and all those WMD are now back in safe hands, what is there to worry about now? A people that couldn’t even threaten their own leader let alone nations half a world away.
What angers me though is that this was a US endeavor with US interests at stake. Do I care if Iraqis are dying daily? Almost as much as I care about all the Somalis dying of hunger each day. Do I care that US troops are being killed? Not one bit. What I do care is that British and Dutch troops are putting their lives on the line for US interests. I feel that this is what the protests are about around the world.
People are telling the Americans and their governments that US intervention and bullish foreign policy is not being tolerated anymore. It says that the US must strive to become a good neighbour state to the rest of the world. It says that these people are tired of having to put their own national interests on the backburner for policies that are in line with the US.
Americans might say, who cares, we had 911, the rest of the world didn’t. In answer to that, I suggest that you check you history books.
But now that the Americans have “liberated” Iraq, I suggest that the honus is for the Iraqi people to step up to the plate. It is their country and they should run it. Stop killing each other and expecting the rest of the world to sort out your problems for you. The world isn’t behind you. The world pities you. I mean, firebombing British troops because you couldn’t get jobs in the local customs office in Basra, isn’t smart and intelligent. No wonder the world thinks you need a helping hand with a gun to sort out your problems.
What solutions do the Iraqi or the people wanting America out of Iraq propose? I’d be interested to hear about it because despite my anti-American sentiments, I can see no alternative except leaving the Iraqi’s to their own devices. And they are rapidly proving that they can’t do that without killing someone in the process.
LikeLike
To the poster Tom, who wrote “What has my country done to the Palestinians, Yan?”. While I believe that Hamas is a terrorist organization, and it’s policy is centered around terrorism, I suppose the answer to your question could equally be applied to the US before it invaded Iraq.
Before you say it, Iraq was perceived to be a threat because of it’s non-existant WMD. Likewise, America is perceived to be threat because of its funding and arms supplies to the Israeli state. Incidentally, while I agree with much of the your post, America witholds money from many nations because of their so-called “human rights” abuses, for fear of the money going into the abuse of human rights, and America sanctimoniously not wanting to be associated with these crimes. How is that different from funding Israel? I am not suggesting Israel has human rights abuses but I am just inferring that the funding link isn’t always as “clean” of guilt as you make it out to be.
LikeLike
Don’t be mistaken by thinking the Americans have made a big error in Iraq by destablizing it and causing different ethnic and religious groups to come into conflict with each other. It legitimises long-term influence and prescence in the region. That was one of the long-term goals.
LikeLike
I don’t think I was inviting anyone to present a solution to the eternal Arab/Israeli conflict. For one, what would CNN and the BBC get to report then????
It’s fine to pick sides. Just make sure you know what your side stands for at least.
My solution is to give everyone free cigarettes. It chills you out, almost guarantees that they will kill you, and you can share them with friends and foes alike. Welcome to Malboro Country.
LikeLike
And are you aware that the US was scheduled to leave Iraq June 30? But that Iraqis are clamoring for the US to remain and restore some semblance of security?
LikeLike
Also Finn, you mentioned
“That reminds me of the line that mining companies often run. They employ all the locals and set up businesses and shops that the employees promptly pump their money back into (while usually doing what they can to minimise expenditure on workers’ safety and environmental protection). How many people are being employed and under what conditions? These are important things to consider.”
LikeLike
Eshin,
The Palestine question is wholly separate from the invasion of Iraq. Iraq was a sovereign state with a dictatorial and murderous leadership. The ostensible invasion of Iraq was over it’s “imminent threat,” which as it turned out wasn’t all that imminent.
But I don’t think that the invasion in Iraq was carried out in bad faith. I sincerely believe that US and UK leaders believed that Iraq DID pose an imminent threat, based on misinterpretations of intelligence.
I would be interested to know the exact intel they based the decision on, and it’s source. This would open an entirely new window of understanding of the issue. Alas, because such disclosure would damage national security, we’re kept in the dark. Ignorance is not bliss, it sucks.
The Palestinian issue, however, revolves around the loss of the Palestinian state when (as I recall) the allied powers after WWII (including Britain) carved up the middle east into administrative divisions (countries), without regard to complex social structures of the indigenous people.
At the time, following the horrors suffered by jews during WWII at the hands of the Germans, the allied powers sought to establish a homeland for the Jews. After considering many areas, mostly colonial but also Vermont, they decided to grant them holy lands where sat what was Palestine.
Maps were redrawn, and Palestine was renamed Israel, and the Israelis were given much assistance in developing their new country. This came at the expense of the Palestinians, most of whom lost ancestral lands during the consequent Israeli land grab, as millions of bona fide jews immigrated to Israel from all over the globe. Not only were the Palestinians displaced, but they were also socially marginalized. This drew strong condemnation and resistance from the Palestinians, as well as from the whole Arab world. Tack onto this decades of displacement, further marginalization, and numerous small wars calculated to “eradicate the Zionist state” by the likes of Egypt and Syria (such as the 1967 war), and MASSIVE propaganda campaigns by Arab governments and groups vilifying the Israelis and jews, and you have the present clusterfuck that is now the Arab-Israeli conflict.
