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Anti-war Protests Anger U.S. Troops Inside Kuwait
The Detroit News | Tuesday, February 18, 2003 | M.E. Sprengelmeyer

Posted on 02/18/2003 7:26:58 AM PST by BOBTHENAILER

Some see America’s 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 couldn’t 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. Army’s 3-7 Cavalry.

“They’re saying, ‘Why are we over here when everyone’s over here saying we shouldn’t be?’” Oravec said.

“They hear it. They bring it up to me, and I squash it by keeping them busy, reminding them why they’re 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. “That’s when I come around, try to get them work to do. That’s 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 can’t afford to get distracted from their training.

“I’m not in this line of work for political reasons. I didn’t come here to be a politician,” Turner said.

Still, he’s 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 East’s 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.

“That’s their right to protest as long as they know that’s their opinion, not ours,” said 1st Sgt. Stephen Edgerton, 36, a Gulf War veteran from Blackshear, Ga.

“When you’re younger, you’re a little more eager to go out and pick a fight with somebody,” Edgerton said. “With age, you’re 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. That’s 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 don’t want any harm to come to us. But a lot of them don’t understand,” Carr said. “I hope, like everyone else, that it does end peacefully. But if it doesn’t 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 didn’t get so much support from the public, Edgerton said.

“They don’t have to support what’s 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:
Turkey’s 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.


TOPICS: Breaking News
KEYWORDS: antiamericanpos; appeasementweanies; appeaseniks; democrats; ingrates; janefondalovers; jerks; marxists; saddamsbuddies; supportourtroops; traitors
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To: BOBTHENAILER

Halfway down the trail to hell,
In a shady meadow green
Are the Souls of all dead troopers camped,
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddlers' Green.

Marching past, straight through to Hell
The Infantry are seen.
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery and Marines,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.

Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene.
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he's emptied his canteen.
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddlers' Green.

And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge of fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddlers' Green.

SCOUTS OUT!


281 posted on 02/19/2003 12:35:15 AM PST by WolfsView (Cavalry Ho!)
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To: grumpdawg485
So, in your opinion it is okay to suppress political expression sedition with vioence?

When our country is at war and the blood of our boys is being spilled?
Yes.

282 posted on 02/19/2003 12:46:45 AM PST by ppaul
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To: dishwasher
anti-capitalist professional... Isn't that a contradiction in terms?

I would have thought so until I saw the organizers selling t-shirts for ...gasp...a profit! I found the contradiction humorous.

283 posted on 02/19/2003 5:07:14 AM PST by Damocles (sword of..)
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To: sakic

To have doubts is one thing. Geez, I have doubts.

To criticize the leadership of your country, while remaining silent during the cruel and barbarous rape of a country by its ruler, borders on the criminal, if not the treasonous.

The Left knows what Saddam is all about. They choose to remain silent. They are complicit in evil.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

284 posted on 02/19/2003 5:16:30 AM PST by section9 (The girl in the picture is Major Motoko Kusanagi from "Ghost In the Shell". Any questions?)
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To: sakic
Do you agree that Al Qaeda hates Saddam with a vengeance and is only supporting his position here because it is an anti-American stance?

Oh, I strongly suspect that they despise each other. However, I do not believe that each party sees that as a roadblock to stop cooperation in pursuant of mutual interests.

Remember: Hitler and Stalin signed a nonagression pact! Each party got a bit of Poland and Hitler got a free hand in the West.

Do you agree that whether we should take out Saddam or not is a separate issue from the attack of 9/11?

No. This is part of the same conflict. Remember, we fight agianst terrorist organizations and the states that support them.

What is your position on Saudi Arabia in all of this

We make them an offer they can't refuse.

