Comments on: Gulf War 2

Gulf War 2

samelborp — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:07:23 -0800

Not really a game, but is scary/funny: This is a projection of the most likely outcome of a new war in the Gulf. I used sophisticated temporal algorithms and historical semiotic analysis to achieve an accuracy rating of 99.999%. It's the mother of all Flash games.

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:19:18 -0800

Wow... Twisted.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:30:20 -0800

I was actually just about to post this, but was put off by the new WARNING on the Post a Link page. When I went back to the front page, here it was. Now that samelborp has bitten the bullet, my question was, does this really provide a service in showing in a very visual way how unintended consequences might crop up, or is it just a fancy way of dressing up someone's paranoid predictions?

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:32:41 -0800

Anyone notice how in this little animation Iraq did have WMD (and therefore the US/UN had justification)? No offence to the author but that's kind of self defeating...

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:37:09 -0800

Lots of countries have WMD, and bad people running them. George Bush is going to have to do better than that in the minds of the rest of the world to justify his little adventures.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:40:27 -0800

I'm kind of annoyed it's not actually a game. It had such great graphics; I thought it was gonna be like a mini "Axis & Allies" thing. Overall, it's a cute alternative to the usual blog entires about everyone's worst-case scenario predictions.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:44:57 -0800

It'd be nice if this kind of thing had some real-world references. Its entertaining and all, but is it any different than some pundit rattling off chicken-little prophecy?

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:45:10 -0800

That was a well-plotted piece of non-claptrap that never made me want to retch. Retch my pancakes, of course. The pancakes that I love so dearly. Seriously, haven't we seen every idea in this 6.02*10^23 times before in Guardian editorials? Some people think a war is justified, and others don't. The ones who disagree with me are poopyheads who are either stoopid l00sers or wilfully evil. Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others! That's what I say.

By: Hildago

Hildago — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:55:34 -0800

Anyone notice how in this little animation Iraq did have WMD (and therefore the US/UN had justification)? No offence to the author but that's kind of self defeating... I think the point is that it's not really justified if the consequences are that terrible.

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:02:01 -0800

Hildago: Remember the Iraqi Republican Guards? Remember how everyone thought they were going to put up a helluva fight and introduce the US to true desert warfare and make it a really tough battle? Massive speculation like this is just that. Massive speculation. A animation showing the war over in 2 weeks with little fighting and no flare ups would probably be just as accurate at the moment.

By: sebas

sebas — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:02:40 -0800

I was annoyed it wasn't a game as well. I was already moving my Kurds in position (always wanted to say), when the game started to play for itself. What fun is a war if you can't even influence it?

By: konolia

konolia — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:13:05 -0800

Colin Powell is on tv (3:02 eastern time) with the reaction to the weapons inspectors' report. He says time is running out. You can take your best guess as to what that means. I don't feel good about it.

By: cadastral

cadastral — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:34:01 -0800

Slippery-slope fantasy with loads of unproductive conjecture. (I loved it)

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:38:04 -0800

What fun is a war if you can't even influence it? Exactly.

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:38:52 -0800

I'm kind of annoyed it's not actually a game. With all the advisors popping up, I thought I was playing SimWorld 2003 Unlimited.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:45:16 -0800

Its entertaining and all, but is it any different than some pundit rattling off chicken-little prophecy? Looks like you answered your own question, there.

By: PigAlien

PigAlien — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:45:29 -0800

Well, I was disappointed the author didn't have the guts to take it all the way! Why did he build up all this tension in the middle east and then stop? What about the Islamic Republic of Arabia's 5 nukes and Pakistant vs. India? I would have like to see all of those go up and then some nukes hit Europe.

By: badstone

badstone — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:50:31 -0800

I would have like to see all of those go up and then some nukes hit Europe. I was expecting the "camera angle" to begin to steadily widen myself...

By: tomplus2

tomplus2 — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:52:50 -0800

i got tired of hitting 'continue', my mouse finger hurts.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 13:18:25 -0800

What fun is a war if you can't even influence it? That would make for a funny bumper sticker, Sebas.

By: bureaustyle

bureaustyle — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 13:30:35 -0800

Very cute illustrations PigAlien you asked my question I agree the game should go "all the way" So according to this game it looks like the "nuking" will spread with Al Queda reps to London and to NYC BUT then our US power will nuke the hell out of the whole Arabian continent (mean no sign of any living being there) By that time Israel will be more or less dead too And in the end USA will emerge as the winner Can we still use the oil from radio-active territories ?

By: Skwirl

Skwirl — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 13:54:46 -0800

Most people aren't doubting that the war with Iraq will be over quickly, the question is what the costs of that war will be. Odds are pretty fucking good that Saddam will go running to save his own ass and he'll light up every oil pipe in Iraq and use every baby he can find as a human shield to cover his tracks. The fundamentalist world will blame the US for real and imagined war crimes. The scenario portrayed in the animation is exaggerated, but the moral isn't. Here's our choice America, what makes you feel less safe: A selfish sociopath with a few, and possibly none, petty weapons of "mass destruction" or several million freshly indoctrinated suicide bombers? It's called the cycle of violence, people.

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:20:48 -0800

I, for one, welcome the prospect of Judy Woodruff getting wet on national TV.

By: Berend

Berend — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:25:55 -0800

I thought the war wasn't on until February 21st?

By: Jos Bleau

Jos Bleau — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:53:26 -0800

Berend, that's gotta be about the right date. The last major unit, the 4th infantry division, is scheduled to arrive in the region on on the 14th. No word on where they'll disembark, but the best guess is Turkey. Give them a week to uncrate and check out their equipment and move to forward positions. That's the 21st. The only question is - will they wait till then to start the air war, or will they start it sooner?

By: chipr

chipr — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 15:19:32 -0800

Needs more French.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 15:57:00 -0800

In regards to "worst-case scenarios," Salon has a pretty good set of those, two of which are about the WCS for Iraq and the Middle East. (obedience to the almighty Mercedes ad required)

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 17:42:51 -0800

"Needs more French." The French were there chipr, right until the first gunshot. Then they promptly surrendered.

By: adamgreenfield

adamgreenfield — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 20:19:22 -0800

...beat me to it.

By: twine42

twine42 — Tue, 28 Jan 2003 00:36:05 -0800

According to my sources (ahem) all UK transport planes have to be services by the beginning of Feb and all special services (ie, SAS etc) by the middle of Feb. Their guess is that it will be war between 21st and 28th... probably nearer to the 21st.

By: sebas

sebas — Tue, 28 Jan 2003 00:49:50 -0800

The good thing is, you don't have to program your TiVo to record it, as we will be showed re-runs of missiles hitting bunkers at least 700 times.

By: bwerdmuller

bwerdmuller — Tue, 28 Jan 2003 02:11:00 -0800

Yeah. "Bunkers", carefully taken out with "precision bombing" by people who've grown up with "simulations" that distance themselves physically and emotionally from the "collateral damage". As entertaining as that was, I think painting the war as some kind of game is about as helpful as painting Bush as an idiot. Neither are true, and both are incredibly dangerous. How about a nice game of chess?