America Is Great Because America Is Good ™

March 3, 2015

The Pentagon has announced that depleted uranium (DU) munitions have not, and will not, be used by US aircraft in the conflict against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The policy U-turn contrasts with statements made over previous months, where Pentagon officials claimed that DU would be used if needed; the decision reflects a growing stigmatisation of the controversial weapons.

  International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons

21 October 2016

The US has finally confirmed that it has fired DU ammunition [in] Syria. [...] US Central Command (CENTCOM) has acknowledged that DU was fired on two dates - the 18 and 23 November 2015. Between the strikes on the two dates, 5,100 rounds of 30mm DU ammunition were used by A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft. This equates to 1,524kg of DU.

[...]

The US has long been conscious of the stigmatisation of the use of DU weapons. As far back as 1991 the US military were advised that: “...fielding and combat activities [with DU] present the potential for adverse international reaction.” It was therefore predictable that Russian state media quickly highlighted news that DU had been used in Syria, with Russia’s embassies in Paris, Ottawa and London tweeting the news, as Russia sought to draw attention away from its own conduct in the conflict.

  International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons

Stigma. International disapproval. Is that all?

Fallujah, Iraq - Contamination from Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions and other military-related pollution is suspected of causing a sharp rises in congenital birth defects, cancer cases, and other illnesses throughout much of Iraq.

[...]

During 2004, the US military carried out two massive military sieges of the city of Fallujah, using large quantities of DU ammunition, as well as white phosphorous.

[...]

Many prominent doctors and scientists contend that DU contamination is also connected to the recent emergence of diseases that were not previously seen in Iraq, such as new illnesses in the kidney, lungs, and liver, as well as total immune system collapse. DU contamination may also be connected to the steep rise in leukaemia, renal, and anaemia cases, especially among children, being reported throughout many Iraqi governorates.

[...]

Doctors in Fallujah are continuing to witness the aforementioned steep rise in severe congenital birth defects, including children being born with two heads, children born with only one eye, multiple tumours, disfiguring facial and body deformities, and complex nervous system problems.

Today in Fallujah, residents are reporting to Al Jazeera that many families are too scared to have children, as an alarming number of women are experiencing consecutive miscarriages and deaths with critically deformed and ill newborns.

  Alternet

And what does the US military say about health risks from DU? Let's have a look at its fact sheet.

Depleted uranium is a heavy metal that is also slightly radioactive. Heavy metals (uranium, lead, tungsten, etc.) have chemical toxicity properties that, in high doses, can cause adverse health effects. Depleted uranium that remains outside the body can not harm you.

A common misconception is that radiation is depleted uranium's primary hazard. This is not the case under most battlefield exposure scenarios. Depleted uranium is approximately 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium. Depleted uranium emits alpha and beta particles, and gamma rays. Alpha particles, the primary radiation type produced by depleted uranium, are blocked by skin, while beta particles are blocked by the boots and battle dress utility uniform (BDUs) typically worn by service members. While gamma rays are a form of highly-penetrating energy , the amount of gamma radiation emitted by depleted uranium is very low.

[...]

Taken into the body via metal fragments or dust-like particles, depleted uranium may pose a long-term health hazard to personnel if the amount is large. However, the amount which remains in the body depends on a number of factors, including the amount inhaled or ingested, the particle size and the ability of the particles to dissolve in body fluids.

[...]

The health effects of uranium have been studied extensively for over 50 years. In September 1999 the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry published a Toxicological Profile for Uranium, an update to the original profile published in May 1989. While natural and depleted uranium are considered chemically toxic, they are not considered a radiation hazard.

[...]

The environmental effects of depleted uranium have been studied comprehensively by a wide range of governmental and non-governmental bodies both before and after the Gulf War. Burn tests and other evaluations performed under simulated battlefield conditions indicated that the health risks associated with the battlefield use of depleted uranium were minimal and even those could be reduced even more by simple, field-expedient measures, especially, avoidance of depleted uranium-contaminated vehicles and sites. During and after the Gulf War, personnel awareness of the hazards posed by battlefield depleted uranium contamination was generally low. As a result, many personnel did not practice field-expedient measures that would have prevented or mitigated possible exposures.

