10 replies to this topic

[Chad Vander Veen]

I just want to vent my anger with what that lousy, spoiled rotten idiot gal from the Dixie Chix said the other day. I will no longer listen to them and I applaude the many radio stations that have pulled them from the air. I urge all of you to throw away their CDs. Let these ungrateful schmucks know that good, decent Americans are not midless sheeple that buy whatever is popular. Please don't respond to this if you are going to champion their right to free speech. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, and knowing the difference is what makes a great person. What about our obligation to defend our country? Be glad we don't live in Iraq where you don't have the right to say such filth about the government. I bet this idiot wouldn't have the same opinion if Saddam was torturing her family. Don't go to their concert this July. Change the station when they come on, and mail stations that play them and ask them to stop. Stay in Europe, Dixie Chix, and never come back!

[cybertrano]

I was just about to create this subject and I am glad c_vanderveen did it before me.

I agree with c_vanderveen.

Most entertainers are mindless durrrrrr people. Sorry for saying that but that's my opinion.

[OctoberLily]

"Published 8:21 AM PST Monday, Mar. 17, 2003

La. protesters destroy Dixie Chicks CDs
Associated Press

BOSSIER CITY, La. (AP) -- The Dixie Chicks may have a little more trouble getting a friendly audience in this part of Dixie.

Using a 33,000-pound tractor to obliterate compact disks and other items, a few hundred protesters, referring to themselves as backers of President Bush and Barksdale Air Force Base, lashed back at lead singer Natalie Maines.

Maines reportedly told a London audience last week, in reference to Bush's push for military action against Iraq, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

The protesters Saturday night in Bossier City were largely country music fans, some of them recent fans of the Dixie Chicks.

"Until they made that statement, I was glad to listen to them," said Rusty Sullivan, adding that his company has been flooded with requests to strip Dixie Chicks songs from the jukeboxes it operates.

Radio stations nationwide are boycotting the Dixie Chicks, even though Maines publicly apologized for her statement in London.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I never listened to the Dixie Chicks. They do have a right to free speech. There are also a great number of people who are upset about the war with Iraq coming to life. She, however, should not have made a statement like that in light of her being a representation of the United States in a foreign country.

She reminds me of the other American Actress who visited Vietnam [thanks for the correction Cybertrano<_< ) during the Vietnam war and posed with opposing soldiers - - JANE FONDA.

Maybe the Dixie Chicks plan on going to Bahgdad to become one of those human shields. Sadam could care less about those people. He would rather use foreigners first as human shields than once those guys are all gone, he will place his own people as human shields. He needs to be taken down.

I think that U.N. has given him enough time to comply and he is just toeing the line. Sigh!

[Folsomite]

call your local radio stations to get them to pull them from the radio!

[cybertrano]

QUOTE (OctoberLily @ Mar 17 2003, 12:53 PM)

She reminds me of the other American Actress who visited North Korea during the Vietnam war and posed with opposing soldiers - - JANE FONDA.

Jane Fonda visited North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Not North Korea.

[camay2327]

It is funny how they changed their minds after people started
destroying their CDs, etc. They even said they were sorry.

Not sure but thought I had heard this morning that one of them
was kicked out of the group. NOT SURE ABOUT THIS THOUGH.

[Folsomite]

QUOTE

She reminds me of the other American Actress who visited North Korea during the Vietnam war and posed with opposing soldiers - - JANE FONDA.

Hanoi Jane! is that where that nickname came from?

[cybertrano]

Yes. I was young during the war and all did not appreciate her sitting on top of the anti-aircraft gun and took pictures and having fun while 3 millions Vietnamese people and 60,000 American men/women died. She should had stay in Hanoi and have some fun.

[tessieca]

For a compilation of the inane Hollywood quotes on war, try http://www.hollywoodhalfwits.com/
As an example, Sean Puffy Combs says "I'm totally against war - whoever's wrong. I think of peace every day. I want us all to get along."

[OctoberLily]

Instead of listening to the Dixie Chicks, Martin Sheen who ignorantly declare they are the "Voice of the Voiceless", we should really be listening to what the people of Iraq have to say about this war. I think we all would be quite surprised by their opinions.

Here is one article that I found quite compelling and had forced me to change my stance on this war.

************************************************************
Iraqi Women Give Voice to the Voiceless
Posted March 11, 2003

By Jennifer G. Hickey
A wide variety of individuals and groups has responded to the question of whether to take military action to enforce U.N. Resolution 1441. From the editorial pages of national newspapers to anti- and pro-war ads purchased by respective interest groups, Americans have been asked to consider arguments about containment, the potential loss of American and Iraqi lives and the geopolitical impact of choosing either path.

