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LANGUAGE USED

A language-based assault repels Iranian would-be kidnappers:

When Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured the British sailors and Royal Marines in March, it was not exactly their first attempt.

It turns out that Iranian forces made an earlier concerted attempt to seize a boarding party from the Royal Australian Navy.

The Australians, though, to quote one military source, “were having none of it”.

The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched, aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians and warned them to back off, using what was said to be “highly colourful language”.

The Iranians withdrew, and the Australians were reportedly lifted off the ship by one of their own helicopters.

The language used is believed to have been unmoderated. Media Watch is investigating.

Posted by Tim B. on 06/22/2007 at 12:38 AM
  1. You can trust us Aussies to be at the forefront of telling people where to go.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 12:42 AM • permalink

  2. If the RN has devolved to the point where it doesn’t keep proper look out when embarking and disembarking from neutral ships near hostile waters after they’ve been told the bad guys will try to pull this stunt then they bloody deserved to be taken prisoner.

    Hood, Nelson and A.B.C. will be weeping.

    Posted by jpaulg on 2007 06 22 at 12:49 AM • permalink

  3. I’m upset,you mean to tell me our Armed Forces could be using the words FUCK and PISS followed by OFF and HEY MOHAMMAD AND CO,TAKE YOUR CAMEL MOLESTERING ARSES AND FUCK OFF BACK TO YOUR SIDE OFF THE POND…I demand an inquiry.

    Posted by sparrow on 2007 06 22 at 12:52 AM • permalink

  4. In light of this dreadful humiliation at the hands of sheep fiddlers and kangaroo diddlers, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have been outfitted with this powerful armament:

    “I am rubber you are glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you”.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 06 22 at 12:52 AM • permalink

  5. #3 Yeah, Sparrow, where are Media Watch?!

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 12:57 AM • permalink

  6. Damn, they’re on to our latest Aussie invention. Behold the devastating effects of the “Colourful language generator”(TM).

    I think it has been developed as a joint venture between Metal Storm and some Canadian mob called the Professional Armaments Corp Ontario.

    Posted by Gibbo on 2007 06 22 at 01:02 AM • permalink

  7. This is a case where the parent could learn a thing or two from their children.

    Posted by saltydog on 2007 06 22 at 01:07 AM • permalink

  8. If this story is in fact true, and I have no real reason to doubt it, it is interesting on many levels. First, the fact that the Iranians must have been looking to create an incident for some time.  Second, it makes you proud to be an Australian, third it makes you wonder why the UK team folded so meekly and fourth, why the hell didn’t someone make the Iranians stop doing it?

    There is also evident a problem in our government not wanting to share examples of how good our Australian forces are. This sort of thing is good for morale and undercuts to lefties at home. There must be lots of stories but we don’t get to hear them.  My nephew is in the SAS somewhere in the middle east and we, his family aren’t even allowed to know where.  This seems overly officious.

    Posted by allan on 2007 06 22 at 01:12 AM • permalink

  9. Long time since Blair has used his talent for phoneticizing the spelling of his and his countrymen’s distingushed accents. 

    Like the Diggers, what do you call your Squids downthere? 

    Anyway, as opposed to “I say, ol’ chap, back off,” they used colorful language.  “Bake the fak ov, we’re ‘Strine!”

    Posted by reese on 2007 06 22 at 01:13 AM • permalink

  10. Aussies repelled five gunboats: ADF

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 01:15 AM • permalink

  11. Listen Akmed,what are they saying…..

    (all turn ears to the wind to pick up a loud hailer)

    Attention Iranians,this is the RAN,we are an equal employer,this patrol is commanded by a female officer,we enjoy a beer,we belive in free speach,we will not grovel to your demands,in our country we have a seperation of church and state,our female officer has ordered us to fire in the direction of you genitals if you come any closer.

    These people are the spawn of the devil Akmed..BACK…BACK TO BASE I TELL YOU…

    Posted by sparrow on 2007 06 22 at 01:17 AM • permalink

  12. I suspect some Iranian women took a beating that night.

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 22 at 01:23 AM • permalink

  13. It’s Dillinger Downunda!

    You get more with a colorful word and a few mateys with submachine guns than you get with a colorful word…

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 06 22 at 01:23 AM • permalink

  14. “Having none of it” used to be such a British virtue.

    Posted by Brett_McS on 2007 06 22 at 01:24 AM • permalink

  15. #8 The ADF doesnt like talking about what goes on because they know dishonest spin will be put on every story by our leftist friends in the media.

    Posted by lingus4 on 2007 06 22 at 01:24 AM • permalink

  16. Heaven help us that our defence force personnel are in the naughty chair for using bad words.

    oooommmm aaaaaahhh!

    #8 Allan,

    There must be lots of stories but we don’t get to hear them.  My nephew is in the SAS somewhere in the middle east and we, his family aren’t even allowed to know where.  This seems overly officious.

    I do hope you are joking.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 01:33 AM • permalink

  17. I’m reminded of a WWII story I saved (original source unknown):

    An Australian tank was crippled by heavy German fire and the German field commander in excellent English called on the crew to surrender saying: “Australian, you have fought bravely but you are defeated. Give yourselves up and you will be treated well. What do you say”

    There was a moment’s silence and then an Australian voice was heard yelling from inside the tank: “well, youse can go get fucked for a start.”

    It took several minutes to source a translation of the vernacular before the Germans fired.

    Posted by Dan Lewis on 2007 06 22 at 01:40 AM • permalink

  18. Soldiers doing soldiering? That can’t be right, can it? No, no, definitely not allowed. The UN will have something to say about it I’m sure.

    Posted by BB77 on 2007 06 22 at 01:40 AM • permalink

  19. #8 well, if he’s doing covert operations in Iran or Syria (or even near the border of these countries), I can understand them not wanting you to know…

    Posted by daddy dave on 2007 06 22 at 01:44 AM • permalink

  20. #16

    Heaven help us that our defence force personnel are in the naughty chair for using bad words.

    You’re quite right. I remember when a US Marine was facing a huge backlash (possibly court martial?) as the treasonous American media was attacking the military for “insensitivity” after he sang a hilarious song about Hadji Girl.

    God forbid soldiers should blow off some steam.

    It’s no different in Australia, where ADFA recruits serving their country, are forbidden from doing anything involving alcohol, sex or pranks, which ordinary University students serving only themself, would be absolutely expected to do.

    Posted by Dan Lewis on 2007 06 22 at 01:47 AM • permalink

  21. My experience leading Diggers was that they had trouble understanding my full intent unless instructions were liberally sprinkled with “the vernacular”.  I doubt the Pussers are any different.

    Posted by Razor on 2007 06 22 at 01:48 AM • permalink

  22. They probably told the Iranian arse wipes to “Fuck off you goat shagging Bastards”! (See the Jordanian UN peacekeepers Monica Slackard and other chummy huggers at the ABC common room)

    Posted by Howzat on 2007 06 22 at 01:59 AM • permalink

  23. #16 - Kae - while it may seem overly officous and insensitive to loved ones, the SOP for SASR is to give away nothing.  They despise publicity.  The Aura of mystery is a very important part of their tool box.  The places they go and the things thy get up to often are best left undisclosed because it would divulge important information on their roles, capabilities, methods, identities etc.

    Some may think it the stuff of fiction but for partners of SASR operators the 3 am call and the loved one disapearing for a month or more and then coming home and saying nothing about where they’ve been is part of life.

    I wasn’t in the SASR but know a few chaps Very occaisonally I have been watching the SBS news and seen a face in a crowd and realised that somebody won’t be very happy about that and personally suprised at where they are.

    Posted by Razor on 2007 06 22 at 02:02 AM • permalink

  24. Allan. Your relative is currently staging from the Tarin Kowt area in Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan. Right now he’s probably on patrol about 15 km’s to the north in an opium filled valley, looking for Taliban to shoot at.

    He’d be enjoying the experience too. The last time they were in Afghani territory, SF elements were stunned at the willingness of people to kill themselves at the end of their weapons. The term ‘turkey shoot’ have been used to describe some aspects of their last deployment, although you won’t see that in any official debriefing document.
    The term ‘turkey slap’ OTOH can be used to describe the pussers actions re: Iranian dinghy operators.

    Posted by CB on 2007 06 22 at 02:03 AM • permalink

  25. ‘They reacted, I’m told, incredibly quickly, whereas the Brits were caught at their most vulnerable moments, climbing down off the ship and into their boats,’ the BBC’s Frank Gardner reported. ‘The point of this story is not that the Aussies were fantastically brave and the Brits were a bunch of cowards - although I’m sure some people will interpret it (that way).’

    Not questioning the bravery of the bootnecks, just their competence.

    Posted by jpaulg on 2007 06 22 at 02:03 AM • permalink

  26. It’s about bloody time that something like this happened and it says a lot both about our courageous troops and the maniacal Iranians.

    If all it takes to scare them is ‘fuck off’ then I am happy. I am very proud of the Australian troops - they always do a splendid job wherever they are in the world and everyone should be thankful for their efforts.

    Also, they should fucken swear. After all, this is an army, not a fucking dinner table party. If MediaWatch or other stupid self-hating precious lefties are offended then they can go fuck themselves. They don’t seem to mind yelling expletives towards our national leaders at all the marches they attend.

    All of the US, British and Australian soldiers should be educated in Patton-style vocabulary and colourful images - this can inspire troops very much and it will certainly be good to adopt the same in schools across the nation.

