You mean the entire divisions of British soldiers charged with trying to protect Iraq’s ONE export, ONLY source of income, and prevent what could be the biggest enviromental catastrophe since Saddam lit them on fire during the first Gulf war?
Those sons of bitches. HOW fucking DARE they???
Apparently it was worth splitting off troops “while people are being shot” at, which was your inane criteria.
It’s amusing that everyone only gets annoyed about the human cost of war when it’s in a museum.
Tell me about it… It’s too bad, though, their collection was I’m sure impressive. I think it was just a case of nobody thinking to guard the museum until after it had been looted. The argument that forces could be better spent elsewhere is valid. Chasing down the guys still launching surprise attacks takes precident. Plus at this point they’ve got to let the troopers get some down time from combat operations. That would put limits on personel. We’ve barely even got a presense at the hospitals. I think we probably did underestimate the scope of the looting. Trashing Saddam’s palaces and government buildings was probably expected, but the military didn’t mean to intervene too much with that. It spreading to hospitals and museums in the scale we’re seeing probably was unexpected.
AAA) No one is being ‘split off’, they are in the oil well region as a single force. I’m sure that somewhere there’s a fantastic reason for why we should take an entire unit and make them stand guard over a museum in the middle of a war zone as we continue to try to push through the region to cities further on, but I can’t see one.
BBB) The oil well region are not under constant guerilla attack and sporadic sniper fire from concealed positions.
So here’s what we’re gonna do: change ‘Apparently it was worth splitting off troops’ into ‘You’re right Eric,’ and ‘“while people are being shot” at, which was your inane criteria.’ into ‘I’m sorry I’m being so stubborn and ignorant.’
That works so much better.
Oh, I think it’s a bit rich that people are complaining we should have focused on defending the museum; it’s a war, shit happens. I’m pretty sure one Iraqi/American life, or home, is worth more than the entire place.
Even if they did guard and protect the museum, the media would have run down the list of important cultural places trashed and found something to bitch about. ‘The mob ransacked Saddam’s ear-wax museum! This is a travesty! Bad Coalition forces! Bad, bad Coalition forces!’
As Jason said- a few more lives saved on the streets is more important than some antiquities. It’s when objects become more precious than people that things get bad.
This attitude just completely boggles my mind. A few lives saved on the streets are more important than irreplaceable relics from the cradle of civilization? Goobye humanity, welcome to the animal kingdom. Survival is everything, who needs all that culture shit anyway, right?
Nobodies jumping for joy at the loss of the artifcats in the museum Christoph - but bad things happen in War often times. It’s unfortunate, and is a great loss.
So you would be happy to kill yourself to enable the return of some pots? Go ahead. Ohhhhh, you mean you wouldn’t mind if it was someone else’s life or children that was lost instead. A few thousand years ago, those relics were just objects. Much like the computer sitting in front of you. In 2000 years what would you think of the notion that people would revere it and think that it would be worth losing a few lives over?
Lives given for noble causes is one thing, lives lost for the sheer sake of hoarding and collecting is another.
Here’s something to boggle over- who has the lesser humanity: someone who values other lives or someone who values possessions. … Discuss.
Why must there be some inherant conflict between guarding a museum full of priceless artifacts from humanity’s past and saving lives? And I would go so far as to say that these artifacts are more valuable than the oil wells. The oil won’t disappear overnight, and the oil itself can’t be destroyed by blowing up oil wells, but these artifacts are one of a kind.
If the US troops had moved in to prevent looting in the first place they would have saved lots of lives lost in the chaos, and protected the museums, the hospitals and the people of Baghdad all at the same time.
Is it not worth risking US soldiers to protect Iraqi civilians from looters and roving street gangs? Is the life of a US soldier worth more than that of an Iraqi civilian?
Yes!
I agree that it would have been much better had that museum not been ransacked. However, the life of a US soldier is worth more to me and the US soldiers than the life of an Iraqi citizen. I’m not saying that Iraqi’s lives aren’t worth anything just that I’m an American and I say that subjectively an American life is worth more than an Iraqi civilian.
So how much more is the life of a US soldier worth to you then?
Is a US soldier worth ten Iraqis? Twenty? One hundred? A Thousand?
Is there really a limit?
Yes!
I agree that it would have been much better had that museum not been ransacked. However, the life of a US soldier is worth more to me and the US soldiers than the life of an Iraqi citizen. I’m not saying that Iraqi’s lives aren’t worth anything just that I’m an American and I say that subjectively an American life is worth more than an Iraqi civilian.[/quote]
Dude, stick to stalking wannabe PhD holders and excuse yourself from any future political debate. This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen come out of someone’s geekbox on this forum.
He’s a troll, ya tards. What do you expect from him?
And Kalle, sometimes you need to see through the baiting and sarcasm that a lot of americans use on this forum just to get you european types all riled up :p
I was throwing out a bait all of my own. 
I’m just waiting for someone to try to logically explain why Iraqis aren’t really worth risking the toe-nail clippings of a US soldier for.
I was throwing out a bait all of my own.
I’m just waiting for someone to try to logically explain why Iraqis aren’t really worth risking the toe-nail clippings of a US soldier for.[/quote]
Cause Americans are obviously better then everyone else
grin
Okay, let’s say the looters of the museum were (high estimate) 2000 people. Baghdad was the home of 5 million people.
Wow, that’s a stunning percentage of 0.04 looting the place. Certainly enough to make sweeping generalizations about the Iraqi population as a whole.
…speaking of Trolls, why do you guys bother arguing with The Janitor (aka Cookie)? He’s quite insane.
He’s registered. To qualify as insane on this board you have to be a guest posting in all caps.
He’s registered. To qualify as insane on this board you have to be a guest posting in all caps.[/quote]
WTF D00D JUST CUZ YOU ARE REGISTERED DON’T MEAN YOU ARE BETTER THAN US GUESTZZZZ. THAT’S ANOTHER SWEEPING GENERALIZATION.
BESIDES, HALF THE GUESTS THAT POST MAKE MORE SENSE AND/OR AREN’T AS DESERVING OF A SHOVEL TO THE FACE AS COOKIE.