Is this prelude to World War 3?

[Seismic Anamoly]

It's about to get REAL Ugly. Duck and Cover.

Quote:

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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi insurgents said Friday that they had seized four Italians and two Americans on the western outskirts of Baghdad. The kidnappings followed the abductions of several other foreigners this week, suggesting a new strategy by the anti-U.S. forces in the country.



Separately, the kidnapping of three Japanese civilian human rights workers and threats to burn them alive infuriated Japan.



A videotape was released Thursday showing the three — two aid workers and a photojournalist — surrounded by gunmen. They were seized in southern Iraq, where al-Sadr’s militia, the al-Mahdi Army, has been fighting coalition forces. The captors said the three would be burned alive if Japan did not agree to pull its 530 non-combat troops out of the country.





TROOPS IN IRAQ





United States 120,000



Britain 11,000



Albania 70



Australia 1,000



Azerbaijan 150



Bulgaria 470



Czech Rep. 92



Denmark 496



Dominican Rep. 300



El Salvador 360



Estonia 55



Georgia 70



Honduras 370



Hungary 300



Italy 3,000



Japan 250 (750 on the way)



Kazakhstan 25



Latvia 120



Lithuania 105



Macedonia 28



Moldova 25



Mongolia 180



Netherlands 1,100



New Zealand 60



Nicaragua 230



Norway 150



Philippines 95 (175 on the way)



Poland 2,400



Portugal 130



Romania 400



Singapore 200



Slovakia 69 (120 on the way)



South Korea 675 (3,000 on the way)



Spain 1,300



Thailand 443 (30 on the way)



Ukraine 2,000





Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Friday that he feared that Australian aid workers in Iraq could be kidnapped, but he said the country would not be blackmailed into pulling its troops out.



Despite the brief abduction of seven missionaries, South Korea stood by plans to deploy 3,000 troops to Iraq, but it imposed a virtual ban on civilian travel to the country, the foreign minister said, adding that a military survey team would leave Friday for Iraq. The defense minister said he hoped to send the troops to Iraq by June 13.



Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller said Thursday that he expected more public pressure to pull Polish troops out, but he insisted that his country would not abandon the coalition.



Italy’s defense minister said Italian troops would stay, rejecting opposition calls to pull out after clashes that left 15 Iraqis dead and a dozen Italians injured.



Sources: Reuters news reports/GlobalSecurity.org

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Happy Easter.

[NRKofOver]

I think that maybe it's wise for non-military personnel to avoid Iraq for the time being.

My music for the disenchanted masses

[Seismic Anamoly]

The possibilites scare the @#%$ outta me.



Really.

[bbchris]

I hope not Seismic. I hope not. Why is so few people loving their enemies? I'm so not into the 'eye for an eye' business either...

|Blah Blah|Thinking Out Loud|Jane Eliz||Talk Soup |

[HKRockChick]

if "Christian" countries set an example, instead of going in the opposite direction and attacking first.



The Arab nations were doing just fine until the west (well, west of them - the UK particularly,then the US etc) decided to mess with them for their oil mid last century. With it came the turning over of palestine land to the Jews fleeing from Germany and the birth of Islamic fanatics in response to the injustice and all of the other crap we are living with today.



So much for "Christian" love.

Edited by: HKRockChick at: 4/12/04 2:44 am

[Seismic Anamoly]

Where would you have put the Jews, Deb, if not in their ancestral home?



Just curious.

[DreamTone7]

HKRC - "The Arab nations were doing just fine until the west decided to mess with them for their oil mid last century."



The "west" could not have "messed" with anyone without their country's permission. Their leaders had to be those willing to allow the US into their country...and in the case of oil, greed on many peoples part was the reason any of it happened at all. I might point out that it is the leaders of the Arab countries that are responsible for the wellbeing of those countries...not anybody in the US. It is high time those leaders started acting like they cared about their countries...and for others to stop blaming the US for what has happened and is happening there. It could all stop tomorrow if the leaders of those countries decided that they wanted it to...they are the ones in control. It is called responsibility...and it belongs to them, not the US. Greed on their part prevents them from lifting a finger, though.

[DreamTone7]

It's like parents trying to sue McDonalds for making their kids fat. It is the parents that are responsible for their children...not McDonalds.

[Damien Project]

Well put Dream Tone on both posts

Mark

www.soundclick.com/damienproject

[HKRockChick]

if a country's so keen to house refugees, why not in their own backyard? why not take a slice out of Britain for them? It was the Brits that decided to slice out Arab land then left it to the UN to administer. They actually had three places in mind, but decided on Palestine. I've forgotten which they other two were. Similarly they split India and created Pakistan, JUST before they left. There was so much bloodshed at that time - Hindus in the Pakistan part were slaughtered and Muslims in the India part were slaughtered. and everyone trying to run across the border to get to either the hindu or muslim parts. Hundreds of thousands were killed because of the highhandedness of a few people with underhand political agendas.



If you say that the refugee Jews belong there because they did historically, then we should all go back to where we first came from and let the original inhabitants have their land back. Unfortunately things dont work that way - thats why in the US the original inhabitants are not the rulers, similarly Australia, etc etc. So to say that the refugee Jews had a right to live there because they did in biblical times is a bit much. I believe they should have been housed in Britain, or the US, or maybe even Germany, after Hitler. To put them in Arab land was highhanded and thoughtless and akin to setting the cat amongst pigeons, as we now know. We can still help the situation if the US stops providing Israel with arms and remains steadfastly neutral, but they are simply exacerbating the situation when they condone Israel's state sponsored terrorism of the palestinians.



There are plenty of people who are being terrorised by their own dictator governments - you dont see anyone slicing off someone elses land and giving it to them. You do see them being invaded though... to add insult to injury.



errr Dreamtone, excuse me, but the "west" messed with PLENTY of countries without their permission. Just look at your history books. Worse, they have a history of covert and not so covert operations in the middle-east, Africa and tons of other places, to really bad effect, even to this day - want a list? And NONE of the Brit colonies were with the permission of the original inhabitants... for example, with Iraq, they actually joined three different countries and originally put a puppet king there who hadnt even lived there before - he was assassinated. It may be true that they had the original permission to do business (the same way they started the East India Company), and then her majesties people slowly took over the running of the country...



And lets not even talk about the crusades...



if you look at it, its been largely the west who have been pillaging and invading in the last few hundred years - funny because these are all "Christian" folk. However, one good thing HAS come about as a result of the colonisation - its made the world a much smaller place and all the hybrid offspring is good for the survival of the human race - unless of course we kill each other first with a nuke or other greed related environmental disaster.

[HKRockChick]

in no way means I hate the west or condone current day terrorism or any of that. I am in fact a product of the British raj, and probably wouldnt be around if my great grandfathers hadnt been sent to India and Burma on the Queens business...



It's just a commentary on how very unChristian Christians can be.

[Seismic Anamoly]

Interesting.

[HKRockChick]

why did you automatically assume I meant the US????

[DreamTone7]

Statements like:



HKRC - "The Arab nations were doing just fine until the west decided to mess with them for their oil mid last century."



...pretty clear-cut if you ask me.

[HKRockChick]

sorry, I didnt mean the "western hemisphere". I meant simply western cultures (because thats how it viewed here, just figured everyone knew that) and included the colonisers in it, my bad. I hope I clarified that in my previous post. I'll amend to read Europe and the West...