rant 1: on milestones.

[agent compassion]

2000 soldiers dead. That sucks.

10,000+ Iraqis dead. That also sucks, but you'll never hear our media admit it.

What, don't they have souls too? Hmm?

Or is this one of those "your soul's only good if I can get credit for saving it" scenarios?

There is an evangelist who likes to bring his little sign-holding buddy down to my uni every few days and shout at us. Now, most evangelists are pretty persuasive, you know, they try to use positive appeals to get attention. Not this fucker.

In one week I have heard him say:

"You're dead"
"God hates you"
"You move your lips but I don't hear anything, you so-called intellectual"
"There is no prayer that can save you"

etc, etc. Bile. Rubbish. And then, the cherry on the damnation sundae:

"I know I'll go to heaven because I was saved by the Lord"

Newsflash, shitstain: No. You weren't.

From what I know of Christianity, salvation by baptism, magic words, or whatever ritual your church chooses, isn't revocable by mortal deeds. That was kinda the whole point of that dying-on-the-cross thing, remember?

So if one person is 'saved' then so's everyone else. Jesus didn't play favorites, since he was sort of otherwise occupied at the time.

And if one person's not saved, then neither is anyone else. Which means, basically, that if I'm going to hell....YOU'RE ALL COMING WITH ME.

Anyways, that said, it's ridiculous, the way people here will be so one-sided. I'm well aware that any expression of grief for the other side is seen as "America hating." Let's just make one thing very, very clear:

I do not hate AMERICA.

It's AMERICANS who drive me nuts.

My hate is very potent and specific and as such, it doesn't get too many outings. I'm more angry than anything else. Whatever. I want to know why 10,000 Iraqis aren't worth one American to you people.

They're your God's creatures too, aren't they?

Think for a minute of the people of Florida who are beset by the hurricanes. Do you blame each and every single last one of them for living in a hurricane-prone area? No, you are sympathetic, you say, they are just people who happened to live in the path of a hurricane, they couldn't help it.

Do the same for Iraqis. Just for ONE day - think of the regular people there, mothers, fathers, children - not as our sworn enemies but just as people who happen to live in a country that we have enemies in.

It's not little Ali's fault that there are bad guys living in his land. Spare a thought for him, and all the other Alis over there who suffer for 'democracys' sake.

After all, if he was born here, you'd do it gladly.

(note: this is not directed at any person in particular.)

[the other anonymous]

Here!

I was talking about this with my mom a few hours ago. I actually had to say:

"So, your justification for the war is that they're used to it?"

Dam, did her head spin around a full 180 as she quickly lamented the existence of War and said something that spurned me to say "Their only mistake was being born on top of Oil" and thus the conversation ended.

People don't like thinking about Oil for some reason. Could "Oil" be the new "fnord"?

[East Coast Hustle]

read and scored.

also, that figure of 2000 is disingenuous. if a soldier gets on a plane and makes it out of Iraqi airspace before he dies, it doesn't count as dying in the Iraq "conflict".

[fluffy]

also, that figure of 2000 is disingenuous. if a soldier gets on a plane and makes it out of Iraqi airspace before he dies, it doesn't count as dying in the Iraq "conflict".

i've read this here more than once
i would like some independent confirmation
that this is the policy and how many have died

it's not that i don't believe you all
it's just hard to justify one's argument by saying
"i know it is so because i heard it from turd"
you know?

anybody got links?

[Cain]

I think Roger posted one...but it was ages ago, its going to take alot of digging to find.

[The Doctor]

Indymedia probably has it...or Common Dreams...

[East Coast Hustle]

I don't have a link.

I heard about it from one of my good friends who's a Paramedic over there. He said he's been instructed on more than one to provide care to soldiers who obviously are not going to survive their injuries in an attempt to stabilize them long enough to make it to Landstuhl.

[agent compassion]

Can't get much more direct than that...

[East Coast Hustle]

yeah, I mean, I wasn't there to hear his CO, but I have no reason to think he'd lie about it.

hell, he votes republican and gives me shit for being a screeching liberal pussy. I doubt he's propagandizing.

[Mangrove]

"i know it is so because i heard it from turd"

suitable sig material?

[East Coast Hustle]

absolutely.

[Shibboleet The Annihilator]

read and scored.

also, that figure of 2000 is disingenuous. if a soldier gets on a plane and makes it out of Iraqi airspace before he dies, it doesn't count as dying in the Iraq "conflict".

One of my buddies who is a medic over there confirms this, if they die outside of Iraqi airspace they count them differently.

[Cain]

Is there a way to confirm how much higher the actual deaths are then?  Or do we just know its higher?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

also, that figure of 2000 is disingenuous. if a soldier gets on a plane and makes it out of Iraqi airspace before he dies, it doesn't count as dying in the Iraq "conflict".

i've read this here more than once
i would like some independent confirmation
that this is the policy and how many have died

it's not that i don't believe you all
it's just hard to justify one's argument by saying
"i know it is so because i heard it from turd"
you know?

anybody got links?

I posted one, ages ago.

-Have fun finding it.

[Shibboleet The Annihilator]

Is there a way to confirm how much higher the actual deaths are then?  Or do we just know its higher?

I'm sure there is a way but it would probably be a pretty tedious task. I'm guessing it's around 1.5-2?ó higher than what it officially is.