"Now, I Am the Terrorist" - what I wrote after Shock & Awe ten years ago today

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WilliamPitt (53,927 posts)

"Now, I Am the Terrorist" - what I wrote after Shock & Awe ten years ago today


 
Now, I Am the Terrorist
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed

March 19 2003

The city of Baghdad, founded in 762 A.D. under the name Madinat as-Salam -- `City of Peace' -- is this day a lake of fire. The opening stage of the Bush administration's "Shock and Awe" attack plan began as night fell on Iraq, and lived terribly up to its terrible name. CBS news is reporting that great swaths of residential neighborhoods within Baghdad have been engulfed in flames. One can trust, perhaps, the ability of a cruise missile to hit a bullseye from many miles away. One cannot be so precise in predicting which way the resulting fires will blow.

In the great earthquake in San Francisco in 1906, people were not killed so much by the shaking. They were killed by the firestorm that sucked the air from their lungs and reduced them to ash before they could flee. So it seems to be today in Baghdad.

Baghdad is a city of 5 million people, half of whom are under the age of fifteen, most of whom are too poor to flee. Now, a great many of those people are dead, burned in their homes and on their streets.

The American television media provided all of us with a Dresden-eye view of the attack. Huge mushroom clouds bloomed from the streets as buildings blazed and fell. The thunder of the explosions was so loud that television speakers became distorted with the sound of the concussion. The sky lit up as though the sun was rising. It was a fitting image, for a new day in world history has dawned.

Much has been made of the precision of our vaunted arsenal of bombs and missiles, as if they can go into a building and find the second door on the left before they explode. The truth is far more dire. When a B-2 bomber drops a 2,000 lb. JDAM munition, everyone and everything within a 120 meter radius is instantly killed. Anyone within a 365 meter radius risks severe shrapnel wounds. To be totally safe, one must be 1,000 meters away from the epicenter of the explosion. Imagine how many homes can fit into 1,000 meters, and never mind the firestorm.

American Marines have died securing petroleum facilities, and in a helicopter crash. If Iraqi forces do not surrender soon, American forces will attack Baghdad from the ground. The loss of life among our people will grow exponentially if a Stalingrad-style fight unfolds in Baghdad and Tikrit. On Tom Brokaw's CBS News broadcast, the father of one of the soldiers killed in the helicopter crash held a picture of his son to the camera and shouted, "Take a look, Bush. You killed my only son."

Those who stand against this attack are dunned as "Not supporting the troops." One might suggest the best way to support troops is to see them brought home safely. One might also suggest that support continues after the shooting stops. This does not appear to be on the agenda for the Republican Party. A vote along party lines today in the House Budget Committee slashed $9.7 billion from veterans disability compensation programs, as well as from other programs. These cuts, pushed through the committee by the majority-holding Republicans, are part of the plan to see Bush's new $1.57 trillion tax cut through. Wave that flag, George.

Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld, when asked by a reporter whether the Iraqi people would cheer Americans after this attack, stated that Baghdad's civilians would welcome us. This defies known history in Japan and Germany and Vietnam; those populations, after absorbing saturation bombing, hardened their resistance. American television purported to show Iraqi civilians cheering a soldier who tore down a picture of Hussein, but a Sky News reporter walking Baghdad's streets reported that, to a man, everyone he spoke with spat hatred and derision for this American attack.

On September 11th, I sat in numb horror as the images of carnage unfolded before me on the television. On that day, I was the victim of terrorism, along with every other American. Today, I sit in numbed horror as more carnage unfolds. Hundreds of massive missiles have rained down on a city far away, killing indiscriminately among the young, the infirm, the old and the innocent. My government did this. My nation did this. My leaders did this. Today, I am the terrorist.

So are you.

There is no justification for this attack. Saddam Hussein and his forces had been effectively disarmed by the first Gulf War, by the UNSCOM inspections, and by the more recent UNMOVIC inspections. According to Hussein Kamel, son-in-law to Saddam Hussein whose comments to the UN in 1991 were recently reported in a buried Newsweek story, Iraq was pretty much disarmed of mass destruction weapons even before the first war. The Bush administration, in pushing for this war, has foisted lie after lie after lie upon the American people and the world. The world didn't buy it, but they weren't dependent upon lapdog media sources like ours for their data.

