Posted 9:31 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Reuters Raw Video added
I've found the Reuters videos to be a great supplement to getting information about the war, and to "making it real", so I've added a link to it on the home page. Give it a look.

Posted 9:27 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

U.S. couldn't buy Slovenia's support
Little Slovenia (population under 2 million) has objected to the U.S. mistakenly including them in the "coalition" supporting the war in Iraq, even though they would have received $4.5 million for that support... saying they're part of the coalition for peace, not for war.

Posted 9:20 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Honesty just isn't enough during war
Veteran Pulitzer-prize winning reporter, Peter Arnett has been fired by NBC and National Geographic, for saying what everyone close to the war knows to be true. During a war, reporters are expected to "tow the line" and support their nation's policies. He will no doubt be accused of "giving comfort to the enemy", instead of mindlessly mouthing the official position.

Arnett probably shouldn't have given the interview on Iraqi TV, but I give him my personal thanks for speaking the truth. Truth is the first victim of war. It's also true that the very worst agressors in history have all maintained iron-fisted control over news received by their own citizens. One simply cannot effectively carry out empire-building agression and allow reporters to run around mouthing the truth. Why, just imagine the problems Hitler would have had if the German citizenry had heard the truth.

Posted 10:01 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Sunday noon... the war is not going well.
The Marines' prized mine-sniffing dolphin seems to have gone AWOL. You may remember that dolphins do have a larger brain than humans.

Another errant U.S. missile... this time a cruise missile, evidently fired from a ship in the Gulf, struck a mall in Kuwait City, which luckily was closed for a holy day. So far, our attacking missiles have managed to strike 3 countries they weren't aimed at... a lot like not being able to hit the barn, from inside with the doors shut. Evidently our new generation of "precision" weaponry isn't completely in place?

Posted 9:11 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

I created a special graphic, and added it to the home page -
R E M E M B E R   T H E S E   M E N - that represents what I think of as a rogue's gallery of current warmongers. Not only did these people decide to wage an unjustifed, unconstitutional, unneccessary war, but they were convinced that it would be a "cakewalk", so they overruled strategic advice from military advisers.

I am so disgusted by this war, and by the simple-minded propaganda being used to convince some of the American public that this is a war to "liberate" Iraq and/or to protect the U.S.

If you want a true picture of this war, you MUST be reading news reports from foreign news sources. U.S. major media is essentially controlled by government, and is "pasteurizing" what they report. I highly recommend reading ANTIWAR.COM as your primary source of war news from a variety of trusted sources.

Posted 11:42 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Another U.S. Diplomat Resigns Over Iraq

Posted 7:41 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

I added the Iraq Body Count banner to the most prominent location on the home page. We must not allow this lop-sided, propagandized, immoral, illegal, unjustified, destructive war to be pictured as anything less than the outrageous mass murder it really is. Americans are capable of becoming outraged by the death of any American civilians, and I want us to be just as outraged at the loss of innocent civilians trying to live their lives peacefully in Iraq.
They are not "collateral damage"... they are humans... people, just like you and I.

Posted 7:31 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

This morning, I joined another organization - Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership - JPFO. No, I'm not Jewish, and it's probably true that the bulk of their other members are not either. JPFO may be the most consistent, unflinching defender of our right to self-defense, especially our right to self-defense against the possibility of our government becoming oppressive. JPFO is producing a documentary titled "Innocents Betrayed", about the 170 million citizens murdered by their own governments... just in the 20th century. Although the documentary isn't yet completed, I'm sure that JPFO will emphasize the fact that this massive number of innocent citizens were first disarmed by their governments... making them incapable of resistance to increasing brutality and death. That was the real reason the 2nd amendment was added to our Constitution. The founders of our nation were accutely aware that even the carefully limited government they were establishing could become oppressive as so many other governments had historically done.

Posted 10:50 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Thought-provoking comment of the day
"It wasn't even a fair fight. I don't know why they don't just surrender," said Colonel Mark Hildenbrand, commander of the 937th Engineer Group.

Does that mean that if the Colonel's forces were badly out-gunned, they would simply surrender?
We hear so many comments about our troops putting their lives in jeapordy for us... for country... for freedom? We're told that our troops go off to give their lives, if neccessary. Assuming that's true, then why would the Colonel expect troops from another nation to be different? You don't suppose those Iraqi soldiers actually value their own nation, and resent being invaded? They couldn't be defending their homeland, could they? Could they be willing to die for their nation?