    Posted by The Best Infidel on 2007 06 22 at 02:05 AM • permalink

  27. I, for one, am feeling slightly foolish after this object lesson on the value of engaging in dialogue with one’s enemies.

    Posted by lotocoti on 2007 06 22 at 02:11 AM • permalink

  28. #21, Razor, the Pussers I sail with were dancing the ratlines today about this story. They provided enthusiastic examples of the language that may have been used.

    Posted by mareeS on 2007 06 22 at 02:15 AM • permalink

  29. #21, Razor, the Pussers I sail with were dancing the ratlines today about this story. They provided enthusiastic examples of the language that may have been used.

    Posted by mareeS on 2007 06 22 at 02:16 AM • permalink

  30. Oops, hit the button twice. My bad.

    Posted by mareeS on 2007 06 22 at 02:17 AM • permalink

  31. Please stand and arise Monica Attitude, Sir Tim Tam of Blairman has arrived.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 06 22 at 02:18 AM • permalink

  32. At least they stopped at colorful language - had they broken out the rude gestures, there’s no telling how terribly the poor Iranians’ feelings would have been bruised.

    Posted by Blue State Sil on 2007 06 22 at 02:32 AM • permalink

  33. Gary Kimberly,RAAF Caribou Pilot,35 Squadron
    South Vietnam,1965-1966

    This tale is funny, sad and yet not so sad. I guess it depends on your sence of humour, but it sure was funny the way my loadmaster described it. I’m not sure now whether it was Luong Son or Ban Tri, but we had to air drop a live cow in a crate to this particular camp. Anyway we arrived over the drop zone in our Caribou and i made my run in, At the appropiate moment i ordered Execute, Execute and the loadmaster let go the load. Out went the crate and the loadmaster reported that the parachute worked perfectly. The only trouble was, this particular crate must have been badly put together for although the crate came down buy parachute, the floor kept going with the cow still standing on it, According to the loadmaster it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. there was the cow standing on a small woodern floor like a surfboard, hurtling through the air with its nostrils flared, ears flapping in the wind and its tail streaming out behind it. He claims the cow actually enjoyed it and swears he could see it grinning.
      The sad part of course is that the cow would have hit the ground and been killed, But it is perhaps not so sad because the cow was going to be slaughtered for beef anyway. At least it died happy, the South Vietnamese got their steaks. Nevertheless, you may be assured that this type of incident did not happen again.

    Posted by sparrow on 2007 06 22 at 02:35 AM • permalink

  34. #12

    I feel sorry for the goats, too

    Cheers
    RodC

    Posted by Rod C on 2007 06 22 at 02:55 AM • permalink

  35. #33 Thanks for the hilarious story sparrow. Absolute classic.

    Posted by CO² max on 2007 06 22 at 02:55 AM • permalink

  36. Update - ADF clarifies this was occurred in though.Dec 2004. Still cool though.

    Posted by saint on 2007 06 22 at 02:57 AM • permalink

  37. Apologies for the garbled comment. Got bumped off in the middle of it.

    Posted by saint on 2007 06 22 at 02:59 AM • permalink

  38. There has been some discussion as to whether this incident happened.  I spent a little time in the Puss, and still have a few or three younger mates still in…. believe me it did happen.
    Apropos #32, I understand rude gestures were, in fact, involved.  Personnel have been counselled, and appropriately decorated already.

    Cheers
    RodC

    Posted by Rod C on 2007 06 22 at 03:03 AM • permalink

  39. The English were so polite they were on local TV and invited to tea with Mr Ahmadinejad.  But no scones and Earl Grey for foul-mouthed Australians. 

    They can jolly well go hungry.

    Posted by Inurbanus on 2007 06 22 at 03:09 AM • permalink

  40. I’d hate to be in a RN uniform within sledging distance of a Pusser within the next few weeks.

    Posted by jpaulg on 2007 06 22 at 03:16 AM • permalink

  41. I have often thought that if all the world’s diplomats were Australian, we would all be so much better off. For a start there wouldn’t be so much confusion between spades and fucking shovels.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 06 22 at 03:19 AM • permalink

  42. #31
    Monocular Petard ... they could use her for a battering ram.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 03:21 AM • permalink

  43. Fucken hilarious story, sparrow.  I loved it!

    I must have missed something, but I presume a “Pusser” is slang for Aussie naval personnel.  Derivation, please.

    Posted by eagle bomber on 2007 06 22 at 03:32 AM • permalink

  44. Translation of Headline from Hanoi Herrald
    Oct 11, 1965

    Evil Ozzie Foreign Devil Invaders Cowardly Attack Brave Comrade Resistance Farmers with Bovine Bomb

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 03:40 AM • permalink

  45. #33 - They never ate steak so tender again.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 06 22 at 03:43 AM • permalink

  46. #23 Razor
    er, I am familiar with reasons why operational information on deployed troops would be kept quiet. You really don’t have to tell me. Allan made the statement, not me.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 03:44 AM • permalink

  47. #32
    Sheesh, what a surprise, more outraged muslims.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 03:47 AM • permalink

  48. Al Pinches,Canberra Bomber Navigator,Vietnam 1970-1971

    After we bombed a target, the forward air controller(FAC) would fly in to have a close look at what the results were and give a bomb damage assessment(BDA) 2 Squadron RAAF had the highest BDA in Vietnam. John Bennett was bombing for a Vietnamese FAC in the delta country and the target was bunkers along the side of what John described as the widest canal in Vietnam. Anyhow he missed the bunkers and the whole stick landed in the middle of the canal. There was a pause and the Vietnamese FAC came up on the radio ” Ah Magpie, Ah you kill many VC fish”.

    Posted by sparrow on 2007 06 22 at 03:50 AM • permalink

  49. I heard a story about a squadron from Richmond who were used to deploy some feed in a flood emergency about 30 or so years ago.
    The farmer went up with the plane and told the loady where to drop the bales of feed.
    In one particular paddock there were three beasts and he said “Put one in there, that’s my prize bull, we’ll have to look after him.”
    The loady got it right on target.
    Ground steak.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 03:51 AM • permalink

  50. Might have been 38Sqn, Caribous.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 03:52 AM • permalink

  51. There was also this incident between US/Iraqi border patrol and Iranian intruders
    Showdown on Iraq/Iran border

    Posted by Grimmy on 2007 06 22 at 04:02 AM • permalink

  52. Jesus! Sorry Kae.  I was initially suprised that you made that remark.

    Please be gentle as I am a delicate petal.

    Posted by Razor on 2007 06 22 at 04:07 AM • permalink

  53. #44
    MOAB: Massive Ordnance Airblast Bovine?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 04:08 AM • permalink

  54. #43 - Pusser is short for “puss head” as in pimple or zit because of the white flat topped hat they wear.

    Posted by Razor on 2007 06 22 at 04:11 AM • permalink

  55. #52 Razor
    Could you use my glasses? They don’t seem to be workin’ for me so well these days either! Don’t worry, it’s been a bad week.

    #53

    MOAB*: Massive Ordnance Airblast Bovine?

    *Another MIL USE ONLY Quality PACO Product.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 04:13 AM • permalink

  56. Pusser is Royal Navy derived. Slang for ship’s pay officer. It was adopted by the RAN as ‘ass-raping buttmunch’ was already taken by the legal profession.

    Posted by CB on 2007 06 22 at 04:13 AM • permalink

  57. Talking of Bovine bombings - I believe that this is a true story - The Russians rescued the crew from a sunken Japanese fishing boat who claimed that their boat had been sunk by a cow.  They were held for some time on suspicion of spying.  They were eventually released when the Russians discovered it was true.  Apparently a Ruskie transport plane crew had been cattle duffing on an island and flying cattle back to their base.  Apparently on one run, one of the cows started to kick up a stink.  The crew was concerned that the aircraft would be damaged so put down the ramp and the cow exited aircraft mid-air.  The poor sodding Japs were on the end of the bovine flight path.

    Posted by Razor on 2007 06 22 at 04:18 AM • permalink

  58. #43
    From my time in The Pus, pussers were sailors i.e. ratings and Pussers was The Navy.
    I always thought the original source was from the rum grant.

    Posted by lotocoti on 2007 06 22 at 04:20 AM • permalink

  59. #55
    Hey, next time we ask for ‘chuck steak’ ... not so big, OK?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 04:22 AM • permalink

  60. Downrange, I worked with a reserve USAF officer, an Iranian whose family immigrated to the US when he was a boy. Great guy, smart as a whip with a decent sense of humor.  He still goes back to Tehran once every year or so to visit family. The stories he’d tell us about the real Iranian military and about the technical capabilities of your average Iranian were simply hilarious.  Leave it to say that Iran won’t be too much of a bother when the time arrives to kick their squawking yaps shut.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 04:24 AM • permalink

  61. #57 Not true.

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 22 at 04:35 AM • permalink

  62. #41 IT

    For a start there wouldn’t be so much confusion between spades and fucking shovels.

    Am I missing some subtle humour here? They’re the same thing. A spade is for digging and a shovel has a broader blade for shoveling.

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 22 at 04:39 AM • permalink

  63. #63 Fucking PIMF and all that. They’re not the same thing.

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 22 at 04:44 AM • permalink

  64. Spade and a shovel are different.

    pondering, looking for examples, hmmm

    Oh look, so glad you posted that amendment.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 04:46 AM • permalink

  65. though I’da said a spade has a flat blade for cutting

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 04:47 AM • permalink

  66. #62 - Well, the subtlest thing about me is the diamante studded, pink, lurex tuxedo I wear to funerals, so it is possible that something has been lost in transaltion.

