The Back Room

:laugh::laugh::laugh: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. --Eleanor Roosevelt

My first reaction was that the soldier was a "Tim McVeigh" type - i.e. he believes the US took a wrong turn by going to war against Iraq and sees the US as evil. Looks like the guy was a Muslim, though. This probably won't do good things for America's general perception of Muslims. From TIME magazine: It was 1:45 Sunday morning when I was awakened by the first blast—a boom 10 times louder than a car backfiring. Ten seconds later there was a second blast, and then soldiers started screaming, "Get out! Get out!" Someone had slipped two hand grenades into the tent housing more than a dozen of the brigade's officers. One woman in my tent, which was 10 yards away from the explosion, yelled, "I'm hit." A piece of shrapnel from the grenade had lodged in her leg. I ran out of my tent into total chaos. The Scud alarms were sounding, and people were running for the bunkers we use during those alerts. Most soldiers were in uniform, but some were wearing the workout clothes they sometimes sleep in. Realizing the explosions were not Scuds, I walked over to the tent where the grenades had gone off and saw two very badly wounded soldiers—one bleeding from his leg, back and stomach. The medics had not yet arrived, so soldiers were bandaging wounds themselves. I noticed the chaplain trying to comfort the dozen or so who had been wounded. Sergeants were shouting orders to form a security perimeter. Some of the younger soldiers were looking on in a state of shock and had to be hand-led to their positions. Fifteen minutes later an ambulance drove up to take away the badly wounded soldiers. One died soon after. Because a number of officers had been hit, no one knew at first who was in charge. Then two officers who were bleeding from wounds started giving orders. Thinking there was a terrorist on the loose, a group of soldiers began assembling to conduct a manhunt. Other officers were inspecting the tents and bunkers to make sure everyone was accounted for. One of those officers spotted a soldier, lying alone in a bunker near the explosions, who appeared to be wounded. The soldier, who has a Muslim name, had, according to military sources, recently been acting insubordinate; his superiors had decided not to bring him into Iraq. Camp sources say he initially admitted responsibility. The officer drew his weapon and called for backup. Then they handcuffed the soldier, read him his rights and waited for criminal investigators to arrive.

Jonny Newman wrote: would they not have tried to contact it to double check I think that at this point there are probably hundreds of aircraft in the air at any time. It sounds like from what I've heard that the Patriot system is automated, probably to ignore aircraft that show an IFF signal. I would imagine that if one aircraft showed up out of hundreds, as being a possible enemy, how would you contact them? Another thought is did the pilots know their IFF was inactive? If you knew it was broke, it seems like bailing out somewhere in an area controlled by the Coalition would have been a good idea. Bottom line is its an awful tragedy.:( Uptight Ex-Military Republican married to a Commie Lib - How weird is that?

:-D:laugh: Don't tempt me! :-D -- Shine, enlighten me - shine Shine, awaken me - shine Shine for all your suffering - shine

Yeah, the effigy burning, house painting and "funeral" incidents happened because the team played in such a pathetic way, not because we lost. Anyway, hopefully all that is behind us now. G'night. Regards, Rohit Sinha ...celebrating Indian spirit and Cricket. 8MB video, really cool!

Chris Losinger wrote: the media plays the US military as an all-powerful, unstoppable, hi-tech force. look at the way every news outlet in the US carried the story of The First US Casualty: as if it was a shocking turn of events. Well, when I lived on the aircraft carrier, it brought some comfort knowing that we probably have the best radar technology, the best planes, the best crew to fight any opposition. I don't like the media reporting all the casualties as if it were some shocking news, it is ridiculous, then interviewing the families, it is horrible news reporting, IMO. makes me X| Later, JoeSox www.joeswammi.com USN Veteran 94-98[^]

So true. David Wulff "Somebody get this freakin' duck away from me!" - Strong Bad [^]

Rama Krishna wrote: India won the toss and elects to field. Why? Please see my response to Nish in the thread above. Regards, Rohit Sinha ...celebrating Indian spirit and Cricket. 8MB video, really cool!

I hope you wouldn't've regretted unless off course you are cricket lover, Ponting was simply brilliant today. Initially it seemed like a right decision to put aussie in, but I think we bowled poorly and they batted brilliantly.

Nishant S wrote: I am confused why everyone considers Kumble as such a useless bowler. No one considers him a useless bowler. Just that there are better players around. With Australia, we don't need Kumble, if you think rationally and come out of "I'm his fan" thing. Australians have a very good bowling attack (so do we) and we need batsmen more than we need bowlers. We already have a good bowling side. Zaheer, Nehra and Srinath on the pace attack and Harbhajan on the spin. Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Sehwag and Saurav will do fine as replacement part time bowlers, don't worry. Calling someone foolish just because you think he's being superstistious is not good. He's just being logical. When you are the captain of the team, you have a responsibility on your shoulders. You can't go into the field with your personal favourites in the team. You go there to win, not to make sure everyone and his hero gets a chance to play. :| Regards, Rohit Sinha ...celebrating Indian spirit and Cricket. 8MB video, really cool!

:laugh: Man, I just hope this kind of language is never used in a serious manner. I mean, would you imagine something like a cnnigga.com site that actually reports news in that language? X| Thanks for the laughs though, Alvaro That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable. -- despair.com

Brit wrote: nor are they a majority in these rallies That I agree with, however, its truly sad that these people that go out to march in the street are (unknowingly) supporting an organization that doesn't believe Tianemen Square occured. Uptight Ex-Military Republican married to a Commie Lib - How weird is that?

Well... With the perceived geographic knowledge of the average US american, their soldiers wouldn't know the difference :rolleyes: :ducks: Italian is a beautiful language. amare means to love, and amara bitter. sighist | Agile Programming | doxygen

X| Nish Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]

Mike Mullikin wrote: Sorry Chris I couldn't help it. there are wonderful new medications that can help people in situations like your's. ;) Image tools: ThumbNailer, Bobber, TIFFAssembler

Yep, Led Zep have cornered a large part of the market for great riffs.. Quote from a clever bloke : "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein

Jörgen Sigvardsson wrote: How fast will you be traveling? does it matter? it is still approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers or 5.88 trillion miles. :eek::zzz::zzz::-D The distance over which light can travel in a year's time[^] so doesn't light year, imply I will be traveling at the speed of light? woo! I'm fast!:-D Later, JoeSox www.joeswammi.com It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black Rolling Stones

Animal cruelty? :laugh: Uptight Ex-Military Republican married to a Commie Lib - How weird is that?