Reform or be undermined by the CIA.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

285 posted on 02/19/2003 5:24:16 AM PST by section9 (The girl in the picture is Major Motoko Kusanagi from "Ghost In the Shell". Any questions?)
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To: Marysecretary
Thanks, my friend.
286 posted on 02/19/2003 6:43:58 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: nutmeg
hehehe
287 posted on 02/19/2003 6:44:15 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: dixiechick2000
Welcome *Smiles*
288 posted on 02/19/2003 6:46:15 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: blackie
Amen, my friend
289 posted on 02/19/2003 6:46:52 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: SENTINEL
Ping. You have Freepmail.
290 posted on 02/19/2003 7:15:24 AM PST by FreeTheHostages
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To: WolfsView
Great post of a great poem.
291 posted on 02/19/2003 7:16:12 AM PST by BOBTHENAILER (Just like Black September. One by one, we're gonna get 'em.)
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To: JohnHuang2; Billie; dutchess; BOBTHENAILER
Had #32 pulled so I can send it to Billie and Dutchess as my essay of the week (just in case anybody wonders what happened..hehe :^)

LOL -- the walls have ears. Your mistake is thinking I don't get out and about in the other threads! Muh-ha-ha-ha-ha. What a great thread, though, huh? Bob rules.
292 posted on 02/19/2003 7:31:59 AM PST by FreeTheHostages
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To: section9
To criticize the leadership of your country, while remaining silent during the cruel and barbarous rape of a country by its ruler, borders on the criminal, if not the treasonous.

This raises the issue of why so may of us are distrustful of our government. There are currently scores of dictators that treat their citizens just as badly and yet not only does our government not call them to task, they never utter a word about it.

293 posted on 02/19/2003 7:34:08 AM PST by sakic
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To: SLB
Hey that's great. Wish them well from the rest of us.
294 posted on 02/19/2003 7:37:37 AM PST by DoughtyOne (Freeper Caribbean Cruise May 31-June 6, Staterooms As Low As $610 Per Person For Entire Week!)
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To: sakic
This raises the issue of why so may of us are distrustful of our government. There are currently scores of dictators that treat their citizens just as badly and yet not only does our government not call them to task, they never utter a word about it.

First, a reasoned distrust of government is one of the foundations of our Constitutional Order. The Framers didn't produce the Constitution as it was because they believed that people with power would do good.

Second, this isn't just about human rights. If it were, I would agree with you. We go at Saddam because of his potential threat to our country and her allies, not because he is a bad guy. His being a squalid tyrant merely adds to the indictment.

National interest is our lodestar, first and foremost.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

295 posted on 02/19/2003 7:55:24 AM PST by section9 (The girl in the picture is Major Motoko Kusanagi from "Ghost In the Shell". Any questions?)
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To: AntiJen
I emailed the editor of the post newspaper links to this article and the Infinite FReep rallies. If nothing else, two more soldiers know today that FReepers support them and our country!

I tried to get my local paper to print the article today. They said they couldn't, but that they had a letter from a serviceman in Kuwait who was also pi$$ed about the anti-war crowd and they were going to print that.

I've had several letters to the editor printed along this line and I really hope our local men and women overseas are seeing them.

We've got five young men that are friends of our family that are either over there, Afghanistan or on their way. THEY KNOW THE SUPPORT THEY HAVE FROM US AND HOW PROUD OF THEM WE ARE!!!!!

296 posted on 02/19/2003 8:02:44 AM PST by BOBTHENAILER (Just like Black September. One by one, we're gonna get 'em.)
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To: FreeTheHostages; JohnHuang2
LOL -- the walls have ears. Your mistake is thinking I don't get out and about in the other threads! Muh-ha-ha-ha-ha. What a great thread, though, huh?

I think #32 is back up after JH2 got his just rewards.

This is a good thread, no?

297 posted on 02/19/2003 8:05:29 AM PST by BOBTHENAILER (Just like Black September. One by one, we're gonna get 'em.)
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To: BOBTHENAILER
This is a *great* and important thread, Bob. It should inspire people to get out there, because that's just what they need to do. So God Bless you -- and our troops.
298 posted on 02/19/2003 8:11:27 AM PST by FreeTheHostages (DC Chapter .. Patriots Rally for America IV .. on Saturday, March 1st)
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To: FreeTheHostages
God bless the troops.
thank you, my FRiend.
299 posted on 02/19/2003 8:23:22 AM PST by BOBTHENAILER (Just like Black September. One by one, we're gonna get 'em.)
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To: BOBTHENAILER
This is a good thread, no?

This is a very good and very important thread... doing my best to keep it alive!

Signs, bumper stickers, pins, hats, etc. available here:

The George W. Bush Online Store

300 posted on 02/19/2003 10:09:48 AM PST by nutmeg (Liberate Iraq - Support Our Troops!)
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