Donkey cart rockets attack Baghdad hotels
By Bassem Mroue, AP
21 November 2003


Two heavily-defended hotels in Baghdad, used by US officials and journalists, came under attack today from rockets launched from a donkey cart today.

Full story (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=465792)



Is this a joke? :bugeye:

I don't think it's a joke, but damn it, war's not supposed to be funny.

That's ... I mean that headline screams for a laugh. I just emailed it to a friend because ... well, yeah, it's that funny.

Maybe I need more dope. Maybe I need a stronger habit. Like opium.

On the other hand, the harsh reality sounds like a punchline, too: they're attacking from donkey-carts. Sounds like a high-school wartime activity. My high school actually did donkey basketball a couple of times ... why not donkey warfare?

I actually thought, when I clicked the link to open the topic, that it would have to do with some tempermental flatulence coming from Howard Dean.

I shouldn't have posted I know, but I thought the title was funny too, so I carried on posting anyway.

***End of thread***

Mucker

Sometimes a heavy injection of purified absurdity is exactly what we need.

Sure, war isn't supposed to be funny, but sometimes it just is.

...our ass can kick your ass...

grooooooan

http://www.theologyonline.com/photopost/data/500/3132donkey_cart-med.jpg

LIES THAT IS NOT A DONKEY CART! That contains rocket launchers, or at least bio/Chem rockets at best. Yes America this is what threatened you on March 16,2003! :p

Are we sure that very donkey cart isn't a mobile bioweapons factory? It might be time for airstrikes against the donkey-drivers.

http://images.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2003/11/21donkey.jpg (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-11-21-iraq-blasts_x.htm)
Killer piece of ass: "U.S. soldiers examine a rocket launcher mounted on a donkey cart outside the Italian embassy in Baghdad on Friday." (Khalid Mohammed, AP)

The ... uh ... "U.S." has acknowledged that Iraqi insurgent attacks against coalition forces are "inventive" and "ingenious." The latter is not exactly the word I would use for mounting a rocket launcher on a donkey cart, but apparently the brass are impressed.

The "U.S." in this case is Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, who also acknowledged the Iraqi enemy is "adaptive," and said that the coalition will continue to try to stay one step ahead. In the meantime, Robert Reid's piece for the associated press (click picture or see links below) turns up under headlines like, "U.S. admits attacks in Iraq 'inventive, ingenious'" (USA Today) and "Iraq's occupiers facing ingenious enemy" (The Star-Ledger).

Kimmitt also noted that the insurgency attacks, while ingenious or inventive, are militarily insignificant and without tactical value, but I'm not sure that's necessarily the point. Hitting a hotel where Wolfowitz is? Spectacular, or close to. Hitting the IRC or UN? Demonstrative. Hitting a mosque or other civilian target? Merely a testament to lawlessness. And all of these things play against the coalition. I doubt Kimmitt has overlooked this aspect, but neither do I expect him to play it up.

And while I might nod sagaciously and tip a glass to the image of some poor Iraqi bastard shoving a bomb up the ass of a dead animal, I repeat that this is what it's come to. Donkey carts and roadkill specials.

I think The Scotsman gets the award for best headline: "Iraqi Donkeys Used to Combat Iron Hammer."

War is ugly? War is hell? War is farging absurd.

Notes:

• Reid, Robert H. "U.S. admits attacks in Iraq 'inventive, ingenious'." USA Today/Associated Press, November 21, 2003. see http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-11-21-iraq-blasts_x.htm
• Reid, Robert H. "Iraq's occupiers facing ingenious enemy." The Star Ledger/Associated Press, November 22, 2003. see http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1069482844287430.xml
• Report, Staff. "Iraqi Donkeys Used to Combat Iron Hammer." The Scotsman, November 21, 2003. see http://www.news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2205998

See also:

• Porth, Jacquelyn S. "Myers Says Failure Not An Option in War Against Terrorism." Washington File, U.S. Dept. of State, November 21, 2003. see http://www.iwar.org.uk/news-archive/2003/11-21-10.htm
• Report, Staff. "Guerrillas fire rockets at fortified Baghdad sites." ABS-CBN News, November 22, 2003. see http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/FlashNewsStory.aspx?FlashOID=13050