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2001-12-05 / 6:43 p.m. ~We're Killing Our Own Now~ *Warning!! Unpopular opinions ahead�Read at your own risk. Any dissent may be directed to: thesearemyopinionsexpressedinmydiary@ifyoudontlikeitgoelsewhere.com I saw the headline on my Yahoo start page when I was home for lunch. We're killing our own people now. A US B-52 bomber dropped a "smart bomb" on some of our troops. Killed two. Injured 20 others. That was "smart", huh? (Now, much later, the report is 3 killed, 19 injured - oh, and there were 5 Afghans killed, but you know they don't count, not to Americans) I can't wait to hear the spin from Rumsfeld tonight on the evening news. Can't fucking wait. Sorry, I am so sorry for the families, the loved ones of those who were killed, and those who may have lost body parts, who may not function normally ever again, but we SO needed this. We need for people to see the absurdity of this situation. This is not an attack on "terrorism", the concept, the brutal philosophies of some staunch fundamentalist rebels strewn about the globe, this is an attempt to install our own troops in Afghanistan, to protect our interests in the oil there. And Bin Laden? Yes, from what we're told�he's one bad mo'fo', but is he responsible for 9/11? We only believe it because Bush/Rumsfeld/Ashcroft, the Three Stooges, say so. Do you believe that this is all really about freedom? About Bin Laden? About saving "our" people from terrorist attacks in the future? And people call ME naive. Wow. It's going to take us fucking up like this for people to wake up. I'm sorry it's happened, but maybe now someone who needs to do some questioning will do it. Question what's going on over there. Question what you're being told, question if you want your son, your husband, your brother, your cousin, nephew, friend, killed, killed by HIS OWN COUNTRY in error, and why?! What good did it do? Those friends, those families, will tell themselves their loved ones died heroes, over "there" to fight for "us", for our "safety", for our "freedom", and if that gives them comfort, so be it. I'm disgusted. Who was it that wrote that we'd have to be more careful about the bombing now that our own troops are installed on the ground? This, is us, being careful. Here are some quotes from the article in the Washington Post: "Pentagon officials said that the incident involved a 2,000 pound Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), which landed within about 325 feet of two Special Forces teams in Afghanistan north of Kandahar�While the �JDAM, guided by signals from the Global Positioning System Satellites, landed about 100 meters from the U.S. forces, Stufflebeem (Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem�who briefed reporters at the Pentagon), a Naval aviator, said that he always tried to be no closer than 4,000 feet from a 2,000 pound JDAM at the time of detonation. Stufflebeem called the 2,000 pound JDAM "a devastating weapon", known to kill troops on the ground with blast fragments as far away as a quarter to a half mile. The blast is so loud and intense that troops within 100 meters would typically have their eardrums shattered�"I don't know what the intended target was," said Stufflebeem, (what a great name, huh?)deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "The forces that were killed and wounded were in fact the group that called in the strike. It was being called on enemy troops. Where it landed relative to that, I don't know and will be part of the investigation."" It goes on, this article. This was the most frightening part to me though, and I mean frightening as in our government, our elected officials, those whose salaries our tax dollars pay, etc, is trying to fuck us: "Reporters and photographers at the air base were denied permission to watch or photograph the injured being transferred from the helicopters to the base hospital or the C-130s. They were told to stay in a warehouse that is functioning as sleeping quarters and newsroom for the 12 journalists here to cover the operations. Under military ground rules, reporters are not allowed to file stories that interfere with ongoing operations, but no ground rule prohibits reporting on casualties so long as it does not interfere with rescue efforts. Clarke (Pentagon spokesperson Victoria Clarke), in charge of Pentagon public affairs, said she did not know why reporters at the Marines' forward operating base southwest of Kandahar had been confined to the warehouse. Clarke said that the Pentagon does not, as a matter of policy, try to prevent the U.S. media from covering incidents in which U.S. forces are killed and wounded. "What we're trying to do is facilitate coverage," she said." Oh, what a crock of shit! What you mean, Victoria, is that if you could, you would've covered this up so well no one would have ever known about it, but you knew you couldn't, so you simply denied access to the press instead. Fucking government whitewashing. Everything. When I have to search for the truth it's hard times indeed. Who was it who said that the truth is the first thing to be lost in times of war?? Okie dokie, I'm home now�yeah, I wrote the previous diatribe from work. I've eaten (a really good chargrilled chicken garden salad with Dijon honey dressing, from Chick Fil A, of all places - and I try not to eat there, try to boycott because of their heavy Christian stance on all things, their past supposed support of Operation Rescue, but hey, I was hungry, and they have a good chicken salad - boycotts are hard sometimes), and have seen some of the CBS Evening News. I am glad Afghanistan is working out their political situation, and yes, I agree, how could I not?, that if we actually helped them to rid themselves of their oppressors, then in the very longest of long runs, maybe it was worth it. Maybe. But you see, they've had troubles for years, and I mean YEARS, and that we never did this until now must smack of selfishness to more than just a handful of American activist, left-wing, liberal types, like myself. More people must question our real reason for doing as we have done. Knowledge is power. I abhor the fact that so many eat what they are fed. But�this is life. And at our meeting today, at work, he says, "Love is love", and I rolled my eyes, that is not the point, we have specific issues here, this is not a commune, this is a workplace, and I've always been more of a hippie than you'll ever be, but sometimes you have to be real, professional even. That story is going to wait. Tonight is watch "Amazing Race" in the bedroom while I tape "Felicity" in the living room night. I have a VCR from the early '80s, one that can't tape one show on one channel while I watch another. Not unless I get some hardware, and re-configure, and that's something I never taught myself. Oh, I can set the clock, which is more than most people, and I can set it to tape, and can re-configure when I want to tape one channel, then another, but some things it just won't do without a lot of work, and some things it just can't do at all. Upgrade? One day. When it breaks. If it breaks. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's a Toshiba. Very, very good. (Oh no, I just saw Dan Rather's report from "the field", in Afghanistan, and it was all pretty and nice, showed women peeling off their burkas, a little boy carting off a television to take home, a young man holding a boom box in public, listening to tunes, happy, happy, joy, joy, and all because of the wonderful Americans! One man says, "I hope you never leave"! And isn't that the point? Oh, Dan, you sellout! What about the people killed? Why aren't you showing those people whose lives have been ruined by the boming? How dare you only show one side? Oh, how horrible, how devastating.) Cost of the War in Iraq
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