We are the terrorists now, stupid underinformed terrorists who dance to the tune of a corporate media machine that will profit wildly from this attack. NBC, MSNBC and CNBC are owned by General Electric, one of the largest defense contractors on earth. They will be paid handsomely in military contracts because of this, as they always have been. Yet GE gives us the news we need to understand what is happening.

Americans are not often afforded the opportunity to witness a war crime live on television. Today's actions bring to mind a war crime from a generation ago: The shooting of a prisoner by Vietnamese General and American ally Nguyen Ngoc Loan. General Loan put a pistol to the head of this bound prisoner and blew his brains into the street, an image that millions of Americans saw after it had taken place. We are here again today. The poverty of the Iraqi people leaves them bound, unable to escape the wave of steel. We have blown their brains out. We have incinerated them in place. We will continue to do so, and you can watch it from your couch. Today, you are the terrorist.

So am I.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022533348

Poor Wee Willie trying to remind the DUmmies of how he once was a hero for 24 business hours.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Fine, let's just go back to doing it the way FDR did.

Or better yet, Truman.

[FiddyBeowulf]

Ten years later and his level of douche-ness  has not gone down one bit.

Does his writing (or posting, not sure if posting to troofout is writing) bring to mind the way a lefty 12th grader would write something? It just has that smarmy "I know better than you because I am a liberal, open minded, use big words (I really do not understand) and I care, oh do I care" feel to it.

[BlueStateSaint]

Ten years later and his level of douche-ness  has not gone down one bit.

If anything, it's grown by an infinite factor.

[JohnnyReb]

Hit his high point in his youth and flamed out shortly thereafter....been down hill ever since.

[vesta111]

Hit his high point in his youth and flamed out shortly thereafter....been down hill ever since.

All ways wondered why the aggressors that start a war and run on their rules seem to collect fans who approve of their tactics while the attacked who have to defend themselves are hog tied in red tape as to what is being allowed to defend themselves. 

Enemy has the right to rape and behead those taken prisoner.   The prisoners of war the defence captures is given a special diet, a TV, conjugal visits and the Defenders have to pay to get them a lawyer. 

[Rebel]

Even Rachel now knows you were full of shit back then, Pitt. Now? Not so much thanks to an idiot every single one of you DUmbasses would trip over each other to vote for again.

[youtube=425,350]HkSkQgnEV-Q[/youtube]

My oh my. What will the Progs do? Throw Rachel Maddow under the bus? Or finally open up their f'n eyes?

My guess? Not looking good for you, Rachel. Rachel has more balls than every damn male idiot at the DUmp. I almost gained a little respect for her, but her past history can't be wiped away by one moment of clarity.

[txradioguy]

Will you're not a terrorist...but you ARE a traitor.

[JohnnyReb]

Even Rachel now knows you were full of shit back then, Pitt. Now? Not so much thanks to an idiot every single one of you DUmbasses would trip over each other to vote for again.

[youtube=425,350]HkSkQgnEV-Q[/youtube]

My oh my. What will the Progs do? Throw Rachel Maddow under the bus? Or finally open up their f'n eyes?

My guess? Not looking good for you, Rachel. Rachel has more balls than every damn male idiot at the DUmp. I almost gained a little respect for her, but her past history can't be wiped away by one moment of clarity.

Hey, the democrat hero, FDR, did it......now B.O. wants to do it.

[hillneck]

And yet the only thing Willie boy as done since then is threaten violence on a car dwelling woman and continue his drunken stupor.  Oh forgot his banishment from Skin's Island and then being able to slime his way back.

[wasp69]

WilliamPitt (53,927 posts)

"Now, I Am the Terrorist" - what I wrote after Shock & Awe ten years ago today

"Look at me!  Look at me!  I'm still relevant!"   

Pathetic little bitch...

[DumbAss Tanker]

WilliamPitt (53,927 posts)

"Now, I Am the Terrorist" - what I wrote after Shock & Awe ten years ago today

...Hey, why is that quiet little airplane circling over my house...?

