August 18th, 2008
Chapter Two: Iraq 01
Our new chapter begins today. It will update on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
In Cleveland last night, 8-17-08:
Our new chapter begins today. It will update on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
In Cleveland last night, 8-17-08:
August 18th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Sweet, can’t wait to see where it leads.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Yay!!
Performance seems like it was cool. Wish the video wasn’t so horrible..so hard to understand.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Awesome! There’s actually some decent videos of that song on youtube—and I was lucky to see this live, so I can rightfully say that that song is GENUIS.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Oh god! Hope it’s not ALL anti war crap.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Keep up the good work guys! I’ll be coming back each day a new bit appears! Our America Will Be. Our work will benefit our children & our acts of selflessness can bring forth a better tomorrow. We will stand, united, as one. We all look different on the outside but we all bleed the same color. It’s too tragic how so many can’t understand this & focus on the outer appearance rather than an unseen shared passion in us to reach the same goal. We are all raised differently, with different financial status’, different religions, all taught differently as to what’s socially acceptable and it’s time to stop using it as a crutch for our slothfulness. We have the power, we just need to use it. My question to my generation. Will you stand with me to create a change actually worth dying for or will you sit on the side lines, cheering on from safe distance so when your grandchildren ask you if you were part of the revolution, you’ll feel justified to yes. Either roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty for one side or the other or go home and stay there. Compromise is no longer to be a standard. We need to rise up with our own voices & empower ourselves to greatness. It’s no longer “I think we can do this”, our time is now. Do you have enough of a backbone to stand up for yourself? What about for someone else? Someone you don’t know & have never met & most likely never will. This is what our armed forces do everyday. Have you ever thought to stop one in the shopping mall you see in uniform to say thank you or do you only wait until people are watching before you “show your thanks”? We are great in number, we just haven’t all figured that out yet. Find your voice & use it for what you believe.. Even if it’s against me, my thoughts, views, hopes, dreams, beliefs, even my skin. Just Speak Out! If you don’t believe me, my email is rachelostrich@gmail.com. You can send your voice there. I’ll be watching. -Rachel
August 19th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
As a former Army soldier and veteran of the first Gulf War who spent a long time in foreign countries I wish all American troops could be back on US soil. The problem is that will never happen. No matter how much we wish for it the US will always be at the center of international conflicts. When we aren’t things boil over and become huge, like World War II. That was the last time the US was isolationist and it cost MILLIONS of lives as opposes to the thousands if we step in and help. I am not saying that what is happening in Iraq is perfect but if we withdraw a power vacuum will be created and we could see Iran or others move in and make things MUCH worse for the entire region. Many people say this is all about oil, and in some ways it is but the US only relies on 10% of its oil from the middle east. If there were issues with oil from the middle east it would cause Japan and Europe the most harm since nearly 90% of their oil comes from there. So it isn’t all about oil and money. If our troops weren’t there they would be in Korea or Germany or South America.
I am all for everyone uniting to create a better United States. It has gone to hell in a handbasket very quickly. The first step to making things better is changing our leadership and then pushing them to change our economy. Big business has become corrupt and the people at the top are getting richer while middle and lower class is getting more and more poor. Everyone lives paycheck to paycheck and that is not the way things should be when big companies (especially oil and gas) make millions or billions in profits each year and do nothing to give back. That is where the revolution needs to start. Bring down the big businesses and change the cycle of greed and we will begin to make things better.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Troy, Jonny 5 here. You seem to have a pretty grounded perspective. What’s your analysis of why we are in Iraq? Everything I’ve read and studied makes it clear that the neocons of the Project for a New American Century crew in the Bush admin used the post 9-11 climate as a chance to roll out a pre-existing plan, but I’m still unclear on exactly what the primary motivation is behind their plan? How much is it successful lobbying on the part of the “pro-Israel” forces who want to eliminate perceived threats to Isreal? How much is it about control of resources, getting on both sides of Iran and then eventually taking Iran? How much is it simply an ideological drive to create “democracies” by force? How much is it the military industrial complex in action? Or is it none of these things? The “why” is pretty important, especially since the recent developments (the revelation that two top Saddam officials had already been turned by the CIA dfuring the leadup to the war ) make it EXTRA clear that it wasn’t a fear of WMDs…I would love to hear your thoughts, or anyone else’s!
