Prayers for your nephew, his buddies in the 82nd, and for all of our military men and women, and for the innocent Iraqis.
Rest in Peace Soldiers. May God's angels escort you to the presence of God Almighty, and to His Son, our Lord and Saviour!
Posted on 04/23/2007 6:13:26 PM PDT by jdm
“magnitude of grief” as you put it is no different for 1 of 500,000 than it is for 1 of 3,333. That dog won’t hunt.”
Well, its not just the pine boxes being put in the ground. Its the wounded casualties that are coming back. Vietnam wasn’t just about 58,000 dead, it was also about the soldiers that were still alive and had the ability to comment on how they thought the war was going.
WWII had millions dead, but it was about the civilized world beating an evil regime, that could actually be defeated, and you get a parade at the end of the day. People are having a hard time buying into continuing an open-ended conflict, which there is no end. And there won’t be. So you have two groups of people, ones that know this, and are not swayed by nightly media grief whores, or the others that just want to call it quits and go home to Boone, North Carolina and trout fish. People, we can celebrate a victory here. The iraqi regime is gone. Lets give the sincere iraqis a chance to be proud of their land. We can’t do it for them, nor should we. There is no worth attained in the welfare mother if she didn’t have to work to get her money. She will only get angry when it get cuts off. Well, its time for the iraqi people to get a job. We’ll help build your international resume’, gets your leaders some decent clothes for interviews, but you are the ones that have to sell yourself to the rest of the world. And right now,....you ain’t looking so good.
It is also about protecting the national interests of the US in a strategic region of the world. Iraq is part of the global war on terrorism. From captured AQ documents, we know that AQ considers Iraq to be the central front in their war against us.
“It is also about protecting the national interests of the US in a strategic region of the world.”
Oh okay. Go tell that to Corporal Joe Blow in a bar and he will probably punch you in your wolfowitz mouth. Soldiers don’t care about oil...they just want to know that their efforts are worthwhile. And when they are eighty years old, they can look back and remember the people they helped, not whether gas is under 3 dollars a gallon. I’m sorry but you sound like a walking, talking, think tank. Of COURSE, oil is a part of it. But the football coach doesn’t walk in the locker room at half-time and talk about how a win would make him the winningest coach at Haley High. Instead he rallies those boys that they NEED to win, MUST win, right now, for them, themselves, to look back in fond rememberance that they gave it their all.
I served as a naval officer for eight years, including a year in Vietnam and another 8 months off the coast. I have some appreciation for the perspective of Cpl. Joe Blow.
And when they are eighty years old, they can look back and remember the people they helped, not whether gas is under 3 dollars a gallon. I’m sorry but you sound like a walking, talking, think tank. Of COURSE, oil is a part of it. But the football coach doesn’t walk in the locker room at half-time and talk about how a win would make him the winningest coach at Haley High. Instead he rallies those boys that they NEED to win, MUST win, right now, for them, themselves, to look back in fond rememberance that they gave it their all.
I am almost 64. I don't want to see us repeat in Iraq what we did in Vietnam. It is a sad legacy that impugned the sacrifice of so many brave Americans and Vietnamese and allowed the Communists to seize the South and oppress them to this very day. We weren't defeated militarily, but at home by a Dem Congress and treasonous fools like John Kerry who testified before Congress in 1971 calling fellow veterans murderers, junkies, and criminals. He also asked the queston, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
If we don't accomplish our mission in Iraq, this will be the second time that those in our military will have been part of a defeat. Looking back nearly 40 years, it is still painful, especially given the sacrifice of so many. There is nothing worthwhile in defeat.
“I am almost 64. I don’t want to see us repeat in Iraq what we did in Vietnam.”
we aren’t. we won, saddam is dead and gone. THAT, my friend is a victory. this post-war chaos is like playing monopoly with manic-depressives. as for vietnam, we didn’t lose, we quit. a legacy of both republican and democrat administrations. but the vietnam vet didn’t lose, their leaders quit on them. however, a very large part of society didn’t quit on them. and that is why i still respect them all today. thank you for your service. underway, shift colors.
Most on those stories are from 2006. That’s not many.
Prayers for your nephew, his buddies in the 82nd, and for all of our military men and women, and for the innocent Iraqis.
Rest in Peace Soldiers. May God's angels escort you to the presence of God Almighty, and to His Son, our Lord and Saviour!
That wasn't our only objective and the reason why we invaded Iraq, my friend. Here are the reasons we are there. It won't be a victory until we have a stable Iraq and a country that will be an ally in the WOT and won't harbor or support terrorists.
this post-war chaos is like playing monopoly with manic-depressives
AQ, the same folks who were responsible for 9/11, is still operating in force in Iraq. How can we declare victory and walk away?
as for vietnam, we didn’t lose, we quit. a legacy of both republican and democrat administrations. but the vietnam vet didn’t lose, their leaders quit on them.
You can put lipstick on a pig and it is still a pig. We lost where it counted, as a nation. When you quit, you lose. I blame the Dems far more than the Reps on what happened in Vietnam. The last US combat forces left Vietnam in March 1973. The South Vietnamese fought for almost two years by themselves. It was the Dem controlled Congress that cut off funding to the South and it was the Dems who pulled the plug when it came to responding to the North's violation of the Paris Peace agreement by invading. Millions of Vietnamese paid a terrible price for our quitting [read defeat.]
however, a very large part of society didn’t quit on them. that is why i still respect them all today
Kids are taught in school today that America was defeated. They are told that our involvement was a mistake. The Vietnam veterans were not honored when they returned home--just the opposite. I appreciate your good wishes, but I am more concerned that we don't repeat the same mistake we did in Vietnam, i.e., snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We can't be defeated militarily in Iraq, only here at home.
Prayers for you and your soldiers FSE. Get some and come home safe!
You and me both.
“time for them to meet Mr. Cruise Missile.” And his girlfriend - Ms. Daisy Cutter. No mercy!
I agree on the security. I think the problem has been is that the Iraqi’s can’t or won’t secure the areas. In all fairness, they have lost thousands of good men who have tried to volunteer.
You are totally right, and how often does one see it in life - you cannot do more for someone than they are willing to do for themselves.
I myself questioned the motives of the Iraq campaign from the start, and my opinion was that Sadaam Hussein did not hold power in Iraq by accident. There was a widespread acceptance of his methods, and it is not clear if the Iraqis can be, or will be, governed effectively by any other means.
Your post #231 is dead on correct - Throughout -
I’ll work on that. Thanks, and good to meet you.
Damn. Think, then respond....
“I don’t expect the Iraqis will kiss, group hug, or otherwise make nice any time soon, and probably never. We made a noble effort to help, but our part is done IMHO.”
So, we should not finish training the Iraqi military and police, we should not make sure enough of them are battle hardened in order to defend their nation and their government, we should quit. That would mean that our troops lost the war.
That would also provide a breeding ground for terrorists from 1 or more organizations to create training grounds, bring in funds from around the world, bring in jihadis from around the world, who can and will attack us again the way we were attacked on 9/11/01. Great idea (/sarcasm).
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