xoxoxoBruce • Nov 29, 2007 11:51 pm
Cloud;412420 wrote:hmm. new word:
"Telic:A central argument of Teleology says that the world has clearly been constructed in a purposeful telic rather than a chaotic manner, and must therefore have been made by a rational being, i.e. God"
I asked him if he would have used the bayonet if he had to,he just gave me a smile but didn't answer
Britain handed over control for security to Iraqi forces on Sunday in Basra, the last of four provinces in which the UK once held security responsibility.
British officials depicted the handover as a positive development that would allow the drawdown of UK forces in Iraq from about 4,500 now to 2,500 by the spring. “As far as we’re concerned, Pic [Provincial Iraqi Control] is a huge achievement for Iraq, the UK and the coalition, and good news,” said a UK defence ministry official.
British forces would remain to help with training and mentoring of Iraqi forces, along with giving support with logistics, operational planning and surveillance, a senior military officer said. If pressed, two battlegroups, numbering some 1,200 troops, could be deployed to support Iraqi operations, though military planners were not expecting this to happen, he said.
Many British seem oddly ignorant of the influence they exert over the many Americans who tend to view the UK like a brother-nation whose advice they are free to accept, argue with or disregard, anything except ignore it out of hand. Britain is the one country whose words seem to resonate in the US. Perhaps this respect is due more to the credibility of the British character, or maybe it is our shared history and common values, and perhaps it is also because America does not naturally doubt Britain’s motivations. Britain is the one country that can call the emperor naked, flagrantly say we are wrong, and not suffer animosity.Brits, not Swedes.
xoxoxoBruce;424564 wrote:Brits, not Swedes.
Sundae Girl;412492 wrote:
It's funny - Americans believe it important to look after people who choose to put their lives on the line. Nothing wrong with that, I'm pleased they do so. But they can't bear the idea (generalisation) that people might be trapped in poverty, choosing instead to believe that they choose to get pregnant at 14 to an older drug addict boyfriend and have no idea how to bring up a child and support it through school.
piercehawkeye45;424648 wrote:I wouldn't really say America looks after its veterans.
25% of veterans are homeless or 25% of homeless are veterans or something like that.
More than 25 percent of the homeless population in the United States are military veterans, although they represent 11 percent of the civilian adult population, according to a new report.
On any given night last year, nearly 196,000 veterans slept on the street, in a shelter or in transitional housing, the study by the Homelessness Research Institute found.
"Veterans make up a disproportionate share of homeless people," the report said. "This is true despite the fact that veterans are better educated, more likely to be employed and have a lower poverty rate than the general population.".
According to some American intelligence officials, “lethal aid” flowing into Iraq is a persistent problem. Most reports state that this aid comes from Syria and Iran. Now, I have traveled up and down the Iranian border and have yet to meet an Iraqi, American or British officer who claims to have captured lethal aid coming from Iran. I have met officers who have captured late-model Iranian munitions already in Iraq, but this in itself is hardly a smoking gun. In fact, having traveled extensively around Iraq, I believe that Iraq could earn a lot of money supplying lethal aid to Syria and Iran, because there is no shortage of weapons in Iraq. And there never has been.
The Welsh Warriors, under Major Steve Webb, set off to recon hiding places for tonight’s VCPs, or vehicle control points. The idea was merely to surprise passersby and politely search their vehicles coming from the direction of Iran—the border was maybe three miles away—for things like surface-to-air missiles and EFPs. No weapons coming across the Iranian border have ever been captured by Coalition forces. Practically nobody lives near the crossing, and the border crossing closes at 1600, so any traffic after that would be suspicious.
Context is crucial when talking about corruption, whether on a large or small scale. Most of the world’s countries that I have been are openly corrupt. I lived in Poland for about two years and got an eye full. I’ve seen plenty of corruption in Nepal, India and Romania. Thailand is very corrupt and yet booming along. During a break from Iraq, I was in Indonesia in 2007, when police stopped my driver (and others) and took money. My driver just grinned sheepishly and handed it over, like paying a toll on I-75 in Florida. It’s so easy to focus on the corruption in Iraq as if the sky is falling, but countries where corruption is low are islands in a sea of corruption.
Corruption is like arthritis. Not itself a fatal disease, it grinds at the body and slows it down. Corruption makes a country hold itself in contempt. Contempt for having it, for not standing up to it, for casting one’s eyes down to the floor while handing over the change instead of saying NO. Corruption is the absence of justice. Certain types of corruption depend on intimidation and the willingness to be intimidated, and diminish the stature of the nation that allows it to occur. Institutionalized corruption diminishes that nation in the eyes of its own citizens, and in the eyes of the world. Yet it is the job of the Iraqis to stop the corruption. Coalition civilians are assisting with training, technical assistance and capacity building, but the job of the Coalition military at the border is to attempt to interdict lethal aid. The best ameliorate to corruption is a truly free press. Without free press, forget it.
At the border were British soldiers, an Australian captain named Bret Grosser, and three Americans working for Dyncorp. One of the Dyncorp employees mentioned that the x-ray machine was not being used, that its motor had about 500 hours on it from running an air conditioner, but the machine had only taken about 60 images. Word came, too, that Iraqi officials had told all their people to tell the Coalition that no lethal aid was coming through the border. However, some Iraqis admit that it does, including the material being taken by boat down the Shat al Arab River toward Basra.