-- Winston Churchill
-- Unknown
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"We discovered that all what the [Iraqi] information minister was saying was all lies," said Ali Hassan, a government employee in Cairo, Egypt. "Now no one believes Al-Jazeera anymore."
-- Donna Abu-Nasr, "Arabs Shocked, Relieved at Baghdad's Fall," Associated Press 9 April 2003
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To those who suggest that the United States is acting as an aggressor, and that President Bush is "worse" than Saddam Hussein, refer to the principles by which US Marines behave, in contrast to Hussein's soldiers:
Nine Principles of the Law of War ~
1) Marine fight only enemy combatants.
2) Marines do not harm enemy soldiers who surrender; they disarm them and turn them over to
superiors.
3) Marines do not kill or torture prisoners.
4) Marines collect and care for the wounded, whether friend or foe.
5) Marines do not attack medical personnel, facilities, or equipment.
6) Marines destroy no mre than the mission requires.
7) Marines treat all civilians humanely.
8) Marines do not steal; they respect private property and possessions.
9) Marines should do their best to prevent violations of the law of war.
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"Among the officers of the 159th...was the chaplain, Maj. Jerzy Rzasowski, 42, once a chaplain to his motherland's Solidarity movement....Hussein? 'He's just acting like a Communist, like Mao, Stalin and the others,' Rzasowski remarked. 'I just can't stand Americans not defending their country. I was living under communism too long.' "
-- Katherine M. Skiba, "Mobilizing the media," The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
March 2, 2003: 9A.
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"SIR -- France and Germany insist that in opposing a war on Saddam Hussein they are motivated exclusively by a love of peace ('How deep is the rift', February 15th). However, their porposed solution, an indefinite continuation of the UN inspection process, can only work as long as America and Britain maintain an invasion force of 100,000 troops near Iraq. Nobody can doubt that once this force is withdrawn Saddam will simply kick out the inspectors, as he has done before. To prevent this, France and Germany should offer to cover the full cost of maintaing the troops for as long as it proves necessary. This would show that they are not simply motivated by anti-Americanism, cowardice and the self-interest of their politicians."
-- Andrzej Kozlowski, "Letters," The Economist February 22-28, 2003: 18.
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"Some believe believe a war would end quickly. 'To fight a war you need an enemy,' says a Western diplomat. 'But there will be very little resistance here [Baghdad]. Most people will just go home and wait.' In a quiet moment when no one else was listening, one Iraqi blurted out that 'people are tired of the way things are and they want a change. Only the Americans can change things.' Which may help explain some remarkable trends in Baghdad these days: the local stock exchange is booming, new shops have opened on the bustling commercial avenue near the old American Embassy and land prices have skyrocketed. 'People anticipate things will get better,' explains the diplomat. 'After so many years of war and sanctions, people don't think they can get much worse.' "
-- Melinda Liu, "Psy-Ops and War Prep," Newsweek February 10, 2003: 49.
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Re: Iraqis who have fled to Jordan in recent weeks, and are living illegally in Amman ~
"When it was suggested that they could hardly wish [Iraq] to be liberated by a country they distrusted so much -- that they might prefer President Bush to extend the United Nations weapons inspections and stand down the armada he has massed on Iraq's frontiers -- they erupted in dismay.
" 'No, no no!' one man said excitedly, and he seemed to speak for all. Iraqis, they said, wanted their freedom, and wanted it now. The message for Mr. Bush, they said, was that he should press ahead with war, but on conditions that spared ordinary Iraqis....
"At least one of the rulers [of Iraq's neighbors], discussing American war plans with his advisers, has concluded that Mr. Hussein's regime is apt to collapse quickly as non-elite army units surrender or change sides. But it is not the rapidity of an American victory alone that sustains the hopes of these Arab rulers. The pro-American Arab leaders are confident of something that invites mockery among the Europeans and Americans who oppose any war: that American troops would arrive in Iraq's major cities as liberators. When Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the American commander in the Middle East, visited one Arab palace in recent weeks, Western diplomats reported, the Arab ruler quieted his restive courtiers by predicting that American forces would be met in Baghdad by Iraqis lining the street in celebration."
-- John F. Burns, "The World: Arabs and America; Looking at the Enemy as a Liberator,"
The New York Times February 16, 2003.