The two main areas that were not adequately addressed before the Gulf War were:

The medical implications of embedded fragments and
Exposure estimates for friendly fire incidents, recovery activities, and incidental contact scenarios.

[...]

Because of gaps in data pertaining to uranium oxide dust levels inside DU-struck vehicles, exposure estimates for personnel inside DU-struck vehicles at the time of impact, or immediately afterwards, were based on conservative assumptions. These estimates for this highest exposed group indicated that medical follow-up was warranted. [...] Aside from the problems associated with their traumatic injuries, to date, this follow-up program has attributed no illness or other harmful effects in the evaluated veterans to DU.

[...]

Civilians and soldiers are strongly discouraged from recovering souvenirs from the battlefield or climbing on or around damaged equipment.

[...]

Depleted uranium emits alpha and beta particles, and gamma rays. Alpha particles, the primary radiation type produced by depleted uranium, are blocked by skin, while beta particles are blocked by the boots and battle dress utility uniform (BDUs) typically worn by service members.

  US Military Fact Sheet on Depleted Uranium

Iraqi children and pregnant women should be wearing battle dress utility uniforms. Their own fault.

That one sentence about civilians and soldiers being "strongly discouraged" from messing with anything that's been hit with DU munitions is the only reference to civilians in the entire fact sheet.

We have weapons of mass destruction, and we're not afraid to use them.

It's a Good Thing We Got Rid of Saddam Hussein, Eh?

"If a new war in Iraq seems fraught with danger and uncertainty, just wait for the peace."
    - Roger Morris, NYT OpEd, March 14, 2003

They came in groups, or individually, to the still-smoldering wreckage that was, just a few days ago, a busy stretch of road in the Baghdad neighborhood of Karrada. As they approached the charred skeletons that line the street, their faces go slack with shock.

[...]

Police say that of the bodies they've recovered, 81 are so badly burned they're simply beyond recognition. The only way to make a positive identification will be through DNA testing. And they're not just finding bodies.

[...]

So you have the authorities in possession of dozens of unrecognizable bodies, and hundreds, perhaps thousands of Baghdad residents searching for loved ones who, for all intents and purposes, disappeared off the face of the earth without a trace Saturday night.

[...]

One volunteer who was carrying away the dead said the floor in some of the shops was thick with what he called "melted bodies."

[...]

This carnage was the latest blow to Baghdad by the so-called Islamic State. In the statement the group issued claiming responsibility for the attack, it vowed the attacks would continue.

[...]

For weeks, officials in Baghdad have insisted that once the ISIS-stronghold of Falluja fell to the government, such bombings would become a thing of the past. Intelligence officials have long believed that many of the car bombs and suicide bombers plaguing the capital came from that city, just an hour's drive away.

[...]

When Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi came to the scene of the blast Sunday morning, he soon had to flee, his entourage pelted with stones, bottles, shoes and insults.

"Where is the interior minister?" demanded an elderly woman. "Where is the defense minister? Are they asleep?"

"We have no government," shouted a man nearby. "It's useless!"

[...]

As of Tuesday night, the death toll stood at 250, making it the single deadliest attack since 2003.

[...]

On Tuesday, Interior Minister Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban submitted his resignation, citing what he said was a lack of "coordination among security systems."

  CNN

Falluja Situation Is Becoming Even More Dire

Several Iraqi civilians fleeing fighting in the city of Fallujah have drowned in the Euphrates River while attempting to cross to safety into government-controlled areas.

Thousands of civilians are caught in the crossfire in and around Fallujah, controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) group, as government forces and allied militias are trying to recapture the city.

[...]

There are up 50,000 people still stuck in the centre of Fallujah struggling with dwindling water and food supplies.

No aid has reached Fallujah since September last year and residents have been living on dates, dirty water from the Euphrates river and animal feed, aid groups said.

  alJazeera

Poor Falluja

Al Jazeera is certain we have forgotten about Falluja, so explains to us where it is. They are probably right.

The United Nations and humanitarian organisations are concerned over the fate of some 50,000 civilians trapped in Fallujah, a town situated west of Baghdad and the site of an Iraqi army offensive.

