WIGGUM DAILY

VISIT OFTEN, VISIT DAILY…

Archive for the ‘iraq’


Published June 24th, 2007

Sept 11th 2001 As You’ve Never Seen Before

Category interesting, iraq, military, news, opinion, video, war | No Comments »

 
This is by far the longest video we’ve brought you on WD timing in at 26 minutes. But it’s compelling viewing and worth the time to sit there and watch it. This home video of the Sept 11th 2001 attacks on the New York City was taken by "Bob and Bri" from the window of their 36th Floor Manhattan apartment, located less than 500m from the two towers of the former World Trade Centre.
 
The video starts out a few minutes after the first plane hit the north tower. Resist the urge to skip forward through the video. It’s really interesting to watch it from start to finish. Made more so because We in 2007 know how it ends, yet these people are not sure what to make of it all in this video.   Observe how their state of mind goes from "Just another crazy day in New York… I hope I can still make my hair appointment in time…"  to… "That fire is going to take ALL day to put out…"  to  "Oh my God..  Oh my God… Oh My God… what the heck is happening…are these windows sealed…"
 
I think the essence of the unprecedented and unbelievable nature of those events, to those who watched them at the time, can be summed up best by Bri who is on the phone talking to someone in the first 5-6 mins of the video and she naively says at one point "No no.. it’s OK, they’re only attacking the World Trade Centre… not us…". 
 

 

The first few minutes are in "silence" with just the voice of Bri talking on the phone and to another person in the room. It’s surreal when she opens the window of the apartment and the NOISE that floods in from the streets below.  And when she zooms in on one of the first fire trucks arriving at the base of the tower. You think… those guys in that truck would all be dead now. Being first on the scene, they would have gone straight up the tower to the scene of the fire… never to return.
 
In a footnote to this video, I would like to add that the USA’s response to this attack by fundamentalist Islamic extremisits, was to round up a posse and invade the Arabic country of Iraq. Shock and Awe said the poster. In and Out.. Home By Christmas was the sentiment.  That was in March 2003.  Flash forward to June 2007 and they are still there. They have NO idea how to get out. Or even when. Meanwhile the death toll on the USA side has long since raced past the 2993 official death toll for the Sept 11th 2001 attacks. 
 
When I wrote THIS article in March 2007 the Iraq/Afgan USA military death toll was 3597 killed. It’s been 85 days since that was written, and the official USA death toll for soldiers killed is now 3927.  That’s 403 more killed in the 85 days since March 31st 2007, or FOUR soldiers killed per day, everyday of the week. Or to put in another way, 2.49 USA soldiers have died on each and every of the 1575 days since George Bush’s 2003 botched and mismanaged invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
No WONDER they had to come up with a recent "plan" to send more troops over…
 

Published March 31st, 2007

What They Don’t Show You On The TV News

Category feature, iraq, news, opinion, rant | No Comments »

 
You won’t see these clips on your sanitised nightly TV News bulletins. This is the reality of the so-called WAR on TERROR in Iraq. Real people being killed with real bullets and real bombs everyday.
 
It’s hard to know how to describe the FACES OF THE FALLEN website, produced and maintained by the WASHINGTON POST newspaper. In one regard, it’s a brilliant, well designed tribute to the men and women, many of them just 18yo and 19yo, who have been KILLED while on military duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.  On the other hand, that such a site has a need to exist makes it sad and depressing.
 
As of today, March 31st 2007, there have been 3597 officially killed in action. That’s 2.5 per day since beginning of the US led invasion of Iraq in March of 2003. And lets not forget, this is just the figure for the USA military forces.  The number for the Iraqi’s killed is estimated to be just over 30,000 by the Official US Military sources.  Others such as the UN and UK’s Ministry Of Defence estimate that over 34,000 Iraqi’s were killed in 2006 alone, and cite an approximate figure of closer to 350,000 dead since March 2003.

 
I hope it’s all been worth it.  Luckily the world no longer has to worry about the Weapons Of Mass Destruction that were the justification for invading Iraq in the first place.  Oh…  wait a minute… we all seem to have forgotten that there WERE NO WEAPONS EVER FOUND.  That the whole fear factor and scare campaign was possibly even fabricated by those with a vested interest in creating an ongoing military action in Iraq under the guise of a "war" so they can sell their weapons, munitions, supplies and support services to the military, and get paid in full, on time with giant cheques signed by the US Congress and funded by the US taxpayers.
 
I urge you to spend 5-10 minutes clicking on some of the FACES OF THE FALLEN and relate their stories to the people in your life of similar age and circumstance, and ponder what it must mean for the 3597 families, and those of countless number on the Iraqi side.
 
Lets wrap up for now with these thoughts…  The official end of "Combat Operations" in Iraq was May 1st 2003.  George W Bush and his people marked the occasion with a staged publicity stunt we all still remember.  You know, the one where George lands on an aircraft carrier in the back seat of a military jet, then gives his speech in front of
huge banners saying "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED".
 
Click for LARGER VERSION
 
Have a look at this graph of total USA casualties, and note the number since the "end" of the "war" May 2003.  Can you can see what’s wrong with this picture ? What’s even scarier (for the USA) is they are now sending MORE people over to Iraq. 
 
And they have NO exit strategy to end this carnage…