Miserable kids being harassed by US troops
Posted on 03/12/2006 7:36:24 PM PST by gleeaikin
After incessant badgering by you, no doubt. Congratulations.
Yes it was all me. You got me. Matter of fact, his opinion was offered without even a request. Of course I realize you won't believe that. Anything that cracks that thin eggshell of RNC talking points you call a belief system must by default be wrong.
Yes, yes, all I do is recite RNC talking points. You got me. Nothing to do with the absurdity perpetually spewed by you, attempting to mock the efforts of our troops and undermine their morale.
Who's mocking? This is from one of the people that served over there for more than a year. How is that mocking? What? Should I have just told him I didn't want to hear his opinion and how it changed? Stuck my fingers in my ears and hummed loudly so I didn't hear how his opinion had changed since he had gone over there?
At what point will you start believing what appears to be a growing number of these brave people that are coming back? The day after a Democrat is elected President?
The politicization of the war by liberals is the only one I know. They appear to simply gripe in hindsight and actually do nothing to help. Nothing. Yet they do impede with their griping and outright opposition. That is the shameful part IMHO.
This is a war we did not ask for, with a very tricky enemy that is very real, very evil, and fighting it requires patience (yes, we will make mistakes), and outlasting them......which is why I think the Dems are traitorous in their strategy to use the war to regain their power. Their objections and criticisms are neither constructive or helpful to our efforts.
In that regard, I do not see individual soldiers who have pet gripes in the same camp. There can be loyal opposition, and much help can come from constructive criticism. That being said, I think the war has been run very well so far, and is generally being succesful. "The war" to me (nor to the administration I believe) is not just Afghanistan, Iraq, or even against Bin Ladin, it is against this radical Islam that is straight from the pit of Hell, and thought they are not winning at this point, they still can if we let them.
My son just returned from a one year tour of duty in Baghdad. I communicated with him a lot there and now. His take is very different from yours. He says most of the troops are behind the mission, see what they are doing as important, see the progress, and are proud to have accomplished so much.
There is a concerted effort on the part of the Dems to recruit the minority and make it into a propaganda piece for their cause. This is the reason you are hearing that viewpoint in my opinion, and it is simply not the common viewpoint of the common soldier.
You.
We will never be able to bring the entire country forward, but there will be a few and they can begin the work that will eventually help.
The libs are always saying "for the children" but when it really IS for the children, they turn their backs. These young ones are the future of that country. While their parents struggle to understand and apply democracy, these kids will understand it completely. They do now, young as they are.
"If you don't have a dog in this fight." This is something I intend to research today. If my son is wrong, I will let him know. Meanwhile, here is his reaction after reading the thread:
"The real vets understand where I am coming from. The outsiders are all up in arms about how I am a left wing pland reading from the talking points. Typical. Instead of debating the validity of the argument they attack the messenger.
The funniest were the people challenging my bona fides. I suppose I am just one of those poor dumb white trash grunts who are too stupid to understand what is 'really' going on. LOL. The American people are horribly misinformed about the war. Unfortunately, the truth is classified.
All the same, there is not a mission end state. Perhaps the Keyboard Kommandos would first like to define the doctrinal term "Mission End State." Then they could tell me what it is for this operation. Because, I still don't know what we are trying to do here [in Afghanistan] or how we are supposed to achieve said unknown objective."
Here are some further thoughts from my soldier in Afghanistan. Personal note, his father was Scottish (tight with money).
"A lot of these 'conservatives' are NeoCons. A major tenant of conservatism is fiscal responsibility. This war is a black hole for resources. There is little in the way of responsibility or accountability. We are throwing money at this problem. The same way money is thrown at every other problem. Most conservatives hate how we waste money on govt programs yet this govt program gets a pass. And again, we don't have a clear objective. What are we spending this money on? Why? Will expenditure X yield result Y? No one can answer this. This is to say nothing of the waste that is inherent to all govt programs in general and the military in particular. Yet, none of this seems obvious to the 'conservatives' who support this war.
Now this is not to say that I don't support this war or the concept of war in general. Some people need to be killed. My problem is that I really don't know what I am supposed to be supporting. I have no idea what we are trying to accomplish here.
We are trying to accomplish democracy there.
Its pretty simple and the success is quite evident.
There have been three democratic elections in the past year in Iraq. There was increasing public participation in each election. The first election had more than 8 million voters-- higher voter participation than in the US. Those voters faced the threat of death and were not armed like our soldiers.
In the same year that Europeans failed to pass a Constitution, the Coalition guided parliamentary construction of a Constitution and an election which passed it. Would I be wrong in suggesting that Iraq and its coalition partners are more successful than their European counterparts?
At what point do naysayers such as yourself have a burden to show evidence that the mission is failing? If this is failure around the world, I would like to see a lot more of it.
There are democratic revolutions spreading around the globe in places as diverse as Ukraine, Georgia, and Lebannon. These things affecting the lives of millions of people are the result of American soldiers putting their lives on the line for this good cause.
Your son is way too defensive.
You see, here's the problem. It's not what he said and its not his explanations of what's going on. The problem is the thread itself. You didn't say this was your son. You didn't say who it was at all. You didn't provide any background info at all. We didn't know who was being interviewed. We didn't know who was interviewing, either. No link to any story was provided. We didn't know who this was or what was going on.
Therefore, we automatically had to be suspicious and approach this with a grain of salt.
Your son is also attacking people he doesn't even know, calling them "outsiders" and saying they "just don't understand." Does he think you're the only person in the entire country with a serving family member? How would he know whether or not people here have loved ones serving?
I think that part of his frustration is that they were supposed to go to Iraq and instead were sent to Afghanistan where they are sitting around not doing much of anything. Of course, this may change when winter is over. They don't do much fighting in winter in Afg.
As to the outsider remark I think he was differentiating from the basically understanding comments he was getting from people who seemed to have military background, and the complaints without addressing the issues that he got from others. Personally, I am very upset that Afg. is supplying one half of the world's heroin supply. I wonder if anything meaningful will be done about that?
I didn't start out by saying this was my son as I did not want to influence the discussion one way or the other. I have made enough comments at other military threads, that people who follow them were probably aware of that.
I strongly support and appreciate anyone who serves in our nation's military.
I believe the best thing I can do during this time of war is provide clear rationales as to why this service is successful.
I certainly do not know any details at the level of someone in the field. Nonetheless, I do see the broader picture of how personal testimony will be exploited by commentators to increase the risks for mission failure.
I wish you and your family the best.
What does "IGOTMINE" mean? Does it mean your a self serving idiot? Are you a Yuppie? Do you need anger management? Just curious. You sure have something bugging you!
Politics cost us Viet Nam; politics got us into Iraq. GWB did not create Iraq, he inherited it from his predecessor.
Semper Fi
Your reply is no where near as confrontational as the other poster, so maybe you'll be easier to reason with at this time.
Can you send me a PM where we can discuss this off-line? I'd really like to better understand why Ex- creates such an emotional reaction.
Thanks. Semper Fi
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.