    I was making jest of the plain speaking term - “He calls a spade a spade.” Actually, sir, he calls a spade “a fucking shovel”. It’s an old joke which I have right royally mangled.

    Not to worry, in 15 minutes I’ll be up to my gizzards in amber nectar.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 06 22 at 04:49 AM • permalink

  67. Re Pusser -pertaining to or part of the Navy

    Derived from the Purser (Pusser) -the ship’s officer who provided stuff, and hence appeared to own everything, including the Royal Navy itself…. hence “pussers”.

    Certainly not an Oz term by origin, but widely used nonetheless.  In my experience, more so by the RAN than the RN itself, from whom many of our traditions derive.
    A common inhouse nickname for the RN is the ‘andrew’ which I always felt was their most common vernacular.

    The term “andrew” was never , and is not, used within the RAN, in my long experience.

    One learns a lot of very obscure info in a long time at sea.

    Cheers
    RodC

    Posted by Rod C on 2007 06 22 at 04:56 AM • permalink

  68. #66 OK, haven’t heard that one. The only joke I know about spades:
    “We’ll need a spade for this job.”
    “You racist bastard!”


    I’ll get my coat…

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 22 at 04:57 AM • permalink

  69. #65
    Agreed.
    When Pog was on about an ‘old man’s’ thread prior, I was gonna suggest we crap on about gardening issues.
    We’ve already covered composting. :)

    But, since it’s allegedly a RWDB blog, how about ... the best methods of burying (enemy) bodies?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 05:14 AM • permalink

  70. egg_

    Been used before-catapulting (or trebucheting) the stiffs into the town you’re besieging has much to be said for it.

    Cheers
    RodC

    Posted by Rod C on 2007 06 22 at 05:22 AM • permalink

  71. #65, 69. I know where you’re coming from, but on this most serious topic, I’d like to point out that shovels can have flat blades, just as spades do, or pointed blades, depending on the application. A pointed blade is great for material like coal or gravel, however it’s not so useful for sand or dirt on a flat surface. Anyway, have to stop - I’ve exceeded my daily pedantry allowance.

    #69 No matter how enemy bodies are disposed of, someone, somewhere on the left will complain.

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 22 at 05:25 AM • permalink

  72. Regarding the HMS Cornwall incident from March of this year…

    The mainstream media and even the blogosphere has bought this hook, line and sinker.

    But there are two colossal problems.

    A) The Iran/Iraq maritime boundary shown on the British government map does not exist. It has been drawn up by the British Government. Only Iraq and Iran can agree their bilateral boundary, and they never have done this in the Gulf, only inside the Shatt because there it is the land border too. This published boundary is a fake with no legal force.

    B) Accepting the British coordinates for the position of both HMS Cornwall and the incident, both were closer to Iranian land than Iraqi land. Go on, print out the map and measure it. Which underlines the point that the British produced border is not a reliable one.

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 22 at 05:34 AM • permalink

  73. #71
    I think you’ll find that a spade is a type of shovel (digging use only) ... but I’ll leave it to the gardening Nazis :)

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 05:36 AM • permalink

  74. #70 RodC
    Yeah, spread disease from the corpses.
    Ole biological warfare.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 05:40 AM • permalink

  75. #72 Hello Huckabee. Still having trouble with that nasty link function?

    The border is in fact a legal internationally recognized boundary, just not by Iran. The same Iran who does not recognize UN mandates nor any other international tribunal decisions? The fact that Iran refuses to recognize this boundary, in no way negates its legality. 
    If you’re going to play the role of Iranian defense council, you’re going to need to rethink your game.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 05:41 AM • permalink

  76. And perhaps you’d be better suited with the moniker: Lord Huck-Huckabee

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 05:43 AM • permalink

  77. Almost no time to post, need to rush off.

    #72 If the Iran/Iraq maritime boundary is invalid I wonder why Iran gave a new position on the Iran side for the incident after the Brits informed them that their original position was on the Iraq side.

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 22 at 05:44 AM • permalink

  78. It has been drawn up by the British Government. Only Iraq and Iran can agree their bilateral boundary, and they never have done this in the Gulf, only inside the Shatt because there it is the land border too. This published boundary is a fake with no legal force.

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 22 at 05:45 AM • permalink

  79. #73 egg_ I’ll look into it. I’m willing to be corrected, lest I dig my own grave arf arf

    Oh fuck I’m late

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 22 at 05:45 AM • permalink

  80. #78 squawk, squeak, sputter…Only Iraq and Iran can agree their bilateral boundary, and they never have done this in the Gulf,... repeat as often as necessary.

    Right. Which is exactly why the internationally accepted boundary of territorial waters is the ONLY boundary.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 05:55 AM • permalink

  81. Huckabee,

    I see you cut and pasted your points straight from the eccentric former ambassador Craig Murray

    You really ought to give credit, or people migh tsuspect you of thinking for yourself.

    Posted by squawkbox on 2007 06 22 at 06:01 AM • permalink

  82. #78 This published boundary is a fake with no legal force.

    Yeah, that’s what Mo Ahmadinejad keeps preaching. Perhaps he wouldn’t be so pissed off if he’d get a decent barber who doesn’t use the old bowl-on-the-head technique. No suprise you’d be towing his party line.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 06:05 AM • permalink

  83. #81, that’s not a mistake we’re likely to make with Huck, Squawkbox.

    G’day Huck, ready to be wrong, again?

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 06:05 AM • permalink

  84. Muzzie Zapper, your real name is Eric Orthwaite, no?

    Posted by Brett_McS on 2007 06 22 at 06:08 AM • permalink

  85. #81 Oh, now that’s quite unfortunate. Poor Huck. Our new html illiterate friend is also a plagiarist? How’s that foot tasting right about now Huck?

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 06:09 AM • permalink

  86. #85 Unfortunate but unsurprising.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 06:11 AM • permalink

  87. And Huck, I might as well cater to your non sequitur predilections by asking you why that beloved lady of the left, Nancy Pelosi was visiting that totalitarian monarchy/dictatorship Syrian president? How do you account for the left supporting such a tyrannical regime?

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 06:14 AM • permalink

  88. You’d think a guy who can cut-and-paste could figure out how to hyperlink?

    Hmmph. There’s just no accounting for some people.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 06:17 AM • permalink

  89. Huck?  Huck?  Lord Huck-Huck????

    cricket chirp, cricket chirp…

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 06:18 AM • permalink

  90. I do hope I haven’t scared him off

    Posted by squawkbox on 2007 06 22 at 06:20 AM • permalink

  91. #87. If Nancy Pelosi is of the Left then Fox News is ‘Fair and Balanced’! Especially not after having been elected on the basis of opposition to the war, only to have voted for $100 Billion to keep prosecuting the carnage, which by the way has claimed the lives of 14 US troops over a 48 hour period this week.

    It wouldn’t surprise me in the least that Pelosi is consorting with the Syrians. How that amounts to support I’m not so sure.

    The Bush and co. support for the tyrannical regimes of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, well now that is an interesting question…

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 22 at 06:21 AM • permalink

  92. Texas Bob, his linking woes would have never happened if someone had given instructions like:

    Please use the “Links” button to insert links to other websites.

    Click on the button.

    All you have to do is fill in the boxes that will pop up, the first box with the url, and the second box with the word you wish to use as the link.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 06:22 AM • permalink

  93. Particularly given most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi…

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 22 at 06:24 AM • permalink

  94. #91 Oh please. That was a weak attempt at dodging a non sequitur, even by your standards. Really. And then try to turn it around?
    What are you going to do next? Say pee-pee, poo-poo at me?

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 06:29 AM • permalink

  95. This is really sad. I must apologize for getting him started again, I just couldn’t resist. I imagined his hands trembling with delight after he’d read #87. He just seemed so down after his plagiarizing scandal hit the press.  Thought he needed a little pick-me up.

    I am not proud of my petty antagonizing

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 06:35 AM • permalink

  96. Pelosi isn’t left-wing, voting to continue the killing in Iraq is even more proof.  Is that difficult to understand?

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 22 at 06:36 AM • permalink

  97. How’s the Texas Bob Beer Fund going?

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 06:37 AM • permalink

  98. #97 Well, if El Cid didn’t blow it all, I believe it’s up to $23.07 US right now.
    El Cid assures me his latest money-making schemes should push it over $40 by next week!

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 07:02 AM • permalink

  99. #96 Voting to contune the killing in Iraq? You’ve got the wrong country Huck. That sort of voting is going on in your beloved Iran as we speak. That is, if you’re talking about the ones responsible for the actual killings in Iraq.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 07:04 AM • permalink

  100. #98 That should be plenty for a cheap slab!

    I wonder why El Cid hasn’t set up a PayPal donation site for it?

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 07:11 AM • permalink

  101. Re Pusser…

    It’s the rum provided by the Royal Navy as a tot, the nightly ration for every seagoing crew member of a Royal Navy ship. Pusser’s Rum is dispensed through Portsmouth.

    Posted by mareeS on 2007 06 22 at 07:19 AM • permalink

  102. #100 You’re right, but since I’m stationed in Germany, I’ve grown accustomed to their version of brew that no brewer in the States comes close to.  What can I say? I’m spoiled.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 07:28 AM • permalink

  103. Say, where’s Ole Hucky-No-Linky?

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 07:29 AM • permalink

  104. #61
    The urban myth may have grown from IIRC a Russian (light comedy) movie about that time that featured one of the crew of a military transport plane who smuggled a cow, that he’d become emotionally attached to, onboard against the CO’s wishes: can’t recall if anything unfortunate happened to the cow or the title of the movie.

