Pick a Date for Iraq

“I thought this was a pool to see who would get closest.

My guess is March 18, 6:00 p.m. EST.”

“That was the original intent, bacpac.

I say March 15th, 8 am EST.

If anybody else wants to guess, please list an hour as well as a date.”

“Thanks for the Disco Nightmare Flashback, Lizs, LOL

Now, what's the second part of the 'oasis' joke?”

“March 11, 5:45 p.m. EST.”

“I hope we never go. No matter what happens if we go in people die. Yet, if we don't send troops to fight, the troops can't die. Then we won't aggravate the terrorist and the home front will be safe and happy again. Gore in four.”

“I think it should start WHILE the UN is voting on it. Maybe as the French veto is being cast?”

“Gore ain't runnin'.”

“3,000 people died on 9/11 and what did we do to cause that?

Well, well, well, let's see......

The Kobar Towers in Saudi Arabia were bombed and killed 19 Americans.

Two Amercian Embassies in Africa were bombed and more Americans killed.

The U.S.S. Cole was bombed and Americans died.

Looks like the only people dying here are Americans.

Of course I'm sure you'd like this to continue since America is the Great Satan in your eyes.”

“Looks like the only people dying here are Americans.


You can't be serious.”

“I already picked the Ides of March. If I have to pick a time it would be 7 p.m. EST, or dawn in Bagit-Dad.”

“Lizs, Maria Muldaur, and yes, I have the 33 1/3 and the CD.”

“Yes, Maria Muldaur.....




And for extra credit, who was her husband and what was the band HE was in?”

“Jeff, Kweskin Jug Band, her maiden name is D'Amato. Any other silly questions?”

“In a last-ditch push to win U.N. support for war against Iraq, the United States, Britain and Spain will give Saddam Hussein until March 17 to disarm, officials said Friday”

“I saw that also. It's also on www.msnbc.com if anybody wants to read about it.”

“Ah... Jim Kweskin, LOL

Better flashback. Much better.”

“Overnight Bagdad time Saturday to Sunday the 22-23. I am not sure what time that would be reported here.


But I would expect the the initials reports will be that stealth bombers, and cruise missles were deployed in darkness late Saturday 22/ early sunday 23.”

“Sure and top o th mornin t ya Saddam. Happy Saint Paddy's day to ya, and may the blast be always to yer back!”

“If I were a bomber pilot, I'd be yelling "Here ya go, lads!" in an Irish accent everytime I dropped a bomb.

Think they'll paint the tomahawk cruise missiles green?”

“The IRA will be green with envy.”

“Let's just bomb the whole country with green paint!

Oh! Oh! Better yet- Lime Green Jello!!”

“Rumor has it that it already did begin.”

“Yes, I keep hearing that missions in the no-fly zones have doubled(esp. in the south), and there are Special Ops guys sneaking about doing who knows what.

But "we haven't decided to go to war yet"?”

“"The time has come for the president to publicly declare that
it is the decision of the United States government to lead
an invasion of Iraq with the intent to change the regime as
soon as our military is prepared to successfully carry out
the mission. ... Further delay only strengthens the political
opposition around the world and at home. ... Fundamentally, now is
the time when power must replace persuasion. The president must
guard against letting prudence and patience turn into dithering
and indecision." --Washington Times”

“General Tommy Franks just left Tampa to head over to the Persian Gulf. That's a big sign that war isn't far off.”

“I think he's been commuting back and forth for quite some time. don't know that it has much more meaning than that, although I expect he would be at the front when war does start.”

“From what I heard on Fox News, it sounds like he's going over there for the war and not coming back until it's finished though.”

“I've got 4/1. It's the first night of the New Moon. We like to fight in darkness and that would be around the best time to launch. That said.....Bush is an idiot, #&%!$ing bastard mother #&%!$er and a chump lier. I would what would happen if some country would want to do a regime change on America? What gives us the right to change there leader? Isn't that up to the Iraqi people? How did we become a nation? By a bloodly war fought by our people and AIDED by a couple of couple of countries. #&%!$ing Clinton...still cleaning up his bull#&%!$ messes. If he had taken care of biz, our sons and daughters wouldn't have to die in this one......”

“How do you really feel?”

“LOL!”

“What gives us the right to change there leader? Isn't that up to the Iraqi people?

The Iraqi people can't rebel - they need an outside force to make it happen.

Dictators with modern technology are expert at putting rebellion down early, never letting it build a head of steam. Their control over the media, over assembly, over all aspects of subjects' lives is complete. Further, through ruthless brutality (the real threat of death and torture to not only any rebel but his family as well), the will to resist is constantly beaten down.

The only ongoing rebellions are in far-flung areas of a country, away from the real action. And those rebellions (e.g. Kurds, Chechnyans) -- never really go anywhere. They may or may not pry away a tiny area to be freed up, but the country proper never becomes free.

Modern day dictators never lose control of their country unless conquered from without, or by losing nerve and becoming unwilling to do what is necessary.

Saddam is not going to lose nerve. That's why would-be rebels need the U.S. to fight the war.”

“I know, Mutt. I just have a hard time with this situation. It smells real bad, like revenge. I see Bush letting the price of gas go up unchecked to line his buddies pockets. It seems to me that this situation is very self serving and very weak.”

