Santa visits some interesting places

December 24, 2007 12:19 PM

Ho, ho, ho! Santa visits Iraq. Seen via NORAD.

I am torn about this. Innocent seeming...but...I dunno. Thoughts?

posted by zerobyproxy (20 comments total)

I'm not downloading any NORAD software onto my computer.

Sure, they probably won't abuse this opportunity, but I don't know.
posted by Balisong at 12:35 PM on December 24, 2007

Let's hope Santa doesn't have nice packages full of explosives to drop on the Iraqi children... Lord knows they're probably quite full of those nice "girls and boys" who like to blow them to shit. Santa's been leaving enough depleted uranium in their soil to fuck them and their children up for the next, what, 1200 years or so. Makes me fucking ill.

On second thought, I vote for deletion of this post.
posted by dbiedny at 12:40 PM on December 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Great Santa = Great Satan?
posted by Frank Grimes at 12:49 PM on December 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Are there any Christians left in Iraq to care? Since 2003 the Christian minority (3% of the population before the war) have been fleeing to avoid ethnic cleansing. The remainder probably don't want their locations betrayed by a visit from Santa's sleigh.
posted by ardgedee at 1:11 PM on December 24, 2007

We were driving back to London from Cambridge yesterday when the BBC radio announcer mentioned the NORAD thing. However, he didn't understand what 2 a.m. MTN meant and told the listening children to tune in to follow Father Christmas ... at what would be 9 a.m. ... Christmas Day.
posted by terrapin at 1:12 PM on December 24, 2007

Hmm. We hand out the Christmas presents on the 24th here in Sweden (and we're not alone in doing that). Good thing I didn't show this to my kids before they went to bed...
posted by effbot at 1:34 PM on December 24, 2007

There are, in case anyone was wondering, real people manning the 1-877-HI-NORAD phone line, ready to answer all your Santa-tracking-related questions in great detail and with great enthusiasm.
posted by uncleozzy at 1:46 PM on December 24, 2007

This seriously stopped being cool when it stopped being a NORAD thing and went to a contractor or some other firm. NORAD Santa = Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI), Exton, Pennsylvania? Gimme a break.
posted by chips ahoy at 2:17 PM on December 24, 2007

I know it's suppose to be fun, but I just find it creepy, on several levels.
posted by -t at 2:33 PM on December 24, 2007 [2 favorites]

It mainly makes me wonder if there were similar propoganda-type efforts produced by the Nazis around holiday-time during the war.

disclaimer: I in no way intend to imply that the current state of affairs in any war resembles those in WWII, and would appreciate you not derailing the thread; I am curious for the same reason it is interesting to me that, as mentioned in a thread within the last few days, in Japan you can generally only find WWII tank toys that are German.
posted by davejay at 2:58 PM on December 24, 2007

It mainly makes me wonder if there were similar propoganda-type efforts produced by the Nazis around holiday-time during the war. There an account of a Nazi radio broadcast from Stalingrad in Enemy at the Gates. If I recall this was after the Germans took Stalingrad and found themselves stranded behind enemy lines; with sporadic resupplies from the luftwaffe.
posted by humanfont at 3:10 PM on December 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Huhn. Poser Santa.

And they must have been using a VERY small UAV to get that camera angle...

Enough snarking.

A happy non-denominational winter holiday to you all!
posted by Samizdata at 3:59 PM on December 24, 2007

I'm not sure why this is causing any controversy, questions, or angst. Am I missing something? It's just an animated video of Santa flying over troops in Iraq, right?
posted by davidmsc at 5:22 PM on December 24, 2007

NORAD being an archetypal part of the military infrastructure of the USA, it is somewhat ironic that it would be "tracking Santa". On a couple of different levels, it is a strange juxtaposition of cultural memes.

Of course, if NORAD actually believes it's tracking Santa, then that would help explain the whole WMDs thing...
posted by darkstar at 5:40 PM on December 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

That doesn't look much like baghdad to me...
posted by alexei at 5:57 PM on December 24, 2007

This is just stupid, on so many levels (military-command-designed-to-shoot-down-Soviet-nukes-and-respond-with-mutually-assured-world-ending-destruction "tracking" fictional-commercialized-bastard-offspring-of-a-supposed-to-not-be-established-religion's-prince-of-peace, not the post).
posted by orthogonality at 6:30 PM on December 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

As I read this post and then the comments, my son ran in here all wide eyed and in his pajamas to tell me Santa just reached Florida... he has been checking the site every five minutes all night.

...so screw all you cynical jerks :) :) To my son, it is pure magic.



Merry Christmas folks... !!
posted by james_cpi at 7:23 PM on December 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Wait, Santa has an inflight-LCD screen thingy on his sleigh?! What's up with that?
posted by the cydonian at 8:47 PM on December 24, 2007

I thought that this is what the missile shield was supposed to protect us from! INCOMING!!!!! (kissing my ass goodbye)
posted by The Light Fantastic at 2:05 AM on December 25, 2007

I'm glad that after visiting all parts of the Axis of Evil and most of the Al Qaeda strongholds, Santa was allowed thorough US immigration so smoothly. Because he'd probably picked up a whole bunch of useful information that could have been waterboarded out of him. Maybe they just abducted one of the reindeer?
posted by nowonmai at 2:32 PM on December 25, 2007 [1 favorite]