This page collects pages on the situation in Iraq. Some of these entries are maybe also about the situation in the USA. I guess they’re related now, with the US invading the country. (RSS, Search)
Recent highschool massacres in Germany have politicians fighting against “Killerspiele” – so-called “killer games”. Nobody really knows what this means, although most have the faint idea that it is about shooting and maltreating fellow humans as part of the game. At the same time, most people talking about this in the newspapers and on TV admit to never having played these games before.
I also note a distinct lack of enthusiasm to combat so many forms of real violence. It seems that we still have sex slavery (at least one shady brothel in the area advertises it’s sex workers like cattle: “New! Thai Women! New! Thai Women! New! Thai Women!” Now that should make a grown man cry.
The Germans still have troops in Afghanistan. There was a scandal recently because German soldiers have been posing with skulls of unknown origin on their vehicles – and – get this! – took pictures of themselves. First, I note the incredible stupidity of the soldiers, and their total lack of empathy. And second I note again how many fail to understand that training people to shoot and kill will result in changed men. They are no longer selling groceries, studying Japanology, or painting ceilings. They’re deep in enemy territory. War changes men. Even if you win, these soldiers will have to return one day and live amongst us. This is has been true for Vietnam and Korea veterans, and it is true for Iraq and Chechnia veterans, and it will be true for Afghan veterans as well.
Even if I’m not descending into this snake pit. There’s full contact martial arts, boxing, paint ball, sado-masochism – all of it I find deeply disturbing. Games were players shoot imaginary enemies are amongst the least of our problems.
(As I wrote the previous paragraph I imagined some misguided fellow trying to tell me that sado-masochism is different because we’re talking about two consenting adults. This is not my point. When talking about “killer games” on computers, the point is that there’s often just one adult consenting to play.)
(Or are we trying to protect the little people inside the computer from harm? Sometimes cynicism is too easy… haha!)
TelePolis writes in reaction to the video of Saddam’s execution:
My translation: “According to the Iraqi government, 16273 Iraqis were killed in 2006, including 14298 civilians, 1348 policemen, and 627 soldiers. Perhaps the images are missing in these cases to start comprehending the ongoing slaughter. Not showing death and cruelty can be a form of denial. It allows us to close our eyes and our borders against the refugees trying to escape this hell.”
The war mongers and their coalition of the willing seems to be rather unwilling when it comes to helping the refugees.
Comments on 2007-01-02 No Refugees from Iraq
"Iraq 2006, the Year in Review" by PatrickCockburn.
– AaronHawley 2007-01-02 17:51 UTC
Thanks for the link.
– AlexSchroeder 2007-01-02 18:17 UTC
Study Claims Iraq’s ‘Excess’ Toll Has Reached 655,000 in the Washington Post, via TelePolis [1]
…
JanneJalkanen compares it to Finland’s losses during WW2.
Tags: Iraq
I think what the world needs, is an agreement on asymmetric warfare. The past has shown that the world cannot agree on a definition of “terrorism”, and I think that makes sense. Usually the others are terrorists, if they are:
That’s why so-called civilized countries like the USA and Israel don’t feel the need to adhere to either of two well-known and regulated options of conflict resolution:
Personally, I’d like to see terrorists treated like either common criminals, to be put on trial, with evidence being sought against them, a defense being arranged for them, and so on. That’s what all prisoners in the American concentration camps deserve, if you ask me (Guantánamo, and others, should there be more, as some people suspect).
Why not treat terrorists like soldiers in a war? The first problem with calling the fight against various organisations a single “war” is that it will never end. Like the “war on drugs” or a “war on crime” – the concept is silly. A war between two nations involves a command structure and a government. Once it surrenders, the troops surrender, a peace treaty is negotiated, and the prisoners of war are released.
If the various organisations don’t recognize a single “government”, then you can never knock out the “government” – you can never win unless you imprison every single one of them.
Actually, that’s just how crime fighting works: You imprison every single one of them. And you also give them a fair trial. Sounds good to me.
And even if you did win a war against terrorrism, you wouldn’t want to release the prisoners. You’d want to put them to try them for war crimes and crimes against humanity (if they didn’t commit any, how can they be terrorists?) So you want to put them to (a fair!) trial anyway.
The current situation, were the existence of an organisation can serve as the pretext to bombing ports, airports, bridges, and buildings is just not acceptable. Similarly, detention for indefinite lengths of time, cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners, neither providing them the protection of the Geneva Conventions nor civil rights – that too, is not acceptable.
