Worldwide Anti-war Protests, March 18

[Cpt.Chronic]

Starting tomorrow, on March 18-19, there will be protests against the war in Iraq in practically every major city in the U.S. and many other cities across the world. It is the third anniversary of our ongoing war/occupation of Iraq and it's time to let those in power know how we feel about it through our power in numbers.

If you are interested in voicing your disapproval of the war, check this website to find a protest near you (most start at noon tomorrow):
http://www.troopsoutnow.org/m18orgcents.html

[King_Critter]

Yay! sound like fun! ;) To bad I live in the middle of nowhere... I also hope that the protests wont develop into riots, cuz riots are bad for peoples health. :)

[pixels]

i like protests.

they are fun to observe from a npov.

[Cpt.Chronic]

i like protests.

they are fun to observe from a npov.
So you don't have an opinion about the war one way or the other?

[Wick3d]

What do I do if I support the war?

[Cpt.Chronic]

What do I do if I support the war?
Organize a pro-war rally.

[Protosschick99]

I support the war on terrorism, our troops, and our President.

[Markpyro]

I support the troops, and thus I support the war.

[Modred]

I say we have the wrong focus. Let's protest the insurgency. Those bastards are killing our troops. And we all know how well protesting works.

[Cpt.Chronic]

I support the war on terrorism, our troops, and our President.
What does the war on terrorism have to do with the war in Iraq, other than creating more people that want to become terrorists that is?

I support our troops too. What do you do to support our troops? I use biodiesel instead of petroleum based fuel so that, in the future, our troops don't have to go into that region and risk their lives to establish control of oil for fuel when we can just grown our own fuel.

You support our president? That sure is a broad statement. So you support his tax-breaks that bennefited the extreme wealthy class, and hardly even affected working class taxes? You support rushing the Patriot Act through legislation under the veil of 9-11 only to have it strip us of our constitutional rights? You support his claim that he can wire-tap anyone he wants without going through the proper legal channels? You support detaining, torturing, and imprisoning people at Guantanamo Bay without even charging them with anything or giving them a trial? You agree with increasing our national debt by 50% since Bush took office-- to the highest levels ever recorded? You agree with strengthening and expanding NAFTA to the entire western hemisphere, which is one of the main reasons outsourcing is occuring in the first place, as well as the exploitation of workers in Mexico?

I say we have the wrong focus. Let's protest the insurgency.
Umm, dude, WE are the insurgents. It's their country, not ours. We started the shooting, not them.
Those bastards are killing our troops.
American soldier deaths: 2,300
Iraqi civilian deaths: 33,000 - 38,000 depending on who you ask. Not to mention how many innocent men, women and children that we have mangled for life. At least our soldiers signed up for the Army and knew the risks, whereas I don't think these kids signed up to have their legs blown off, bodies burnt, and families killed.
http://civilians.info/iraq/images/childrens_legs.jpg
http://www.robert-fisk.com/burnedchild.jpg
http://www.robert-fisk.com/1_147141_1_6.jpg
http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraq032403.jpg
http://www.robert-fisk.com/5cc3bd00.jpg
http://www.robert-fisk.com/57dfc740.jpg

And we all know how well protesting works.
Well it may not "work," but it's our only outlet. You realize we don't live in a democracy-- if we did, we would be able to vote ourselves out of the war. Instead, we live in a representive democracy which means that once politicians are in power, they hold ALL the power in any decision. The only thing we can do is vote them out 4 years later or protest in between.

[Kingscrab]

Dude, you're more of a left wing nut job than i am! Yikes! :beer:

*Disclaimer: Many Guinesses down the hatch. Proud, Dunchy?

[Neo]

Ok, I would like to point out first: Don't post pictures like that. Yes shock value can be important to get your point across, but we have rules here on WB.

I'll leave the links for now.

Now there is no reason to take any of this personally... There seem to be a vocal minority that claim bush can do no wrong and hes perfect, etc... But the most recent approval rating for him put things in perspective.

