Is this what "Shock and Awe" looked like?

[underpants]

Since we didn't really get to see what the "Shock and Awe" looked like on the ground afterwards I would guess it looked a lot like these photos from Lebanon.

Lord only knows what Fallujah looked like.





We now return you to your normal programming.... or is it?

[leveymg]

1. Beirut Burning: The Reality Show.

This is the new normal. Or, is this a re-run of programming from the early 1980s? Or, the early 1970s? Or, the mid 1950s?

See, http://web.mit.edu/cascon/cases/case_lbn.html

Why is it that every time there's a Republican President, Beirut gets it? Has anyone else noticed that?

[Jim__]

2. I think it did.

An Iraqi blogger (I think it was Riverbend)did talk about what happened when the American Army reached Baghdad. It's always disastrous when an army enters a city.

[bvar22]

16. Not necessarily:

Rome, Paris, and Naples are good examples.
The military refused to target civilians in those cities.

[jobycom]

3. Shock and Awe, Blitzkreig, Dresden, Tokyo, London, Panama City

War is nothing like John Wayne films.

[underpants]

4. Can't you see the bright plume of liberty?

Do you think there was any damage other than the "precision" "direct hit" on this one?

[jobycom]

6. The technology is amazing

in the way it kills only hardened terrorists and avoids all the innocent children nearby.

[greguganus]

9. "A million points of light" n/t

[DemoTex]

10. Don't forget Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia.

B-52 Arc-light bombing runs were the epitome of Shock-and-Awe. Several million innocent civilians were killed by indiscriminate bombing in SE Asia.


Arc-light near Bien Hoa


Arc-light craters in Laos

[jobycom]

11. Yep.

[mopinko]

18. 9-11

does this mean all these people are now entitled to roam the globe, dishing it back. like we seem to think we are?

[jobycom]

21. You have to wonder how there's such a disconnect in some people

They get angry at 9-11 and want to go slaughter anyone even remotely similar to the people who did it, but they don't see that 9-11 was the same reaction in those who attacked us, or how many people we attack feel just like we did on 9-11. I keep hearing Repubs spout out the old canard of how "These people have been fighting for 2000 years, that's the only thing they understand." I'd really like to know their diet, if they've been alive for 2000 years.

[mopinko]

25. hate begets hate, war begets war, love begets love,

peace begets peace. always been that way, always will be.

[geardaddy]

22. Don't forget...

The shockingest and aweingest: the Rape of Nanjing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_nanking).

[jobycom]

24. Yep. Go on back. Jerusalem, Baghdad (1258), Carthage. War is the same

Just the names of the whiner-babies who justify it change.

Baghdad, 1258:

Many historical accounts detailed the cruelties of the Mongol conquerors.
* The Grand Library of Baghdad, containing countless precious historical documents and books on subjects ranging from medicine to astronomy, was destroyed. Survivors said that the waters of the Tigris ran black with ink from the enormous quantities of books flung into the river.
* Citizens attempted to flee, but were intercepted by Mongol soldiers who raped and killed with abandon. Martin Sicker writes that close to 90,000 people may have died (Sicker 2000, p. 111). Other estimates go much higher. Wassaf claims the loss of life was several hundred thousand. Ian Frazier of the New Yorker says estimates of the death toll have ranged from 200,000 to a million.
* The Mongols looted and then destroyed. Mosques, palaces, libraries, hospitals -- grand buildings that had been the work of generations were burned to the ground.
* The caliph was captured and forced to watch as his citizens were murdered and his treasury plundered. The caliph was killed by trampling. The Mongols rolled the caliph up in a rug, and rode their horses over him, as they believed that the earth was offended if touched by royal blood. All but one of his sons were killed.
* Hulagu had to move his camp upwind of the city, due to the stench of decay from the ruined city.
Typically, the Mongols destroyed a city only if it had resisted them. Cities that capitulated at the first demand for surrender could usually expect to be spared. The utter ferocity of the rape of Baghdad was to some extent a military tactic: it convinced other cities and rulers to surrender without a fight.
Baghdad was a depopulated, ruined city for several centuries and only gradually recovered something of its former glory.

----------

Writers at the time described approaching Baghdad after the destruction, and seeing clouds over the city from miles away. As they got closer, they described a faint humming sound that grew louder and louder. The clouds were the flies eating the bodies.

[tnlefty]

5. Local news last night interviewed a local woman whose husband and

daughter (19 or 20 yrs. old) who stated that they had been trying to get out for days and had called her yesterday to let her know they had just gotten out, were safe and to relay their travel schedules, etc.

She stated that they had told her that no matter how bad things were during the day, that it got worse at night and she used the term, non stop bombardment. Stated that they were terrified and that for the past 6 days there was so much smoke and debris in the air that it was hard to see the sun.

[underpants]

7. 00:50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvZ_qR8xwvo

[Jacobin]

8. Mere placental afterbirth from a newborn democracy

doncha know.

Please report to room 12B6c for an increase in your dose of Soma and a refresher re-programing course.

War is Peace.

[ananda]

13. "Birth pangs" of a new Middle East!

Ugh

Where does Kindasleazy get these ideas?

[Jacobin]

14. I'm guessing from her PNAC bosses

But maybe she came up with that one herself. Who knows?

[andyhappy]

12. wow...

holy crap man...that really puts it in perspective...

[Ghost Dog]

15. To get a different (aka. real) view see also here:

A website which has been showing vivid images of Israeli murder and destruction in Lebanon, http://fromisrael2lebanon.com/ has been suspended. Here is a Zipped file of the site just before takedown early the morning of 19 July 2006:

http://cryptome.org/FromIsraelToLebanon.zip (1.2MB) (Virus/trojan checked)

There is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED very busy forum with near real-time updates from web users in Lebanon at:

http://lfpm.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6

eg. (today 26 July 2006) more image sources:

http://lfpm.org/forum/showthread.php?s=24d25a7aca0d804339b6da4c34d97a09&t=17582

and: Put Pressure on International Media (CLICK HERE, LEBANON CALLING FOR URGENT HELP)

http://www.lfpm.org/forum/showthread.php?t=17265

and: URGENT TO US Residents: Lebanese RED CROSS Donations AND LETTERS TO CONGRESS

http://www.lfpm.org/forum/showthread.php?t=17235

Edit: Nb. Lebanese 'msm': The Lebanon Daily Star, in English, is here: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/home3.asp

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. Here's what Shock and Awe look like.

[Ghost Dog]

20. Not really. It was the "collapses":

[Xenotime]

23. That was the day democracy died thanks to the * that occpies...

this country and others.

[survivor999]

19. I bet Halliburton will

be involved in recostructing there.