    Anyone have a better recollection?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 07:36 AM • permalink

  105. #101. Apparently the rum ration was increased over time, ensuring many sailors were what we today would class as alcoholics.  Many fell to their death from the rigging.  Shame, I love Rum.

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 22 at 07:38 AM • permalink

  106. #99.

    That is, if you’re talking about the ones responsible for the actual killings in Iraq.

    Oh TB!  You really need to keep up with your guvmint’s propaganda bureau…its Al Qaeda man! 
    The Shia fundamentalist government of Iran is funding the rabidly anti-Shia, Takfiri terrorist of AQ…

    As for killings,heh, even if Iran were funding their Sunni enemies, they really would have to have worked miracles to kill more the the Coalition of Evil.

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 22 at 07:42 AM • permalink

  107. #104. egg_, and I mean this in the most gentle and honest way, if you’ve the time to watch old Russian movies from IIRC AND still have to comment here, you’ve got way too much time on your hands.  Ever think about becoming an American? The US Army* recruits strapping young furriengers, such as yourself, for service with Uncle Sugar AND as a quick-step towards citizenship. Just think, you’ll being running with America’s best, earning college money and learning a whole new National Anthem!

    *Recruiting comments not endorsed by the US DoD, and may have nothing to do with any so-called recruitment bonus Texas Bob may or may not be seeking

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 07:44 AM • permalink

  108. #106 Would it help you if I typed slower? Used simpler words? Or perhaps drew you some cartoons?

    Take a few deep breaths (of AIR this time), relax a moment, and actually think about what you type BEFORE you type it. Even consider READING what you type BEFORE you hit that little button, lower left corner marked Submit.  I’m still holding on to the hope that your reasoning is clouded by emotion, and that you’re typing these things from a distraught state.  I hold the others at bay while you regain your senses. You can do it! I’m here for ya buddy!

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 07:49 AM • permalink

  109. #106 Oh yes, and to help you with your search for corroborating evidence, here’s a source for your death figures:
    Link Thingy That Gives Poor Hucky The Fits

    Give a shout if you need furhter help.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 07:54 AM • permalink

  110. #107 TB
    IIRC = If I recall correctly.
    I believe I am your senior.
    Like they say about the internet, you could be talking to a dog ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 08:01 AM • permalink

  111. #110 Aw nuts. Another shot at that $5 grand right out the window…

    OTOH, just how old of a dog are we talking about here?

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 08:10 AM • permalink

  112. And OK, you busted me with that IIRC bit. I’d no idea what that was. You realize I have been exchanging pleasantries with Huckabee all evening? No telling what kind of dumbass gas I’ve inhaled by now.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 08:13 AM • permalink

  113. Does drinking and blogging by myself constitute alcoholism?
    It’s so lonely here.

    *sigh*

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 08:21 AM • permalink

  114. #106:

    … would have to have worked miracles to kill more the the Coalition of Evil.

    WTF!!! So who the hell are the good guys then, Huckabee?

    Oh, I get it. Dar al-Islam – those nations and peoples under submission to Islamic law are the good guys. Dar al-Harb – all those not yet under the control of Islam and therefore nominally at war with the Islamo-fascists are, of course, the Evil Infidels.

    Is that a fuse wire sticking out of your sandshoe there, mate?

    Posted by splice on 2007 06 22 at 08:22 AM • permalink

  115. #112 Texas Bob, it’s a good thing there’s an antidote to a severe dumbass gassing.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 08:22 AM • permalink

  116. All good, but what happened to rigid boat the RAN boys rode in on? Now sporting an Iranian flag?

    Posted by Hobbes on 2007 06 22 at 08:22 AM • permalink

  117. #113

    You’re tired from sooling huck. (*hic*)

    I really don’t know why you bother, I suppose it’s like banging your head against a brick wall.

    It feels so good when you stop.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 08:23 AM • permalink

  118. he British government was advised against publicly criticising a report estimating that 655,000 Iraqis had died due to the war, the BBC has learnt.

    Iraqi Health Ministry figures put the toll at less than 10% of the total in the survey, published in the Lancet.

    But the Ministry of Defence’s chief scientific adviser said the survey’s methods were “close to best practice” and the study design was “robust”.

    Another expert agreed the method was “tried and tested”.

    Was that the lancet story TB?

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 22 at 08:27 AM • permalink

  119. # 114.

    WTF!!! So who the hell are the good guys then, Huckabee?

    Er, well that would be the Iraqi’s fighting to liberate their country from a foreign occupation.  You know, like George Washington and all that…

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 22 at 08:30 AM • permalink

  120. #119 Oh for God’s sake Huck, there is a complete difference between George Washington’s actions and those of terrorists in Iraq.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 08:33 AM • permalink

  121. #107, 110 TB
    Thanks for the generous offer.
    I’ve had the pleasure of working for US firms over the years, currently working for one of your aerospace firms (in Oz), in fact.
    The wrong side of 40, but a strapping lad like yourself.
    :)

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 08:35 AM • permalink

  122. FYI
    Huckabee anagrams to ‘cubed hake’.
    Do I smell burley in the water, yet?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 08:43 AM • permalink

  123. #119: Er, well that would be the Iraqi’s fighting to liberate their country from a foreign occupation.

    Er, well, sounds like Huck is a shill (isn’t that the word of the week?) for terrorists. Engage this parlor jihadist in banter if you want; I’m through with him.

    Posted by paco on 2007 06 22 at 08:47 AM • permalink

  124. Huckabee must have realised he lost again.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 08:47 AM • permalink

  125. #123 Yet another wise decision from you, Paco.

    This kind of clever judgment is why you’re the CEO of Paco Corp and why I’m not even a shareholder.

    I did apply, but I fell asleep after the 998th identical form. All I wanted was one measly share!

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 08:49 AM • permalink

  126. #119 When did George Washington blow up fellow Americans?

    And the Iraqis are working with the US to rid….

    OH! You meant THOSE Iraqis. I see. The ones valiantly blowing up fellow Iraqi men, women and children to gloriously push the infidel coalition from its borders. 

    Seems like a bad idea.
    But it’s working.
    You and your’s are the target audience Huck, and you’re doing their bidding like a good little sheep.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 08:51 AM • permalink

  127. LMAO. Mythbusters is on TV. They’re now building a model of the Tampa. Then they’re going to put it in a whirlpool.

    I smell another Howard election victory!

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 08:53 AM • permalink

  128. #123 I’ve tried to stop. I just CAN’T!
    Like a dog returns to its vomit, there go I.

    It’s like crack. Only with words. And no pipe. And without the funky house. 

    OK, so it’s not exactly like crack, but you get the idea.

    I just can’t help watching this bozo keep coming back for more. He’s like some crazed lab rat that won’t stop pushing the shock buzzer with its nose.  It’s mesmerizing in a train wreck-y sort of way.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 08:56 AM • permalink

  129. Dose the deliberate blowing up of women and kids in markets part of the heroic liberation, Huckhead,

    I’m sorry but the stupid 1400 year old argument over who should have taken over Mohummads cult that is killing the majority of Iraqis..I don’t understand how that is part off the Heroic struggle.

    Look if you just say what you really think and that is you hate America i would say “no worries, thats you opinion” but don’t hide behind this poor occupied Iraqis line.

    Posted by sparrow on 2007 06 22 at 09:01 AM • permalink

  130. And you are right Paco.

    Ms Andrea? I believe our misguided friend Huckabee doesn’t think he has to follow the rules, which I think means he’s telling you to jump in the lake.

    steps behind blast wall

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 09:01 AM • permalink

  131. #119: Suckerbee, my question was rhetorical. I answered it for you in the very next sentence.

    The Iraqi people are not fighting a foreign occupation, unless you are talking about the small but vicious band of al-Qaeda foreigners loosely allied to a waning Sunni insurgency - hardly an “occupation”. Or perhaps you refer to the malevolent influence of your friends, the Iranians? All those groups are working to destabilize the legitimate Iraqi government and to cower those nations willing to support the Iraqi people in their quest to establish a free and independent Iraq.

    Posted by splice on 2007 06 22 at 09:04 AM • permalink

  132. You know, like George Washington and all that…
    Wow! I just had one of those crazy deja vu moments… wasn’t there some sponge-brain using a Cuban revolutionary as a nic some months ago trying the same argument?

    Posted by lotocoti on 2007 06 22 at 09:05 AM • permalink

  133. T-Bob: I just don’t want you to sprain your trigger finger; you need to save that for the real thing.

    Posted by paco on 2007 06 22 at 09:07 AM • permalink

  134. I love you guys.

    Posted by Latino on 2007 06 22 at 09:31 AM • permalink

  135. #134 I’m not surprised. We’re just all-round lovable.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 09:34 AM • permalink

  136. #135

    Some rounder than others.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 09:37 AM • permalink

  137. #136 But Kae, that doesn’t matter, because you’re prettier than most others.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 09:39 AM • permalink

  138. oh dear, that one went thru to the keeper didn’t it?

