Quick Questions and Answers on the War

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | April 9, 2003 | The Associated Press

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

Questions and answers about the war:

Q. Why does the American flag patch on military fatigues appear "backward," with the blue field on the right?

A. The flag patch on the right sleeve of uniforms is referred to as the "reversed field" patch. It's intended to look as though the flag is blowing in a wind caused by the person's forward movement. The reversed field flag also appears on the right side of vehicles and planes, including Air Force One.

Q. What is the Baath Party?

A. Saddam Hussein's Baath Party traces its origins to the Baath (Renaissance) Party formed in the 1940s in Syria. The founding ideas of the party included Arab nationalism, socialism and overcoming class divisions. Baath parties exist in several Mideast nations, and have ruled in Syria and Iraq.

Q. What do coalition troops do with captured Iraqi weapons and ammunition?

A. Coalition troops generally destroy weapons and ammunition they recover.

Q. Do British soldiers eat the same MREs (meals ready to eat) as American troops?

A. British forces have their own Operational Ration Packs, containing such dishes as bacon and beans and Lancashire hot pot, a mix of mutton, potatoes and vegetables. Because of supply problems in Iraq, the British have sometimes also used American rations.

---

Send questions to warquestions@ap.org. Questions can be answered only through this column.

---

Associated Press researchers Monika Mathur, Barbara Sambriski and Julie Reed contributed to this report.

[Willie Green]

Related thread: Quick Questions and Answers on the War (Sunday March 30, 2003)

[Support Free Republic]

Do You Think He Wants You To Donate To Free Republic?
	Tick him off. Donate Here By Secure Server Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD

[archy]

Q. Do British soldiers eat the same MREs (meals ready to eat) as American troops?

A. British forces have their own Operational Ration Packs, containing such dishes as bacon and beans and Lancashire hot pot, a mix of mutton, potatoes and vegetables. Because of supply problems in Iraq, the British have sometimes also used American rations.

The poor Brits. This only increases my admiration of their endurance and ability to carry on despite their suffering.

Long live the compo ration!

A Royal Marine prepares a meal from compo rations.

[ClearCase_guy]

A. Saddam Hussein's Baath Party traces its origins to the Baath (Renaissance) Party formed in the 1940s in Syria. The founding ideas of the party included Arab nationalism, socialism and overcoming class divisions. Baath parties exist in several Mideast nations, and have ruled in Syria and Iraq.

Well, they mentioned socialism and that's good. But, isn't there a rather explicit Nazi tie as well? It would be beautiful to tie Nazism-Socialism-Saddamism together and then have the Leftwing explain why Castro is a good guy.

[Kadric]

"Well, they mentioned socialism and that's good. But, isn't there a rather explicit Nazi tie as well? It would be beautiful to tie Nazism-Socialism-Saddamism together and then have the Leftwing explain why Castro is a good guy."

The NAZI party was socialist. I get a laugh from this due to the left always trying to claim the NAZI were rightwing radicals run wild, while it is a matter of history that in truth they were the normal progress of socialism.

National Socialism (Nazi Party)

German nationalist movement led by Adolf Hitler. Hitler's party was founded at Munich by Drexler in 1919 as the German Labour party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, hence the popular contraction 'Nazis'). In 1920 the party adopted a programme the chief aims of which included the union of all Germans, abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles, persons of Aryan blood only to be members of the nation, foreign nationals to be excluded from Germany, nationalisation of trusts, substitution of German for Roman law, nationalist education, and improvement of the nation's physique.

[the_doc]

Saddam's uncle was, I believe, a prominent Arab Nazi. I waw this somewhere on FR.

Kadric is correct in pointing out that the political continuum which calls Communists "left-wing" and Nazis "right-wing" is just a very nasty lie.

[ClearCase_guy]

Yes, I agree. I think anyone who pays attention to the Nazis realize that they were full socialists. Pretty silly to call themselves socialist if they really weren't. And I do recall hearing that Saddam had (at least one) Nazi in his family past. But I was hoping for an confirmed organizational link between an Arab Nazi group and the Arab Socialist Baath party. Because the left needs to learn that they supported the Nazis last time, and they are supporting the Nazis this time.

[Kadric]

What difference would it make to the left? They refuse to even admit that the NAZI party was of their political philosophy, so by elimination they do not support the NAZI. (Anyway it was the US/right that armed him./sarcasm).