War with Iran

[mussa]

i don't care either way. i just want apocalypse now.

what i meant was i want everyone to blow up each other. i'll be safe in my basement bunker. then its on. back to survival mode. 

[Diomedes]

this from the guy who loaded his pickup bed with snow for the traction imparted by the added load, forgetting that he parks it in a heated garage.

yeah, you'll do well at End Times.

[ice grillin you]

haha

[mussa]

this from the guy who loaded his pickup bed with snow for the traction imparted by the added load, forgetting that he parks it in a heated garage.

yeah, you'll do well at End Times.

the garage wasn't heated icehole 

[phillymic2000]

this from the guy who loaded his pickup bed with snow for the traction imparted by the added load, forgetting that he parks it in a heated garage.

yeah, you'll do well at End Times.

Fargin Hilarious

[phattymatty]

quote from georgie at the tv and radio correspondents dinner last night:

"A year ago, my approval ratings were in the 30s, my nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, my vice president had shot someone. [Two-beat pause] Ah, those were the good ol' days."

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

quote from georgie at the tv and radio correspondents dinner last night:

"A year ago, my approval ratings were in the 30s, my nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, my vice president had shot someone. [Two-beat pause] Ah, those were the good ol' days."

With that quote and with Dianne Feinstein's padding of her husband's pocketbooks, Bush gets one whole day as only the 2nd biggest scumbag in Washington!

Good job W!

[Father Demon]

St. Louis Post Dispatch

The e-mail came from Fort McPherson, Ga., from an Army colonel who has served in Iraq and now travels back to that land regularly. In the e-mail, the colonel griped about press coverage of the war. Samples:

— "The three-minute media blasts from so-called experts with a microphone are crippling us."

— "Wake up, America. Question what you hear from the media. It is not true merely because you see it on television."

— "Our nation is losing the stomach and the backbone to see this fight through, because the media and the liberal politicians are pandering to America's fears!"

But the author isn't Just Another Colonel. He's West Point graduate Will G. Merrill III, and he lives in O'Fallon, Mo.

But not for much longer. Merrill is back in the Regular Army after a 14-year break in the Army Reserve. He was home this week to help his wife pack for a move to Fort McPherson.

I invited him to sit down and spell out his gripes against the media. He agreed.

As you might imagine from the quotes above, Merrill calls himself a conservative. Even so, he fires his wrath across the political spectrum.

"I sat in Iraq and watched things happen and then saw it on TV a few hours later," he says, "and it was totally different. CNN is the worst, but even Fox News is bad."

Merrill tells of the Fox News crew that saw one poorly aimed rocket-propelled grenade hit a palm tree outside Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, the lodging for a horde of American journalists.

"And the reporter is on the roof of the hotel telling about 'a rocket attack and an undetermined number of casualties.' And then the camera zooms in on the burning tree.

"The impression is that the hotel is aflame and that a lot of people have been killed.

"They didn't say that. But they left that impression."

Well, television is a visual medium. What about print journalism? Do we do a better job?

"I really don't trust the media," Merrill says. "The press only covers the bad news. There are a thousand good-news stories in Iraq, but they never get into print. Nobody wants to hear about American soldiers painting an Iraqi school."

Well, I tell him, by definition, papers write about the unusual and extraordinary, not the usual and ordinary. When the lights work, that's usual. When trucks don't blow up, and when aircraft land safely, that's ordinary.

"Yeah," he agrees. "But I don't like the slant."

So why sit down with me?

Merrill says, "I'm a hometown guy, and I thought you wouldn't slander me too bad."

Then he flashes an infantryman's grin and adds, "Anyway, I know where to find you."

Thought I'd throw this out for all the liberals to tear apart.  I'm sure the press isn't slanting anything when it comes to the war, and they are simply giving the people the information they need to form their own opinion.

Yep, I'm trolling.

[Geowhizzer]

Demon,

Can't say that is anything new.  From William Randolph Hearst's "You provide the pictures, I'll provide the war,"  yellow journalism has permeated the media, both print and broadcast, since at least the time of the Revolution, and more like from the advent of the newspaper.

Whether it be Fox, CNN, network news or Al Jezeera, all the media has an agenda.  It just differs slightly from network to network.

[Diomedes]

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced today that he was freeing the 15 British sailors and marines captured on March 23. He announced the pardon minutes after he gave medals of honor to the Iranian coast guards who intercepted the Britons, saying Iran will never accept trespassing of its territorial waters.

