kerosene

That kind of behaviour has been in war since the camera was invented probably, even people in funeral homes and stuff mess around with bodies, im not defending it, it just seems to be a way a lot of people cope with constant death around them.

I voted for CSLA, cause of wanted some good pick-up trucks for an age. I44 is more in the back of my mind, but im definatley looking forward to it. I'm probably looking forward to Bushfires mod at the moment, they look like they've got some great stuff coming out.

I dont understand why Iraqi cops arent issued with a gun at all times, I know you could say they may run of with the gun, but the insurgents clearly arent facing a shortage of small arms so what differnce will it make?

Well reports said the other 3 had been treated had died from fresh wounds sustained afterwards, and there was already a sqaud of marines in the building, before the guy who did the shooting turned up.

And with Bush in the White House this is a great oppurtunity for a new arms race, not that Bush needed much encourage meant (mini-nukes, star-wars II, etc.) As Colossus pointed out they've already got enough to start armegeddon anyway, I'd imagine they'd probably be better off spending the money on conventional weapons for their army, or jet fuel, or methods of training new recruits where they dont have to be beaten to death... But shit, im not a politican.

You cant execute unarmed wounded soldiers either. If the Rules of Engagement the marines are issued are in violation of the geneva convention, well then that a whole different issue. This'll all be water under the bridge on a week or two anyway, theres no way any thing will come of this, if its o.k to shoot up a wedding party, why is this going to make any difference? Its makes me sick that there are people who will defend any action at all if it was done by their own, "we'll I was born in this country, therefore everything it does must be right" excellent way to look at the world.

Its seems like a pretty fair assesment. One of Blairs big things was that he could excercise some influence over Bush, so that was why it would be good to be in the war, as his position wouldnt be as valid if he was criticising from the outside. But hes got no influence, hes right as long as he agrees with Bush, he didnt get listened to when Britain was against disbanding the Iraqi army and he's unlikley to get listened to on anything else. Oh, and British military chiefs now want the Blackwatch troops pulled out early, although the government probably wont oblige. Gotta show the americans we're "serious" about Iraq.

I saw that video yesterday, of the Marine shooting over a wall and you hear him say, "hes done." But theres a much more graphic video been floating round on the internet for a while of something very similiar. One of the most baffling things I heard was a U.S officer talking about Falluja returning to normal and people going back to work and stuff, their gonna be in for a shock when they see the state of the town. Channel 4 news showed very brief clips of what looked like civilians who'd been killed in their homes by indirect/indiscriminate fire. I dont really think making large numbers of people homeless/destitute is going to improve the situation. The "no-males of fighting age can leave" thing has been going on for a while, and not everyone who stays is planning on riding out the storm. Theres the old, the sick, etc. I hope more satellite pictures of the city we'll be released, I looked at that one that was put earlier, hopefully they'll be a post battle shot released too.

Really great work, the packs on the desert units look excellent, along with everything else. Download the version using lasers weapons though, the JAM models dont do these guys justice. Does the U.S have special winter camoflage for vehicles or do they just use the standard green? I was thinking it would be cool if the Combat! bradleys and stuff had a winter texture to go with these guys.

I read a long while ago that the story of creation comes from Babylon originally and is slightly changed, I never bothered reading before, into it but theres some intersting stuff here http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/babylonian.html For many centuries, both Christian and Jewish theologians believe that the stories were given by God and thus owed their origins purely to divine inspiration. However in the nineteenth century, British archaeologists unearthed seven tablets containing the Babylonian [a] myth of creation known as Enuma Elish. Like the famous Epic of Gilgamesh, archaeologists have assigned the date of composition of this work to around 2000 BC. Although the story differs in specifics to that told in Genesis, the similarities in the general tone has convinced archaeologists that the Genesis account had been fundamentally derived from the Babylonian one.

Yeah thats right, absolutley, the actions of 1 employee of an organisations with thousands of members and employees is totally enough to judge it on. This person obviously knew what they were doing and probably had little or no interest in politics.

I'm with the T.V stations - history should be sanitised, no one in the 40's or 50's swore or had pre-marital sex and I resent the implication that they did.

The republican right must spend almost as much time thinking about guys getting it on as actual gay people. If gay marriage is banned federally they should add an amendment banning Will and Grace, that probably encourages it too. Mabye he meant gayness in the South Park sense, like "thats totally gay"

Ashcroft is the guy who covered up a statue of lady justice because she was showing to much skin, he apparently also beleives calico cats to be the devils messenger. Hes a freakshow,

Why would anyone want a new set of McCarthy trials? Â It was paranoid bullshit that just ruined peoples lives for no reason. Of course my viewpoint may be colored by the fact that two generations of my family have fought communists in South America. But what do I know?

I wasnt looking to blame anyone, I was just trying to get any idea of how that wealth was actually spread around, is all.

Lol, like what? "oh shit. Im in the wrong country, AGAIN, if only the Macedonians werent so inconsiderate"

Is that true for the protestants generally though or just a minority of protestants? I'm guessing protestants living in the areas that saw a lot of trouble arent much better off than catholics.

Yeah, thats all the more reason to put the shit up now so they can prevent any other nation from attempting to militarise space afterwards. Its not just anti-satellite weapons, i think the ban covered nuclear weapons stored and lauched from a satellite as well. The U.K certainly dosent have any pull as far as this is concerned, we already voluntered to help out with the ABM system. Blairs original rationale (well, one of several) for joining the war in Iraq is that it would be good to have a friendly moderate to talk him down from stuff and that he could exert influence, its bollocks though, Blair would defend him if he torched a union jack during a state visit.

Catholic and protestant communities are quite heavily segregated, I dont know but id imagine the local economy picked up slightly after the treaty was signed. There are some mixed faith schools, but its not the norm - children going to these schools tend to have more tolerant attitudes to the other group, but then they come from families that wanted to put them them in those schools so they probably had a more tolerant upbringing. Definatley the violence and unemployment have side effects elsewhere, Northern Ireland is known as one of the most racist places in europe, even people from other E.U nations can face violence.

Missing evidence could foil Saddam prosecution, claims report Crucial evidence for the forthcoming trials of Saddam Hussein and other senior Iraqi officials is likely to have been lost or tainted because US-led forces have failed to safeguard official documents and the remains of victims in mass graves, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch says in a report out today. In the months after the invasion, they failed to stop people looting thousands of official documents, or to stop relatives of "disappeared" persons from digging up remains found in some mass grave sites, according to the report, titled Iraq: The State of the Evidence. The invading forces subsequently failed to put in place the professional expertise and help necessary to ensure proper classification and exhumation procedures. As a result, it was very likely that key evidence had been lost or tainted. The report was a timely reminder, on the day George Bush's re-election was confirmed, of the major headaches that lie in wait in Iraq. full article http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1342746,00.html

I think a combined thread would become to jumbled too. Definatley though a politics thread should stay, if anything its a good source of links to news I might otherwise miss out on, aside from that its lets people debate and hear perspectives from people they'd never get to hear from otherwise. (i know there are plenty of strictly political foruims, but i like this one, so there.)

I think you'll have a hard time finding someone who dosent want to see the Aussie mercs

Has anyone else noticed Bowery Bakers posts getting less sane with each passing week?