Tags: Israel Palestine Lebanon Iraq USA
Comments on 2006-07-22 Regulating Warfare
Uri Avnery schreibt in TelePolis auch über das Problem:
Natürlich habe eigentlich Terroristen, Kriminelle und Banden in einem Rechtstaat auch Rechte. Erst in der Kombination eines “Krieges” gegen “Terroristen” wird plötzlich auf alles Verzichtet, was zu einer zivilisierten Kultur gehört: Die Genfer Konventionen gelten nicht, aber das zivile Recht gilt genausowenig.
Himmeltraurig.
– AlexSchroeder 2006-07-26 19:09 UTC
Via GreyWulf [1], via BoingBoing [2]: A cool little 1.1M video about the real pirates stealing our future – You wouldn't! AbuseofPower.mov.
Cool.
CharlieStross – a science fiction writer I have enjoyed in the past (eg. 2005-12-13 Books) and whose blog I still enjoy – rants about the situation in Guantánamo. He concludes with the following: “But meanwhile, kindly reflect: if you support the war on terror, then you’re also supporting a policy that has brought concentration camps back to the western world.” [1]
In his addendum [2], he has two or three quotes from The Guantanamo Detainees: The Government's Story (PDF), prepared by legal academics from Seton Hall Law School who acted as defense advocates for the detainees.
Hierzu auch ein Artikel bei TelePolis. [3]
Tags: stross guantanamo iraq usa torture
I was just recently talking to my Arabic teacher about the use of torture in Egypt and Iraq, and many other things. I had just helped him set up his DVD recorder. The talk turned to Abu Ghraib and how the situation in Palestine and Iraq was on Arabic television every single day. I mentioned the files published by Salon.com, and it turned out that he didn’t know about them. So I promised to look for the files and send him some links.
Time to remember. Here are the links I sent him.
(You will have to watch a little ad movie before being granted a “day pass” for the site.)
Tags: Iraq
Hintergründe zur Finanzierung des Gefängniswesens im Iraq durch die USA bei TelePolis:
Tags: Iraq
TelePolis, Abu Ghraib.
They link to Voice of America:
Since I talked about free speech with LionKimbro and BayleShanks on this site, let me reaffirm that this is the important part about free speech, as far as I am concerned. The question in recent discussion has been, whether any kind of limits on free speech can be extended to make this important job impossible.
(Discussion with Lion and Bayle: Comments on 2006-02-06 Islam Comics; related page on a law banning support for terrorism in Great Britain: 2006-02-16 Censorship.)
Another TelePolis article links to the report of the UN Comission on Human Rights. [3] The chapters of the report (PDF):
I also find the following passages from the introduction telling:
I find this report very readable and recommend it as a summary of the problems with the situation in Guantánamo.
Tags: Iraq
Define external redirect: PatrickCockburn
I agree - computer games are the least of our problems, but they are easy target. There’s still little proof that games of any kind are anything but a positive outlet for the stresses and emotion of ordinary life, but that doesn’t stop the real problem (the politicians and warmongers) from pointing at them instead of themselves.
Some folks game then go onto kill in real life, undoubtedly. I suspect they also eat Big Macs, sleep 8 hours a night and watch daytime TV, but none of those are blamed for the actions of one dysfunctional individual. Yet I can understand why watching Daytime TV would drive someone to kill more than I can understand someone playing Grand Theft Auto then wanting to steal a car.
It’ll be another 30 years before we can talk about Digital Right for Virtual People; then it’ll be illegal to kill a spambot. Imagine that.
I’m going into hiding now because I killed my Sims character the other day. I think the police are onto me
– GreyWulf 2007-01-05 23:15 UTC
The irony is that, at least in the United States, violent video game companies and the military are teaming up to provide:
For example, BBN who helped develop many of the technologies and protocols the Internet now runs on, now has defense contracts for building “Immersive Learning Technologies”.[1]
– AaronHawley 2007-01-08 14:43 UTC
I remember when the US army started using the Doom engine to train soldiers, and when the US army started to make an appearance at game shows. Scary stuff!
But it is not limited to games only. The Black Hawk Down (2001) extra material on DVD shows how the army provides training for the actors, and somebody on my blog or on #emacs mentioned how the US army will sponsor movies (and probably games) if they follow certain rules. I assume this means that you can show how the politicians make mistakes, and life as a soldier can be hellish, but you need to emphasize that the soldiers do it all in good faith, and “no man is left behind”, etc. Give the grunts some positive feelings, make kids consider signing up…
– AlexSchroeder 2007-01-08 16:04 UTC
Add Comment