[...]

Fallujah became in January 2014 the first Iraqi city to be captured by ISIL, six months before the group declared its caliphate.

The city on the Euphrates River had a prewar population of about 300,000. Known as the City of Minarets and Mother of Mosques, it was badly damaged in two assaults by the US army against suspected al-Qaeda fighters in 2004.

  alJazeera

If you need a reminder, I have a whole blog on Falluja from that time.

"People basically are surviving on dried dates and water from the river," Abdulla said. "The only things these families managed to take with them were the clothes they're wearing and their IDs."

Abdulla explained that the few families who did escape the town in Anbar province had to traverse around 30km by foot and pass numerous checkpoints in order to reach safety.

Although the offensive was launched on Monday, Iraqi government forces have besieged the city and its suburbs for several months now, resulting in shortages of food and medicines.

The Pressure Is On

We've obviously bombed the wrong hospital this time. This one wasn't run by natives or Islamic charities like the one we decimated in Falluja.  ("At least four were hit recently in Iraq. U.S. bombs had also struck hospitals in Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Iraq in the 1990s. [...] In George W. Bush’s war on Afghanistan, 2001-2002, bombs struck hospitals in Herat, Kabul, and Kandahar; some reports placed the death toll in the hundreds." - May 2003 Source.  Bombing hospitals is a New War tactic also used by Israel and by Assad in Syria. It's also in direct violation of the Geneva conventions, not to mention utterly immoral and reprehensible.)

Dismissal of this latest hospital bombing as "collateral damage" didn't satisfy Doctors Without Borders (MSF).  Nor did "there were terrorists being harbored there" nor "terrorists were firing on US forces from there."  We're down to "it's the Afghan military's fault."

Local Afghan forces asked for air support and American forces were not under direct fire just prior to the U.S. bombardment of an Afghan hospital that killed at least 22 people, the coalition's top commander in Afghanistan said Monday.

The Pentagon had previously said U.S. troops were under direct fire.

"I've ordered a thorough investigation into this tragic incident and the investigation is ongoing," U.S. Army Gen. John Campbell said. "The Afghans ordered the same. If errors were committed we'll acknowledge them. We'll hold those responsible accountable and we will take steps to ensure mistakes are not repeated."

[...]

Military officials told NBC News over the weekend that Afghans cannot call in airstrikes — that they do not have the training. However, they can report to the U.S. and coalition that they are under fire from a location and the U.S. or coalition partners there can call it in. Officials said the U.S. would not strike without target verification first.

[...]

It isn't clear how the Afghans asked for air support, but Campbell seemed to suggest both of those policies were violated.

A preliminary report into the bombing should be ready "in the next couple of days," he added.

  NBC

And the whole world will be waiting.

UPDATE:  12:30pm

The U.S. seems to have picked the wrong group this time to attack from the air.

  Glenn Greenwald

October 05, 2015 "Today the US government has admitted that it was their airstrike that hit our hospital in Kunduz and killed 22 patients and MSF staff. Their description of the attack keeps changing—from collateral damage, to a tragic incident, to now attempting to pass responsibility to the Afghanistan government. The reality is the US dropped those bombs. The US hit a huge hospital full of wounded patients and MSF staff. The US military remains responsible for the targets it hits, even though it is part of a coalition. There can be no justification for this horrible attack. With such constant discrepancies in the US and Afghan accounts of what happened, the need for a full transparent independent investigation is ever more critical."

—Christopher Stokes, General Director, Médecins Sans Frontières

  Doctors without Borders

American Sniper

Here's an account from a soldier who served with Chris Kyle, the "hero" of American Sniper. http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/American-Sniper-20150110-0019.html

Creation of the Monster: It's STILL About the Oil

According to a little-known November report for the US Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) and Strategic Studies Department, Dividing Our Enemies, post-invasion Iraq was “an interesting case study of fanning discontent among enemies, leading to ‘red-against-red’ [enemy-against-enemy] firefights.”

The US military operation in Fallujah, largely justified on the claim that Zarqawi’s militant forces had occupied the city, used white phosphorous, cluster bombs, and indiscriminate air strikes to pulverise 36,000 of Fallujah’s 50,000 homes, killing nearly a thousand civilians, terrorising 300,000 inhabitants to flee, and culminating in a disproportionate increase in birth defects, cancer and infant mortality due to the devastating environmental consequences of the war.