“President Bush and Colin Powell are sitting in a Texas bar. Lagtis walks in and asks the barman, "Is that George Bush and Colin Powell sitting over there?" The Bartender replies, "Yep, that's them." So Laqtis walks over and says, "Wow, this is a real honor. What are you guys doing in here?" Bush says, "We're planning World War III." And Laqtis asks, "Really? What's going to happen?" Bush says, "Well, we're going to kill 140 million Iraqis and one blonde with big breasts." Laqtis exclaimed, "A blonde with big breasts! Why kill a blonde with big breasts?"

Bush turns to Powell, punches him on the shoulder and says, "See! I told you no one would worry about 140 million Iraqis!"

By the way, I pick 2:00 a.m. on March 31, 2003.”

“In addition to what Mutt said, weapons of mass destruction is still a central issue. It's been said time and time again, but I get the feeling it's just not sticking with a lot of people: Saddam has been failing to comply with the UN for 11-12 years now regarding weapons inspections. Military action against them is long overdue.”

“I know, Mutt

Well, there are people who argue that the Iraqis, by not rebelling, are giving their tacit consent to be ruled by Saddam's brutal regime. I don't agree with that, for the reasons I gave above.”

“March 20th....the UN votes on March 17...I can't see Bush delaying too long..he is already fired up!”

“He's been fired up on this since he took office...”

“no one confused about this whole #&%!$ besides me? I don't want a war, but I think in order to prevent a war we should've kept our nose out of those countries business a long time ago.
Now it's too late.

my 2 cents”

“Picking a date going in is not as hard as picking the date we can get out...

(a href=http://msnbc.com/news/883457.asp?0cv=CA00>notsoeasy”

“I'll guess 6:12 pm on 3/18.”

“I wonder how much help we can expect on the peacekeeping end from Britain, Spain and Bulgaria.”

“There will be money to be made in Iraq after the war. Selfish European countries like France and Germany will be right there with their hands out. Especially since they will be shamed by all the "nonexistant" chemical weapons that Iraq uses on American and British forces.”

“Selfish European countries like France and Germany will be right there with their hands out

Yep, but what's really infuriating is what Turkey is doing. Denying the U.S. a strong northern front has increased the risks to American troops significantly. But Turkey isn't going to stay out of the war. Oh no. They've been building up their forces along the Iraq border for awhile now. As soon as the Americans attack, the Turks are going to sweep in from the north and capture Kurdish areas and that oil rich area that I can't remember the name of right now. Of course, publicly they'll be "helping" the U.S win the war. But, they'll end up having complete control over the Kurds, and tons of money from the oil resources. Guess who's going to get the oil contracts in Turkish-controlled areas? Not the U.S.!”

“Even the U.S. ally consider Bush a threat! Wake up, people!!


LONDON (Reuters) - The British public sees President Bush as a greater threat to world peace than Iraq's Saddam Hussein a poll published on Tuesday showed.

It also believes that as long as United Nations weapons inspectors can do a useful job in Iraq, it would be wrong for the United States and Britain to attack. However, Britons say something has to be done about Saddam and suspect he is determined to hide his weapons of mass destruction from U.N. inspectors.


The poll, commissioned by Channel 4 Television, asked 1,000 people whether they believed Bush was a greater threat to world peace than Saddam. Forty-five percent agreed while 38 percent disagreed.

Two-thirds of those polled said it would be wrong to attack Iraq while inspectors felt they still had a useful job to do.

However, 64 percent of respondents said they agreed with Prime Minister Tony Blair's claim that "if the international community fails to act firmly now against Iraq, then the world will become a more dangerous place in years to come." Only 24 percent disagreed.


Those polled were also asked for their views on the following statement: "Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, and to hide as many as possible from the United Nations arms inspectors." Two thirds agreed with the statement while one in five disagreed.


Blair has wholeheartedly supported Washington's campaign to rid Iraq of banned chemical and biological weapons. Iraq denies it has such weapons.


The British Prime Minister has struggled to convince the public of his case, and has faced serious dissent from members of his ruling Labour Party.


A poll conducted by Channel 4 in November produced similar results, with Bush seen as a bigger threat to world peace than the Iraqi President.”

“Mutt – Turkey says the American cartoons depicting them as money grubbing carpet salesmen insulted them.

I’m wondering if it doesn’t also have something to do with limits the US may have wanted placed on Turkey’s ability to go after Kurdish groups holed up in the mountains. (I don’t know of anything published – I’m just speculating.)”

“Our selling the Kurds out to secure Turkish helps was pretty shameful. It's sure to come back to bite us. Now we have no Turks and no Kurds.”

“Violin, Turkey didn't veto the northern front because they were insulted. The Turkish population didn't want the war. Why allow the U.S. to operate out of Turkey when it's massively unpopular and the U.S. might empower the Kurds? By going in themselves, they can still get a ton of money from oil, and they get to brutalize the Kurds.

And the Kurdish resistance was never factored to be a significant force in a conflict. It's of little consequence, militarily, to the U.S.”

“You may have read reports that the Iraqi Kurds may ask for help from Iran - the country that now hosts numerous exiled Iraqi Shiites?”

“Iran is probably going to be militarily neutral in an Iraq war. They view themselves as being in the U.S. crosshairs for future military operations, so they're not going to make waves by helping Saddam. Some hardliners did call for suicide bombings of American military assets in the region, however. You know, there are U.S.-supported Kurds in southern Iran that the Iranians have to deal with, so will they want to actively assist the Kurds in Iraq? And wouldn't the U.S. have more to worry about the Iraqi shiites, like around Basra? Tehran certainly has some power there, and could easily foment resistance to the U.S. But the northern Kurds? I don't see there's much of a chance of a huge problem. But, I don't know enough about that to really have a good idea. Tell me what you know about it, Violin.”