Airstrike targets senior Iraqi officials (CNN, April 7, 2003): The U.S. military dropped a "large amount of ordnance" on a building in a residential neighborhood of Baghdad on Monday based on "time-sensitive intelligence" that some senior Iraqi officials, possibly including Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons, were there, U.S. officials said early Tuesday. U.S. Central Command said that at 3 p.m. [7 a.m. EDT], a B-1 bomber dropped four 2,000-pound bombs equipped with JDAM guidance systems on the target. The building was destroyed.
You know ... I understand, somewhat, that our government is suffering from an almost Oedipal obsession with this war. I mean, I don't understand the obsession itself, but I understand that they are obsessed.
But ... they just dropped four bunkerbusters on a residential neighborhood in Baghdad in an attempt to get Hussein and his sons. Even if they got him, they most assuredly killed many more innocent civilians to do so.
I suppose, considering as the noncombattant death toll is probably well over a couple thousand throughout Iraq, that asking them to have anything resembling a sense of proportion would be ridiculous. Certainly at this point of things, anyway. But still ...
Rumsfeld: Plans for new Iraq unfolding (CNN, April 7, 2003): Casting Saddam Hussein as an increasingly irrelevant figure, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday the Iraqi leader "no longer runs much of Iraq" and that plans for a new Iraq are unfolding. [...] U.S. plans call for a civilian administration, headed by retired Gen. Jay Garner, to help with the transition to a new Iraqi government. "It has currently moved from the United States to Kuwait, and it will eventually move to Iraq," Rumsfeld said of that effort. Under the interim authority, a group of approved Iraqis will run non-controversial government agencies, such as the agriculture ministry, according to Pentagon officials. That authority will also work on new laws and establishing an electoral process. The United States, Rumsfeld said, does not want to impose a government on the Iraqi people. [.....]
Now, let me get this straight-ish. The US does not want to impose a government on the Iraqi people. Therefore, the assumption is that, given free choice, the Iraqi people would choose to be governed first by an American general, working through Iraqi puppets ... er, pardon, working through "a group of approved Iraqis [running] non-controversial government agencies". Moreover, the assumption is that, having spent much in men and materiel to accomplish ... whatever it is that they've accomplished, the US would be willing to sit back and tolerate the Islamist and stridently anti-American government that would almost certainly be elected were the Iraqis to be allowed free rein -- or free reign, as the case may be. (Well, let's face it: if we were to be allowed to choose a government after someone had just bombed the crap out of us, one suspects that it might be hostile to those who did the bombing, yes?)
Right. Sure. Lotsa people out there who believe that one, I'm sure.
Both irony-impaired (Operation Iraqi Freedom, my big fat black ass) and honesty-impaired, this administration is.
Blair to press Bush on UN role in Iraq (The Scotsman, April 8, 2003): GEORGE Bush, the United States president, arrived in Belfast last night for a two-day summit with Tony Blair to take stock of the war and try to resolve differences over the reconstruction of Iraq post-Saddam Hussein. [...] Mr Blair hopes to hammer out a compromise with Mr Bush, giving the United Nations a prominent, but not leading, role in rebuilding post-war Iraq. The Prime Minister is confident he can persuade the president to return to the UN for a new resolution, despite the bruising experience of trying to win Security Council backing for military action. Downing Street said the principles of UN involvement had been agreed. "There are practical, common-sense issues that have to be sorted out and we will approach this in a practical and common-sense way," said Mr Blair’s spokesman .
TO: Tony Blair, Prime Minister, Britain
FROM: George H. W. Bush, President, United States
RE: Iraq
Tony:
If you seriously think that you can persuade this administration to go back to the UN for another resolution on Iraq, you are smoking some truly epic crack.
Could you give some of that crack to Colin Powell? It might help him get a bit less upset about being hung out to dry on such a very regular basis. (Actually, I think he may have gotten into the stash a while ago. He seems to think that there is actually some chance that we'll hand over things to a nongovernmental organization or -- HA! -- the UN. Maybe he's been hanging out with you a little too long.)
Sincerely,
George.
Posted by iain at April 08, 2003 12:31 AMComments
The non-combatant death-toll is around 1,138 as of April 14th.
Many of these unfortunate deaths have been categorically attributed to fedayeen Saddam, who hung women, shot women and children, and shot conscripts who were not eager about going into battle in front of the fedayeen.
No carpet bombing, Amigo. And the 4 Bunker-Busters went into the same hole, with something like 4 deaths reported. Saddam? No pieces big enough to identify, yet...
Posted by Eye Opener at April 17, 2003 04:53 AM
