One Year On: War on Terrorism on Trial

[PartTimePongo]

One Year On: War on Terrorism on Trial
Did anyone else catch this on C4 (UK) tonight?

Superb televison under the tutelage of Jon Snow.

Bloody brilliant from Sir Mike Rose, straight plain SAS common sense.

Golden moment? When the American Representative was asked, how many terrorist organisations the US was still funding,and when he denied it, was given a list of terror organisations they were funding....lol. I think he was upset.

I think in cricket, it's called a "Hostile Over".

American fellah blustered like mad, and must have been praying for the satellite to go phutt....

Excellent programme, if a bit theatrical , well done C4

 

[Gas Gas Gas]

Does anyone have the list of organisations funded?  I missed the programme.

 

[woopert]

Well, let's start with Sinn Fein/PIRA. If we are exporting "justice" then perhaps we should have bombed Boston and Chicago.

Another good programe was on BBC2 last night about the US/UK "Special Relationship". A good portion of the 2nd half of the programme was centred around the 911 response. "Trust Me Tone!" reiterated the point that we must pay a "blood price" for this relationship and it is only right and proper to do so. So for the price what do we get? Well I tell you what we don't get:

* Any solid evidence to convince the British public that Iraq actually does have WMD capability

* Any solid evidence that Iraq is a direct threat to UK national interest

* Support from the International Community (certainly not from France, Germany, and Italy, and Russia unless it is bought off at great expense to any coalition)

* Backing from other Arab nations, no matter how much they agree Saddam is a lunatic who must be stopped

* Stability in the middle east

* The situation in Israel being inflamed and that being the catalyst for a huge muslim backlash against the west funded and supported by palestinian hard line groups such as Hamas

The current doctrine being taught at Staff Colleges the world over is not just how to fight and win a war, but that a successful campaign is defined by the methods of extraction and the degree of stability left behind. Should we toplpe Saddam, he has a Republican Guard of 10,000 men brainwashed and indoctrinated in the same folklore and belief that Saddam holds. They are equally as bloodthirsty, ruthless, and power hungry. We will need to invest huge amounts of manpower to provide stability (and given the lack of UN support it is unlikely they will commit to an ISTAFOR) as well as huge amounts of financial aid (similar to a Marshall Plan) to restore an infrastructure and buy stability in the region. Meanwhile of course, 100 or more Osamas will be hiding out in the desert waiting to take their retribution on the "Great Satan", and so the pattern goes on.

So come on Tony, convice me this is a worthwhile cause, and that we should leave Zimbabwe alone for the aske of Iraq.  

 

[woopert]

..............oh, and if Mike Jackson could tell "El Presidente Tony B Liar" to go to that same dark, lonely place he told Gen Wesley Clarke to get off on I would surely marry his teenage daughter!  

Brass Cajunas!

 

[sinner]

Another good one on C4 last night. All about howSierra Leone has imploded slowly over the last 40 years since independence, and Zimbabwe is teetering on the brink of complete ruin.    

Best line was (and I'm probably misquoting slightly) the response from the Ziombabwe shadow minister for foreign affairs when asked if africans were unsuited to executive office because they always seemed to turn into dictators:  

"You must understand that it's not the fault of the individual, he is merely a product of society. If society allows him to become a dictator, it's partly society's fault."

Surely a man cut out for social work in Lambeth.