From a US Marine in Bosina

[Dogbert]

Originally posted by omegaRED
Err... Whoever wrote the letter needs a new World Atlas (or suffered a blow in the head resulting in severe disorientation). Anyway, i wouldnt trust my life to a soldier who doesnt know where he is.

Camp Bondsteel is in Kosovo, NOT Bosnia.

Still, I agree with that American soldier 100%.

Basil: "Don't mention the war. I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it. So it's all forgotten now and let's hear no more about it. So that's two egg mayonnaise, a prawn Goebbels, a Herman Goering and four Colditz salads....no, wait a minute...I got confused because everyone keeps mentioning the war."

German: "Will you stop mentioning the war?"

Basil: " You started it."

German: " We did not start it."

Basil: " Yes you did, you invaded Poland..."

[Dogbert]

And about the French:

One often hear that French people are snobbish, obnoxious, arrogant yet cultured. This is pretty wrong: a good lot of them are not cultured.

Read all about it here.

Translate and read the French half of this part too.

[KvHagedorn]

Well, I think if the French really were cultured, we'd see a lot more of them here on MURC..

[GT98]

Originally posted by omegaRED
Err... Whoever wrote the letter needs a new World Atlas (or suffered a blow in the head resulting in severe disorientation). Anyway, i wouldnt trust my life to a soldier who doesnt know where he is.

Camp Bondsteel is in Kosovo, NOT Bosnia.

Thats what I thought...when I was in Bosina never heard any of the camps called Bondsteel...hmmmm

[Jammrock]

Originally posted by ElDonAntonio
LOL, the average american doesn't have a clue as to where Canada is, countries like Serbia and Bosnia are WAYYYY out of their reach. Better watch Survivor than get a little education...
Reminds me of when Bush announced how great the president of Canada, Putin, was.

I suppose that depends on where you are from in the US. I have discovered that some schools here in the US just don't teach to well. I went to a normal public school, took mostly normal classes, played sports, etc. I can point out all the US states and almost any country on the world map with no issue.

My wife went to school in northern Florida in a Magnet program (long story, it's a special program some American schools have). She can't even put most of the US states on a map, let along countries on the globe. She's good at other stuff, but lacks the basics. That I think is the difference between a lot of US schools and other nations schools....the basics.

Jammrock

[Dr Mordrid]

Yes, don't blame a whole country for geography not being taught in the elementary schools....blame the teachers unions who would prefer teaching socialist propoganda.

My wife teaches for such a district and if the teachers follow "the lesson plan" they only spend about half the weeks hours in academics and the rest doing "prep" or "socially responsible" activitites.

Needless to say she doesn't follow "the lesson plan" in anything but terms of filling out the paperwork.

Dr. Mordrid

[cjolley]

While I agree with the sentiments, the "letter" sounds like your typical net Urban Legend.
(Slick dialoge with blatant factual error)

Though, something like that happened to a female US solder in Saudi Arabia about 10 years ago.
A couple of Saudi police tried to hassle her for driving while female.
I believe she convinced them that trying to arrest her was not a good idea.
chuck

PS Doc, do the teachers there not write thier own lesson plans?
When I taught, the lesson plan was just there so that if you called in sick the sub would have some idea where the class was in the course.

[Dr Mordrid]

There is some dispute about that. Teachers *theoretically* write their plan, but it has to conform to the school districts idea of what one should look like. This is what I meant with the paperwork comment.

Of course what happens inside closed classroom doors is another matter entirely

Dr. Mordrid

[cjolley]

I used to keep my real lesson plans in a huge notebook on my desk.
The "official" lesson plans were in a standard lesson plan book that I kept in a drawer for "official" visits.
chuck

[Wombat]

Since when did the US sell anything to Iraq? the only proof that the US and British have is a blurry picture of a platform. Yeah right.

You are hereby forbidden from commenting on world affairs EDA. Go hit the books, very hard. The US supplied Iraq when it was at war with Iran.

[The PIT]

You are hereby forbidden from commenting on world affairs EDA. Go hit the books, very hard. The US supplied Iraq when it was at war with Iran.

Back in the days when Soddem was the good guy against no.1 evil guy The Ayatollah.

[ElDonAntonio]

Originally posted by Wombat
You are hereby forbidden from commenting on world affairs EDA. Go hit the books, very hard. The US supplied Iraq when it was at war with Iran.

With WMD!?!? get real. They got some light 80's class weapons. Stop making up excuses to invade the country and get the oil. Why has everything been jolly since years, and now all of the sudden (with the american economy flailing), Saddam turns into a big maniac with an arsenal of WMD he might launch anyday?

If you want to get aggressive with someone, turn on North Korea which has admitted having these weapons and is NOT complying with the UN at all!!

[Wombat]

Once again, you prove your ignorance. We did indeed sell them materials that could be used to make bioweapons, and Iraq is <B>required</B> to disclose these materials, which they have not.

Who cares about the American economy flailing? Here's a little news for you: War is bad for the economy, not good. The war won't "help" us, if that's what you are implying.

Things have not been "jolly since years." It was a big mistake when Bush I left him in power. The UN has been allowing Iraq to break the peace treaty for over a decade, and the US has been protesting that since day one.


N. Korea:
1. Already has nukes. You have to respect that.
2. Hasn't invaded other countries recently.
3. Has responded well to diplomatic solutions in the past.
4. Cannot be attacked. China would still back them at this point. N. Korea would need to do something drastic enough to distance China first.

N. Korea is quite literally a starving nation. They're doing these things to have a bigger hand to get help with.

[ElDonAntonio]

I'll ask you to show a little more respect in your posts in the future Wombat. I'm not using personal attacks and I would appreciate you don't either. Let's have a civilized conversation, and if one of us is wrong then it's not the end of the world.

To go back on the topic, the US did provide samples of chemicals like anthrax and the likes when Bagdhad requested them for "medical purposes". Again, the US suspects they might have been used for another purpose. There is no proof there, as there is no proof for anything. Nothing, nada, zilch, niet. As usual, Bush puts on his Darth Vader costume and pumps up the american crowds based on nothing. "Yeah, we have proof, but we only can show it to Tony here." (insert Blair's yelps)

Now the document Iraq provided might be incomplete, what do I know, I haven't read it and I'm not an expert. If you could provide me some link though that shows Iraq omitted obvious points like the weapons the US sold to it, it would be interesting. It also would sound very stupid.

As for North Korea, if you find it's responding well to diplomacy, then you haven't heard what they had to say about the US since quite some time. THEY are making threats, not Iraq. But what is there to gain by invading North Korea? not much. Not nearly as much as in Iraq. The US already control the oil pipelines in Afghanistan and in Serbia, and now they'll try to get the oil from Iraq and Saudi Arabia. What's next? probably Iran (for the next elections). This way, you cut off Asia from Europe and from Africa.

After that, what will justifiy the american military budget? heck, let's connect Israel to all that to give them the oil. 3 ways to get there: Syria and Lebanon, or Jordany, or Saudi Arabia. It'll probably be Saudi Arabia, you get in that deal even more oil. The media is already starting the propaganda on the royal family.

As for the influence of war on the economy, it might have a negative impact in the beginning, but in the long run (not that long, 1-2 years), it's always beneficial. Espescially when you take over the no1 oil supplier in the world.

[Jammrock]

*sniff* *sniff* ... I smell a lock approaching this thread.