 

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Lived terribly up to its terrible name?

Great writing, Mr. Pitt.

[RayRaytheSBS]

Much has been made of the precision of our vaunted arsenal of bombs and missiles, as if they can go into a building and find the second door on the left before they explode. The truth is far more dire. When a B-2 bomber drops a 2,000 lb. JDAM munition, everyone and everything within a 120 meter radius is instantly killed. Anyone within a 365 meter radius risks severe shrapnel wounds. To be totally safe, one must be 1,000 meters away from the epicenter of the explosion. Imagine how many homes can fit into 1,000 meters, and never mind the firestorm.

Firestorm? WTF is this idiot talking about? We didn't drop napalm, we didn't drop thermite, and 2000 lb JDAM's were not used very much in the cities. And how the hell does this idiot even think he know what the safe distance is for one?

The truth of the matter is, we conducted the invasion with the minimal amount of civilian casualties being the first priority. At no other time in history has an invading force been so restricted. If we had wanted to, we could have made it look like dresden, hiroshima, and nagasaki combined, but we didn't.

So f**k you Pity stain,  you have no f**king clue what you are talking about.

[wasp69]

So f**k you Pity stain,  you have no f**king clue what you are talking about.

As if that has ever stopped his uncalloused fingers from hitting the keyboard.

[RayRaytheSBS]

As if that has ever stopped his uncalloused fingers from hitting the keyboard.

True enough. God what an oxygen-thief..

[GOBUCKS]

CBS news is reporting that great swaths of residential neighborhoods within Baghdad have been engulfed in flames.

Yeah, I remember seeing, the next day, those huge expanses of incinerated Baghdad. Oh, wait, no there were never any such pictures.

It must be that darn CBS trying to protect President Bush from criticism.

Pitt's arrogant, ignorant pre-Fitzmas bombast is a reminder of how comical he was back before he collaborated with Jason Leopold and lost his DUmp cred.

[98ZJUSMC]

If anything, it's grown by an infinite factor.

No.  Doubt.

Lived terribly up to its terrible name?

Great writing, Mr. Pitt.

He fakes it well enough for the idiots that make up his chorus, but the drunken traitors' writing is too sophomoric and riddled with poor, or outright embarrassing, grammar.

Like that......

[Ogre]

Just my opinion but here is my mental picture of Pitt penning one of his OP's = 

[Vagabond]

Firestorm? WTF is this idiot talking about? We didn't drop napalm, we didn't drop thermite, and 2000 lb JDAM's were not used very much in the cities. And how the hell does this idiot even think he know what the safe distance is for one?

The truth of the matter is, we conducted the invasion with the minimal amount of civilian casualties being the first priority. At no other time in history has an invading force been so restricted. If we had wanted to, we could have made it look like dresden, hiroshima, and nagasaki combined, but we didn't.

So f**k you Pity stain,  you have no f**king clue what you are talking about.

I have no idea what he is talking about either.  I remember large plumes of black smoke over Baghdad.  They were the result of Hussein setting pools of oil on fire in what seemed to be an attempt to degrade American IR vision/targetting systems.

Hey Will, I know you read this.  Saddam Hussein had a human shredder.  Digest that.  He was actually feeding people feet first into a machine to cause as much pain as possible before they died.  Even other leftists blanched when that came out.  But not you DUllards.

[dandi]

We didn't even see real "Shock & Awe" as advertised in the run up to the invasion. When it became apparent the vaunted Republican Guard and Saddam Fedayeen were hightailing it like Michael Moore leaving a Jenny Craig meeting, the Coalition pulled its punches at the last minute to save infrastructure. Shock & Awe wasn't necessary to demoralize the enemy.

This is Bush Derangement Syndrome Week at DUmmyland. With the 10th anniversary of the war in Iraq all the old memes are being revisited, the Monday Morning Quarterbacks are again passing out of the pocket, and the lies and mischaracterizations again flow freely.

Hey, they need something to distract them from the abject failure of their assault against the 2nd Amendment.