Monty Python in Iraq

O

Oatka

New member
That's what a poster on another board called it, and if it wasn't so pathetic, I could see the humour. What are these guys risking their lives for, and what is it costing us?
What's next, Nerf balls out of cannons?

Here's part of the article and the URL. The AP has a copyright warning that I interpret that I cannot post everything, including the copyright warning. How's that for Pythonesque?

"U.S. Air Force using concrete bombs against Iraq (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
ISTANBUL, Turkey, Oct. 7 — U.S. warplanes have been dropping bombs filled with concrete and not explosives in raids on Iraqi installations in a move to minimize civilian casualties, a military official said Thursday."

Full story at: http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/ap10-07-105059.asp?reg=MIDEAST#body

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If you can't fight City Hall, at least defecate on the steps.
 
I don't really care about a copyright warning from the AP. Here's a larger excerpt from the text of the story:



<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Armaments Chapter Two Verses Nine to Twenty One.



MONK: (reading from bible) And St. Attila raised his hand grenade up on high saying 'O Lord bless this thy hand grenade that with

it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy. And the Lord did grin and people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orang-utans and breakfast cereals and fruit bats and...'



BROTHER MAYNARD: Skip a bit brother ...



MONK: ... Er ... oh, yes ... and the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no

more, no less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shalt be three. Four shalt thou not count,

neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thou foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.'



ARTHUR: Right. One, two, five ...



GALAHAD: Three, sir!



ARTHUR: Three.[/quote]



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RKBA!

"A right is not what someone gives you; it's what no one can take from you." - Ramsey Clark

"Rights are liable to be perverted to wrongs when we are incapable of rightly exercising them." - Sarah Josepha Hale
 
2,000 to 3,000 pound laser guided cement filled nonexplosive bombs. "If you drop it on a radio, it could break the radio without blowing it up" Lt. Col. Michael Waters. No **** Sherlock. If you drop it on your toe you could break your toe without blowing it up
 
Jeez..

Why waste cement? They could scour junkyards and drop those cool crushed car cubes and all the old tires...EPA would love it, til their budget was cut ;)

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
The idea of non-explosive bombs goes way back. When the Lockheed SR71 Blackbird spy plane was being developed, ideas were thrown about for bomber and fighter variations. As a bomber, the idea was that the Blackbird could drop a 2,000 pound solid projectile. Precision guidance wouldn't really be important given the energy developed by the projectile starting at Mach 3 and falling from 85,000 feet. Skunk Works engineers estimated that it would have 1,000,000 ft-lbs of energy on impact and make a 130 ft deep crater.

Of course, the concrete bombs are not starting quite so fast or high. However, 2,000 pounds of anything starting at high subsonic speeds and falling 10,000 feet or more can't be too healthy for anything underneath. At minimum, it should score quite well on the Cooper Short Form. ;)

In addition, you might like to know that the average naval shell has very little explosive per its overall weight. Just for emphasis, let's look at the 16" Mark VII rifles of the remothballed Iowa-class battleships. The 2,700lb Mk 8 Mod 0 AP projectile had only 41 lbs of Explosive D (ammonium picrate). Even the so-called High Capacity projectile (Mk 13 Mod 0) had only 153lbs of Explosive D contributing to its 1900lb overall weight. Yet the historical record doesn't show anyone receiving fire-support from the USS Iowa and its sisters complaining about the terminal ballistics.
 
Well, next thing you know they'll be dropping Trojan Rabbits, or cows, or pigs

How's that for "Something completely different?"

BTW, speaking of cows, something like that did happen out in the pacific. A transport plane developed some engine trouble, and in order to make it to the nearest landing strip, they had to dump the cargo overboard. One fishing boat had the misfortune of being right in the path of one of the falling cows. The boat was obliterated.

Getting back to the subject of kinetic energy weapons, during the Reagan years, a space-based weapons-system called High Frontier was being developed as an alternative to nuclear warfare. It used satellites/space stations armed with rockets carrying solid (usually depleted uranium) rods as its warhead. When subjected to that kind of speed, those rods could totally FUBAR any ground based target--runways, bunkers, etc.

jth

"Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!"

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Exodus 22:2 -- Biblical precedent for home defense.
 
Next thing ya know, we'll be patrolling the no-fly zones with coconut-laden swallows...

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"America needs additional gun laws like a giraffe needs snow tires."
--Rabbi Mermelstein, JPFO
 
Would that be African or European Swallows?

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John/az

"The middle of the road between the extremes of good and evil, is evil. When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..." RKBA!
 
Reply ro John/az2:

European swallows--African Swallows are non-migratory.



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Exodus 22:2 -- Biblical precedent for home defense.
 
Since Australia is generally plagued by rabbits, may I suggest dropping some of the more Ferocious variety with the large gnashing teeth on thy enemies !

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"The Gun from Down Under !"
http://www.para1911fanclub.w3.to/
Alternate E-mail
HS2000@ausi.com
 
That rabbit's dynamite! :-)

Geez, the thought of laser-guided precision chunks of CONCRETE... <sigh>

I suppose our cruise missile inventory really *is* low.

Ni!
 
I guess my gripe is that we're risking million dollar pilots and multi-million dollar planes to drop the laser-guided equivalent of cinder blocks because some tin-pot dictator yelled about civilian casualties -- AND WE LISTEN TO THE JERK and put our people at a greater risk. I'll bet they're not firing cement AAA and missiles at us. Wasn't this the guy who moved civilians around critical targets during the Gulf War? Sheesh!

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If you can't fight City Hall, at least defecate on the steps.
 
They should drop some of the guys at my gun club on those targets. The ones that shoot Colt .45's all seem to weigh 400 lbs, have beards and talk like John Wayne. Their Kinetic energy on impact would be awesome and when they fart its like Hiroshima all over again,

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Mike H
 
Mike H,

Where should I send the bill for my new monitor? Coke is damn hard to clean off of glass, especially when it's embedded due to high-velocity spewage. :)

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"America needs additional gun laws like a giraffe needs snow tires."
--Rabbi Mermelstein, JPFO
 
I'm around 300 (but I've squatted 650, dammit ;) ) with a beard and long hair--does that mean I need a .45? I was gonna make my first handgun a Ruger revolver but I'm flexible. :)

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Don

"Its not criminals that go into schools and shoot children"
--Ann Pearston, British Gun Control apologist and moron
 
Sorry about that monitor Coinneach.

They say that people have dogs that fit their own personality, I'm working on the definitive list for handgun owners.

Colt 1911/Commander - 300 lbs plus, beard, gas that qualifies as chemical warfare outside of Kentucky, other questionable personal habits.

Sig Sauer - smartly dressed, intelligent, witty, charming, good shot (I have a P228)

Glock - Wears womens underwear and cheap cologne, lives in trailer, thinks cunnilingus is a pop group.

Hey just kidding guys, honest.

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Mike H
 
Colt 1911/Commander - 300 lbs plus, beard, gas that qualifies as chemical warfare outside of Kentucky, other questionable personal habits.

Well... I'm 205, but otherwise, that's about right. :D


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"America needs additional gun laws like a giraffe needs snow tires."
--Rabbi Mermelstein, JPFO
 
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