[NHAntiMassRedRebel]

It's time for Borderless Bush to do one of two things: reduce OPSTEMPO or go back to a draft. You can't keep screwing the people who volunteered in good faith. If Don "Matlock" Rumsfeld is so serious about doing away with the cold war military the all-volunteer thing has got to go.

I spent a year in Iraq, so I'm more than entitled to this opinion. This is a culture where, if you allow yourself to be used, the people will keep screwing you for all that you are worth.

Pull the troops out of Iraq. We've done our job. It's time to tell the new government to get it together by a certain date, because we're going home. Afghanistan, too. And Korea, and Germany, and everywhere else.

Then, put the troops on the borders. You should see the border between Iraq and Kuwait. A mouse couldn't cross it, thanks to the U.S. Let's do the same with our borders.

Bush is really starting to piss this OIF 2 vet off. Put my ass on the line for Los Estados Unidos d'Americo? I don't think so.

[wideawake]

Shut your stupid, barely-literate piehole.

If I want another update from your mom's basement, I'll FReepmail you.

[Billthedrill]

What unit?

[TommyDale]

We will withdraw when the job is finished. Period.

[cweese]

Yeah right. Whatever, Mr. Veterinarian.

[Xenalyte]

The Walrus and the Carpenter

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done--
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead--
There were no birds to fly.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
"If this were only cleared away,"
They said, "it would be grand!"

"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each."

The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head--
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster-bed.

But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat--
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn't any feet.

Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more--
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"
"No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.

"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,
"Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed--
Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."

"But not on us!" the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue.
"After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!"
"The night is fine," the Walrus said.
"Do you admire the view?

"It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf--
I've had to ask you twice!"

"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick!"

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

[oldleft]

troll

[WhiteGuy]

Pull the troops out of Iraq. We've done our job. It's time to tell the new government to get it together by a certain date, because we're going home. Afghanistan, too. And Korea, and Germany, and everywhere else.

Then, put the troops on the borders. You should see the border between Iraq and Kuwait. A mouse couldn't cross it, thanks to the U.S. Let's do the same with our borders.



Well said.

[Egon]

Pull the troops out of Iraq. We've done our job.

This is reminiscent of another famous example of this strategy: Gulf War I

We did our job, got the hell out, and here we are again.

How many more times are we going to have to repeat this strategy before people like you start to understand that doing the job right the first time keeps us from having to do it subsequent times?

[bill1952]

Are you sure that you are on the right forum?

I'm thinking that your time here will be short.

Thank you for your service, but this old timer can tell you that anyone knows that the draft is a recipe for disaster, and that is exactly the reason that Liberal Trash wants it.

I'd love to put troops on the border, but that isn't going to happen because of that little Constitution thing, and the US stays in Iraq until the job is done.

And coming here and insulting Rumsfeld marks you as a troll, and a rather dumb one, at that.

[johnny7]

I don't care if you sormed the walls at Chaputepec.... go to hell!

[GOP_1900AD]

Who funds the insurgents? Answer that question, then bomb the sh#$ out of whoever it is, and I do mean whoever! Even if it's a supposed "friend" - though I reckon it's more likely Syria and Iran.

[Ohioan]

I think that our mistake was in getting too involved in setting up the new Government of Iraq, after our intitial victory. That involvement was ill conceived, based upon the theorizing of certain people in Washington. Now it is difficult to immediately extricate ourselves, without losing "Face."

Personally, I posted an essay at my website, immediately after September 11, 2001, as to how the War on Terror should be fought. The events over the almost four years since, certainly seem to affirm the approach that I advocated. (War 2001--The Shortest, Surest Path To Victory!)

By the way, I checked out your profile, and want to commend you for your stalwart defense of your State's values and heritage. We have far too few, today, willing to preserve their cultures and lines of descent. Those who do not realize the importance of such preservation, may prattle about "diversity." But if they do not even respect their own, they really are not likely to respect any one else's character. "Diversity" has become a moronic excuse for a nihilistic betrayal of heritage. We, as all other peoples, stand to lose everything we value, in the acceptance of an undifferentiated humanity--the ultimate insult to all of the higher aspirations of the human spirit.

William Flax

[R.W.Ratikal]

One thing is certain. We could continue the effort and expense in Irag for a hundred years and the situation would be the same. The whole Middle East has not moved forwad one iota in the last 2000 years.

So the question is, how long should we continue? Ten, fifteen, fifty, a hundred years or longer?

Democracy, as we know it, will come to the Middle East when camels can recite the Theory of Relativity while standing on their heads.

Time to go folks.

