This is just... Shit.

Bloody hell. So now the *Red Cross* (or Red Crescent, as it is known in the Muslim world) has been targetted in Baghdad.

Implications and possible reasons

This is just going straight to hell, isn't it? If the Red Cross leaves - who pride themselves on being the last to leave and the first to arrive in any sort of conflict - it's just so, so not good. Aid to the ordinary Iraqis will diminish, said ordinary Iraqis will become more and more frustrated and probably blame the Americans, anger will be fuelled, maybe some of them will think it was better under Saddam.... This is just going straight to hell. It may be possible to save it yet, of course, but the more the security situation deteriorates, the worse it will be to 'fix it'.

And Mr Bush declared in *March* that this war was won. Yeah, I can see that. I cannot help but think that the Bush administration, in their great hurry to get to war just did not plan too well for the peace to come after. Not to mention that we have still not seen the great stockpiles of WMDs that the US claimed made Iraq a threat - nor have any real links to Al Queda been proven. As one commentator in Norway said it: "Iraq is now a battleground for the war on terror. Not because the muslim fundamentalists chose it, but because the US chose it. And the fundamentalists came." (My translation)

And of course, the real victims of all this are the Iraqis themselves, who have suffered the highest death toll (even more so if you add the civilian death toll from the war itself). They deserve so much better.

But quite frankly, so do a lot of people. I sometimes wonder with all the 'give money to Iraq' that we're forgetting that others need help and aid just as much? Shall we just forget them? Have we already forgotten them?

I fear for the future.

Oh yes, the meme thing...

Here's the answer:

I was born during an Olympic women's cross country skiing relay event.

True. The reason why this is remembered, is that my dad was waiting in the waiting rooms, and was very peeved that the smokers's waiting room only had a black-and-white television. Poor dad.

My father once publically declared that his only disappointment concerning me was that I don't smoke.

True. He said this to a national newspaper. I was quite anti-smoking when I was young - even used to break mum and dad's sigarettes and flush them down the toilet.

I almost drowned when I was three and have had an unatural fear of sticking my head under water ever since.

True. I'm fairly good at fighting it these days, though.

I was voted 'Most Likely to be elected President' in school.

False, for two reasons. 1) Norway has no president (Norway *needs* no President) and 2) We don't do the whole 'most likely to' voting in schools.

I once joined a Bible study group and stayed for a year.

True. I know, shocking, innit? I also went to Sunday school when I was around 7 or 8, out of my own free will. My parents were quite horrified.

Good news: I got myself RotK tickets for the 17th, the 9 a.m. showing.