Shock and Awe

[el Guapo]

It has not happened yet. Nevertheless, my guess is that when or if it does it will be massive amounts of bombers dropping a belly full of little bombs, each with GPS guidance. Imagine, as John Lennon suggested, instead of a saturation Arc Light-type bombing, the same number of bombs, each winging its way to its own pre-selected target. All the fun of saturation bombing without all the guilt.

 

[SGB]

If we're talking about the same John Lennon, I'm not sure this is what he imagined at all.

Originally posted by El Guapo Imagine, as John Lennon suggested......

 

[Tranplanner]

I think they're holding off on the "shock and awe" campaign until they see just how much the resistance the Iraqi army will give.

 

[el Guapo]

Re: Re: Shock and Awe

If we're talking about the same John Lennon, I'm not sure this is what he imagined at all.

Yes, that was a dig at the pacifists.

 

[Tranplanner]

CNN is reporting that the "Shock and Awe" campaign is getting underway...

 

[Habanero]

They need to make it a little bigger than a small town Fourth of July celebration.. I was thinking some serious "shock and awe".. and from what I just saw on the t.v., I'm not in awe and only shocked if this is what we were waiting for.. why does it look so small?

 

[nerudite]

It's just the beginning of the campaign... it may last up to 48 hours. I think it doesn't look that great because CNN and the British network aren't in the thick of things. Baghdad is a huge city. Try sitting in the San Fernando Valley in LA when there is bombing in downtown... you wouldn't see a thing. Also, there is supposedly air raids going on in the north of Iraq. So maybe "shock and awe" isn't limited to Baghdad. All I know is I'm becoming a CNN junkie. I have to limite my tv periods otherwise I get sucked in. Not a way to spend a day off...

 

[The Irish One]

I'm in awe........and I'm sure every man woman and child in Bagdad is just praying those weapons are as precision as they're advertised. Now let's hope (hate that word) that saddam and his chronies just give it up -not likely.

edit when was the last time you saw a mushroom cloud at the fireworks celebration?

 

[Jeff]

MSNBC has the best shots right now. That whacko Peter Arnett is only a couple blocks from some of the places getting hit.

It really is pretty cool watching the downtown burn...

And seeing his almighty palace up in flames.

 

[pete-rock]

Shock and awe -- an overwhelming military campaign, or an Indian tribe around the Great Lakes?

 

[The Irish One]

MSNBC has the best shots right now

agreed, I just wish Pat Buchanan and Bill Press were doing commentary.

 

[el Guapo]

I'm listening to the reporters ask Rumsfeld questions now. One moron reporter asks D.R. why he would target 100's of military targets when that could cause civilian casualties. He had the nuts to suggest that they should lower the number of MILITARY targets thus limiting the number of civilian deaths. WTF???

Now the reporters are making tactical suggestions. We need to clean the gene pool with some clorox.

 

[Habanero]

Werent' they asked to leave, or surrender? I think I would've tried to be ont he first bus outta there... but that's coming from someone who knows nothing about military tactics. I guess you can't just leave the military, right?

 

[Jeff]

I'm personally getting sick of all the TV coverage. If I didn't know any better you'd think that the news stations were running this country and our military.

War is not something to be seen on Prime Time. It should be seen in history books. The reporters are making a damn joke about this.

I mean we have reporters in M1s with the 1st MEF and 3rd Infantry...WTF???

As much as I don't wish any American casualties, its going to happen (and already has). I hope that is on Prime Time. So maybe people wake the F*** up and realize this isn't a game.

 

[Tranplanner]

I'm personally getting sick of all the TV coverage. If I didn't know any better you'd think that the news stations were running this country and our military.

War is not something to be seen on Prime Time. It should be seen in history books. The reporters are making a damn joke about this.

I mean we have reporters in M1s with the 1st MEF and 3rd Infantry...WTF???

As much as I don't wish any American casualties, its going to happen (and already has). I hope that is on Prime Time. So maybe people wake the F*** up and realize this isn't a game.

I wholehearedly agree with you Mike - I turned off the TV in frustration last night (CSI pre-empted for war? WTF?).

I hate all the analysis and talking heads going on and on, with no real new information coming in.