[...]

”[T]his underside of the counterinsurgency coin is calculated to exploit or create divisions among adversaries for the purpose of fomenting enemy-on-enemy deadly encounters.”

The JSOU report referred to events in late 2004 in Fallujah where “US psychological warfare (PSYOP) specialists” undertook to “set insurgents battling insurgents.” This involved actually promoting Zarqawi’s ideology, ironically, to defeat it: “The PSYOP warriors crafted programs to exploit Zarqawi’s murderous activities – and to disseminate them through meetings, radio and television broadcasts, handouts, newspaper stories, political cartoons, and posters – thereby diminishing his folk-hero image,” and encouraging the different factions to pick each other off. “By tapping into the Fallujans’ revulsion and antagonism to the Zarqawi jihadis the Joint PSYOP Task Force did its ‘best to foster a rift between Sunni groups.’”

[...]

To this day, Fallujah has suffered from being largely cut-off from wider Iraq, its infrastructure largely unworkable with water and sewage systems still in disrepair, and its citizens subject to sectarian discrimination and persecution by Iraqi government backed Shi’a militia and police. “Thousands of bereaved and homeless Falluja families have a new reason to hate the US and its allies,” observed The Guardian in 2005. Thus, did the US occupation plant the seeds from which Zarqawi’s legacy would coalesce into the Frankenstein monster that calls itself “the Islamic State.”

[...]

Leaked emails from the private intelligence firm Stratfor, including notes from a meeting with Pentagon officials, confirmed that as of 2011, US and UK special forces training of Syrian opposition forces was well underway. The goal was to elicit the “collapse” of Assad’s regime “from within.”

[...]

The empowerment of the Islamist factions within the ‘Free Syrian Army’ (FSA) was a foregone conclusion of the strategy.

  MintPress News

Beyond the chaos that could have been (and no doubt was) foreseen in this strategy, according to this article…

The State Department even hired an al-Qaeda affiliated Libyan militia group to provide security for the US embassy in Benghazi – although they had links with the very people that attacked the embassy.

Last year, CNN confirmed that CIA officials operating secretly out of the Benghazi embassy were being forced to take extra polygraph tests to keep under wraps what US Congressman suspect was a covert operation “to move surface-to-air missiles out of Libya, through Turkey, and into the hands of Syrian rebels.”

[...]

CIA operatives along with Israeli and Jordanian commandos were also training FSA rebels on the Jordanian-Syrian border with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. In addition, other reports show that British and French military were also involved in these secret training programmes. It appears that the same FSA rebels receiving this elite training went straight into ISIS.

[...]

Classified assessments of the military assistance supplied by US allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar obtained by the New York Times showed that “most of the arms shipped at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply Syrian rebel groups… are going to hardline Islamic jihadists, and not the more secular opposition groups that the West wants to bolster.”

[...]

In August, Debkafile [an Israeli military intelligence website] reported that “The US, Jordan and Israel are quietly backing the mixed bag of some 30 Syrian rebel factions”, some of which had just “seized control of the Syrian side of the Quneitra crossing, the only transit point between Israeli and Syrian Golan.” However, Debkafile noted, “al-Qaeda elements have permeated all those factions.” Israel has provided limited support to these rebels in the form of “medical care,” as well as “arms, intelligence and food.

[...]

This support also went to ISIS.

[...]

In mid-2013, the Obama administration intensified its support to the rebels with a new classified executive order reversing its previous policy limiting US direct support to only nonlethal equipment. As before, the order would aim to supply weapons strictly to “moderate” forces in the FSA [Free Syrian Army].

As if anyone actually believes that to be possible.

The US government keeps track of rebels receiving assistance purely through “handwritten receipts provided by rebel commanders in the field,” and the judgement of its allies.

[...]

[P]rivately, Pentagon officials estimate that “more than 50%” of the FSA is comprised of Islamist extremists, and according to rebel sources neither FSA chief Gen Salim Idris nor his senior aides engage in much vetting, decisions about which are made typically by local commanders.

