I could not live under these conditions. Could you?

[NNN0LHI]

Baghdad University students walk past U.S. soldiers outside the Iraqi Natural History museum in Baghdad, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003. The musem was re-opened Wednesday. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)

[everythingsxen]

1. I don't think it's...

*all* that much different than when Saddam ran things...

Life's still a gamble for those Iraqi's..

[Minstrel Boy]

I think it's much worse

and life's more of a gamble now because the US troops are much less predictable than Saddam's.

Was Saddam's military spraying bullets indiscriminately into crowds?

Were homes bulldozed, and communities sealed with razor wire?

Were there as many violent crimes and murders?

And seeing armed forces on the street is one thing. Seeing the armed forces of an occupying power which has appropriated the nation's wealth and shows a great reluctance to leave at is something else. It would drive me mad.

[CityZen-X]

25. Kent State University

[ElsewheresDaughter]

2. we live under them everyday in bush*s american "free speach zones"

we just different uniformed soldiers
q=tbn:cIZeF8h6Bg8C:

[NNN0LHI]

7. I think you missed my point? These soldiers are foreigners in Iraq

How would you feel about foreign soldiers on our street corners? That is my question.

Don

[ElsewheresDaughter]

12. you're correct...i couldn't/wouldn't either

[Don_G]

3. Wait Until Next Year

We may if Dimbo is appointed dick-tater again.

[mmm]

4. Why are those US soldiers eye-f**king civilians?

That would piss me off.

[Muddleoftheroad]

6. Because they are on guard

And the guys trying to kill them don't always carry signs.

[mmm]

11. At that range they would hit the ground before they knew what hit 'em

They are only inviting trouble

[Beaker]

10. "eye-f**king"??

please explain what you see, and where you see it in this picture, because I sure don't.

[BiggJawn]

17. Silly Beaker...didn't you know?

The ONLY reason men look at women is to fuel their sexual fantasies...
<sarcasm>

[Beaker]

21. with all the clothes those women are wearing-

it'd take half an hour to undress them with your eyes.

[htuttle]

5. Live under those conditions?

Sure, for awhile. At least until I was killed while shooting an RPG at a line of tanks...

[mmm]

8. Do college women shoot RPGs at tanks?

Maybe it is time they start thinking about it.

[sweetheart]

9. That's what wall street is like

I passed 4 times that many heavily armed gunmen on my commute down wall street last march. Its part of psyops, to inculcate the population to being accustomed to open carrying of big guns... that people start to think of it as cool and then to build further armed presence... and eventually to turn the arms on people, but by then it is expected and normalized.

Sick neofascist republican thugs....

[el_gato]

15. you are absolutely correct

[Beaker]

13. yes.

I'd certainly prefer not too, but a couple of armed guards outside a natural history museum would not be enough to drive me to suicide...life is too precious, and too short as it is.

[NNN0LHI]

14. Does the phrase "Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death" ring any bells?

How about "Live Free Or Die"? No? OK.

Don

[Beaker]

20. hollow, meaningless phrases.

used to stir the mindless rabble into laying down their lives to protect the wealth and way of life of the aristocracy.

ask a wage-slave with a second or third mortgage exactly how much "liberty" they really have.

AAT-the women in the picture don't seem too upset- it appears that they're just going about their normal day...
Just because there are armed soldiers guarding a museum- how does that equate to a loss of 'liberty'? Don't most cities have cops carrying guns all over the place? Try taking a trip to europe some time, or south america- there are plenty of places where you can see armed soldiers posted or patrolling...but none of these countries citizenry are in too much of an uproar over it, and seem to be able to live their lives just fine.

[maggrwaggr]

16. ?? Looks like our airports a year or so ago. What's the big deal?

the people look pretty happy, the soldiers look pretty UNhappy.

Are you saying you couldn't live like that if you were a soldier?

[NNN0LHI]

19. I was in an airport last year and never seen one foreign soldier there

Did you?

Don

[KFC]

18. Yes

Obviously those women can as well. They look like a happy bunch.

[NNN0LHI]

22. I'd be smiling at foreigners outside my home with automatic weapons too

Until until they turned their back.

Don

[Beaker]

23. what a brave patriot you sound like.

:eyes:

what happened to "Give me liberty or give me death!"??

[NNN0LHI]

24. I don't own the weaponry to compete with the likes of any military

So I would need to make up for that lack of weaponry with skill and cunning. I would not just say thank you sir, and and keep on moving along as some would if America were invaded and occupied. I would do whatever I had to do get the interlopers out of my country. What would you do. Collaborate with the occupying force perhaps?

Don

[Beaker]

26. But by the time there were soldiers patrolling the streets-

The "INVASION!" would be over, and you should already be dead, since it would indicate that your liberty has already been taken away, and we already know how you'd have reacted to that.

As for me- let me know when it becomes a realistic possibility, and I might give it some thought...whereas it seems that you already see yourself as some type of post-apocolyptic macgyver, kickin' ass and taking names for the resistance...I guess we all have to fantasize about something though, huh? Personally, I prefer to spend my daydream time on a tropical island with busty redheads and my neighbor's wife...if you prefer to spend yours crouched in a muddy culvert planting c-4 charges as you match your 'skill and cunning':eyes: against that of the enemy, that's your perogative.

[NNN0LHI]

27. No. The invasion and occupation is over when the loser says its over

Not the winner. Ones liberty is taken away only after one gives up and surrenders. It is your perogative to surrender and daydream while your country was being occupied. Not mine. If that is your idea of freedom, have at it. I don't want nothing to do with of your idea of freedom. I guess you would have jumped right on the cattle cars as Germany took over your country so you would be left alone to daydream. Have a nice ride. All aboard.

Don

[Beaker]

28. huh?

there was an invasion?

Time to put the green plastic army men and lincoln logs away for today donny, your cookies and milk are ready.

[NNN0LHI]

29. Choo, choo n/t

[Beaker]

30. do you use Good n'Plenty candy to make your train run?

(my mistake, I didn't know you were playing train, I thought you were still playing La Resistance.)
don't worry, I'll save your cookies and milk for after your nap.

pleasant dreams...

[tnlefty]

31. No, I wouldn't want to

Unless it was to live another day to do my part to expel the invaders/occupiers.

[theboss]

32. Perhaps a picture where they are not smiling would help

The students look happy in the picture you posted.

Could I live under those conditions? Well, I live in DC and can't swing a cat my its tail without checking it with security. I drive past a security detail at the Pentagon everyday. There are Jersey Barricades all over the downtown area.

As they as they aren't shooting at me, it's fine, I guess.