For instance, cameras and notepads were awhir when the feminist antiwar group Code Pink took to the streets on International Women's Day to speak about the potential suffering and civilian casualties likely to be caused by war in Iraq. But, only days earlier, there was scant coverage of a smaller group of women who have been speaking of Saddam Hussein's terror in terms of lost family members, continued death threats and the use of rape as a tool of fear and intimidation.

"By simply speaking out here, I know my life and the lives of my family members are put in danger. But we have to get the message out about what Hussein has done," said Tanya Gilly, one of several Kurdish women from Iraq who came to Capitol Hill in support of U.S. military action and to tell their stories of oppression under Saddam's regime.

"Their stories are not [ancient] history. They are happening every day in Iraq, including today. And they should convince anyone who cares to listen," asserted Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), who brought the group together -- ironically, in a House Rules Committee meeting room in the U.S. Capitol. Fellow GOP Reps. Judy Biggert of Illinois and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee joined Pryce and a handful of reporters to listen to these women, who are part of Women for a Free Iraq. The group was formed as part of a public campaign to educate Americans about their support of military action against Saddam, bolstered in large part because of the terrors they have experienced.

The arrival of the Iraqi women at the Capitol was delayed by more than half an hour after Vice President Dick Cheney "popped his head in the door" of their meeting with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and insisted on hearing their stories.

Esra Naama came to Washington as what she called "a representative of the voiceless" to tell the story of her family's escape from Iraq in the early 1990s. It included wandering for three days in the desert with no food or water after turning away from the border with Saudi Arabia when they saw members of the Iraqi army shooting others trying to cross.

Naama told her own story and then spoke for her mother, who sat next to her but has limited English proficiency. Naama's father was part of the Kurdish revolt in 1991, and Naama said many Americans have difficulty fully understanding the difference between democracy and oppression because they have never known life without freedom. In Iraq, she said, when a friend or family member is executed it is illegal to mourn the loss publicly, to visit the grave or to question how or why individuals were executed or herded off by Saddam's military.

"Women and children are sold into slavery so people can get food," she added. Furthermore, the women spoke of aunts, uncles and friends rounded up and taken away by Saddam's guards without cause and with no clue as to their fate. Gilly counts two aunts, three cousins and two uncles among those missing. She also notes that Saddam's forces have razed 45,000 Kurdish villages, including her own ancestral village.

In Washington to relay the horrors of their past, the women also expressed their hopes for the future. Looking forward to peace after Saddam is removed from power, what do these women think of those in the United States who oppose resisting Saddam by military force? "I just think they do not know what is really going on in Iraq -- the rape of women and that people just go missing and you never see them again," responded Raz Rasool, a member of the Iraqi National Congress, one of the more prominent Iraqi opposition groups.

Rasool, who arrived in the United States in 1998, gave the audience an example of how Saddam terrorizes even the youngest of Iraqi citizens. While playing in her schoolyard, Saddam's guards gathered the children together to take them to a rally in honor of the leader's birthday. When several refused to go the guards beat her classmates and threatened to execute all of the children if they did not comply. "I see no future for Iraq without liberation," Rasool says.

Addressing the question of whether Iraqis will be able to govern themselves after Saddam is overthrown, Gilly points to the experience of the Kurds. Three-and-a-half million Kurds have been protected in northern Iraq since their failed revolt against Saddam in 1991 with the creation of a "no-fly" zone. In the 12 years since the Persian Gulf War, the area has been protected by U.S. and British airplanes.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) governs the western and northern reaches of the Kurdish zone, while the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) governs the regions nearest the Iranian border.

Despite living under sanctions imposed both by the United Nations and Saddam (who has limited food and other aid from flowing into the region), Gilly says the Kurds have one of the lowest infant-mortality rates in the region. They also now have three universities compared with only one in 1991. Although the KDP and PUK have locked horns in the past, they have a presence in each other's directorate.

For those who insist that the presence of U.N. inspectors in Iraq in recent months is evidence that containment can work, Gilly says she sees the situation from a different perspective. "Saddam has been very good at keeping Iraq contained for 12 years. [Those in Iraq] are asking when U.S. forces are coming; they are waiting and hoping," Gilly adds.

Jennifer G. Hickey is a writer for Insight."

taken from http://www.insightma...ews/389889.html

[cybertrano]

I am tired of that Martin Sheen boy!!!
I am glad you brought that up OctoberLily.

This is from PBS tonight:




IRAQI-AMERICANS REACT

March 18, 2003

Members of an Iraqi-American community in Detroit give their views on a possible war with their home country and President Bush's ultimatum ordering Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Events in Iraq have now reached the final days....

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: This Iraqi-owned cafe in Detroit was packed and all eyes were glued to the Arabic al-Jazeera Channel for President Bush's speech last night -- 160,000 Iraqis now live in the Detroit area, the largest Iraqi community in the country.

Many of these Iraqi-Americans fled after persecution from the regime of Saddam Hussein, and have worked to dismantle that regime ever since. Here, the president's ultimatum brought cheers. (Applause) Activist Emad Dhia was especially pleased.