And, IS now has control over some oil fields in Iraq and is selling it through Turkey, and reportedly, Kurdistan. And, before you make a joke about how we will soon be buying oil from IS, it’s no joke.

Early last month, a tanker carrying over a million barrels in crude oil from northern Iraq’s Kurdish region arrived at the Texas Gulf of Mexico. The oil had been refined in the Iraqi Kurdish region before being pumped through a new pipeline from the KRG area ending up at Ceyhan, Turkey, where it was then loaded onto the tanker for shipping to the US. Baghdad’s efforts to stop the oil sale on the basis of its having national jurisdiction were rebuffed by American courts.

In early September, the European Union’s ambassador to Iraq, Jana Hybášková, told the EU Foreign Affairs Committee that “several EU member states have bought oil from the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorist organisation that has been brutally conquering large portions of Iraq and Syria,” according to Israel National News. She however “refused to divulge the names of the countries despite being asked numerous times.”

[...]

In May, Reuters revealed that Israeli and US oil refineries had been regularly purchasing and importing KRG’s disputed oil.

Yes, ExxonMobil and Chevron have been drilling under KRG contracts.

No wonder Steve Coll writes in the New Yorker that Obama’s air strikes and arms supplies to the Kurds – notably not to Baghdad – effectively amount to “the defense of an undeclared Kurdish oil state whose sources of geopolitical appeal – as a long-term, non-Russian supplier of oil and gas to Europe, for example – are best not spoken of in polite or naïve company.”

[...]

White House officials now estimate that the fight against the region’s ‘Islamic State’ will last years, and may outlive the Obama administration.

How very lucky for the US “defense” industry.

Of course, that assumes no nuclear holocaust, which may not be a well-founded assumption.

But this ‘long war’ vision goes back to nebulous ideas formally presented [in 1996] by late RAND Corp analyst Laurent Muraweic before the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board at the invitation of then chairman Richard Perle. That presentation described Iraq as a “tactical pivot” by which to transform the wider Middle East.

[...]

The 2002 Perle-RAND plan was active in the Bush administration’s strategic thinking on Iraq shortly before the 2003 war.

Yes, the Project for a New American Century. We haven’t forgotten.

The policy paper advocated a strategy that bears startling resemblance to the chaos unfolding in the wake of the expansion of the ‘Islamic State’ – Israel would “shape its strategic environment” by first securing the removal of Saddam Hussein. “Jordan and Turkey would form an axis along with Israel to weaken and ‘roll back’ Syria.” This axis would attempt to weaken the influence of Lebanon, Syria and Iran by “weaning” off their Shi’ite populations.

[...]

In 2008, the strategy re-surfaced – once again via RAND Corp – through a report funded by the US Army Training and Doctrine Command on how to prosecute the ‘long war.’

[...]

One way or another, some semblance of this plan is in motion.

Right on target.

More and more it looks like the "election" of Barack Obama was just part of the plan...who could they put in place to pacify the growing liberal resistance to Bush but who would in actuality speed the Project on its way?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Iraq's Too Hard; Let's Try Syria

The strikes in Syria begin after six weeks of U.S. airstrikes have failed to significantly alter the landscape in Iraq, where the Islamic State has claimed vast swaths of territory. On Monday, reports emerged that dozens and potentially hundreds of Iraqi soldiers had been killed after militants overran a base north of Fallujah. An Iraqi lawmaker told The New York Times more than 300 soldiers died after the loss of Camp Saqlawiya.

  Democracy Now!

Reminds me of the old joke about looking for something lost in a place remote from the area where it was lost because it’s dark there and there’s light where the search is being conducted. Although, joke aside, are we counting on Assad’s army being the difference between success and similar Iraqi-style failure in Syria?

Wait - I forgot for a second...we want things to go the way they are going.  War is good for business.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

P.S.  Falluja still exists.

Back in Falluja

Iraqi militants have captured a dam just south of the city of Fallujah, in order to strategically flood selected parts of the valley and stall the advance of security forces, which have been shelling the city since its seizure by insurgents last year.

One week ago, militants with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) flooded the area around the city with the waters of the Euphrates by closing all of the dam’s 10 gates to stop the government forces’ siege of Fallujah.

