Billy wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Billy wrote
HeyBub wrote
Billy wrote
HeyBub wrote
Billy wrote

It's time to go home.

Why? Because of American lives lost?

Not a good reason. The Americans that are there are volunteers
and recognized that their life or limb might be lost. They signed
up in spite of that possibility. In fact, 85% of those who've served
in Iraq or Afghanistan have re-enlisted at the first opportunity.

To them, it's the job they want to do. Just like a firefighter
or policeman understands the risks in his chosen profession,
our warrior class accepts similar risks.

To our warriors, the chance to kill people and blow things up
is their life's work. Sitting around at Fort ********, Louisiana
just won't cut it. Look, who would ever become a fireman if
there was no or little chance of fighting a fire? Likewise,
who would ever become a soldier if there were no wars.

No, we need a war every ten or fifteen years just to keep
the tip of the spear sharp and encourage new recruits.

As a corollary, where had you rather have 180,000
people who want to kill? There, or back here?

Re-enliste? Some just kill them selves. Some leave the
country when their tour is extended. Most re-enlist, not
because they believe in the fight but because their buddies,
who caught their backs, are still there and they feel guilty
about being out, when their friends are still in the meat-grinder.

Right. Of the 15% who don't re-enlist, some were casualties,
some retire, some move on to other endeavors, some are
pussy-whipped by whining wives or sweethearts.

American lives lost? Are you crazy? Each one of them had a name.
Each one of them had a mother and a father who loved them. Each
one of them are patriots who answered the call of their country.
How did they know that the commander in chief was a jive-ass,
draft-dodging, mother-****er who was just going to be helping
himself, his daddy, and his friends to make a little money.

What difference does the president make in their decision?
As for being a draft-dodger, if the worst you can say about
Bush is, that in time of war, he joined the National Guard...

The Air National Guard and then didn't show up.
The guy is all hat and no cattle.

Welcome to the New American Century. All Profit, All the Time.

Proft is good.

It's blood money from people who trusted him.

Hell, the ones who got killed are the lucky ones. It's the
other 90% who got broke and are coming home with
post-traumatic stress disorder, who are going to suffer.

Regrettably, you're correct. We'll do the best we can to provide
for them, but, ultimately, that was the choice they made.

Like Walter Reed. As soon as the spot light
is off the VA, it will be business as usual.

And you want to put a happy face on it? Jesus Christ man, the
troops did what they were told. They went to Bagdad and occupied
the Ministry of Oil and left the munition dumps unprotected.

Well, yeah. But they did kill a great number of terrorists and potential terrorists.

Once they saw that we were an occupying force, the **** hit the fan.

It did indeed. And even pulling out immediately
after the surrender wouldnt have worked either.

The people of Bagdad were happy to see us. They wanted to thank
us. But we treated them like dirt and kicked them in the teeth.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...age-grows-afte
r-fallujah-massacre-537969.html

Iraqi rage grows after Fallujah massacre

By Phil Reeves in Fallujah
Sunday, 4 May 2003

Nearly a week after troops from the 82nd Airborne Division
randomly opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators here,
prompting the US military to announce an inquiry, commanders
have yet to speak to the doctors who counted the bodies.

Potential terrorists.

My ass, it was the ****in' PTA. The war was over. The 82nd
Airborne set up shop in a neighborhood school. The locals
wanted to send their kids back to school. They demonstrated
and got shot. Not the way to win the hearts and minds of the locals.

That was never the real problem.

It is now.

Nope. The real problem now is that it degenerated into a full
civil war very quickly after the surrender and its never going
to be possible to keep the lid on a full civil war with US troops.

We don't have enough troops or bayonets to insure the
peace. Finally, it comes down to negotiations, not force.

Yes, but once a full civil war has developed, it takes quite
a while before they get so sick of the consequences of a
full civil war that they are prepared to negotiate.

It took the stupid irish something like 3 centurys, and it still hasnt
really happened in the Balkans, they've had to give up completely
and let the various ethnic groups have their own enclaves.

Iraq will likely end up like that too. It already has with the Kurds particularly.

Iraqis, in general, respected the US until "W" made them mad
enough to strap a bomb to their backs, may he burn in Hell. If
arabs want to kill westerners now, it's because "W" pushed
until they pushed back. "W" needed a war on terror so that
the military-industrial complex could keep on socking it away.
Or was Eisenhower, a real soldier, just full of crap?

Uh, who "pushed" the Arabs into the World Trade Center?

The World Trade Organization, that's who.

Nope.

Part of their job is to squeeze the last dime or drop of blood out of a debtor
nation by getting them to follow 18th century neo-liberal economic policies.

Nope, thats the World Bank, and entirely different operation.

This includes cutting all social services and extensive privatization.

That didnt happen in any country the fools involved in WTC came from.

Didnt happen in Saudi because they have plenty of oil revenues and
dont have to give a damn what the world bank thinks they should do.
Didnt happen in Egypt either. Or any other middle eastern country either.

Only problem is, wherever it is employed, it doesn't work and riots break out.

Didnt happen in any middle eastern country for that reason.

Sometimes, as Ward Churchill has pointed
out, when you push people, they push back.

Yes, but thats not what was driving the attacks on the WTC.

Eisenhower, according to his former superior, Douglas
McArthur, "...would make an adequate staff officer."

American G.I.s are doing the honorable thing. The Iraqi resistance is
doing the honorable thing. And "W"? Like Iran 1953, "W" is backing the
wackos to keep the pot boiling. We arm both the Sunni and Shia militias.

There is no "Iraqi Resistance." Virtually every one (that we have
killed or know about) of the bombers, insurgents, and leaders of
such in Iraq are not from Iraq. Except for Sadaam, of course.

Pig ignorant lie.

Want to corroborate that? No DoD press releases please.
In the mean time, I would direct you to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_insurgency .

Yeah, his claim is a pig ignorant lie.

Wake up. You are being played for a chump.

I'm a volunteer. I accept the risks.

And there will always be some who want to get involved in that sort of situation.