At this point its gone past "freeing" the iraqis, people are tired of losing thier husbands, sons, relatives in Iraq. But that doesn't change the fact that we are accomplishing something over there.

For you to spout that bullshit that if we pull out of iraq and afgahnistan (you know we are still there to, but whens the last time you've heard anything from that country?) that things will calm down? More then likely, the same regime that had Saddam in power would worm thier way back in, and start doing the exact same things that Saddam was.

And as cruel as it sounds, there will always be casualties in any war -- including civilians. But WE ARENT THE ONES BLOWING THEM UP.

I support our troops -- but I don't support the war over there, I wouuld love it if they could come home, but thats just not a possibility.

Its not all our fault, or our troops faults. The insurgents and others causing trouble -- blowing themselves up, etc... are the problem, and do you honestly think that if we leave they will stop?

... Anyways. In the future, feel free to express yourself, but please remember to follow the rules here on WB and refrain from posting pictures like that.

-Neo

[Modred]

First I'd like to point out that you have no apparent sense of humor.

Umm, dude, WE are the insurgents. It's their country, not ours. We started the shooting, not them.
If we are the insurgents, then we are fighting the Iraqi government in attempt to overthrow it by rising up within the country and applying pressure from within. Considering that we are currently in the midst of a joint military operation with a democratically elected Iraqi government, you cannot logically claim we are an insurgency.

You realize we don't live in a democracy-- if we did, we would be able to vote ourselves out of the war.
No, I was not aware that we didn't live in democracy. I must have slept through my Government class. All those Federalist Papers and Supreme Court cases have a way of putting you to sleep.

Instead, we live in a representive democracy which means that once politicians are in power, they hold ALL the power in any decision.
The fewer persons in power, the more likely a corrupt person or group can gain control of and manipulate the government. As such, a monarchy or oligarchy are bad options because they are too easily corrupted. A pure democracy, along with communism, should be eliminated from consideration immediately for a state of any reasonable size because the management of such systems falls apart on a large scale and leads to thuggish majorities. So we are left with a representative government, where the leaders are elected by the people to govern in the interests of the people.

The larger populace, the more difficult it is for a person to be elected to office. Would you argue that I could more easily convince 10,000 persons to vote for me than 100? Obviously being elected by the larger populace is much more difficult because 10,000 cannot be bribed/mislead as easily as 100. So the larger the populace voting, the less likely any single special interest may commandeer the government.

But why is this preferable to a pure democracy? First, there are no checks on the power of the people in a pure democracy; however, we have both an executive and a judiciary to check the representative body. Second, the time required to bring all issues to the attention of all citizens and hold nationwide votes would bring the pace of government to a slow crawl. Third, a majority of US Citizens do not vote in elections and as such a "pure" democracy would result in guaranteed minority rule. Would not this go directly against the concept of democracy?

The only thing we can do is vote them out 4 years later or protest in between.
The House of Reps is elected in its entirity every 2 years. 1/3 of the Senate is elected every 2 years. Oh wait, almost no one votes in those non-presidential year elections. Maybe if voter turnout were higher, enough politicians against the war might be in the Congress, which I must point out could pull the plug on the President at any time (the 60 day executive action window is long past, if Congress withdraws the support it gave, Bush can do nothing). Or maybe the anti-war politicians don't have enough votes in Congress because they don't represent the majority of voting US Citizens, and as such weren't elected.

A Congressional election is coming up this fall, so we'll see how the government looks afterward.

Anyway, don't think I meant to discourage your protesting. If the government doesn't know how you feel (Bush has spent more money on polls than any other recent president) then the politicians that share your views may not run. So by all means, let them know you exist and will vote for them.

[Duddits]

(Go Neo!)

I am ashamed at the lying that had to go into the war, but I'm not surprised. Not everyone can handle the truth if it isn't sugarcoated, plus its no way to get re-elected. I approve of what they're doing over their too. As corrupt, lying and evil as our government may be, I'm still proud to be living here. If nothing else, that it's being America being a devil that I know...