August 19th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Jonny5…I think the Afghan portion was true fear following 9/11. I think the powers reacted to the intel in hand (whether it was bull or not) and lashed out in a show of force. For the first time in a long time the US was scared and needed to show that we don’t take that kind of thing. Was it really effective? No. We see the Taliban on the rise again and Al Qaida hasn’t ever really lost a step. We have taken down small groups and certain leaders but it hasn’t really done much good.
Now, once we were in place and had somewhat of a backing it was time for payback. Junior and most of the same guys that were in place during Gulf War I had an opportunity to push us into taking Iraq as they wanted us to do the first time. I can’t say how I know certain things because of my position in the first Gulf War but Bush Sr. was the only thing that stopped us from running straight through the middle east in 91. Without his influence this time his cronies pushed us into this full force. Why? Pretty much everything you said contributed. And it all pretty much comes back to greed. Not the US controlling oil but these major players controlling infrastructure, military buildup and their own investments in the business of war. Let me stress that again. Not the US but a small group of people and organizations who have vested interest in the US maintaining a war footing. As I said before, we will always be somewhere but this time it has much more reaching implications. Because of this play for power we have created an environment that will either keep us there for years to come or if we pull out now or soon will bring us back into a much more major conflict in the near future.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Ike called it back in ‘61: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5407.htm
…or if you don’t feel like reading: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY
Beware of the Military Industrial Complex.
-L.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Trying to add to this discussion, has anyone else followed what’s been going on with the contracting companies over in Iraq? (I mean no offense to any who are just doing their job on the ground, but there has been some atrocious stuff that reaches pretty high up on their corporate ladders.) Apparently we’ve spent a record amount of money paying these contracting companies…except some of them are doing horrible jobs. Blackwater’s pretty famous by now, (and thankfully the Department of Justice is trying to indict the guards who are under suspicion for shooting civilians), this article here
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/16076312/the_great_iraq_swindle
describes on the first page a pretty blatant abuse of our government money by a company hired to build a police college in Iraq,(I.E: It was literally a ’shit hole’) and let me remind you of that 12 of our soldiers over there have now been killed by faulty wiring near showers and, in one case, a pool.
That, above all else, is what disgusts me. That we are paying these companies with our tax dollars to go and make a fool of whatever cause our troops our fighting for, to waste it on personal luxuries, to damn well KILL our troops…it makes it all seem so much more pointless then it was before.
…And wow, reading that Rolling Stone article again, I’m seeing that someone’s commenting with descriptions of their own suffering under a corporation called “SAIC.” They were a systems engineer there and…wow. Wow.
Oh god…and the video on that website.
“The system where the rich get poorly paid to hold the latter where the rich get ricocheted into the stratosphere. And in between people are rushing like Vladimir with metals to make their status clear. Get us out of here!”
August 20th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
We have truly gone back a hundred years or so when it comes to workers rights (human rights in general) and corporations controlling the government.
It’s the return of the robber barons…and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to get any better any time soon.
…what did we go to Iraq for in the first place…I can’t remember…;-)
-L.
August 23rd, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I’d like to see you guys out with D’Mite, that would be a show I’d love to see…
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Can I download this anywhere? It so sick.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
It really makes me feel good to see people talking so intelligently about real issues in our country, and our world… This shows that there are people out there do care. I sense a change in the near future.
Something is going to change about the way things are now. For the better. I know it. While there are all these bad things, the forces of positive change are building up like a shaken soda.
I’m young. I don’t know much about the world, only what I hear and what I try to find out.
From what I hear, I believe there is indeed an ” Other America”.
I really appreciate what the Flobots have to say, and their influence on popular culture. I think it’s very important for children, adults, teenagers- the whole lot- to know what is going on out there. Neutrality is over rated. Take your stand. Talk openly about things.
Fear is our biggest enemy.
Knowledge and enlightenment are our biggest assets.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:41 pm
i simply love the iraq rap