EMAD DHIA, Iraqi Forum for Democracy: It’s a sense of accomplishment and relief, in all honestly. Iraqi- Americans worked very hard for this moment, this moment of the truth when President Bush announced on the TV Saddam and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Many here have family and friends still in Iraq, so there was concern about the kind of war the U.S. will wage.

ABUKAR ALHASHY: I would rather the U.S. troops direct their job towards Saddam and his sons and knock them down and get the freedom for the people over there. But I don't want the war to be against the Iraqi people or to destroy bridges or kill people in cities or destroy factories.

Joining the war effort
ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Several of the men in the crowd were members of Iraqi resistance groups Dhia has been organizing to return to Iraq. Working with the Pentagon, Dhia is trying to place Iraqi -Americans everywhere from the battlefield to positions in the hoped-for post-Saddam government. Twenty-nine-year-old Nasrat, an Iraqi American immigrant who does not want his last name used, has very personal reasons for wanting to return to Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein from power.

NASRAT, Iraqi Uprising Committee: When I'm 12 years old, I see how's my dad, he's sent to death in front of the family, and we lose everything. I hope... I want to see some new life for my kids, especially.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Nasrat fought in the Iraqi Shia uprising in the South in 1991. The movement collapsed with the withdrawal of U.S. Troops, and Nasrat was forced to flee. Now he and other former fighters in the uprising are among the several thousand Iraqis eager to find a role in the impending war. Some found that role last weekend, when the Defense Department kicked off a recruiting drive for Iraqi-Americans. A job fair was held just outside Detroit.

WOMAN: Is there any particular type of work that you would not want to do?

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The several hundred people who showed up get signed up with the Titan Corporation, a private contractor providing interpreters for the military, sign a personal services contract with or become a term employee of the military, join the reserves or in one of the most popular options, join the Free Iraqi Forces, or FIF.

MAN: You'd be in uniform in a free Iraq... a special Free Iraqi Force uniform.

The fight for a free Iraq
ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The Pentagon says nearly 1,000 Iraqi-Americans have already been sent to Hungary for a four-week army training course for FIF fighters. Mahdi Altwabaa was eager to join the FIF, which will fight under the supervision of U.S. forces.

MAHDI ALTWABAA: The reason for all these people -- and I've been talking to every single one of them -- most of them they victimized by Saddam Hussein and his bloody regime. Most of these people, me personally, I got two brothers executed back in '87.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Nasrat has been trying to think of a way to tell his family he is leaving, but he hasn't come up with one. He is particularly worried about telling his mother.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: So you haven't told her yet?

NASRAT: No.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: And you're leaving tomorrow?

NASRAT: And tomorrow, yep. So I'm going to surprise her.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Is she going to like that surprise?

NASRAT: I don't think so. Well, hey this is the future, so we have to work hard for the future.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: This group of Iraqi-Americans we gathered said they really had no choice but to return.

MOHAMMED AHMAD: My dad told me to leave Iraq when I was 14 years old, and I was arrested twice because I said something against the government, and it's really time to get rid of this... it's really hard to see him, that he’s still in power

SAMIR SHOUKRI: I think that's the duty of every Iraqi who feels that he's tied to that country, that's his responsibility to... from his position to help in any way that can be possible.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: They hoped that those in the Arab world that now opposed the war would change its mind about the U.S.

IHSAN ILASSADI: Hopefully when they go in and create a role model out of this country, this sentiment will be changed. When they start, when the troops are marching in Baghdad, have received and welcomed them, then I think the whole world will understand why the U.S. did what they did.

Crafting post-war Iraq
ELIZABETH BRACKETT: It is postwar Iraq that also concerns successful Iraqi businessman Assad Kalasho. Kalasho is Chaldean, a Roman Catholic minority in Iraq, though they are in the majority in the Detroit Iraqi population with more than 120,000. Kalasho says the Chaldean community is not as supportive of the war as Detroit's Iraqi American Muslims. Nevertheless Kalasho says he recruited 50 Iraqi Chaldeans to help U.S. Forces in Iraq. In return he hopes to ensure a seat at the table for Chaldeans when a new government is formed.

ASAAD KALASHO: I will be focusing on putting that country together within no more than two years -- build a democratic country.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Chaldean Iraqi -American Ramsey Jiddou is more concerned about the U.S. creating democratic institutions in Iraq than ensuring a place for Chaldeans.

RAMSEY JIDDOU, Iraqi Forum for Democracy: Again, if the intention is good and they say it is just temporary there, they are just there to keep law and order and install... or make elections after six months or a year I wouldn't have big objections there. But if they are going as occupier, I have big objections. We are liberators, not occupiers.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The more than 150 Iraqi Americans who signed up to help in the war with Iraq are hoping that they will be asked to help liberate their homeland sooner rather than later.