Sunday Morning Talk Show Thread 15 January 2012

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): OP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C.

THIS WEEK (ABC): OP presidential candidate Rick Perry; TV host Stephen Colbert.

STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry; TV host Stephen Colbert.

We’re supposed to be better than this though kabar. We’re professionals...not hired thugs in some third world hell hole. We can fight and defeat them without resorting to their tactics.

In WWII at Guadalcanal, the Japanese used fear as a tactic by placing the severed heads of dead Americans on pikes and planting them around the Marine perimeter. This marked a change in the way we fought the Japanese for the rest of the war. Generally, the code of Bushido aside, we stopped taking prisoners even those who tried to surrender. We killed them and cared not a wit about their bodies or how they were handled. My father and this four brothers served in WWII including one who was a Marine who fought in the Pacific including on Tarawa. Others served in the Army at Anzio and Salerno. They weren't professionals.

We have the luxury of believing that we can adhere to some mythical higher standards because in recent wars our national survival was not at stake and we had such military and technological superiority that there was no possibility that the enemy could defeat us on the battlefield. We think we can fight these sterile, antiseptic "wars," which are really small compared to the massive battles of WWII or even Korea, limiting the deaths of civilians and adhering to some "higher standards." In WWII we had no problem as a nation fire bombing Tokyo, Dresden, Hamburg, etc. knowing full well that hundreds of thousands of civilians would be killed including women and children. In fact, that was the objective, to break their will and destroy their ability to make war. We demanded unconditional surrender.

Today our soldiers are still human who experience the same fears and anger of anyone who is facing an enemy who is trying to kill them. In many cases they are unseen planting IUDs and using suicide bombers. We know how brutal they are to Americans and before us, Russians. You just have to Google Afghanistan and beheadings and see how they shot videos of the beheadings of captured Russian soldiers. We saw what happened to the Blackwater contractors in Iraq or the bodies of our soldiers dragged through the streets in Somalia. Pissing on Taliban bodies has a cathartic effect. I have more of a problem with taking a video of what happened than the actual act. I don't condone what was done, but I understand it. Non-judicial punishment could be meted out, but I have a feeling that much more punishment will ensue to make an example out of these guys. If it hadn't been leaked, no pun intended, I would have done nothing to them except chewing them out.

I served a year in Vietnam including during Tet and an additional 8 months on a ship off the cost. The Viet Cong and NVA mutiliated Americans they captured and killed. I know that for a fact. We retaliated in various ways. And we had "war crimes" like My Lai. The public blamed the military for the war denigrating those who served. It was a sad chapter in this country's history.

It is not a matter of being better than the enemy. It is a matter of placing human beings into combat and believing that all of them will react like those who sitting back in their safe offices and homes believe they should. Allegedly, Orwell said, ""People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

I despise Hillary Clinton and Panetta re their comments on the incident or people like Durbin, Kerry, and Murtha who are quick to condemn our troops. It reminds me Kiplings poem,Tommy aka ""The Queen's Uniform"

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,

The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."

The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,

I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:

O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";

But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,

The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,

O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,

They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;

They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,

But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";

But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,

The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,

O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep

Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;

An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit

Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.

Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"

But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,

The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,

O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,

But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;

An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,

Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;

While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",

But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,

There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,

O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:

We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.

Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face

The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"

But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;

An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;

An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

Thanks for you service to this country. I don't mean to lecture you, but I feel strongly that the political elites are destroying our armed forces by making them into a poltically correct organization that will weaken their ability to carry out their stated mission. And we are witnessing the beginning of a guns versus butter struggle that will see a hollowing out of the military so we can use the funding to prop up the collapse of the welfare state.

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