So, there are two separate issues, which many protesters don’t seem to differentiate. This shows a lack of understanding of the region, and makes me question why they protest. Is it to effect real, positive change; or is it to simply be anti-something?
I found some photos of protestors at a March 20th anti-war rally in San Francisco. (http://users.lmi.net/zombie/sf_rally_march_20_2004/) The narrator is quite conservative, so be wary of the captions.
The photos suggest that there are some (I have even seen them here in Michigan) people who protest for questionable reasons.
LikeLike
Yan Brings a few cups of green tea on a tray and scuttles away.. 😉
LikeLike
Tom,
Sorry, I was trying to avoid linking the two issues together and realized that actually did it myself. So let me attempt to clarify…
Israel vs. Arabs is separate from Iraq vs. US.
I agree. My point was that the US was going around linking al-Qaida to Iraq, albeit without (or yet to be discovered) proof. Hence, when Hamas goes sprouting off vengeance for the assassination of their leader, they could equally be entitled to include the US in their rantings (albeit without grounding or claiming proof needs to be discovered).
In any case, the funding issue IS relevant. Why has the US blacklisted financially a multitude of organizations as being linked to terrorism? If you take an Arab’s perspective, then the US is being hypocritical since they believe that Israel is a terrorist nation. I was merely trying to explain why Hamas would want to include the US in it’s vengeance list.
The background you provide on the Arab-Israeli situation is useful for people to put the information into context. I am familiar with it having grown up in the predominantly Jewish area of North London and am more sympathetic to Israel.
And yes, I get your point about them being two separate issues. The two issues should not be linked directly for which I apologise.
Also I agree with you that people should question the motives of some of these supporters. As is evident, I am against the US endeavor, but the situation is not as simple as just shouting the US out of Iraq. They made a mess and now it has to be fixed. But I respect more the woman who lost her son in Iraq protester than some fresh out-of-school “We are the world” treehugger who hasn’t bothered to check their facts and history.
Where exactly were these people when Lockerbie happened? When Terry Waite was kidnapped? When the Achille Laro was hijacked? Did they take the streets and demand justice and appeal to the perpetrators common humanity?
It’s easy to bash the US on the head at the moment because it’s popular to do so. All I am saying is that people should check the reasons why they are doing it and that there are some good reasons to do so. My reasons for being anti-American are grounded in more nationalistic sentiments but it doesn’t make me hate Americans (except George Bush). The by and large unilateral decision to go into Iraq upset the balance of power of what was considered to be a forum of equal nations (read: I’m pissed because we didn’t get our fair share of the decision making).
In fact, these protests are doing little to further the idea of a multi-lateral body of governments involved in the decision making of world affairs. While the US may be criticised for going unilateral, the world is only helping to make it increasingly bipolar with an us vs. them attitude.
As you have illustrated, this situation is more complex than just “America, get out of Iraq”. I don’t agree with America “going” into Iraq in the first place. But now that they are there, they can jolly well sort it out before they bugger off.
LikeLike
LikeLike
I respect all opinions, I’m not trying to offend, or sound condescending…
This is the problem with written communication – only half the message gets across. No one can see your gestures, intonation, chuckles, humor, etc.
Some written product may seem offensive or condescending, but wasn’t intended to appear so!
So you can take offense to an interpretation or implication from what I wrote, accepting my statement that I had no malicious intent; or you could regard me as a liar, and implicate mal-intent into my written word.
I really do think the way you asked the question was inflammatory though, Finn. But that is not to say that I intend to offend you by making that statement.
And of course the reverse could be true in my case. Perhaps I improperly implied inflammatory intent into your question (although there are many other ways to question my reasoning than asking, “How many and what are their names?”).
It seemed like you were suggesting that I was fabricating that statement. And that’s why I read it as inflammatory.
LikeLike
Did nobody find my Malboro Country joke the least bit amusing?
(sarcasm, sarcasm, sarcasm)
LikeLike
Tom said this on his site:
LikeLike
Finn,
Are you attacking what I’ve written in my weblog?
Have you ever been to Japan? Or are you blowing more foul wind out of your “arse”?
My wife’s Japanese. I find her very colorful, as well as her family. And each time I’ve been to Japan, I seem to meet ever more coloful people.
If all you can do is make impotent ad hominem attacks, you’ve hit rock bottom. Really.
I’m always impressed by ubermenchen who, when their knowledge carries them no further, move on to attack the person.
I had considered you a more reasonable participant on Glutter’s boards. Whoops.
LikeLike
like i said: hahahahahah. i’m amused.
LikeLike