Countdown to a new world.

and: will londoners switch from tube to buses afer the war begins?

and: has saddam already left iraq?

virtually impossible for many Londoners - and it would create an impossible situation if everyone did do that - back off commuters, the buses are MY bitch and mine only!

*at least 30 resolutions from what I've read

Non-American Earthians, I'm very sorry for what is being done in my nation's name. Please don't hold it against our future generations, if there are any.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2856735.stm

The war should be very anti-climactic, however. It might unfortunately take years to see the mistake of it.

Bush to address nation
• President to speak at 8 p.m. EST, will say Saddam Hussein must leave Iraq to avoid war
• U.S., UK, Spain will not seek second U.N. vote; White House says diplomacy has ended
• U.N. withdrawing inspectors, officials tell CNN
• U.S. officials say they have seen new evidence that Iraq is preparing to use chemical weapons

I would gladly renounce my pacifism for 5 minutes to smack Christopher Hitchens upsaide the head.

Well, that's it then.

Really? I didn't think they did...I've never heard someone from the govt refer to the 'Persian Gulf War', it's usu just 'Desert Storm'

http://grease.errgh.com/gnome/logo.jpg

I'm not frightened but rather outraged and horrified.

I wouldn't take Saddam at his word, BTW.

If you'll recall a few months back Saddam challenged Dubya to a duel in order to settle their differences. I would have actually had respect for Dubya if he took him up on the offer - at least then he would live up his cowboy image.

Isn't this a core argument of the administration anyway?

The moron traders didn't even wait for the bombs to start falling to celebrate.

So how many more countdowns to a new world are we gonna have? Are they going to be as revelatory as Y2K? the Cold War? the Gulf War? The Taliban War?

Being slightly flippant here, and not to discount the above, but I would think we would learn by now that the world has still been turning after all that has happened in our life times. And while this will be no comfort to those who will die in the seemingly imminent Iraq war, maybe we should not expect the end of the world every time something like this happens?

(in completely unrelated news on this rather strange day.. it looks like I finally got a job after being unemployed for over a year.)

(I had a typo "HOOT" in there originally which I almost left because it would have been much, much funnier.)

i also agree that "oppose the war, support the troops" is a slippery term for any of a number of reasons.

To do the opposite of what was done during and after Vietnam

(that's what I take it to mean Dan)

Which is one leery I'm leery of the phrase.

(cross-posted!)

i don't want to live in this world anymore.

"Support the troops" is a subtle tool to distort perceptions of the anti-war movement. Something that is completely obvious (i.e. hope that troops wont die) should not have to be stated, but to have to say "Now, I support the troops but I am anti-war because ...." implies that it is somehow exceptional for anti-war people to think this. The same with, "Saddam is an evil man, but I am antiwar because ..." as if anyone doesn't think so.

"I support the troops" = "I hope the troops don't get killed" = "I am against this pointless war"

It's a weasel word. In politics it means one thing, in personal life another. That should be obvious. But around war time people hide the political meaning behind the personal one.

cf. drunk fireman yelling at me in McSorley's last week.

But what is this "support"?

Tying yellow ribbons everywhere? Paying taxes? Waving little flags?

Go USA.

Last I heard he was fighting a fascist regime in Spain while despairing that his supposed liberal friends were sitting on their hands back home opposing the war and preferring to yabber smug, pious 'pacifist' rhetoric instead.

Yes, agreed, Orwell where are you...

i dunno where orwell is (check his grave, maybe?) it does appear that christopher hitchens has discovered ILXor.

hope this works

so the aziz defection story is app. a fake and the evening standard story also seems like a sales ploy so guess war starts in abt 2 hours (can't believe there is a fuckin timetable/countdown for this thing!)

I thought abt this today listening to Daniel Shore on the radio - he wz talking abt the possibility that the discovery of WMDs during the invasion might very well be the saving grace for international relations between the US and others (admittedly DS is about 750x more optimistic than I, and has far too much faith in people).

we were all aghast and stopped playing music and just sat around the TV, silently (thilo's parents spoke no english... or maybe they just didn't want to) (THILO IF YOU GOOGLE THIS, EMAIL ME, MOTHERFUCKER!)

Well there's a big difference between weapons you can deploy at point blank range if someone's invading your country and weapons that would be a danger to the US/UK if they stayed in their own damn country.

Israel is a different matter, and depends on whether Sharon nukes them or not.

The Newsweek International editor has been flogging this argument all around over the past few days: that what gets found will vindicate the war, if not the greater issue of American power. I actually don't doubt that he's sort of right, and that the aftermath of a full invasion will likely reveal details of a regime even more unpleasant than we might have imagined. (Heh: so would an invasion of Washington or any other capitol.)

Now that a US-led invasion seems inevitable I hope it will take as little time as possible and result in as few net casualties as possible. I am pessimistic about this but I certainly don't wish anyone on either side dead.

Salon article

To me it makes a case for the war, with some best-case assumptions I suspose. Or am I just easily led?

So Saddam is perfectly willing to bring about the certain end of his regime by refusing to destroy his Weapons of Mass Destruction, but it's inconceivable that he would ever have used those weapons otherwise - because to do so would be a suicidal act which would bring about the certain end of his regime?

NADI MARG, India (AFX) - Suspected Islamic militants dressed in army fatigues gunned down 24 Hindus in Indian-administered Kashmir, including 11 women and two children, police said.
In response, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee held an emergency session of his security cabinet which, after condemning the bloodleting in "the strongest terms", hinted of an intensified crackdown against Islamic guerrillas.
"We will keep the situation under review and take whatever steps are neccessary to meet such situation," Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said after the meeting, which was also attended by Indian army chief NC Vij.
Ten to 12 armed militants stormed the village of Nadi Marg, 54 kilometers (33 miles) south of the summer capital Srinagar, late yesterday pretending to be soldiers, police official MA Amjum told Agence France-Presse.
The gunmen herded out villagers from their homes and sprayed them with bullets from automatic guns and then ran away into nearby forests.
Amjum said the militants overpowered six policemen guarding Nadi Marg, which only had 11 Hindu families, comprising 52 members, after others left the hamlet at the start of the Islamic rebellion in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley.
A wounded survivor, Chunni Lal, said the gunmen knocked on his door last night and ordered him and his wife out on the pretext of a search operation for guerrillas.
Lal held his breath and feigned death after being shot until the gunmen had left.
So far none of Kashmir's two dozen rebel groups has claimed responsibility for the attack, the bloodiest since last May when guerrillas killed 20 wives and children of Indian soldiers in Kashmir.

question. do these situations actually need any cover?

WASHINGTON (AFX) - The US has "credible evidence" that Russian firms have sold military equipment to Iraq, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
The spokesman said the information was "disturbing" and that Washington had expressed its concerns to Moscow.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov rejected the US accusations, saying an investigation into the claims had yielded no results.
"Russia strictly fulfills all its international obligations and has not supplied any equipment, including military, to Iraq in violation of the sanctions regime," Ivanov told journalists.
Ivanov said the relevant Russian agencies had investigated the US claims but "no facts regarding the US concerns were discovered."
A top US official said Sunday that private Russian experts were in Iraq helping the regime jam satellite signals that could guide bombs and military aircraft used by the US-led coalition in its war to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The concept of "international diplomacy" is officially dead.

'The deployment is the furthest position east for British troops so far and is seen as a sign that the UK and US are concerned Iran could try and exploit uncertainty caused by the war'

Please do not provoke iran mr bush, you did such a good job with turkey.