Leaving Iraq, Self-Determination of Nations, Adventures!

[tcpip]

Australia is leaving Iraq, after costing 2.3 billion in public funds. A legal brief has been sent to the International Criminal Court claiming John Howard committed war crimes in authorising the invasion. Kevin Rudd's comments lend credibility to the claim, saying that the invasion was conducted "without a full and proper assessment". I am glad we are washing our hands of this tawdry affair. The invasion was without ethical or legal justification and the only reason a similar writ hasn't been served on George W. Bush is because the United States is a rogue nation in its failiure to join the International Criminal Court. Getting Bush on trial is going to be a task for the American people alone.

On a related matter I have recently ended up in a bit of a debate with my religious colleagues concerning the self-determination of the Tibetan people. In the last two issues of the Beacon they have published an article by Michael Parenti who rejects a utopian potrayal of Tibet as an independent regime. My criticism of the article (last page, second issue) is that none of this deals with the basic principle of self-determination of nationalities. The lengthy response by the editors utterly fails to address this basic matter. As a result of their failure, I've joined the Australia-Tibet Council.

Went to see the latest Indianna Jones film on Saturday. It's a significant step down from the eighties classics; not a disaster, but if I'd known beforehand what it was like I wouldn't have bothered to see it at the cinema. Gaming has been good with an excellent session of RuneQuest: River of Cradles (example story in lin) last Sunday (and with a new player, Sam) and with good developments in the two PBeM games that I'm running. I also have another RPG-related annoucement to make, but that's going to have to wait until the next post ;-)

Comments

[synabetic.livejournal.com]

Seeing GWB get his in a legal sense sure would be nice and refreshing. Like nationalistic lemonade. Sigh. We'll see... I have hope, though.

And yes, I realise "hope" is just another 4-letter word. On the bright side, the current situation in the States doesn't make me miss Ze Homeland too much. Heh.


Glad to hear Australia is leaving the Iraq Mess. Only 2.3 billion? You lucky bastards. (there's an "if we were really lucky..." joke in there, I just know it)

I still need to see the new Indy movie. Yeah, I know I made a comic concerning it-- but the truth is I still have yet to see it. Seems like the consensus is: wait for the DVD.

Thankfully the turnaround time on DVD release is like 3 months after the movie leaves the theatres.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Only 2.3 billion? You lucky bastards.

You know, I thought of the people of the US when I posted this... What is it now? 300 billion? How many hundreds of lives?

As for the poor Iraqis...

Seems like the consensus is: wait for the DVD.

*nods* Cate Blanchett's character (a more complex villian) had real potential... but apart from that there wasn't too much to really recommend. The flow was better than some of the early films... But the supernatural elements were a little too over the top.

[amazinggoatgirl.livejournal.com]

Actually, last I heard it was over 4,000 US military personnel dead and around 30,000 wounded, with over a million Iraqis killed in violent conflict according to one study. According to another it's 50,000. But in any event it's definitely more than hundreds of lives. (Wikipedia - Casualties). Also, there's currently a $501 billion bill on our heads, which with interest is apparently in the trillions. Well, to be fair, that includes Afghanistan. ;) (Wikipedia also.)

You. Lucky. Bastards.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

The financial cost is so high that the numbers barely make sense unless expressed as a per capita value (which comes to roughly $1650 USD.

As for the cost to Iraqis... Heck, if one wants to calculate that same figure in their case that's almost $24000 USD each.

Instead the US is in a war which it cannot afford and, regardless of strict military successes (cf., Vietnam), cannot win.

Little wonder Bush is largely considered to be the worst President ever.