Well played by Iran.

[mussa]

finally. no trespassing into Iran he says, yet he allows people to flood into iraq and fight the infidels.

[Seabiscuit36]

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The 15 British military personnel captured by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf were subjected to "psychological pressure" and kept in isolation during their detention, the group's officers said on Friday.

Lt. Felix Carman of the British Royal Navy, addressing a news conference at a military base in Chivenor, southwestern England, said the sailors and marines were well outside Iranian waters when the incident occurred -- despite previous statements to the contrary while in Iranian custody.

"Irrespective of what has been said in the past, when we were detained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard ... I can clearly state we were 1.7 nautical miles from Iranian waters," Carman said. (Read the full statement)

The sailors and marines, who were seized from patrol boats on March 23, returned to the UK on Thursday after 13 days in Iranian captivity.

Lt. Carman said they were kept in isolation, interrogated and blindfolded, and subjected to "aggressive questioning and rough handling."

Members of the group had been presented with two options, said Lt. Carman: To admit having strayed into Iranian waters or face up to seven years in prison in Iran.

Capt. Christopher Air of the British Royal Marines said they had "feared the worst" during their captivity when they had been bound, blindfolded and lined up against a wall while they heard the sound of weapons being cocked. "There was a lot of trickery and mind games being played," he said. (Watch the sailors describe their experiences in captivity )

Several of the captives appeared on Iranian state television during their detention to apologize for their actions. They were also filmed meeting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and receiving gifts prior to their return to the UK. (Watch how Iran's PR plan unfolded )

Faye Turney, the one woman among the captives, had been singled out and "used as a propaganda tool," Carman said.

Iranian authorities had released several handwritten letters, allegedly by Turney, in which she said the group had been captured in Iranian waters.

Air praised Turney for maintaining her dignity after she had been separated from the 14 men. He said she had been told the rest of the group had been freed and she was the only one still being held.

Air said a "conscious decision" had been taken not to engage the Iranians who took them captive. (Watch the sailors' denial that they were in Iranian waters )

"It was clear they arrived with a planned intent," said Air. "Had we resisted there would have been a mighty fight that we could not have won and with consequences that would have major strategic impacts."

Air said some of the Iranian sailors had been "deliberately aggressive and unstable."

"They rammed our boats and turned their heavy machine guns, RPG, and weapons on us. Another six boats were closing in on us. We realized that our efforts to reason with these people were not making any headway. Nor were we able to calm some of the individuals down... They boarded our boats, removed our weapons, and steered the boats towards the Iranian shore."

Able Seaman Arthur Batchelor said the 15's treatment by the Iranians had been "humane" but they had not been allowed to communicate with each other.

UK suspends boarding operations
Meanwhile, military sources said on Friday that Britain had suspended boarding operations in the Persian Gulf and launched a review into the circumstances that led to the 15's capture and detention.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said a "detailed inquiry" was under way and that debriefings of the group would continue, the UK's Press Association reported.

First Sea Lord Jonathon Band, the head of the Royal Navy, confirmed boarding operations involving British forces had been suspended.

"For the moment we have stopped UK boarding operations," Band told BBC radio. "We will obviously do a complete review."

Band said the review of the incident would consider intelligence, equipment and procedures as well as examining the rules of engagement for British forces operating in the area.

He also defended the conduct of the 15 during their captivity, commenting that their "confessions" to Iranian state media appeared to have been made under "a certain amount of psychological pressure."

"From what I have seen of them on the television and I met them personally when they returned to their families yesterday, I think they acted with considerable dignity and a lot of courage," Band said.

He also rejected suggestions that the patrol had been "spying" and said there was "absolutely no doubt" they were in Iraqi waters.

"We are certainly not spying on them," he said. "The Iranians in that part of Iraqi territorial waters are not part of the scene."

The blindfolds and gun cocking from behind is the same crap they pulled with the 80's hostage crisis

[Geowhizzer]

Iran may be helping Iraqis build bombs

[Diomedes]

..the U.S. military spokesman said.

They've got about as much credibility as Iran has, so I'll pass on this little propaganda jag.

[Geowhizzer]

..the U.S. military spokesman said.

They've got about as much credibility as Iran has, so I'll pass on this little propaganda jag.