Bow to the USA

Quite a response I recieved from Mr. Toodle-Loo yesterday, almost a blog in itself! Knowing him, he's probably going to start a blog of his own just to reply to my blogs! And also, special mention to Jughead who finally decided to read the blog! You got a lot of catching up to do, and don't worry I'll be writing about you soon enough, something to entertain you when you freeze away in Scotland!

Yesterday's blog took a long time, the post time may say 2.13pm, but that was when I started it, I actually posted it after 5pm! Today I'll just focus on some more mundance, easy thoughts, that won't take as long but hopefully will not be boring either.

The main news headline as I drove to work this morning, was yet another school shooting in America (Fatal shooting in Amish school). Infact it was the third shooting this week. The number of these horrendous acts of violence must be reaching the thousands in America. It is an absolute disgrace. America is the richest most powerful country in the world and yet it totally abuses that power and gets away with murder. No-one is able to stand up against it.

Everything they do seems to just create further destruction in it's own land and across the world. I want to just go through in no particular order the things that just infuriate me about the country. To start with their media is so biased it's unbelievable at times. They will not show any point of view that goes against the national or foriegn policy of the country. People sometimes talk about their concerns with the situation in Iraq and Israel and they automatically get shutdown and branded unpatriotic. There is next to no coverage of any atoricities carried out by the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the majority of the public in America do not have a clue about what is really going on and instead continue to question why the rest of the world hates America.

Guantanamo Bay is again, an absolute disgrace. Thousands of people have been held captive without charge and with no clue as to what is going to happen. Their families have no idea what to do and there appears to be no government who is willing to help them. Among the detainees are a number of British citizens and yet our government is unable to do anything to help them, they can't even get them a fair trial, mainly because they have no clue as to why they have been arrested in the first place! Bush goes on about trying to make sure everyone in that prison sees justice, but it has been in existence for over 5 years and nothing has changed.

Such is their influence in Israel, the country is able to get away with murder. It has ignored/broken many UN resolutions, but because it has the backing of the USA, nothing is ever done about it. Saddam supposedly violates one resolution and that is enough to justify a war which has resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands.

During the recent war between Israel and Lebanon, it was no secret that America were just waiting for an excuse to attack Hizbullah in an attempt to destroy them. Kidnapping of soldiers has occured for years between Israel and Lebanon, but this time the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers triggered a huge attack on Lebanon. It was interesting to see how sudden the attack came, Israel used the kidnap to justify the attacks, but how come they were ready to go so quickly? The nature of force they used would have required a lot of preparation but yet they were ready to go, almost as if they were expecting to attack Hizbullah, and just needed to setup a convenient excuse.

According to a friend of mine (who I trust in these matters), certain media outlets discovered that the kidnapped Israeli soldiers were infact trespassing on Lebanese soil and being military personnel the consequences would of course be severe if they got caught, which in deed they were. This information never really made it into the mainstream news because of the damage it would cause to Israel. I have no doubt it was covered up due to America's control on the media coverage.

Throughout the conflict the USA and even the UK continued to justify Israel's attacks because they claimed that Hizbullah invited it upon themselves by kidnapping Israeli soldiers. There was a mild slap on the wrist because of the extent of force used, but that was as far is went when it came to any pressure placed on Israel. One prime example of this was when Israel shot down a UN observation point. They suffered no consequences. The UN observation point was a known site and had existed for years. Before the missiles were launched, the people in the site radioed the Israeli army to warn them of their presence, but to no avail. Four people acting as neutral observers were killed and nothing happened (Israel bomb kills UN observers).

During the conflict, countries of the UN met to discuss what to do, numerous countries demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities, but because America refused to do so, nothing was done. The conflict continued, leading to thousands of Lebanese casualties. As it turns out in the aftermath, Hizbullah remains a strong force in the area, and all that has resulted from the conflict is the destruction of Beirut and the death of thousands - all because Hizbullah kidnapped two trespassing soldiers.

American arrogance also irritates me a great deal. They continually exert pressure on other countries to do their bidding. No-one can stand up to it. Loads of so-called terrorist targets have been captured abroad and transferred to America simply because they have asked for them. Surprisingly Pakistan have managed to withstand American pressure to hand over Dr. A. Q. Khan, the nuclear scientist who leaked information to Iran, Libya and N. Korea (The story that refuses to die) and I wish more countries would be able to do the same.

My friend has also told me a case when two American spies were caught by Italian police. Before they could be arrested they were swiftly called back to America and the Italian authorities were told that they would be dealt with as an internal matter. If it was the other way around, I don't think it would have worked out in quite the same way. In the UK there is an American base in Yorkshire. The forces have also attempted to control the surrounding area which should be open to the public. Instead, any person who happens to use the roads near the base are told in no uncertain terms to leave immediately - where do they get the power from?

The country appears to have a God complex, as if they are entitled to act this way. No-one has the courage, decency or power to stand up against it. All these factors and many more just infuriate me. Bush is constantly going on about the War on Terror, but since 9/11, due to is actions, thousands of innocent civilians and soldiers have died, much more than the death count caused by the attack on the World Trade Center. Nothing has changed, terrorists still exist and you could argue, have become stronger in the past 5 years. Bin Laden is still at large and the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East continues to deteriorate.

I think I've gone on a bit too long, but as you know, since I've written it all, I am not about to delete it. To some this might all be very boring, but to many I know it is equally infuriating and yet others might have the complete opposite view and think what America are doing is a good thing - I hope there will be some comments which will provide a range of opinions, but I am doubtful! I don't think this is so important to people in my family, but it was a lot easier to write then yesterday!

Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?