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 09:46 AM • permalink

  139. #138 No, I was just ignoring it because I haven’t stopped eating since lunchtime, so I’m feeling pretty fat right now.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 09:52 AM • permalink

  140. well I only lost 100g last fortnight so I’m determined to get back on the wagon and be good.
    I don’t think I fell of the wagon. I think I did a triple forward somersault with pike of the thing.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 09:54 AM • permalink

  141. Kae, I have a suspicion that what you’re losing, I’m putting on.

    Though I should follow the advice I saw on TV. “Put the fucking fork down Tubby!”

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 09:59 AM • permalink

  142. f f
    they fell off my last post.

    harrumph

    perview is for the insecure

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 10:02 AM • permalink

  143. #142 Kae, I propose we go with reusing to include the letter F or the remainder o this thread.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 10:08 AM • permalink

  144. Or for when you’re writing in big green letters and want to make sure you don’t leave tags open, because if you do, the repercussions would be severe.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 10:10 AM • permalink

  145. I like green. It reminds me o happy rogs. Croaking ater rain.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 10:17 AM • permalink

  146. Or cane toads. When you hit them with gol clubs. But i there’s people around, don’t orget to yell “ore!”, because a cane toad landing on your head out o nowhere is never a good eeling.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 10:20 AM • permalink

  147. ken oath!

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 10:25 AM • permalink

  148. abulous!
    This is quite un, but does require irm concerntration so I don’t uck it up.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 10:29 AM • permalink

  149. I will, no doubt, be the irst to uck anything up around these parts.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 10:32 AM • permalink

  150. Now we’ve started this un game, I have to hit the artsack. Thank God it’s riday! See youse tomorrow!

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 10:32 AM • permalink

  151. WT !

    Posted by paco on 2007 06 22 at 10:32 AM • permalink

  152. Strewth, it’s Saturday!
    ar out, brussels sprout!
    Talk tomorrow. Nite ash, Tex (you’ll never be lonely with us Blairites!) et al.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 22 at 10:34 AM • permalink

  153. Good night Kae,

    Have antastic dreams!

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 10:36 AM • permalink

  154. Goodnight are lady!
    Don’t orget to say your prayers!

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 06 22 at 10:44 AM • permalink

  155. Me too!
    Night y’all.
    Forgot to add: my eldest (daughter) turns 20 today, Ash (it’s just past midnight here).

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 10:59 AM • permalink

  156. Happy birthday to her Egg_!

    I remember my 20th. Most o the cards I got told me that no one was expecting me to make it to 20, because they all thought someone would kill me beore then.

    I elt the love!

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 11:02 AM • permalink

  157. I know I am late to the party, but I just had to add my own cheers. I love the Aussie troops!

    Posted by Momma Fish on 2007 06 22 at 11:04 AM • permalink

  158. Weakness=defeat.

    Reminds me of the story about the US Embassy takeover in Iran.  Seems the “students” attacked the Russian embassy first, but the soldiers there were no instructed in the kindler, gentler methods of repelling invaders and thus shot them in the face, killing them instantly, as they scaled the wall.

    The remaining “students” immediately went for Plan B, attacking the US embassy.  The rest is history.

    Posted by Patricia on 2007 06 22 at 11:07 AM • permalink

  159. #157 They’re pretty great, aren’t they Momma Fish?

    #156 Patricia, I certainly wouldn’t have chosen the Russian Embassy as the one to attack… New Zealand maybe.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 11:20 AM • permalink

  160. #155: Happy birthday greetings to the young lady, egg. Did you get her that Jaguar you promised her? (You know, when she was six months old, playing in the crib, and you thought she wasn’t paying attention?)

    Posted by paco on 2007 06 22 at 11:25 AM • permalink

  161. Did you get her that Jaguar you promised her? (You know, when she was six months old, playing in the crib, and you thought she wasn’t paying attention?)

    I can see I’m going to have to keep checking over my shoulder for you when I’m talking to Packypus Paco.

    I really need to know the answer to the question I asked you on the other thread though Paco.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 11:28 AM • permalink

  162. #161: I really need to know the answer to the question I asked you on the other thread though Paco.

    Good heavens, Ash! Some pretty poor staff work at Paco Enterprises has left me in the dark as to what that question was. Kindly repeat it, and I’ll get my research team on it immediately.

    Posted by paco on 2007 06 22 at 11:35 AM • permalink

  163. You can’t get good staff these days, can you Paco? Here is the question:

    Packypus is very cool Paco.

    But shouldn’t I be fearful that I’ll never be able to make her clean her room, in case a bunch of Greenpeace or PETA representatives turn up and protest the ruination of the habitat of the extremely rare Packypus?

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 11:40 AM • permalink

  164. Yesterday it was Nazi ad hominems, today it’s 3-year-old Fisk/Pilger/Mikey Moore talking points. Damn, Huck’s a real winner.

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 06 22 at 12:06 PM • permalink

  165. #163: “You can’t get good staff these days, can you Paco?”

    Looks in direction of MarkL, presently trying to disentangle his legs from an inept yo-yo exhibition, and Andy Canuck, snoozing peacefully under the newspaper

    No, Ash. No, you can’t.

    As to your original question: you need to install a trap door on the front stoop so that, once they’ve identified themselves as PETA reps, you simply push a button and they drop into a cellar, where they are sucked up into a vaccuum tube, whisked away, and dumped into the exercise yard of the nearest pit bull breeder. That way, they’ll never get close enough for an inspection.

    Posted by paco on 2007 06 22 at 12:14 PM • permalink

  166. #165 ‘Pit Bull breeder’... that means the vaccuum tube will have to go interstate, because we’re not allowed to have pit bulls in Victoria, last I heard.

    It’s kind of sad, but the name Packypus really appeals to me.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 12:19 PM • permalink

  167. #167: Actually, I think Packypus a rather cute baby name; but you probably better save it for an infant nickname. Can’t have her using that moniker when she’s Prime Minister.

    Posted by paco on 2007 06 22 at 01:17 PM • permalink

  168. I think there’s a very high chance that I’ll use it as a nickname for her Paco.

    Either that or if Jesse still prank calls my phone after she’s born, I’ll tell him that’s her name.

    And listen with a smug grin to the thud as he hits the floor.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 22 at 01:22 PM • permalink

  169. Paco
    Minor design quibble: not a pit bull breeder exercise yard, rather a porcine production facility. Less cleanup required after pest disposal.

    Cheers

    Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2007 06 22 at 02:14 PM • permalink

  170. Pit Bulls were America’s dog in WWI, like the Bulldog was for the British.  The traditional American Pit Bulls guarded the neighborhood without any class pretensions, against strangers committing funny business.  HSUS used them for a fundraising crisis in the 80s and suddenly they were the enemy, at least on TV and the papers.

    Most of the Pit Bulls I meet these days are Dalmation mixes, at least according to the odd owner you find taking them for a walk.  Someday they’ll get their good name back from the news yahoos.  I think they’re still used as therapy dogs because of their stable temperament and strength, by the way.

    A nice and lengthy discussion of the whole narrative is in Vicki Hearne’s _Bandit : Dossier of a Dangerous Dog._ I’ve snipped a lot out of the book over the years, for instance this on searching for these dangerous dogs described in the newspapers in person

    Posted by rhhardin on 2007 06 22 at 02:38 PM • permalink

  171. At least give Lord Huck-Huck credit for honestly admitting that the Left is on the side of al qaeda and the islamists.

    Posted by Latino on 2007 06 22 at 03:37 PM • permalink

  172. Let’s hope the Brits paid attention and learned something from that. Hats off to you!

    Posted by rightwingprof on 2007 06 22 at 03:57 PM • permalink

  173. #101 mareeS RUM RATION

    The RN rum ration was done away with nearly 40 years ago - about 67-68.  The last Commonwealth Navy to keep it was the Kiwis, and it finished there about 15 years ago I think. The RAN did away with it in the 20s I think.

    Cheers
    RodC

    Posted by Rod C on 2007 06 22 at 06:15 PM • permalink

  174. Wow! I just had one of those crazy deja vu moments… wasn’t there some sponge-brain using a Cuban revolutionary as a nic some months ago trying the same argument?

    Was that the same guy who seemed to believe that the Gaza Strip is in Iraq or something like that? Who was that guy, anyway? I can’t come up with his handle…I don’t think it was Leftie Latte Lover, or was it?

    Posted by PW on 2007 06 22 at 06:48 PM • permalink

  175. BTW, Hucksterbee’s claim that Nancy Pelosi isn’t a lefty was pretty hilarious. If so, that must mean the “real” lefties can’t be a terribly smart bunch since they keep voting for her in large numbers.

    At any rate, I wonder if that means all those folks at the Daily Kos aren’t on the Left either, given that Nancy Pelosi was a well-received contributor there prior to the mid-terms elections.

    I guess Hucksterbee’s definition of “the Left” is similarly…unconventional as Lataan’s definition of “racism”.

    Posted by PW on 2007 06 22 at 06:53 PM • permalink

  176. #6 Damn, Paco, why did you let that photo out of your Montreal operation? Now the gig is up. It will always be now known as Pan American Canadian Organsiation.

    This kind of notoriety is just so un-Canadian.

    Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 06 22 at 07:38 PM • permalink

  177. Huckabee if hiding from the real world is keeping you warm and fuzzy carry on, this a sharia free society.  But I think like all lefty wooly heads you lack perception probably due to inherent cowardice.

    Posted by Howzat on 2007 06 22 at 07:55 PM • permalink

  178. #174: PW and Lotocoti, wasn’t it “Che Guevara’s Ghost” or something equally distasteful?

