The Middle East (Israel included) is preparing for yet another war. It seems that every 10 years or so there is a war, whether we need one or not. Sometimes there are two.

For a personal Iraqi view of these preparations - see http://www.dear_raed.blogspot.com/ .

It is a moot point whether or not Israel or Israelis support this war, since nobody asked us. Nobody asked us when the USA, Britain, France and Germany helped to create the Saddamonster in the 80s. Nobody asked us the USA, Britain and France attacked Iraq, and then, in a collosal and inexplicable "oversight" forgot to finish the work. It didn't take a geopolitical genius to figure out that leaving Saddam to fight another day would mean trouble. It also left the Kurds, Shi'a and and various other enemies of the regime to their fates, which included being gassed, dissolved in acid and other humane treatments.

Now the USA is finally prepared to do something, and so, as noted, we are all preparing for war. Everyone is pretty much convinced this is going to happen, in the two weeks most likely, or by the end of March for certain. The nightly TV news program is explaining the best way to behave in case buildings collapse, and discussing the question of whether or not to hoard medicines.

Israeli preparations include:
- Discovering that all the smallpox vaccine prepared in Israel is tainted and should not be used.
- Distributing leaflets that explain how to prepare for the war (buy lots of canned goods and
bottled water, and prepare a sealed room, prepare gas masks...)
- Announcing in advance that the Israel Broadcasting System agrees to lie again, as they
did in the last war, and not tell people about major screw-ups. For some reason, this policy
is very popular.
[more]

by Ami Isseroff @ 07:49 PM CST [Link]