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| Picture Warren Clarke |
Idiot tipsy girls, overweight from their McDonald's diets and daubed in Halloween makeup, prattled on behind him. Australia had so few traditions of its own the youth were adopting customs they had seen on television. His car had broken down in Wilson Street in Newtown, leaving him stranded on the public transport system. There was much to be desired. His head swirled. Are you really from somewhere else? There were collapsing landscape and fleeting forms whenever he shut his eyes. His level of frustration was rising by the day.
How many countries is America bombing? Asked one post on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=how%20many%20countries%20is%20america%20bombing
The number turned out to be seven, according to the reporter: Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia.
And Australia, having surrendered its sovereignty to the United State, was right in there bombing away as well.
And just as in the United States, it was a war unapproved by parliament, or in their case Congress, who were never asked,
The reporter estimated the US had spent $4 trillion and killed 1.3 million people in the combat zones.
Exactly how much Australia had spent on America's wars and how many people it had been responsible for killing, the Australian public would never know.
Meanwhile, Old Alex had been harassed, bullied, threatened, intimidated and ridiculed, ceaselessly, for years on end. And the senior public servants who authorised the operations, on their million dollar salaries and suites of privileges, knew perfectly well they were targeting and encouraging to suicide someone who had a history of attempts or suicidal behaviour. Exactly how that did not breach the Public Service Act in the most grievous way, how these people maintained their jobs and were not sacked, poor Old Alex would never know.
And so he spat in their face. Or brooded out the window as the girls twittered gossip to mundane to keep track of, and he shut his eyes and the landscapes collapsed and the night fled ever darker.
THE BIGGER STORY:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/settling-in-for-long-campaign-to-free-mosul-from-islamic-state/news-story/c342010a8aea5a7254dd137750727799
David Kilcullen on Mosul
Besides their use of drones and chemical weapons, the defenders are making clever use of terrain. Mosul is bisected by the roughly north-south flow of the Tigris River. There are five bridges across the Tigris, one of which was destroyed in April by a coalition airstrike to prevent Islamic State moving supplies to the front. At least one other bridge has been damaged by airstrikes, and Islamic State fighters appear to have wired each remaining crossing point with explosives, placing a guard on each bridge and preparing to blow them up and fall back across the river as coalition forces approach.
They have also demolished key urban infrastructure including power stations and water supplies, and set fire to oil wells, a chemical plant and a sulphur mine, creating a poisonous smoke haze that has sickened ground troops and civilians and hampered coalition air operations. As assault units close in, Islamic State fighters have used smoke and the cover of darkness to pull out of outlying areas.
But far from fading away, they’ve tended to use temporary withdrawals as setups for aggressive counter-attacks, often launching multiple suicide truck bombs at once, working around the flanks and rear of attackers to strike headquarters or reserves. Ground that was cleared is often reinfiltrated by snipers who target advancing troops. Inside the city, the defenders have wired buildings with massive IEDs and laid deep minefield belts to channel the assault into prepared killing areas.
There are also substantial Islamic State forces outside Mosul, as shown by determined counter-attacks at Kirkuk and Rutbah over the past two weeks.
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