    Posted by splice on 2007 06 22 at 08:31 PM • permalink

  179. #156 #160 ash_ paco
    Thanks for the well wishes. :)
    My oblique reference was that should your Ember have come early, she would be approx 2 decades of my first (and close to paco’s BD).
    The only Jag at the mo’ would be a matchbox version, unfortunately, but nice thought!

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 22 at 09:17 PM • permalink

  180. #120.

    According to historian Harry Ward, the Revolutionary War was also a vicious civil war, in which partisans on both sides brutalized those on the opposing side. “Wide sections of territory,” he asserts, “became virtual wastelands as a result of the military appropriation of livestock and provisions, the looting and destruction of homes, and the flight of civilians.”[3] Soldiers as well as non-military profiteers not only looted but also murdered and sometimes tortured their victims.

    Ward, H. M. (2002). Between the Lines: Banditti of the American Revolution. Westport, CT: Praeger,

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 22 at 10:38 PM • permalink

  181. #131. Coalition

    forces remained the target of the majority of attacks (68%),...

    “unless you are talking about the small but vicious band of al-Qaeda foreigners loosely allied to a waning Sunni insurgency”

    So Al Qaeda foreigners are a small band and yet they compose the bulk of a resistance that is estimated by the director of the intelligence services built by the occupiers, General Muhammad Abdullah Shahwani, to number 40,000 hardcore fighters and 160,000 ‘part-timers’?

     

    “All those groups are working to destabilize the legitimate Iraqi government”

    No, all these groups; The General Command of the Armed Forces, Resistance and Liberation in Iraq (mostly former Ba’athists); Popular Resistance for the Liberation of Iraq (secular Sunni outfit); Iraqi Resistance and Liberation Command (secular nationalist, anti-Ba’ath); Al ‘Awdah (former security personnel of the Ba’ath); Harakat Ra’s al-‘Afa (Ba’athist, linked to tribes in Ramadi and Fallujah); Nasserites, (a small bunch of non-Ba’ath pan-Arab nationalists); Thuwwar al-‘Aral-Kata’ib al-Anbar al-Musallahuh (anti-Saddam nationalists); General Secretariat for the Liberation of Democratic Iraq (leftist nationslists); Higher Command of the Mujahideen in Iraq (both religious and nationalist); Munazzamat al-Rayat al-Aswad (religious nationalist); Unification Front for the Liberation of Iraq (anti-Saddam and anti-Baath); National Front for the Liberation of Iraq (incorporates both former Republican Guards and Islamists); Jaish Ansar al-Sunnah (one of the largest groups in Iraq, incorporating both Kurdish and Sunni Arab Islamists); Mujahideen al ta’ifa al-Mansoura (Salafist, includes non-Iraqis); Kata’ib al Mujahideen fi al-Jama’ah al-Salafiyah fi al-‘Arak (Salafists, with some connections to former Afghan groups); Jihad Brigades/Cells (Islamist guerillas); Armed Islamic Movement of the Al Qaeda Organization, Fallujah Branch (a little known group with some amount of support in the city); Jaish Muhammad (apparently one of the largest Islamist groups); Islamic Army of Iraq (Salafist); Jaish al Mahdi (you know these guys already, and they do sometimes operate in the north where there are Shi’ites living), are fighting to overthrow an
    illegitimate government put in place by an illegal occupation.

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 22 at 11:00 PM • permalink

  182. 181. “illegitimate government put in place”

    Correction. ‘illegitimate Govt’ that was voted in by its own people in a well run voting process…


    “by an illegal occupation. “

    Correction. there at the behest of the Govt of the country that was installed at the behest of the voters…

    Any further questions?

    Posted by Harry Buttle on 2007 06 22 at 11:57 PM • permalink

  183. Hey, if I gin up a couple of dozen names for groups does that mean there’s a few thousand of me?  Huckleberry will believe just about anything, won’t she/he/it?  Well, sheeeeeiiitttt.  I see it also dragged up that idiot Lancet (non-peer reviewed) guesstimate of killed Iraqis.  Really, paco should be selling tons of stuff to someone so easily duped.  (Not that PACO, INC would dupe anyone, of course.)

    Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 06 23 at 12:05 AM • permalink

  184. #182. 

    Correction. ‘illegitimate Govt’ that was voted in by its own people in a well run voting process…

    You mean the voting process that was distinguished by allegations of ballot fixing , the ‘irregularities’  and the exclusion of thousands of voters?  The voting process that saw a situation where,

    “I mean, we’ve got a situation in Mosul, for example, where American troops, we now discover because the Iraqi employees of the election organization have deserted en masse, it’s American soldiers who will be transporting the ballot boxes around when they are full of votes. This is really very far from ideal, and if it were happening in any other country—I mean, one could mention Ukraine, for example—there would be a wild chorus of international protest.”

    And where even the interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi ” admitted on Tuesday that “pockets” of Iraq won’t be able to vote on January 30 because of poor security. I suspect the pockets amount to about 3 million persons.”

    However those are mostly secondary points.  The main one is that the government that issued from the elections is illegitimate, because the whole process was the result of an illegal invasion and occupation.

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 23 at 12:52 AM • permalink

  185. Huckabee: You seem to know all the players.

    Please tell us why these particular Muslims are quite happy exterminating other Muslims. Is it to propogate an environment of blame against the Coalition of the Swilling, or just because the blower-upper Muslims like violence, killing, and blowing stuff up.

    Iraq is the corner-stone in the eventual stake in the heart of radical Islam. Your insane mission has failed.  Now fuck off! (using some colourful vernacular)

    Posted by Kaboom on 2007 06 23 at 12:56 AM • permalink

  186. What makes a government legitimate?  The democratic election of that government by the people it rules, which is how the present government of Iraq came to rule?  Not according to Huck.  Since the alternative is rule by force by a dictatorship, either a secular one ike the bloodyhanded Ba’athists, or a religious one like the bloodyhanded Al-Qaedists, one presumes that seizure of power by force is what Huck considers gives legitimacy to a government.

    America is trying to foster halfway decent, consensual government in Iraq in the hopes of providing an alternative to the choice between bloodyhanded secular tyrants and bloodyhanded religious tyrants.  This attempt is what Huck considers evil.

    On the Lancet article, not even antiwar outfits like Iraq Body Count bought such a high figure, ten times what they had counted or more.  The Lancet figure has the problem that nowhere near that number of bodies have ever been seen in Iraq, not since Saddam was overthrown anyway.  That number is closer to his work than even the indiscriminate murdering of Al Qaeda, the Ba’athist “freedom fighters” Huck so admires, or the Shi’a militias.  It’s pure fiction.

    In the Revolutionary War the closest thing to today’s terror attacks came from the Indian raids incited by the British.  The 1777 Campaign in New York is instructive on this matter.

    On Nancy Pelosi’s leftism, she has been a great admirer of Harry Bridges, the Aussie union boss of the ILWU, who was a lifelong Communist and was a member of the Central Committee of the CPUSA, at Moscow’s orders.  He toed the Moscow line his whole life, including defending the treaty between Hitler and Stalin that set off WWII.  Of course, when Hitler stabbed Stalin in the back before Stalin could do it to him, Bridges turned his opinion on a dime and became a rabid advocate of intervention in WWII, which he and his union had opposed up until then on Moscow’s orders.  Nancy still thinks he’s the greatest thing to grace the Labor Movement in all its history. 
    Pelosi’s favorite Stalinist

    Yes Pelosi’s a leftist.  She loves Commies, advocates socialism at home, advocates the defeat of America in the war against the Jihadi terrorists, and plays footsie with the enemies of America abroad.  Yep, a classical lefty.

    Posted by Michael Lonie on 2007 06 23 at 01:06 AM • permalink

  187. “Hey, if I gin up a couple of dozen names for groups does that mean there’s a few thousand of me?  Huckleberry will believe just about anything, won’t she/he/it?  Well, sheeeeeiiitttt”

    Actually, I find its the RWDBloggers who believe just about anything, as long as it comes from the White House, Pentagon or Fux News.

    I mean, 40,000 hardcore insurgents and 160,000 ‘part timers’ would seem to indicate groups other than Al Qaeda at work (like for instance Muqtada Al-Sadr’s organisation!, especially given that in mid-2004, Brigadier General Custer (oh yes), director of intelligence for CENTCOM, said that there was little evidence of ‘Al Qaeda’ operating in Iraq.

    As for the Lancet survey, well you obviously forgot to read your cue cards,...

    “The British government was advised against publicly criticising a report estimating that 655,000 Iraqis had died due to the war, the BBC has learnt.

    Iraqi Health Ministry figures put the toll at less than 10% of the total in the survey, published in the Lancet.

    But the Ministry of Defence’s chief scientific adviser said the survey’s methods were “close to best practice” and the study design was “robust”.

    Another expert agreed the method was “tried and tested”.”

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 23 at 01:07 AM • permalink

  188. 181 Huckabee

    What those groups have in common is one thing. None of them can muster enough votes at the ballot box in order to get what they want.
    They are the screaming 2 year olds in a room full of adults conducting serious business.
    What possible solution do you see happening if the Eeeevil occuping forces were to leave now?
    The different parties will send each other flowers?

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 06 23 at 01:11 AM • permalink

  189. Please tell us why these particular Muslims are quite happy exterminating other Muslims.

    Coalition forces remained the target of the majority of attacks (68%),...

    I don’t think mose Iraqi resistance groups enjoy killing their fellow Iraqi’s, these guys however seem to get a real buzz out of it…

    “The men of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment’s Alpha and Charlie companies are resting and playing cards in the shade of a staircase, and talk turns to killing.