Colonel Hildenbrand goes on to say- "When you're playing soccer at home, 3-2 is a fair score, but here it's more like 119-0," he said, adding that the Iraqi sport utility vehicles (SUVs) stood no chance against tanks.

Does a "full bird" group commander think of war as a game played by rules?

Posted 8:05 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

"Demonstration" War Much of the world has been perplexed, and disgusted, by a war that seems unjustified, unneccessary, and so lop-sided as to be shameful. Except for those Americans who understand nothing save the propaganda from our government, millions are asking WHY?

This is a WAR in only one sense... a demonstration of our overwhelming military capability... so overwhelming that our forces are suffering losses only from "friendly fire". None of this should be a surprise; Iraq was easily defeated 12 years ago in Desert Storm, and has been blockaded, bombed, and watched ever since then. If they still had significant military force after all that, it would be extremely suprising.

What might be the real purpose of this "war"? I believe it's an attempt to demonstrate to other nations, both in and outside the Middle East, that the American government is capable and willing to do anything to achieve whatever aims it chooses, and that other nations may as well just capitulate to whatever demands we make.

We should all be aware that there is an effective element of strategy that can be called the "madman strategy". That strategy is supposed to give any opponent serious pause by making them wonder just what unthinkable action might be taken. Most civilians understand the concept of "equivalent or appropriate response". We have laws that punish us for responding to a threat with "inappropriate" force, such as just blasting away at an intruder. There are in fact "rules of war", and we've often seen instances, mostly fictional, of military responses that were limited to an "honorable" level.

Despite the incessant propaganda from the U.S. that they are waging a "clean" war... encouraging surrender rather than obliteration, it is being waged with overwhelming force. When troops encounter any resistance, air strikes are immediately called in, and massive destruction is the result. Any Iraqi soldiers who expect a toe-to-toe, man-to-man battle are being taught otherwise.

This is a propaganda war... a war with no real purpose except to try to convince the other governments that American demands must be taken seriously, and to convince the American people that our leaders are the good guys and the rest of the world is wrong. It's an impressive effort: all U.S. representatives, including military leaders, are "mouthing the lie"... repeating the "bureauspeak" falsehoods ad nauseum, and the media is repeating them to the point of repetitive boredom.

Posted 6:58 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Another WHOOPS Another U.S. missile found a poor target; this time a British fighter aircraft.

Posted 8:58 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Attention Trekkies! We were all waiting to hear it, weren't we? Massive and overpowering force, Shock and Awe... and today I heard it... RESISTANCE IS FUTILE ! Come to think of it, our soldiers in full battle gear do sort of resemble the Borg, don't they?

Posted 8:55 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Precision bombing? Seems that the constantly-praised high-precision American weaponry isn't quite perfect; 3 Tomahawk missiles somehow managed to attack the wrong country, specifically Iran rather than Iraq. Well... it's only one letter off.

Posted 7:21 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

As a libertarian, one of the most exciting developments over the past few years is the success of the Costa Rican Movimiento Libertario, which has very quickly gotten 10% of the seats in the legislature, and some key positions. You might ask why that's possible in the socialist government of Costa Rica when it seems impossible in the supposedly "democratic" U.S. The answer is that Costa Rica has proportional representation in their single legislative body, rather than the "winner takes all" elections here.

The U.S. electoral system makes it all but impossible for anyone outside the two major parties to even be heard, much less elected. Within our legislative bodies, new ideas are not often heard, because everyone there is beholden to their party for any hope of re-election or other support. It's a closed system that easily leads to stagnation, self-protection, party-welfare and corruption.

Posted 2:13 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

SMITH.MN updates:

1. Added my latest commentary on the war - "Warmonger's Ace in the Hole", and a piece by Sen. Robert Byrd.

2. Updated the Alexa ratings numbers (smith.mn continues to rise, now at 112,852, passing Liberty For All in the past week)

3. We've also risen to #17 in the Top 25 Libertarian sites.

Posted 7:03 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

45 nations back war, U.S. says Think about that for a minute. What that really means is that 45 governments have been threatened and bribed to add their names, not their money or military, to Bush's planned invasion. It means that the U.S., with more economic and military power than all other nations combined, has coerced 45 governments into taking a position their own citizens don't support.

