> Billy wrote:
>>>> It's time to go home.
>>>
>>> Why? Because of American lives lost?
>>>
>>> Not a good reason. The Americans that are there are volunteers and
>>> recognized that their life or limb might be lost. They signed up in
>>> spite of that possibility. In fact, 85%% of those who've served in
>>> Iraq or Afghanistan have re-enlisted at the first opportunity.
>>>
>>> To them, it's the job they want to do. Just like a firefighter or
>>> policeman understands the risks in his chosen profession, our
>>> warrior class accepts similar risks.
>>>
>>> To our warriors, the chance to kill people and blow things up is
>>> their life's work. Sitting around at Fort Shithole, Louisiana just
>>> won't cut it. Look, who would ever become a fireman if there was no
>>> or little chance of fighting a fire? Likewise, who would ever become
>>> a soldier if there were no wars.
>>>
>>> No, we need a war every ten or fifteen years just to keep the tip of
>>> the spear sharp and encourage new recruits.
>>>
>>> As a corollary, where had you rather have 180,000 people who want to
>>> kill? There, or back here?
>>
>> Re-enliste? Some just kill them selves. Some leave the country when
>> their tour is extended. Most re-enlist, not because they believe in
>> the fight but because their buddies, who caught their backs, are
>> still there and they feel guilty about being out, when their friends
>> are still in the meat-grinder.
>
> Right. Of the 15%% who don't re-enlist, some were casualties, some retire,
> some move on to other endeavors, some are pussy-whipped by whining wives or
> sweethearts.
>
>
>>
>> American lives lost? Are you crazy? Each one of them had a name. Each
>> one of them had a mother and a father who loved them. Each one of them
>> are patriots who answered the call of their country. How did they
>> know that the commander in chief was a jive-ass, draft-dodging,
>> mother-fucker who was just going to be helping himself, his daddy,
>> and his friends to make a little money.
>
> What difference does the president make in their decision? As for being a
> draft-dodger, if the worst you can say about Bush is, that in time of war,
> he joined the National Guard...
The Air National Guard and then didn't show up. The guy is all hat and
no cattle.
>
>> Welcome to the New American
>> Century. All Profit, All the Time.
>
> Proft is good.
It's blood money from people who trusted him.
>
>> Hell, the ones who got killed are
>> the lucky ones. It's the other 90%% who got broke and are coming home
>> with post-traumatic stress disorder, who are going to suffer.
>
> Regrettably, you're correct. We'll do the best we can to provide for them,
> but, ultimately, that was the choice they made.
Like Walter Reed. As soon as the spot light is off the VA, it will be
business as usual.
>
>> And you
>> want to put a happy face on it? Jesus Christ man, the troops did what
>> they were told. They went to Bagdad and occupied the Ministry of Oil
>> and left the munition dumps unprotected.
>
> Well, yeah. But they did kill a great number of terrorists and potential
> terrorists.
Once they saw that we were an occupying force, the shit hit the fan.
>
>>
>> The people of Bagdad were happy to see us. They wanted to thank us.
>> But we treated them like dirt and kicked them in the teeth.
>> ----------
>>
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraqi-rage-grows-afte
>> r-fallujah-massacre-537969.html
>>
>> Iraqi rage grows after Fallujah massacre
>>
>> By Phil Reeves in Fallujah
>> Sunday, 4 May 2003
>>
>> Nearly a week after troops from the 82nd Airborne Division randomly
>> opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators here, prompting the US
>> military to announce an inquiry, commanders have yet to speak to the
>> doctors who counted the bodies.
>>
>
> [...]
>
> Potential terrorists.
My ass, it was the fuckin' PTA. The war was over. The 82nd Airborne set
up shop in a neighborhood school. The locals wanted to send their kids
back to school. They demonstrated and got shot. Not the way to win the
hearts and minds of the locals.
>
>
>>
>> Iraqis, in general, respected the US until "W" made them mad enough to
>> strap a bomb to their backs, may he burn in Hell. If arabs want to
>> kill westerners now, it's because "W" pushed until they pushed back.
>> "W" needed a war on terror so that the military-industrial complex
>> could keep on socking it away. Or was Eisenhower, a real soldier,
>> just full of crap?
>
> Uh, who "pushed" the Arabs into the World Trade Center?
The World Trade Organization, that's who. Part of their job is to
squeeze the last dime or drop of blood out of a debtor nation by getting
them to follow 18th century neo-liberal economic policies. This includes
cutting all social services and extensive privatization. Only problem
is, wherever it is employed, it doesn't work and riots break out.
Sometimes, as Ward Churchill has pointed out, when you push people, they
push back.
>
> Eisenhower, according to his former superior, Douglas McArthur, "...would
> make an adequate staff officer."
>
>>
>> American G.I.s are doing the honorable thing. The Iraqi resistance is
>> doing the honorable thing. And "W"? Like Iran 1953, "W" is backing the
>> wackos to keep the pot boiling. We arm both the Sunni and Shia
>> militias.
>
> There is no "Iraqi Resistance." Virtually every one (that we have killed or
> know about) of the bombers, insurgents, and leaders of such in Iraq are not
> from Iraq. Except for Sadaam, of course.
>
>>
>> Wake up. You are being played for a chump.
>
> I'm a volunteer. I accept the risks.