 

[Repo Man]

I agree with Mike D. the TV coverage is way overboard. They are treating it like reality televison or a sporting event. Updates every 15 minutes, videotape of reporters riding alongside tanks, letting us know about where every missle is going.

I was listening to the Ari Fliecsher (sp?) press conference and these jackass media reporters kept asking him if the president was watching this on tv. Ari said that the president didn't need the media to tell him what was going on there because he had briefings with the people conducting the war. The reporters kept pushing the question asking things like "well it is his war don't you think he should be watching the bombing footage on tv?" It was like they were so proud of their wall to wall coverage of everything that they couldn't believe that someone wasn't watching.

 

[Habanero]

Totally agree about the TV, I'd like updates, but not 24:7 coverage. NBC stopped it last night and Friends was on.. but did I get to watch the trashy Married by America?!? No- the a$$es at the news station wanted to show everyone "what happened earlier". The more they, the reporters, speculate the worse the gossip and non-news bs gets.

We watched hockey instead, and SpongeBob.

 

[The Irish One]

thats what cnn fox msnbc are for. Keep primetime to its regular schedule. I missed scrubs because I figured the coverage would run through the night and turned off the tube.

 

[Repo Man]

It is moments like this that make me want to kiss my cable box!

 

[Jeff]

I was listening to the Ari Fliecsher (sp?) press conference and these jackass media reporters kept asking him if the president was watching this on tv. Ari said that the president didn't need the media to tell him what was going on there because he had briefings with the people conducting the war.

Wasn't that hilarious!!

That dumb ass couldn't comprehend Arie's response, "The president doesn't need to watch TV to know what is going on."

 

[nerudite]

I'll be the naysayer... I like some of the coverage. I like seeing 3D representations of Saddam's palace, and knowing which buildings are being blown up. No, it's not a game. But it's fascinating nonetheless. Plus, CNN has about the best GIS-based 3D graphics I've seen in a long time. Seen just from the geography perspective, I've learned more about Iraq in the past 24 hours than I learned in college. And I like to know about the effects of war... that there is a 14-mile wide path being sliced 300 miles through the desert to Baghdad. I find it all really interesting... but then, I don't normally watch t.v., so I'm not missing CSI, scrubs, friends or any other program.

And yeah... the talking heads are totally egocentric and blind. I just choose not to watch those parts.

 

[giff57]

It is moments like this that make me want to kiss my cable box!

I hear ya buddy, you don't want to know what I did to my cable box......

 

[The Irish One]

I hear ya buddy, you don't want to know what I did to my cable box......

I'm calling the cable company

 

[Dan]

Part one

I hear ya buddy, you don't want to know what I did to my cable box......

If it got you free pay-per-view pr0n, could you tell me what you did?

Cab;e b0x haxx0rz 0wnz, d00d ...

Part two

Yeah, I'll show them Eye-rakkies some shock and awe!

(unzips pants)

 

[Zoning Goddess]

I'm gonna be the odl fart here. OK, not as old as the post-hippies doing the peace demonstrations, but... I remember coverage of Vietnam and it was way later and censored. OK, for "Government in the sunshine" Americans, maybe it seems too little. But how "real-time" do we want to be? Do we want cameras on every event, every minute, recording every death?

And I have no problem with not knowing what's gonna happen. In previous wars, the allied governements went so far as to plant erroneous information on dead bodies the enemy would find. Hey, if that's what it takes to save some of our guys, get the stupid glory-seeking journalists out of there!

 

[Zoning Goddess]

P.S. I am not a pacifist, just overwhelmed by all the unnecessary coverage.

 

[SkeLeton]

I guess war is the new reality show...
I'm getting bored here listening nothing else than war war and more war news.... Every channel says the same, every channel shows the same images and all the channels bable about what's going to happen...TV here sux....

 

[Chet]

I guess war is the new reality show...

Unfortunately I think you are right. I quipped to a co-worker yesterday that it was so nice that we went to war in a time zone were I can go to lunch at their dusk, watch the bombing for an hour, go back to work, and get the video recap when I get home from work, and get on with my life status-quo.

Today I realized it was sad, I am not personally affected by this war. I have friends that have family in the gulf, but I do not. In fact, once the strikes started on wednesday, my strocks rose significantly and my gas costs plummeted 7 cents a gallon. I don't know what's worse -- the fact that it happened or the fact that it came to mind.