How many of those governments depend on U.S. financial support?
How many depend on trade with us?
How many have U.S. military bases on their soil?
How many are afraid that they may be the next target for Bush?

Fifteen of the 45 don't want their names used... their support is even secret... from their own people?

A few of the prominent, formerly friendly nations refusing to knuckle under to all the pressure the U.S. can bring to bear?

- Russia
- France
- Germany
- Canada
- Mexico
- Saudi Arabia
- Turkey
- China

Again, the list of 30, and the secret 15, are GOVERNMENTS, NOT NATIONS" as claimed by our administration. They want to imply that a significant percentage of the world is going along with their war. Such is not the case. All over the world, citizens damn the war, even in opposition to their own governments' position.

Posted 6:38 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Yesterday, a friend and I tried to construct a scenario that would have a good result from our position in Iraq. No matter how optimistic (and unrealistic) we tried to be, we could not find a result that was not disastrous for the U.S.

Our best-case scenario beginning was that (1) Hussein went into exile, and (2) Bush cancelled the invasion. Even given that, we still couldn't imagine a good result. Yesterday, Bush premptively killed that scenario anyway, saying that invasion would proceed even if Hussein left.

President Bush has killed every possible alternative to war. Step by bloody step, he has built barricades around his path taking us to war.

Posted 11:11 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

My conjecture, in "Why W Won't Wage War", that the U.S. supplied weapons of mass destruction to Iraq in the 80's has now been confirmed.

Posted 5:22 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Total Insanity In my 64+ years, I've seen our government make some really immoral, disastrous decisions. I really believed that we would never again match the stupidity of our involvement in VietNam. It appears that there is NO depth to which an American President will not sink, and for reasons that have nothing at all to do with "national interest".

I am listening to our elected President speak baldfaced lies, and deliberate, often repeated, deceptions, in an address titled "Moment of Truth". I'm sickened. This address was designed to deceive only the American people... those people who pay attention only to the official propaganda produced by our government. Most of the rest of the world knows that much of what he is saying are lies, because media coverage outside the U.S. is far more complete and balanced than here at home.

These war actions are illegal and immoral. Bush is claiming that this is the will of the American people, so be prepared. He has invited the wrath of all who will not be bullied, and he has invited it upon the American people.

Unless this stops within the next few days, we, the American people, will be paying dearly for Bush's actions for a very long time.

Posted 9:45 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Why W Won't Wage War I've decided to publish this speculative commentary right here at home. Perhaps it will be picked up by other sources.

Posted 8:49 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Brinksmanship Back in the 50's, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles caused controversy by his threats of “massive nuclear retaliation” against Communist aggression and by declaring that the U.S. must be prepared to “go to the brink” of war in order to attain its objectives. That attitude was labeled “brinksmanship", and it kept the globe nervous for decades in the "cold war", until the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Brinksmanship has been resurrected by Bush, even though none of the excuses for it's "invention" exist.

We have no large military enemy... not even close. The U.S. military suppasses all other nations combined.
There is no nation threatening to expand beyond it's borders (except the U.S.)

What is the U.S. trying to accomplish with it's agressive "to the brink" posturing?

There are those who say (and I'm obviously one of them) that such activities serve only two purposes:

1. To try to unite the nation, through fear and false patriotism, behind a President, and "our boys"... for purely political reasons.

2. To give a massive military machine, and it's massive suppliers (what used to be called the "military-industrial complex), a reason for existance.

Only a madman, or an over-compensating wimp, would drag the whole damned planet into such a dangerous mess for such pathetic reasons.

Posted 9:24 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Smith goes way out on a limb - I'm predicting NO serious war in Iraq. That's speculation, but my reasoning offers a plausible explanation for some of the pathetic justifications the Bush administration has put forward. Obviously, those justifications make no sense to most of the world. Why won't Bush give us reasons that make sense?

I've written an article that explains why no good reasons are forthcoming. I'm trying to get the article published where it will get wider exposure. Failing that, I will post it here. This is a tough time to get an article published; everyone is writing these days.

Posted 9:13 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Another leak in the Bush boat A classified State Department report has been leaked to the L.A. Times. The report disputes the Bush administration claim that the Iraqi war will result in a domino effect of democracies in the Middle East.