First of all, I don't think you came here to "find answers" at all, First Bow.
You came here to state your views, and speak your mind,
and mostly question how anyone can support the troops without supporting THE WAR IN IRAQ,
which is fine. What is not fine is coming here to state you views, and ask your questions but refusing to answer questions you get in return, while inferring that as a soldier you know all about what we're doing in Iraq.
Peta addressing you on another thread:
Quote:
First bow, Ive read quite a few of your posts recently and you seem to have trouble differentiating between the troops, and the people that are calling the shots back here in the states.With very few exceptions Ive seen nobody criticize the way the troops have handled themselves, or any of thier actions in Iaq.Nobody has anything against our armed forces and I think theyve done quite well with what theyve been given to work with.In reality the amount of time weve been there and the daily violence thats occuring along with having thier hands tied by US and Iraqi politics theyve done marvelously, the number of dead could have been much higher that we see today.
|
That sums it up. I don't buy the idea that you simply don't "get" what peta so eloquently stated. I think that you ignore the hard questions, and you pretend not to understand the differences between criticism of the leadership and criticism of the troops themselves so as to make your point. I believe you have strong feelings about anyone who disagrees with what is happening in Iraq.
Oh and while we're on the subject or Iraq, those of us who disagree with certain aspects of our actions in Iraq, wholeheartedly support our efforts elsewhere. Its hard to discuss such things with you because you post a blurb here and blurb there and really won't engage in a conversation long enough to really try to get those "answers" you claim you've so innocently come here to seek.
Maybe some of this is finally sinking in for you. You are realizing that you are not the only person who has served and is posting on this forum. Maybe you're a bit stunned at the reactions you got and the intelligent dissenting opinions you heard for which you simply had no logical, sensible retort...some of them from veterans, who served just like you to provide the freedom to ask questions of and be demanding about our leadership.
Hey maybe you're beginning to see that some of us support the troops so much that we get enraged when we hear Rumsfeld make excuses about not providing enough body armor or armored vehicles nearly 2 years after "IED" became a household word, so to speak. We don't want to hear excuses about why our troops don't have what they need to kick ass. Some of us are questioning how those troops we support are being used and why. For what? For whom? Some of us don't ever want to see our leadership enter another campaign without pulling the cork completely out of the bottle, putting our full commitment into total devastation of our enemies as we did in Gulf War I.
We are infuriated about "embedded reporters" and could see in advance that they'd use their on-the-scene reporting as a club against our troops... and some did just that in spades.
We want to puke when we hear that in certain deadly situations our troops have to call for permission to fire...in a freaking war zone.
, it is our support of those kids like your nephew, which causes us to hold our leaders to uncompromising high standards, to have high expectations and to perform as well as our kids do every day.
Furthermore we are aware of what $400,000,000,000 is and how spending it when you don't have it (because you failed to garner enough support from other nations going in), leaves you vulnerable and stretched thin as a nation against other threats from the likes of North Korea, Syria, Iran, and on and on...further risking the lives of our kids...
Yea, First Bow, its not as simple as you or your nephew would like it to be. It just isn't. That you fail to see that is no big deal; that you would go on to dichotomize such a complex situation into "either you support Iraq or you don't support the troops" is just maddening.
If you and your nephew truly don't understand it then perhaps you should pursue your stated mission in its purest form...try to "find the answers."
Only this time, when you hear them, you should ask yourselves why these dissenting voices weren't raised when we entered Afghanistan...why is Iraq the point of dissent? What's the difference between the two (because obviously for you and a lot of others there both just the same.)
Either you do "get it" and are pretending you're not, which I would find dispicable, or you truly don't get it...in which case, your apology is truly in order.
Next time you're nephew calls and tell you he sees billboards, TV, and radio comments that question things, tell him we know how he feels...some of us were humiliated, spit on, and accosted for even so much as wearing our dress uniforms in transit during Viet Nam...yea, we know, and because of that we're watching his back while he's looking down the barrel of his assault rifle. We don't
ever again want him to be put in a place where his time, efforts, youth, and perhaps his life might be spent for a people who do not deserve it, in a place that doesn't matter, for a cause that isn't true to Americans first and foremost.
And anyone that isn't as committed to protecting our kids from lousy leadership and political horse-trading while placing their lives at risk is truly the type that should be "knocked on his backside."
Apology
