Posted on 02/07/2005 6:11:10 AM PST by JesseHousman
Lt. Gen. James Mattis should have gotten more than a slap on the wrist for bragging about how much fun it was to shoot enemies in Iraq. ''Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. . . . It's fun to shoot some people,'' the three-star general said at a San Diego conference. ''You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,'' Gen. Mattis added. ``So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.''
Gen. Mattis has been praised for his bravery and leadership in combat, but his callous remarks make light of the terrible toll of war. Frankly, it isn't as if the U.S. military doesn't have problems with domestic violence and the abuse of women among the troops. The Marine Corps commandant ''counseled'' Gen. Mattis to choose his words ''more carefully.'' The punishment should have been tougher. The general's attitude is a poor example of leadership and doesn't reflect America's values.
• PRESS FREEDOM
Cuba again earns the dubious distinction of being among the world's top repressors of the press. The Committee to Protect Journalists found that China, Cuba, Eritrea and Burma have locked up more than three-quarters of the 122 journalists imprisoned worldwide for practicing their profession last year. While China gets the top rank, Cuba comes in second with 23 still jailed, most of them since the regime's repressive crackdown in 2003.
Worldwide, the most common ''offenses'' were for violations of laws designed to protect the government from criticism. Cuba's independent reporters were railroaded for publicly criticizing the one-party state. In Burma, the offense of two documentary filmmakers was to show the reality of forced labor and poverty. Give thanks for the U.S. First Amendment, which guarantees free speech and a free press.
• UNAWARE TEENS
Speaking of free speech, it's a shame that so many young Americans don't appreciate the value of the First Amendment. In a survey of more than 100,000 students at 544 high schools throughout the country, nearly three-fourths of the students either didn't know how they felt about the First Amendment or admitted that they took it for granted.
More than a third of the students said that the First Amendment goes too far in guaranteeing a free press, peaceful assembly and freedom of religious choice.
''Ignorance about the basics of this free society is a danger to our nation's future,'' said Hodding Carter III, president and CEO of the Knight Foundation, which commissioned the survey.
The irony is that without free speech, many of the movies, rap music and entertainment that young people hold dear wouldn't exist.
I believe that's generally known as "stream of consciousness" writing or "literary diarrhea". I'd like to know the author's opinion on Ward Churchill's first amendment rights...
The Lt. General is my kind of guy. Kill em', kill em all.
The US Military is not the UN's "meals on wheels" operation.
The US Military's job is to go in and smash things, kill people and place the area under control. The lower level soldier fights better when he has fighters at the top and all through the chain of command.
You start to get problems when you have touchy-feely people and bean counters in the line and at the top.
I say "tell it like it is and kick butt".
Pete
"The Lt. General is my kind of guy. Kill em', kill em all."
What are soldiers hired and trained to do? So he likes his job.
We need a certain percentage of professional soldiers who are gung ho to the max. I met a sargent once who had spent 12 one year tours in Viet Nam. He was one of my instructors at The Hudson Trade School for Wayward Boys (West Point). The guy loved war more than life itself. He was a supreme special operator and our country was damn lucky to have him. After only three months as an instructor he begged the Army to send him back to Nam and off he went. What an incredible soldier!
It sometimes becomes necessary, as it has for the U.S.
And this writer has probably never been in a war zone. If he had, he'd understand where this hero is coming from.
People in a war zone don't have time for PC bullsh!t. A sense of humor is also one of the more important things to pack and take with you if you're headed into a war zone.
This pompous writer can go to H-E-Double-Hockeysticks.
Oh please.
"Blood makes the grass grow. Kill.Kill. Marines make the blood flow. Kill. Kill." - typical cadence we use on long runs in the USMC
These people are such whiney beotches.
What a strange juxtaposition. You train a warrior, and when he does his job well, and says he likes it you slap his hand.
Lordy, Herald, you should change your name to the Miami Repeat, since these are hardly breaking stories. But, on Food Analogy Day, I can say, "Take the burgers off the grill, boys, they're burnt!"
"Frankly, it isn't as if the U.S. military doesn't have problems with domestic violence and the abuse of women among the troops."
What the HELL does that have to do with what the General said? He was completely backing up the notion that domestic violence and abuse of women are BAD!
The Herald is such a rag. If Florida had ONE remotely conservative statewide daily paper...maybe a conservative counterpart to Gannett's USA Today/local today in Florida, and elsewhere...it'd put the leftist papers down for good.
Wartime generals need to be of a different mind than "normal" people. When I was in Korea, General george Livsey was the ROK Forces Commander. He would come on the AFRTS radio station and say how his men and tanks were ready for anything. Then he'd say, "You hear that North Korea? We're ready for you; come on down!" I would look at my calendar and think, "Ya'll just stay put for another few months."
Exactly. In his famous "stump" speech Patton also mentioned the "bilious bastard" journalists who knew as much about fighting as they did about fornication. Looks like there are still a lot of those journalists around.
I'd like to know the author's opinion on Ward Churchill's first amendment rights...
A buddy of mine says "The wonderful thing about this country is you can be just as stupid as you want...but some abuse the right."
It is one of those hodgepodge columns where one writes about 100 things since the writer doesn't have the mental capacity to deal with one issue at a time.
Bring back Dave Barry. Seriously.
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