Posted on 02/18/2003 7:26:58 AM PST by BOBTHENAILER
Some see Americas patriotic mood waning.
Campujairi, Kuwait The peace protesters might as well be marching right under the tank barrels.
U.S. troops amassed in the Kuwaiti desert couldnt avoid news of anti-war protests that swept the globe over the weekend, and it is making some angry, defensive, fired-up and anxious.
They see scattered news reports of opposition to a possible war against Iraq, but the hardest-hitting bulletins come in phone calls home to worried wives and loved ones, said Sgt. 1st Class Victor Oravec, 41, of Fort Knox, Ky., of the U.S. Armys 3-7 Cavalry.
Theyre saying, Why are we over here when everyones over here saying we shouldnt be? Oravec said.
They hear it. They bring it up to me, and I squash it by keeping them busy, reminding them why theyre here, Oravec said, just before leading his tank maintenance unit in an all-night training exercise across the Kuwaiti desert.
Many of the soldiers who might be called to fight against Iraq were too young to remember the emotional protests that marked the end of the Vietnam War. Many had not even been born.
Still, some say they take the anti-war protests personally questioning the jobs they do and their boss, President Bush.
They get down, said Oravec, a veteran of the 1991 war against Iraq. Thats when I come around, try to get them work to do. Thats the only thing I can think of to keep their minds off home and what their wives are telling them.
Capt. John Turner, 26, of Colonial Heights, Va., whose father was a med-evac pilot for the Army in Vietnam, said soldiers are not decision-makers and cant afford to get distracted from their training.
Im not in this line of work for political reasons. I didnt come here to be a politician, Turner said.
Still, hes especially angry about opposition at the United Nations from France, a NATO ally.
How would they feel if it was the Eiffel Tower that got hit into (on Sept. 11)? he asked.
The troops see a possible war against Iraq as part of the ongoing war on terrorism, as the Bush administration targets alleged weapons of mass destruction that could fall into the hands of terrorists.
Protesters call that an unfounded or unproven claim being used to justify a war to control more of the Middle Easts vast oil reserves.
The No blood for oil slogan was used in opposition to the 1991 war, too. But back then, in the war to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi invaders, the protests did not seem as widespread and the troops did not take them so personally, Gulf War veterans said.
Thats their right to protest as long as they know thats their opinion, not ours, said 1st Sgt. Stephen Edgerton, 36, a Gulf War veteran from Blackshear, Ga.
When youre younger, youre a little more eager to go out and pick a fight with somebody, Edgerton said. With age, youre not as quick to jump into things without thinking them out first.
But for soldiers, he said, the bottom line is simple: I support my Commander in Chief. Thats my job.
Pvt. Wesley Carr, 23, of Virginia Beach, Va., said soldiers are the last ones who want to rush into unnecessary wars.
I can understand why they want to protest, because they dont want any harm to come to us. But a lot of them dont understand, Carr said. I hope, like everyone else, that it does end peacefully. But if it doesnt and we have to go to war, we have to think of the safety of the United States and all these people here.
Privately, some soldiers wonder if the patriotic mood and pro-military spirit in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks has evaporated.
With all its soldiers and high-tech war fighting machines, the U.S. military would not have had all its recent success if the soldiers didnt get so much support from the public, Edgerton said.
They dont have to support whats happening, he said, but at least support the soldiers
Iraq Update
1st U-2 Mission: Iraq reported the first flight by an American U-2 surveillance plane Monday in support of the U.N. inspection mission, marking another concession by the Baghdad government in hopes of staving off a U.S. led attack. The flight lasted four hours.
Turkey Delays:
Turkeys prime minister on Monday ruled out a parliamentary vote to allow tens of thousands of U.S. combat troops on its territory until Turkish and U.S. officials agree on the conditions of the deployment.
PLEASE tell me different. I'd LOVE it if it was all just "urban legends".
Tell your hubby God Bless and Godspeed. I couldn't agree more with his response.
That said, this isnt anti war dissent, its anti-Americanism, expressed at Americas most visible symbol, those protecting their right to protest with their lives.
I believe Dante housed traitors in the ninth circle of hell. May they one day enjoy their deserved stay.
For what its worth, though there arent that many in the military around me, theyre visible in uniform on a daily basis at the grocery, post office, and Target, though Ive been told security around housing has been stepped up.
From :ejectejecteject.com
____________________________________________
We live in interesting times. We face an adversary so mentally shackled, so consumed with hatred and revenge, that their only weapon is Terror. That is their sword. Our shield, is courage.
They want, they need us to be afraid. And some of us are. News reporters, in particular, seem to have bones made of margarine and I suspect their blood looks as pink and watery as watermelon juice. They daily tell us how afraid we are. What theyre really telling us is how afraid they are.
We have -- we here today have lived our lives more free of fear than any humans in history. No other generation comes even close. We have conquered the diseases that have taken our children from us, slain hunger to the point where the number one health risk to poor Americans is obesity. We have a stable government, a functioning society, and teams of highly trained and magnificently skilled rescuers only three button-pushes away. Fear is not something modern Americans have had to face very often.