  RT

Falluja: SNAFU

Fierce fighting between Iraqi forces and rebel groups including al-Qaida was reported near Falluja on Tuesday, 24 hours after the US agreed to speed up arms sales to the government in Baghdad.

[...]

The US announced on Monday it is to accelerate military sales to Iraq, including 10 ScanEagle drones and 48 Raven drones. It said the drones were purely for surveillance. A consignment of 75 Hellfire missiles arrived in Iraq last week.

[...]

Security officials and tribal leaders said Maliki had agreed to hold off an offensive to give people in Falluja time to push the militants out. But it is not clear how long they have before troops storm the town.

"We've done our part of the deal. Now they [tribal leaders] should do theirs. If not, a quick offensive is coming," an Iraqi special forces officer told Reuters.

Iraq's US-equipped armed forces have killed dozens of militants in recent days in shelling and air strikes, officials say. The scale of casualties among civilians, security forces and tribal fighters is not clear.

[...]

Intelligence estimates put membership of al-Qaida in Iraq at 3,000, up from 1,000 in 2011.

Joshi warned that al-Qaida was only one element in a coalition of groups opposed to the Maliki government. "What we are seeing in Anbar is bigger than just al-Qaida. What were are seeing includes a protest movement and armed tribes."

[...]

The US Congress is blocking the sale of Apache helicopter gunships to the Iraqi government amid concerns they might be used for sectarian repression, but the White House, worried about al-Qaida, backs the sale.

[...]

"No outside power can change the situation. Given Iraq's current political divisions and leadership, the most the US and other outside states can do is choose between bad alternatives and pursue the least bad options.”

  Guardian

Meanwhile in Liberated Iraq

Thousands of Sunni protesters have gathered for protests in Iraq's Anbar province, complaining of marginalisation by the Shia-led government.

[...]

Tribal leaders and political activists had called for protests in Fallujah in solidarity with seven young men killed in clashes between government forces and protesters in the city last week.

[...]

Meanwhile, an al-Qaeda-affiliated group called on Sunnis to take up arms against the government.

  alJazeera

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Homs

Here in Munich, I have had productive discussions with a number of my counterparts concerning a list of critical issues. One that kept coming up is the ongoing violence in Syria. As a bankrupt regime clings to power by shelling its own people in their homes, we have seen a living nightmare play out in the city of Homs.

  February 4 statement of StateSec Hillary Clinton

[February 12] In Homs, shelling had eased during Saturday night and Sunday morning before Assad's forces renewed their rocket barrages.

[...]

Sporadic rocket and gunfire broke a respite in Syrian government attacks on opposition-held districts of Homs city on Sunday as Arab League officials in Cairo discussed ways to halt the crackdown and shift President Bashar al-Assad from power.

The activist Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people were [...]killed in Baba Amro on Sunday morning and at least 34 rockets had rained down on the neighborhood.

Earlier, traumatized residents had straggled from their homes after Syrian forces eased a week-long bombardment that has killed hundreds and caused a humanitarian crisis.

A few families were allowed to leave mostly Sunni Muslim opposition districts where people had been trapped indoors for days by relentless artillery and sniper fire, residents said.

  Reuters

It sounds somewhat like what we did to Falluja, doesn’t it?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Fallujah

Apparently, they're sorry to see us leave.

Source

And President #Compromise welcomes home some troops…

“Never forget that you are part of an unbroken line of heroes spanning two centuries -- from the colonists who overthrew an empire, to your grandparents and parents who faced down fascism and communism, to you -- men and women who fought for the same principles in Fallujah and Kandahar, and delivered justice to those who attacked us on 9/11.

[...]

“That’s part of what makes us special as Americans. Unlike the old empires, we don’t make these sacrifices for territory or for resources. We do it because it’s right. There can be no fuller expression of America’s support for self-determination than our leaving Iraq to its people. That says something about who we are.

[...]

“And make no mistake -- as we go forward as a nation, we are going to keep America’s armed forces the strongest fighting force the world has ever seen.” And they’ve seen it a lot.

  WIIIAI

Indeed they have. Indeed they have.