Monday, April 19, 2004

So I was wondering to myself the other day,

What were Nagasaki and Hiroshima if not weapons of mass destruction? Not to mention all the testing that was carried-out before and after those massacres. Anyone care to ask the residents a little part of French Polynesia for their opinions (whoops, have I just given Bush an excuse to attack France, looking for WMDs?)?

What is Agent Orange if not a weapon of mass destruction? Most people in the West think or are aware only of the long-term health effects on American Vietnam veterans. Remember there were people from many other nations as well as the hilltribes and the people of South Vietnam. The chemical was used in Laos and Cambodia, too, so the people of those countries also suffered. Then, there is the inevitable effect on the environment of such a nasty mix of toxins.

Oh, by the way, do you think the US Government learned its lesson with Agent Orange? Don't be so stupid.

Wanna know where Saddam got his weapons? Have a look at this or maybe this. See the name Alcolac? Keep an eye out for it in this article.

Now, I don't suppose for one second that all of those references I've supplied are completely impartial, free from any politcal or other agenda or bias (or even accurate) but it certainly doesn't look good, does it?

So, if we want to discount all of the above, that still leaves me with the following two articles from the USA Today newspaper.

U.S. supplied the kinds of germs Iraq later used for biological weapons

A look at U.S. shipments of pathogens to Iraq.

A few more weapons to consider: napalm, fuel-air bombs, cluster bombs, runway denial systems, land mines.

You see, the US Government doesn't give a damn what anyone does as long as they:

1. Do what they're told by the US Government
2. Make money for the US Government
3. Serve the purposes of the US Government

and most important,

4. Whatever they do, DON'T EMBARASS THE US GOVERNMENT.

After all, just ask the people of Panama, Chile, Cuba and Argentina, for example. Ask Manuel Noriega, Ayatullah Khomeini, John Gotti, Osama bin Laden and, of course, Sadaam Hussein. But, heck, I'm going off on a tangent and it takes me down another long and winding story. Perhaps another time.

To be honest, I'm a little disappointed that it's so damn easy to find so much that paints such an awful picture about what's going on today, what's happened in the past and what the US Government seems to be up to but that's nothing like the disappointment I feel when journalist after journalist and news outlet after news outlet fail to make a bigger stink about this. Maybe they're just worried about their livelhoods and life expectancies. But that's a fairly short-term strategy for, as Pastor Niemöller once famously said, "First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me."

You see? I have not forgotten. (and no, I am not drawing a direct parallel between Hitler and Bush)

Well, not yet, at least.

Meanwhile, to lighten the load a little, you could have a laugh at this.

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