Posted on 03/19/2002 7:36:22 AM PST by sheltonmac
The idea that GI's in Somolia, Haiti, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Columbia, Grenada, and the rest of the 141 nations they are stationed, is nothing more than mindless propaganda. They are doing nothing of the sort. My freedom is not dependent upon their actions in those far away lands because those far away lands in no way, shape or form threaten my freedom. The greatest threat to my freedom in the last century has eminated from the State houses and Congress not to mention the variety of armed thugs that work under color of their authority.
Everytime I hear that statement "God Bless the forces dying for our freedom" I want to puke. God bless our young men and women who enlisted most certainly. But they are not defending our freedoms.
In fact, I am becoming convinced that people who repeat such silly mantras, are certain that they themselves are incapable of defending their freedoms and must have others do it for them. They most certainly have no idea what freedom is or what its price if this is what they truly believe.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!
Thus, despite any lofty suggestions that those 18 American men died in Somalia for “freedom,” the truth is that the U.S. government sent them to their deaths for a worthless cause.
After that, this is a big pile of peacenik crappola. And because the conclusion is a big pile of peacenik crappola, the entire article is a big pile of peacenik crappola.
Why are we in Afganistan??? Maybe enough American citizens didn't die on American soil for you. Maybe we should just roll over and let them keep attacking us. How many would have to die for you to believe that retalitory strikes were needed? How many terror attacks have occurred since we entered Afganistan (Answer for stupid peaceniks: zero)??
I can't believe that I'm reading support for this article on this website.
Somalia was a mistake. No question. We were there to feed the starving. Then it became a matter of nation building. It was the nation building phase of the effort that went wrong, under the misdirection of Clinton. The food delivery part was largely successful with little loss of life.
Our purpose in Vietnam was "to kill Communists"?? Wrong. We were there to stop the spread of communism. And you know what? It worked.
Why were we in WWI??? U-boats attacking our ships, Germany attempting to form an alliance with Mexico for the purpose of an invasion, allies in trouble. Little things like that. And you know what? Our efforts worked.
The American presence in Europe in WWI caused WWII? What a joke. It wouldn't have anything to do with Chamberlin and the rest of Europe turning a blind eye to Germany in the early 1930s would it?
And Afganistan? I cannot for the life of me think of a better use of the American military than to protect American citizens from an attack on American soil. And you know what? They've done their job.
Yet this article is calling us to action. Its asking us to "challenge" the government. I think keeping the American citizenry safe from further terrorist attcks is challenging enough without having a Vietnam-style effort at discrediting our leadership.
The President has responded to an emergency situation. The threat was immediate and the consequences of a non-response were dire. A formal declaration of war, by Congress, will soon be necessary. But it is far too early to "challenge" the government.
This is where I stopped reading. Clinton did not order them there - Bush did. If the author cannot get that one fact straight than guess what? The article is crapola.
BINGO! Did you see the special on that event? Cant remember if it was the history channel or discovery, or PBS..they had interviews with the Rangers. Some of them were teary eyed recalling Somalia and the bloodbath that erupted there. They do indeed "lead the way"..but only in battle. NOT in some bull$shit peace-keeping mission for the UN.
Then, the U.N. started nation-building. When peace-keepers started getting killed, Clinton sent in special-ops people along with Rangers to get the warlords that weren't cooperating with the U.N. vision of a coalition gov't. That's when things went to sh*t for the Americans. One part of the book "Blackhawk Down" describes the Italian U.N. peacekeepers, some still in league with their former Somali colonial subjects, would use their truck headlights to signal the Somali warlords when the US troops suited up for a mission.
Nation building is and continues to be a disaster for the U.S. military, every time. However, the author is utterly clueless because he can't differentiate the reason why we're in Afghanistan vs. why we were in Somalia. The Somalis didn't kill 3000+ Americans our own country!
I spell it B-I-N-G-O.
In most cases, unfortunately, what the UN does and what the U.S. does is exactly the same thing.
Very well put. I find it hard to imagine that any soldier who's experienced battle would refer to his mission as, 'political' or 'mindless propaganda'.
If we as a nation cannot infuence where they are sent, perhaps we can stand by them on the home front? Since I've never served in the military due to a disability, and I wanted to gather support for the soldiers, I started a petition. Who know's? We may need to make another statement after this, "Trade Center War," is over.
A new petition has been submitted by William Mark Patterson, wmp920@msn.com. The petition title is: Petition to support and commend American troops who fought in Somalia. The petition URL is http://www.PetitionOnline.com/USHEROES/petition.html The petition is directed to United States Senators and Representatives. The start date is 2002.0311. The end date is 2003.0311.
Perhaps our freedom to drive around on the cheapest gas possible??
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