"This is war" (Norwegian Soldiers balk at "Humanitarian" term)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=678337

Norwegian soldiers serving in Iraq are baffled by politicians calling their mission a "humanitarian action". Norway's forces consider themselves at war and report that they have been instructed to fire if they feel threatened, newspaper VG reports.

"This is a lack of decency from Norwegian politicians," Didrik Coucheron of the BFO (Officers Organization).

On the BFO's web site there is a presentation of e-mails received from Norwegian soldiers serving in Iraq, and the group concludes that their reality has very little in common with how the situation is being presented.

"The mission in Iraq is not a humanitarian one, here war continues, no matter what some politicians have said about the war being over," one soldier wrote.

Other reports express bafflement about the expression "humanitarian mission", describe battle conditions and explain that their Rules of Engagement include combat if threatened.

The BFO report questions media and political reports that cover the Norwegian military effort in Iraq as an important and humanitarian mission, voicing concerns that information is being covered up to avoid the embarrassing admission that the country is once again involved in a war.

"Anyone can see that a uniformed soldier with a helmet, shrapnel vest and an AG3 across his stomach is a soldier and not a humanitarian construction worker," Coucheron told VG's web site.
<snip>

[TimeLord]

1. Very interesting....

Thanks for posting.

Tony

[Tinoire]

2. Good for them! Clinton came up with this humanitarian BS

when he needed to go pulverize Yugoslavia to destablize the region as step one of the PNAC plan and so our good humanitarian buddy Soros could get his hands on the Trepca mines.

We've have a humanitarian mission right here in good ole Appalachia but we never hear squat about that one.

Color me bitter but in admiration of these Norwegian soldiers bringing to light the US's BS.

[Frances]

3. Are you saying that Kosovo and Iraq are the same?

I don't think so.

[dfong63]

5. are you saying Kosovo was a humanitarian war?

i don't agree.

[Tinoire]

7. I sure am. Dead people for American Imperialism are DEAD PEOPLE

or does it make a difference simply because George Soros got a few mines out of the deal?

[TheLastMohican]

15. Yeah, they are the same

Bringing freedom to people on the wings of missiles is like screwing for virginity.

[SidDithers]

4. Hahaha, Good One!

Oh, wait, you're serious..

nevermind.

Sid

[dfong63]

6. no substance, less fattening

[Tinoire]

8. Of course I'm serious

And what are you? Someone just "new" to progressive ideas?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. Tinoire, I don't agree with any war, but Kosovo was certainly no

Baghdad.

True, a life is a life and an action is an action...

BUT. We're all on the same side here even when we don't all agree 100%.

You and me are older (in DU years) than a lot of the noobs here and let's teach 'em not kill 'em. :-)

[Tinoire]

11. I think you're correct

It wasn't a Baghdad but innocent people died nonetheless and to them and their loved ones, our fine distinctions don't matter. Death as a result of US bombing is simply that- death.

The goal was the same... to destabilize a region and to steal the country's resources.

Granted Milosevic was no angel but neither was Saddaam. And if you look at the MO, it was the same. Corner someone, tell them to "surrender" or else...


For almost 10 years, Kosovo had one of the most active nonviolent resistance movements since Gandhi but that wasn't enough for us- we needed to see thenm sujugated so manouvered every single trick in the book to get to a point that we were able to tell the world that Milosecwicz had defied the 'international' community. When I think of the dead, of the dead children especially, I am so ashamed

Yeah... we agree more often than not and no matter which candidate you support, I'm ok with it because you think and reason...

I was angry about Yugoslavia years ago and one of the main things I resent about this war is that our leaders, with full aid of the media, spun this so well that intelligent people like you and me call it the war against Kosovo when it was so much more- this war went all the way to Belgrade! But it was spun in such a way by our White House and media that to this day we think only a few thousand people were affected and that the rest of them love us.

I've observed yoiu over a few months and I believe you are a good man. If we can, regardless of whom we support, awaken people to the horror of being bombed by US weapons simply because they live in another country, I shall be happy.

What I don't like is the head-burying, that if it happened under a Dem- it must be ok. We are so naive, believe so naively, that greedy men only have influence on that other party when the sad truth is that they bought both parties long ago. Our only difference is the smidgling of honor with which we extricate ourselves from that slavery.

Peace.

I hope to be leaving DU soon because arguing with cement ostrich heads is really getting to me- you are not one of them.

Peace

Peace to you

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

14. Hell, don't leave, just do what I *TRY* to do and bite your tongue.

There are some things that some people are not going to give one way or the other... And, there is no shortage of people here who are as opinionated as I am on certain topics.

Just throw it out there and who knows, someone might pick up on something they didn't have before.

.
.
.
So, cut the "leaving" shit out. We need all the Dem minds we can get here!

Peace back at you.

On edit, I take your comments as high compliment.

[aquart]

13. Ethnic cleansing is a progressive idea?

See? I keep asking for a definition of progressive and never get one and now I guess I know why.

Honey, you're gonna love what BushCo does in the MidEast. Liebensraum, baby. REAL progressive.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

9. Hey, Sid! Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[aquart]

12. CLINTON destabilized Yugoslavia? Clinton?????

You have him confused with the mass murderer Milosevic, I believe.

And I totally supported that mission. But watching men parted from their families and driven off to be shot for the crime of being Muslim is not a problem for you, I see.

It was for me, however.

[TheLastMohican]

16. So how in this respect US soldiers different from serbian police?

Serbian police were also doing what is now called Operation Iron Hammer in Iraq - clearing the nests of albanian insurgents, and doing a very good job at it, in three months the insurgency nearly stopped.
Unless you believe those "albanian genocide" stories.

Wes Clark's boys were bombing serbs and albanians alike without stopping to identify their target. The whole Yugoslavia war will be a dark chapter in the history of NATO as a war crime committed in the offensive on another state. This is going way out of NATO defensive doctrine.