    I enjoy killing Iraqis,” says Staff Sgt. William Deaton, 30, who had killed a hostile fighter the night before.”

    Iraq is the corner-stone in the eventual stake in the heart of radical Islam. Your insane mission has failed.

    Actually, the US led invasion of Iraq has provided Islamisist terrorists with a nation-wide recruiting and training ground.  Well done!  Mission Accomplished, even?

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 23 at 01:20 AM • permalink

  190. Huckabee, At what stage was iraq ever a functioning civil society? Seriously answer that question?

    Should a nation be held hostage to a dictatorship (and not a plesant one at that) because it wont instantly become a fully functioning democracy afterwards?

    How then is ANY thuggish regime to be overturned? Or is it perfectly acceptable for you that “brown” people live in terror of their dictators as long as we get oil cheap from them?

    As long as its only brown people eh mate??

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 06 23 at 01:35 AM • permalink

  191. Codes aren’t your thing, are they Huck?

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 23 at 01:35 AM • permalink

  192. #186. “...one presumes that seizure of power by force is what Huck considers gives legitimacy to a government.”

    No, that is what you consider gives legitimacy to a government, as that is exactly what the US did when it invaded Iraq.

    “America is trying to foster halfway decent, consensual government in Iraq in the hopes of providing an alternative to the choice between bloodyhanded secular tyrants and bloodyhanded religious tyrants.  This attempt is what Huck considers evil.”

    I wouldn’t think it evil if it were at all true.

    The Lancet survey: “It’s pure fiction.”

    Not according to the Ministry of Defence’s chief scientific adviser.

    Pelosi:

    “...advocates socialism at home, advocates the defeat of America in the war against the Jihadi terrorists,...”.

    Could you give me an example of Pelosi advocating socialism at home?  Could you also tell me how she advocates the defeat or America in the war against the people of Iraq by voting to fund it with another $100 Billion?

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 23 at 01:46 AM • permalink

  193. Huck

    off?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 23 at 01:46 AM • permalink

  194. dang!

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 23 at 01:47 AM • permalink

  195. # 188.

    “What possible solution do you see happening if the Eeeevil occuping forces were to leave now? The different parties will send each other flowers?”

    Luckily that’s not something I’ll be responsible for, having opposed the invasion in the first place.  I could speculate though, I’d say that given the majority of armed attacks are aimed at Coalition forces and that a majority of Iraqi’s want the US and co to leave, then a dramatic decline in violent death would be one likely result.

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 23 at 01:51 AM • permalink

  196. #192 Yet again you get your issues confused Huck. The US never selected the Iraq Government, they were elected by the people. You seem to consider a government to be legitimate if they’re prepared to use force. Shit, no wonder you guys on the Left seem to think the Howard Government is evil, they don’t drag people away like you dream of.

    Iraq is currently torn between religious tyrants and secular tyrants, and none of them are afraid to kill people to achieve their aims. That is what America is trying to avoid.

    The Lancet survey was greatly flawed in its methodology. I know this, because I used their methods to find out whether all the cats in Australia are starving. I asked my three cats if they were hungry, they all seemed to say yes, and so every cat in Australia is starving. Please send aid.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 23 at 01:58 AM • permalink

  197. #195 So you don’t think that even though you live in a country that is part of the Coalition of the Willing, that all citizens of that country have a responsibility to make sure that [stealing Lefty line] the nasty occupiers fix what they broke? [/stealing Lefty line]

    The majority of attacks are aimed at civilians, not at armed forces. Got any proof that the majority of Iraqis want the Coalition of the Willing to leave? And if you think the Coalition leaving would result in a dramatic decline in violent death, you’re more deluded than I thought.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 23 at 02:03 AM • permalink

  198. #190.

    How then is ANY thuggish regime to be overturned?

    Remember the Berlin wall and what followed in Eastern Europe?

    Or is it perfectly acceptable for you that “brown” people live in terror of their dictators as long as we get oil cheap from them?

    Not to me, but I think it is to the US and their friends in Saudi Arabia etc.

    Yep, brown people mole…Yep

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 23 at 02:04 AM • permalink

  199. italics off

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 23 at 02:22 AM • permalink

  200. Nope. Italics not off.
    OK, who cracked the jar?

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 23 at 02:23 AM • permalink

  201. That would be Huckabee </i>Kae.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 23 at 02:27 AM • permalink

  202. He’s really busted it!
    He’ll be in bigger trouble if Andrea sees him.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 23 at 02:29 AM • permalink

  203. Very true Kae. I don’t envy him.

    Andrea’s wrath is just one of many reasons, but it’s a main one.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 23 at 02:33 AM • permalink

  204. Huckabee
    “Remember the Berlin wall and what followed in Eastern Europe?”

    Yes I do, and to compare the 2 is farcical in the extreme. The wall wqas brought down because a nation wanted to be re-united and could see a happy, secular, democracy just over the wall. They saw they were living oppressed, squallid and unfree and took action. That re-united a society, which flawed by Hitlers rule, was still a state of laws and a functioning civil service.

    Iraq hasnt had a functioning government beyond dictatorship since the Poms left. There has been no rule of law beyond patronage and corruption. They look over their border and they see a theocracy or other failed or failing states.

    What reasons do you give for the invasion of Iraq that couldnt have been achieved by the US normalising relations with Saddams regime, and resuming trade with him?

    Your little photo montage is a fairly silly one to spring here, YOUR “minutemen” turned an urban centre into an armed base from which to launch attacks. Surely your not advocating using civillians as a shield is now a legitimate tactic?

    BTW there tends to be a fairly big difference between what is a benevolent dictatorship (unjust and offensive as it is) and a dictatorship which rules by terror such as Saddams.
    I would love to see the middle east become a functioning, rule of law society rather than a collection of unrepresentative regimes. How would you make it happen Huck? How would you overthrow the house of Saud and put in place a benevolent, rule of law government without causing unrest?
    Or should it never be tried?

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 06 23 at 03:01 AM • permalink

  205. “However those are mostly secondary points.  The main one is that the government that issued from the elections is illegitimate, because the whole process was the result of an illegal invasion and occupation.”

    Wouldn’t that ‘logic’ make almost every vote in Europe since the end of WW2 invalid?

    After all many of those countries came to terms with or surenderred to the Germans.

    As noted above, your ‘logic’ doesn’t hold up you can make an arse of yourself as much as you like on the subject, but the facts are established, the Iraqi people voted on the subject. its over.

    Whine like a puppy, the grown ups have moved on.

    Posted by Harry Buttle on 2007 06 23 at 03:39 AM • permalink

  206. #204: Frollickingmole, Huck would overthrow the house of Saud by strength of a terrorism-led radicalized uprising and then install a Caliphate under Sharia Law.

    From my reading of Huckabee’s posts we are hearing the voice of not merely a sympathizer or an apologist for terrorists, but an unashamed and ambitious Islamist.

    Posted by splice on 2007 06 23 at 04:00 AM • permalink

  207. splice

    About my reading of him as well, just wanted to see if hed come out and state as much. Bit of a tool though and I was getting a bit bored with him.

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 06 23 at 04:08 AM • permalink

  208. not merely a sympathizer or an apologist for terrorists, but an unashamed and ambitious Islamist

    I disagree. I think Huck just a useless idiot who confuses being contrarian with intelligence. I’d call him a troll but he isn’t very good at it - remember when Huck said:

      I wonder what public reaction would have been if a Western paper had published cartoons parodying the crime Catholicism is most closely associated with, i.e. child abuse.

    like I said a useless idiot.

    Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2007 06 23 at 04:36 AM • permalink

  209. It is not to turn italics, you know.

    Posted by Russell on 2007 06 23 at 04:47 AM • permalink

  210. Speaking of useful idiots.

    “The voice of Princess Fiona in the animated Shrek films may have inadvertently offended Peruvians who suffered decades of violence from a Maoist guerilla insurgency by touring the country with a bag emblazoned with one of Mao Zedong’s favourite political slogans.”

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 06 23 at 05:46 AM • permalink

  211. If she had a clue she probably wouldn’t use the bag at all.

    Like the people who wear t-shirts emblazoned with Che, it is an outward advertisement of their idiocy.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 23 at 05:52 AM • permalink

  212. #211 She has enough money to buy a clue, she just hasn’t bothered yet.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 23 at 05:55 AM • permalink

  213. Well, Ash, she obviously doesn’t know where to FIND a clue!

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 23 at 06:17 AM • permalink

  214. I realize I’m probably just slow on the clue catch but, for the life of me, I just can not feature how folk still believe there is any value in attempting to debate with someone who has no attachment to either a common reality or to any functional form of integrity or honor.

    Once someone makes the decision to allow themselves to step over the line and take up the cause of the enemy during a war, what possible value could there be in even attempting to discuss issues?

    Posted by Grimmy on 2007 06 23 at 06:28 AM • permalink

  215. #214
    Talking about the troll? I agree. Debate is futile. Discussion is impossible.

    I don’t understand how anyone can think that way.

    Perhaps it’s not thinking. That would explain it.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 23 at 06:31 AM • permalink

  216. Huckster’s many, many formatting mistakes fixed—at least the ones that were messing up the page. If you can’t figure out how to use the formatting code properly, then don’t use it.

    I can’t do anything about his boring fixation on the same tired arguments we’ve heard from ten thousand other trolls. You may as well give up now, Huckie: you’re not convincing anyone of anything but your own idiocy.

    Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2007 06 23 at 06:55 AM • permalink

  217. Thanks for doing the housework, Andrea.

    Posted by kae on 2007 06 23 at 07:00 AM • permalink

  218. Thanks for fixing the italics Andrea.

    It’s a shame there isn’t anything anyone other than a trained and highly patient psychiatrist could do about the arguments though.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 06 23 at 07:55 AM • permalink

  219. I think our friend Huckabee is a cyber jihadi, waging war with a tool (computer) he’s not all that familiar with.  It’s an approved al-Qaeda tactic (although I don’t think Huck has risen to those exalted ranks yet) to sow doubt and discord, and Hucklebee is dreadfully earnest in his task.  Not well informed, however, since he’s using the same, tired old rhetoric that was debunked years ago.

    You’re a tool, hucklebee.  And not a very useful one, at that.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 06 23 at 09:32 AM • permalink

  220. Oh, and here’s some more up-to-date news for you, huck.  You should get out more.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 06 23 at 09:59 AM • permalink

  221. Huck aspires to reach troll status someday. He is entirely predictable because of his one unifying theme: the US and by extension her allies are ALWAYS wrong. But what can you expect from someone who thinks Pelosi is a right winger or at best, a moderate.

    Posted by Latino on 2007 06 23 at 12:56 PM • permalink

  222. Huck would overthrow the house of Saud by strength of a terrorism-led radicalized uprising and then install a Caliphate under Sharia Law.

    I’m actually not sure just what ol’ Huckster would do. On the one hand he whines like a banshee about the US deposing a tyrant like Saddam, and then he turns on a dime and yammers on and on about the United States’ having diplomatic relations (gawd, how brutal!) to the also-not-very-nice Sauds.

    Of course, the three or so times one of us has put him on the spot and asked just what he would do, he’s invariably gone for the juvenile cop-out of “I’m against everything which means I don’t have to make any useful suggestions”. Lame. In fact, more lame than any other wannabe-troll we’ve had here in the past few years.

    Okay, so that one time he apparently advocated for the East Germany “solution” - wait a few decades until the regime hopefully falls over on its own and let’s not concern ourselves too much with what happens in the meantime. Wow, that’s that famed lefty compassion at work right there. As somebody born in East Germany, I only have a few words for you, Huckster - fuck you and the sanctimonious horse you rode in on. You don’t understand anything.

    I can only surmise that your outlook on the world is much like that of a five-year old, i.e. “if I close my eyes, it’s not happening”. And we RWDB’s are the ones you think are deliberately ignoring what happens in the world. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so depressing to find out that idiots like you really do exist.

    Posted by PW on 2007 06 23 at 02:58 PM • permalink

  223. Huckabee’s standard on when a regime should be overturned:

    Remember the Berlin wall and what followed in Eastern Europe?

    IOW, when either its sponsors or the regime itself gives up or collapses under its own weight.

    Huckabee, you are a disgusting ghoul.

    Posted by Patrick Chester on 2007 06 23 at 05:12 PM • permalink

  224. Sir there’s a bunch of angry armed Iranians approaching us in a boat. What do you suggest we do?

    Moon the bastards.

    Posted by mehaul on 2007 06 23 at 10:37 PM • permalink

  225. #204.

    Yes I do, and to compare the 2 is farcical in the extreme. The wall wqas brought down because a nation wanted to be re-united and could see a happy, secular, democracy just over the wall. They saw they were living oppressed, squallid and unfree and took action.

    Why is that farcical?  I’m sure many Iraqi’s could see ‘happy’, secular, ‘democracies’ on their TV’s and aspired to the same rather than suffer under Saddam’s rule.

    Iraq hasnt had a functioning government beyond dictatorship since the Poms left.

    The Poms imposed a Hashemite monarchy on Iraq when they carved the state out of the Ottoman Empire.  The also dropped White Phosphorus bombs on Kurds who were demanding their independence.  Perhaps Saddam learn’t something from them?

    What reasons do you give for the invasion of Iraq that couldnt have been achieved by the US normalising relations with Saddams regime, and resuming trade with him?

    Opening up Iraq’s formerly nationalised Oil industry to privatisation by Western corporations.  Oh, and the establishment of permanent military bases with which to ensure control of those oil reserves and to more effectively police the MidEast. Don’t you read the news?

    Surely your not advocating using civillians as a shield is now a legitimate tactic?

    US airstrikes have made that tactic redundant, the US will simply bomb the the entire area regardless of whether civilans are present or not.

    BTW there tends to be a fairly big difference between what is a benevolent dictatorship (unjust and offensive as it is) and a dictatorship which rules by terror such as Saddams.

    So, dictatorship is okay? We’ll have to agree to disagree then.  However your acceptance of dictatorship renders your question regarding how to democratize the MidEast somewhat puzzling.  I mean, why would you care?

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 24 at 05:20 AM • permalink

  226. #205. Depends, do you see the Allied invasion of Europe as illegal?

    its over.

    Does that mean there will be no more elections in Iraq?

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 24 at 05:24 AM • permalink

  227. #206.

    Splice, Saudi Arabia already claims to live under Sharia law.

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 24 at 05:26 AM • permalink

  228. #220.

    And so far, it’s working, with dozens of terrorists killed. It bears watching. But sadly, if the successes pile up, it won’t be long until the story’s pushed even further back in the nation’s newspapers.

    That’s funny, I just saw a mention on it on prime time TV news here.  Dozens  of terrorist killed eh?

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 24 at 05:31 AM • permalink

  229. #222.

    kay, so that one time he apparently advocated for the East Germany “solution” - wait a few decades until the regime hopefully falls over on its own and let’s not concern ourselves too much with what happens in the meantime. Wow, that’s that famed lefty compassion at work right there. As somebody born in East Germany, I only have a few words for you, Huckster - fuck you and the sanctimonious horse you rode in on. You don’t understand anything.

    I’m sorry, I thought it was a mass movement of People Power that brought down Stalinism in Eastern Europe.  You don’t give your former fellow compatriots much credit.  That’s a shame, i though they were very brave and a sterling example of how to achieve regime change without airstrikes and massacres.

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 24 at 05:36 AM • permalink

  230. #223.

    IOW, when either its sponsors or the regime itself gives up or collapses under its own weight.

    Goodness me, such indifference to the courage and determination of East European dissidents!

    Posted by Huckabee on 2007 06 24 at 05:37 AM • permalink

  231. #165

    Finally bloody untangled… oh SH*T!!

    Andy, wake the hell up and look busy with maple syrup or something! Paco noticed!

    MarkL
    Canberra

    Posted by MarkL on 2007 06 24 at 06:44 AM • permalink

  232. And Andy? Take this Protester Ambulation Constrainment Orb back to the damn lab. The yo-yo disguise sucks and would not fool the dumbest leftard, it doesn’t have the range promised and does not break the legs of anyone let along an entire parade of lefty protesters. For which I am grateful.

    It has to be ready for the next G8 summit and they’ve got a ways to go.

    MarkL
    Minionmeister to the VRWC

    Posted by MarkL on 2007 06 24 at 06:50 AM • permalink

  233. “I’m sorry, I thought it was a mass movement of People Power that brought down Stalinism in Eastern Europe.”

    Ha! Hahahahahaha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha! *gasp* Ha!

    Hear that folks? Huck’s a Neocon!

    Posted by wreckage on 2007 06 24 at 07:53 AM • permalink

  234. Chuckhuckafuck is a complex entity. Lacking a moral compass. I sense a large dose of public servant in him/her. By that I mean the animal is well read and has a questioning retentive mind. A Bob Brown on steroids. But like many/most public servants of this ilk it has been a long lonely non rewarding journey in the one man boat with a single paddle against a strong current. Poor old prick gets his jollies these days playing ping pong on Blair’s blog as the medium allows him the chance to show his broad knowledge of facts but lacking that moral crunch of choosing between right and wrong. Ignore him as Geoff says and he will go away. He is revelling in the luck of being so popular. This blog may be his only source of joy in life.

    Posted by mehaul on 2007 06 24 at 08:03 AM • permalink

  235. Well I’ve just taken that away. Now he’ll have to go back to looking up teenage pr0n or whatever it is such people do.

    Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2007 06 24 at 09:35 AM • permalink

  236. Mehaul: widely read? Grasp of facts? He’s swallowed whole every anti-Western screed, speech, insinuation and conspiracy theory available but he has no actual cohesive worldview, no conceptual framework, and so in any sense the word “fact” cannot be applied because he cannot distinguish facts, lacking as he does any systematic basis for sorting data.

    Yes, he memorised a whole bunch of word-strings, but it’s no more meaningful than the natterings of an especially well-trained parrot.

    Posted by wreckage on 2007 06 24 at 10:09 AM • permalink

  237. #236 Wreckage. You’re right I should have put ‘’ around the word facts. Your description of him fits several I know in the wine retail industry. They have a bank of a few hundred wine words which they rattle off amongst a mix of slurps and grunts. Their skill lies in not mixing the words so each wine has its own unique band of verbage.

    A few see through it, others think they are geniuses.

    Posted by mehaul on 2007 06 24 at 07:03 PM • permalink

  238. Wine critic: “Fruity with a long woody finish.”

    Wreckage as Austin Powers: “Oh BEHAVE!”

    Posted by wreckage on 2007 06 26 at 07:37 AM • permalink

  239. Page 1 of 1 pages

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