That's right. I just signed up. "
AGAIN?
VARMINT CONG ALERT!!!
Trollus Repetitivus subspecies
Posted on 03/17/2003 6:31:47 AM PST by Ryan C
Sen. Lindsey Graham recently called our actions as Human Shields "treasonous" and hopes to see us punished for more than the ten years in jail and $1 million in fines that the law currently allows for. He said that we were "giving aid and comfort to the enemy." I was not comforting the enemy – I was comforting the Iraqi people. The only aid that I provided was construction paper and crayons for children, and I did so fairly confident that they would not be used to make weapons of mass destruction.
Opposing this war is not treasonous. When I made the decision to go to Iraq, I did so in part because of concern for my country, and the planet. In calling for war, and forcing other countries to choose whether to be "with us or against us," we have thrown away a century of diplomacy. We are losing allies because of this issue in a time when we need them the most. In calling for war, I am terrified, as an American, that our country will again become the victim of terrorist acts or hostilities from other countries.
If we attack Iraq, we lose any moral high ground that we once had, and I am terrified of the consequences. If we set the precedent that countries can be justifiably attacked because we don't agree with them and they have weapons of mass destruction, I am afraid that we will become the next target. We have weapons of mass destruction, and there are many countries out there that don't agree with us.
Saddam Hussein is a terrible and unjust ruler, and the idea that any Human Shield supports him is completely untrue. I traveled to Iraq to support the Iraqi people, not the leader that happens to be in power there. I do not support Saddam, and it would be a great thing for the country and the world if he was not in power. Likewise, though, I do not support Bush, but I would oppose any foreign effort to remove our President from power. Our country cannot continue to install and remove regimes when it is politically expedient for us to do so.
As I set foot back in the United States, a passport control officer said to me "You went to Iraq? Are you nuts? All those people hate us!"
I didn't know where to begin.
As Americans, we seem unable to differentiate between other cultures and the governments of other cultures. We are not going to war with the Iraqi people, just Saddam, and yet we are contemplating sending thousands of missiles into Baghdad, killing a massive amount of civilians.
The Iraqi people do not seem to have the same conceptual problem. When I was in Baghdad, I was thanked by people in tears, and welcomed into the homes of the people there. Even the families ravaged by sanctions and poverty would share the little food that they had with me, even knowing that I was from a country whose stated aim is to bomb them back into the stone age. It was humbling and overwhelming, and I can't help thinking that, if the situations were reversed, that we might not be so kind.
I am proud to be an American, but terribly afraid of what my country is about to do to the people of Iraq.
I went to Baghdad not with the certainty that our presence there would stop a war, but knowing that there was little else I could do to try, and that the alternative was to sit at home and do nothing. I had to meet the people that my country was about to bomb, and to humanize them when and if I got back home.
When I was in Iraq, I visited several schools. In one high-school classroom, I asked the students to write letters to students in American classrooms. Marwa Quism, age 13, wrote "Dear American student... I hope there will be no war between us, and I hope we will be friends. Governments want war between us... we want peace. I like you, and we don't know why you don't like us..."
The people in Iraq may hate our foreign policy, and what the sanctions have done to their country, but they do not hate us.
In elementary classrooms, I asked the children to draw their homes and families. An eight-year-old drew his family, his home, and a missile in the sky, aimed at his house. There is no proper response when a child shows you a picture like that; I complimented the drawing, apologized for my country, and cried, later, for the first time in many years.
It is much more difficult for people to bomb abstract enemies than it is to bomb 13 year-old Marwa, who wants to be our friend. It does not look as if Bush will allow this war to be stopped. If I can facilitate communication between Marwa in Iraq and Bill in America, though, perhaps we can avert a war a generation from now. If I can play some small part in dispelling the myth that "they" hate "us", then this movement was not a failure.
By the way, the sanctions are U.N. sanctions, not "our" sanctions. You are not only misguided, you're naive as well.
Ryan wisely got the hell out, before he could actually become a real human shield. Just in time for St. Patty's day. What about those other dopes who are still in there who you encouraged to go as human shields?
You really need to dig into the news and reports coming out of the mid east. Haven't you heard of Saman Pak, medical aid given to Al-Qaeda? Al-Qaeda training done in Baghdad. Scrounge a quarter and buy a newspaper sometime.
AGAIN?
VARMINT CONG ALERT!!!
Trollus Repetitivus subspecies
What I would ask you is why are you so racist and why do you hate the Iraqi people?
Why would you think that an American is worth so much more than thousands of Iraqi's? After all, that is why you went, isn't it? You thought "if an American is there it will make a difference". How arrogant. The development of "smart bombs", which costs millions and millions of dollars to develop, are due to our militaries concern over sparing civilians during a conflict. Compare this to Saddam Husseins use of poison gas on men, women and children in putting down rebellions.
This leads us to my second question. If we, the U.S. care enough to develop weapons that will minimize the loss of lives of Iraqi's and Saddam has shown that he is willing to kill tens of thousands of Iraqi's if they chafe at his dictatorship, then why do you support his government over ours at the expense of Iraqi lives?
Through your ignorance you have proved that you are friends of dictatorship, an enemy of freedom, and a supporter of the butcher of thousands of Iraqi men, women, and children.
Here is a deal for you. After we get done removing Saddam and his cronies from power, why don't you go back to Baghdad and announce how you tried to keep America from removing him from power. Let's see how happy they are for your efforts at that time.
Hangfire ... hangfire ...
VCA rebroadcast!
Providing AID AND COMFORT to the enemy nation (IRAQ) IS.
Ooops!
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.