Posted on 05/29/2006 4:46:05 PM PDT by Coop
...
In the meantime, my column had been posted on a well-known right-wing American website, where it attracted 119 comments. Oddly, none of them displayed any hint of disquiet over the behaviour of the Marines under investigation. Rather, their outrage was reserved for John Murtha and yours truly.
One poster's reaction was to "nuke the Middle East" adding "thank you very much Dishonourable Rep. Jack Murtha". He was later to write "if you can't stand behind our troops, stand in front of them".
A few of his co-posters rushed to the website of Murtha's Republican challenger Diana Irey to donate campaign funds.
The fact that this murdering troop has the support of even those 119 posters is worrisome. Surely, nobody should defend the indefensible based on some false notion of patriotism.
Military personnel should act as ambassadors for their country and behave according to international rules of law and the Geneva Conventions that were drawn up as a result of atrocities committed during the Second World War. There should be a difference between real soldiers and ruthless thugs with public opinion the final arbiter.
If the public, as represented by the 119 posters on the Free Republic website, condones such behaviour or seeks to excuse it, then not only is its members giving their country's soldiers a license to kill arbitrarily, they are altering the fundamental psyche of their nation.
To quote a well-known rationalist intellectual Felix Adler "Love of country is like love of women - he loves her best who seeks to bestow on her the highest good."
The "Freepers" - as members of the Free Republic website have come to be known - may also like to contemplate the words of theologian Howard Thurman who said "During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable, even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism."
In short, people who glorify soldiers who purposefully assassinate women and small children are as misguided as those who glorify the blowing up of crowded buses, trains and marketplaces.
Does the donning of a uniform render its wearer impervious to justice? The Nuremberg trials indicate not...
I'm a "decorated combat Marine." I think that EX-Marine Jack Murtha is a disgraceful piece of trash, as are you. Neither of you bothers with the slightest presumption of innocence, as both of your articles drive home again and again.
I hope my comments were among those in 119 that you found especially disturbing. Trust me, the feeling is mutual.
The difference, of course, is that one of us is actually familiar with combat.
You're darn right, we did. And I hope your whiny little screed, Ms. Heard, leads more to do the same.
Take a stand for our troops and Ms. Irey and against the Dishonorable Jack Murtha and this worthless whiny leftist.
Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be contacted at lheard@gulfnews.com
Only 119 responses on a Murtha piece? I'd say her original article must have been pretty weak! ROTFL! I'm gonna go dig it up, just for the entertainment value.
By the way, if anyone would like to be on or off the Irey/Murtha/Linda Heard (NOT!) ping list, please FReepmail me.
Ms. Heard,
Respectfully, put a sock in it.
Without some better people than you will ever hope to be, you would not be free to write anything. Think about them for a change instead of finding ways to hate America.
Dear Ms. Heard -
Get bent.
Sincerely,
RightOnline, Raleigh, NC
LOVED your post. It was so good, I HAD to re-post it!
I hope my post was in the 119 as well...God Bless You Soldier!!!
This is journalist talk for, "THEY'RE GUILTY! LET'S LYNCH 'EM!"
Thanks. God bless you and yours as well.
BTTT!
War is a deadly business. Apparently, she thinks it should be conducted perfectly, or not at all. She is therefore a brass-plated geopolitical moron. I'll wager that she's never read any detailed histories of WW II. In a single day, due to an error in bombing coordinates, Allied bombers during the invasion of France killed about 6,000 of our troops and French civilians.
By the standards of the drivel she writes, we should have stopped the fight against Hitler and the Nazis, then and there. What a pathetic excuse for a couple articles about the American military she is. I don't support illegal actions by any US troops. The other side deliberately slaughters men, women and children. We use the Military Code of Justice to examine and punish, if appropriate on the facts, any such action by our troops.
Thank God there is the US military to defend our freedoms, including the freedom of this journalistic moron to write and publish her nonsense.
Did I miss anything?
P.S. info. My primary is over, but because of legal and ethical problems, the incumbent may withdraw/be forced out. He is also losing in the latest poll (5/28) to the Democrat challenger. I seek to be the replacement nominee. For more information see my website. I still need your help.
Congressman Billybob
You're quick! :-) Thanks much, Jean. I hope I made some especially disturbing (to Ms. Heard) comments on there. ROTFL!!
Terrorist use bombs. Blow up US veicals. Hide behind women and children when chased. You call that following Geneva convention rules?
My bet is that the terrorist killed innocents just to blame it on the Marines for pr attention.
Typical, the investigation just got started, and no Courts Marshall has been convened, but the Marines involved are a 'murdering troop.' I am not impressed.
BTW, Happy Memorial day from a former squid.
Best of luck in your endeavor, and nice response to that hand-wringing embarassment from GulfNews.
The left's motto is to blame America for everything. If they want to denounce patriotism, why don't they admit that some if not all of them are traitors.
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