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...
Sounds like Linda has conducted her own investigation already. Must have conducted it from her office.
Wonder when she'll share the details?
Fortunately very few, including the American military, share your opinion.
Oddly, neither Ms Heard, nor Jackass Murtha, nor their supporters have displayed any hint of disquiet over the presumption of guilt of the soldiers, nor of their repeated use of terms like murder, cold-blooded, and atrocity, nor of their curious lack of terms like alleged when referring to the accusations. In light of numerous allegations against our troops that have subsequently been proven to be false, I find a great deal of disquiet over blind acceptance of horrific allegations against our Marines before the investigation into those allegations has been completed.
The fact that this media whore refers to our Marines as "this murdering troop" before the investigation is completed is beyond worrisome.
Oh really ? then I guess you are for digging up President Truman and putting his rotting corpse on trial for crimes against humanity for the 100's of thousands of civilians he killed by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
How can we condone such behaviour when the investigation has not yet confirmed whether or not such behaviour even took place. It is clear however that Ms Heard condones the allegation of such behaviour and the accusation against our Marines, regardless of whether or not the allegations are true.
In short, reporters or columnists who accuse soldiers of purposefully assassinating women and small children before allowing an investigation into the event to be completed are as cowardly as the terrorists who hide behind women and small children in hopes that the deaths of the women and children will enrage the public against the military rather than against the terrorists themselves.
Words cannot express how I feel about this quote. With pubic opinion the final arbiter? What's wrong? They are hearing the publics opinion and they don't like it so they suggest we read some winsome pap and change our minds? I don't want our Military to be ambassadors of our country, unless and only if the message they send is how efficiently they can kill the enemy.
They dare to offer us reading material? I suggest they read the Old Testament and how God believes war should be waged with a culture so diametrically opposed to yours. God demanded that the Israeli's even wipe out the animals and break up the pots and destroy any evidence the tribe existed. And if Israel had obeyed we wouldn't be over there fighting that same enemy now.
They have no idea what happened there, none. Their minds can't wrap around four year olds shooting at our military because they can't wrap their minds around the kind of enemy we are dealing with.
These authors want to rush to judgment but are horror struck that anyone else be allowed to. They can wipe their bottoms with the Geneva Convention. As far as I am concerned that document has only acted to handcuff our military and demand that they fight with one arm tied behind their backs, while their free hand is full of candy. Our enemies certainly don't observe or honor it, and didn't sign onto it.
American military are, for the most part, kind to the core. I don't know what happened there and neither do these authors so eager to hang them. They can't wait for the evidence to come in, they have to shape public opinion before the facts are out, and have the gall to get offended when public opinion bites them in the butt for it.
Shoo!
Innocent until proven guilty is a time honored American principle, Ms. Heard. Skepticism of media reports is another recent but well founded one.
The left is too willing to throw the military under the bus...all in the name of "supporting" them, of course.
I wish I shared your optimism. Unfortunately, Murtha is probably a very safe incumbant who will still easily win reelection even if the allegations are proven to be blatantly false and even if it could be proven that his outrageous lies were directly responsible for further terrorist actions that cost the lives of US Soldiers and Marines.
The fact that our military does not hold the view that "there are no civilians in a war" is quite far from the idea that Truman's decision constitutes crimes against humanity. Take that idiotic strawman somewhere else.
Diana Irey is an experienced, articulate, attractive candidate who will make this a serious race against Murtha. Her one big disadvantage is fundraising, and Murtha's verbal vomit is helping to close that gap. Keep the faith! :-)
I am curious how you live with yourself acting as a propaganda mouthpiece for Al Qeda? How can you scream the PR lines for the terrorists who routinely rape, torture and murder their captives? That makes you an accessory after the fact. Suggest you wash the blood of your hands before having the arrogance to lecture Free Republic.
Rumor and Accusation are NOT fact. I suggest in the future you get a grip on reality before writing anything. Unlike you Leftist political bigots, we believe in the principal of Innocent until Prove Guilty. For us that is a principal, not just a handy slogan to drag out whenever one of your Democrat Party Heros is accused of something
Ma'am, You are a hypocrite and a fool who falsely assumed position as moral judge and jury on Marines you know NOTHING about and an incident you know NOTHING beyond rumor and accusation about. This is sickening and childish.
Dissent just because YOUR side lost some elections is NOT "heroic" is is the same behavior any spoiled brat child engages in. You are not dissenting, you are merely throwing a bigoted temper tantrum because YOUR side lost the election. Spare us the Drama Queen hysterics and self righteous postures, we don't care. NONE of us care what you Al Qeda mouthpieces think. You have decided to side with them, so be it. Left your fate be their fate. We don't care. You are not "brave" or "heroic" standing up to a society that protects you from ANY consequences for your treason. You are merely a fool and moral coward screaming at targets you know will not fight back. What a small contemptible little person you are.
Pronoun problems! Murtha has not endeared... :-)
Dear Ms. Heard,
Please convert to Islam, as I would like to marry you. I won't need to ask, because once you convert I'll just give your Dad a goat and take you back to my mud hut and put you in your new head to toe clothing. Of course, since by Muslim law I would then own you, any running of the mouth would mean you would get beat with a stick. You could then freely trash Americans, and you and I could live in peaceful Islamic bliss. You can then judge any Americans you like, as long as it is a disgusting lie. Of course, if you speak out against Islam, I'll have to take you to the soccer field and blow your brains out. But that would be a small price to pay to live the life of an Islamic wife.
Signed, Afghan Bob
P.S. Mohammed was a Child Molester, but he's dead now.
I hope you are right.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.