[R.W.Ratikal]

One thing is certain. We could continue the effort and expense in Irag for a hundred years and the situation would be the same. The whole Middle East has not moved forwad one iota in the last 2000 years.

So the question is, how long should we continue? Ten, fifteen, fifty, a hundred years or longer?

Democracy, as we know it, will come to the Middle East when camels can recite the Theory of Relativity while standing on their heads.

Time to go folks.

[ravingnutter]

Do you put a note on your door to tell the burglar when you are not going to be home?

[bluetone006]

Whoa - I think the reaction here is a bit over the top and borders on knee jerk. Let's be rational and civil and carefully read what the man had to say.

There is no doubt that the military, especially the Guard units, are under stress from deployments stretching back to Willie the snake. I don't agree we should pull out precipitously, especially considering the huge investment we have already made.

We are going to have to deal with the issue - and I think we are taking measured steps in that direction. Military realignment never happens quickly. It is going to take patience and money - a draft would never fly and wouldn't be good for the armed services anyway. Although, mandatory 2 year service for every 18 year old might be the dose of reality the average spoiled teenager needs.

[Blood of Tyrants]

You can't keep screwing the people who volunteered in good faith.

What the heck are you talking about, fool? Are you another who signed up just to get the benefits and are now bitching because you have to do what you swore to do? Suck it up and be a man and stop crying about how "unfair" it is.

[RinaseaofDs]

Welcome to Free Republic.

You should march on your local High School and demand they reteach your world history classes. Pay particular attention to the classes in the history of Europe and the Middle East from 500 to present.

This problem in the ME is not a problem the current administration made, but it is one the President is going to begin to solve.

I'd settle in for about 40 years of armed presence in Iraq, and maybe Iran and Lebanon.

You seem to forget that Libya was operating a nuclear research facility and volunteered the same about a year ago. Iran lied about having something similar as recently as 1998.

This is the nature of Islam. They are at your feet or at your throat and there is no in the middle at present. You can site Dubai and Qatar, but all the votes aren't in on those countries yet.

If Iraq was such a waste of time, why was Serbia such a bargain? Where the he** was France, Germany, and Spain while Muslim's were being murdered by the bushel in their own backyard, not 50 years after the holocaust?

We are cleaning up after the 8 year vacation of the previous administration, and the 70 years of appeasement of the inhumanity of Islamic rule in exchange for stability. The policy got us worse than nowhere.

To this day slavery is alive and well in the ME, moreover it is a protected religious practice of Islam, yet no moral outrage from the quivering mass of outrage that is modern liberalism.

If you are going to post here, you are going to have to bring your A game. I don't think ANYONE thought that this was going to be easy in Iraq, and the fact is that we've only lost 1700 people to this point is absolutely stunning. I expected that we'd lose that many soldiers in the first 24 hours of the war.

We've lost more soldiers in training exercises in WWII.

And as for our peaceful Islamic brothers, this is a religion in which one semi-religious sect of Islam slaughtered 20,000 pilgrims on their way to Mecca back in 915 AD to the very last person for nothing more than loot.

Muslims haven't always faced East toward Mecca to pray. When Mohammed was trying to convert the Jewish communities in the region, he had his followers face instead toward the city of Jerusalem in order to entice the Jews to switch. When they wouldn't, he slaughtered 800 of them and abruptly told his followers to pray in the other direction.

That's who we are dealing with.

Isolationism isn't going to cut it. It's not. If it comes to a draft, well, it comes to a draft, but we are a LONG way from being done. Who knows what China is up to? If Iran gets 1 functional nuclear weapon, they have DECLARED their intention of using it on Israel.

As for the borders, I couldn't agree more.

[sinkspur]

I spent a year in Iraq, so I'm more than entitled to this opinion.

Did somebody hit you in the head with a shovel while you were over there?

You seem to think that Tariq Aziz is dead.

I point the reader to #3,4,7, and 8.

[SC Swamp Fox]

reduce OPSTEMPO or go back to a draft.

Let me guess, Army? Air Force?

Welcome to the real world. The Navy and Marine Corps has been deploying at that tempo since the mid '80s. I wasn't surprised that the Navy had a carrier sitting within striking distance of Afganistan the day after 9/11. That's because they routinely deploy to forward locations.

I guess you want to go back to the good old days when most Army units spent their entire existance at stateside bases practicing. Hardship was considered a couple of weeks in the boonies away from momma. And don't give me any crap about how tough things are in Germany and Korea. The Navy/Marine Corp call that Shore Duty and it is considered a vacation after doing a tour of duty assigned to a deploying unit or ship.