And when we are afraid, we seem to fear the most unlikely things: plane crashes and terrorist attacks. Nothing baffles me more than listening to a 340 pound smoker, a person who will drive drunk, without seatbelts, talking about how they are going to die in a commercial jetliner.
Terrorists worry me, but they dont frighten me. The worst thing they can do is kill me, and despite my best efforts to the contrary, thats going to happen regardless of what they may scheme and fantasize about.
Terrorism can never, never destroy this nation. They may kill thousands of us, perhaps even take one of our cities cities they could never build, filled with people they can never be. Perhaps it will be my city. Perhaps it will be me. But if they do, life will go on. Some things are bigger and more important than our own lives. America can survive the loss of a city. America can survive the loss of all her cities. Because our image and idea of America lives in our hearts, and as long as there are Americans alive in the world, America will survive.
But there are people that do scare me people that scare me very badly indeed, because these people have the power to kill this idea we call America.
We have turned our childrens minds over to certain people who are so bitter and angry, so hateful of the country that gave them birth and safety, that their poison now fills our college campuses and has overrun entire communities. These are not loyal dissenters who rightfully question the policies of our nation, but small and diseased people who cannot understand why their fantasy ideologies are never in vogue, who can see nothing noble or magnificent on their foggy and dim and very close inner horizons. People whose anger and envy have driven them to turn all virtue into an ironic smirk, people who react to strength and morality with the revulsion born of a lifetime of failure and dark plans for revenge on the happy, the confident and the self-reliant.
I fear these people. I hate them. I hate them because they can kill our confidence, corrode our will, poison our history and make us believe we are the base, savage and dismal society they see through their cataracts of failure. These people can kill America. And they are determined to do it if we let them. And the one thing they mock and spit on, the one trait they despise above all others, is the physical and moral courage that they have never known, and that is the leaden nugget of their self-hatred.
There are people Americans who would turn this into the Land of the Guilty and the Home of the Terrified. We cannot let them do this. We simply can not.
So do I.
We didn't start the war, we were attacked.
Correct, but we were attacked by religious fundamentalist followers of Islam. These followers hate Saddam as much as they hate us. We should be going after these fundamentalists wherever they are instead of wasting all of this time, lives, and money with Saddam.
Saudi Arabia would be a far better place to start but they're our ally.This nonsense response I hear so often of "We'll get to them in due time" is pure bull. We're never going after the ones who killed thousands of Americans as long as we're getting oil from the House of Saud.
Willie came from Little Rock, A-R-K...
Politicked his way across the U-S-A.
RAPED some women on the way...
Killed his "friends" 'cuz he was the Prez - Slick said:
"Hey Knaves, take a walk on the Vile Side!!"
Said "Hey Country, take a walk on the Vile Side!!"
John Huang came from Beijing in Red China.
In Slick's White House, Illegal Funds he laundered!!
But Huang never lost the Prez...
'Cuz Slick's TREASON required bread - Huang said...
"Hey Bill, sell yer NUKES to the Chi-Coms!!"
Said, "Hey Willie, Sell the Rope to hang yer side!!"
And Left's MedyuhShills go, doo dodoo (7x on F C)
Tobackky Al never once gave it away,
Chi-Com monks hadta pay and pay!!
Corruption here fer some TREASON there...
Clinton's White House is the place where they said:
"Hey kids, take a walk on the VileSide!!"
Said "Waco kids, we'll send tanks to make YOU FRY!!"
BourbonBirch Teddy picked up Mary Jo...
Looking for some lovin' from his two-bit HO!!
Drove into the Chappaquiddick, drowned his date then split the scene - Ted said:
"Hey Bobby, Kennedy's can't commit crimes..."
Said, "Hey Jack, DemonRATS...Ain't We ALL Vile?!!"
HildaBeast's just fading away,
Thought she was VeePee in her day.
Lib'ral Wretch, she covets cash,
Prison's where RAT BI+C#'ll breathe her last - she said:
"Hey Hubbell, thanks fer sirin' my only child!!"
MUD Said, "NooYawkers, Ain't Y'all Got NO Pride?!"
And the DemonRATS go, doo dodoo (7x on F C)
Mudboy Slim...first FReeped 20 July 1997 (re-FReeped 18 February 2003)
Bear something in mind when you watch the massive protests and read an article or two from The Guardian or The Independent.
Our forces will invade Iraq. When they do, they will liberate a people who are living, as we speak, in fear. The Allied soldiers will smite the wicked, liberate the oppressed, and find, at long last, Saddam Hussein's stash of WMD stuff.
Rebuilding will be difficult, but bear in mind one thing. This war, like others, will pass into history. When it does, the historians will ask who fought to destroy Saddam, and who fought to keep him in power.
They will conclude that American and British troops, under the command of two honest and courageous leaders, George W. Bush and Tony Blair, brought freedom where there was fear.
And the protesters? The Not in Our Name crowd? The New Labourites who can't see past their distaste for the Dumb Cowboy in the White House?
They will have had nothing to do with it. That one observation will be a damning indictment for the ages.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Do you agree that whether we should take out Saddam or not is a separate issue from the attack of 9/11?
What is your position on Saudi Arabia in all of this?
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