Our children on our ground = there has yet to bea majorattack on US soil since 9/11, which killed children, fathers, mothers, and law enforcement without predjudice

Terrorists in one form or another that support similar causes are everywhere. There are cells being tracked in the States, in China, in South America, and in the countries we currently occupy in the Middle East. Yes, we started a snowball rolling when we went to war, but it was an effect that would have eventually happened anyway. Terrorist cells from hundreds of groups have been looking for weakness in the US for decades. The Sept 11 attacks were merely the last blow of a chain that has been happening for years, and if that didn't happen something else would have. My job is not to keep track of the payroll, or to ask why the people not shooting us aren't, just to be glad that for the minute, they aren't the bad guys. If it's because we're paying them, so be it, it'll come back on them eventually. Many more that we aren't paying are supporting us as well, to the point of villagers dragging insurgents into the street and leaving the bodies for us so there's no chance they'll slip through our justice system and come back for revenge, and to leave a message for future insurgents. It took what happened in New York to get the country behind a government ready to go to war, without public support the government is impotent and we're quickly losing that right now. Oil money is important, and I won't say that some of it isn't going questionable places, like I said, the payroll isn't my job, but I've seen the results of some of it in rebuilding the nation it came from, and it's wonderful to witness. Our country isn't perfect, our methods aren't perfect, and since men still run the government, bad stuff will happen, but I will say that I am proud to live in America, I am proud to be in the military, and I am proud the be doing what I can for the people I meet here.

The troops doing the jobs on the ground have no say where they go, when we invade, or how long we'll be there, but everywhere we go, we make progress, and I've heard very few say that the experience was one they wished they hadn't had, even after being injured and losing friends.

I don't make policy, but I can almost guarantee that if anyone proposed expanding the war right now, they'd be chased out of DC with pitchforks. With so many people calling for the military to pull out, we probably couldn't go someplace we needed to go, much less someplace we just wanted to go to make things better, like Darfur.

But here's my main point: Politics and general corruptionaside, we are making a difference for alot of people, and if that's all we can do, then for most of us, it's enough.

 

Some interesting information is being posted. But I didn't mean to start an argument over whether we need to stay in Iraq or pull out?

Yes, I do not want terrorists here thinking they can bomb whatever, whenever they feel like.

Yes, I'd prefer our troups come home. A cousin was there till last september.

No, I do not agree that our politcians should be arguing whether we need to stay or not. Why? My 2 cents it causes unrest in the general public. If we're suppose to look to them for guidence and all we see is bickering how can we as everyday joe's be expected to support something in a positive way? We can't and you see/hear more & more of the public not supporting out men and women overseas.

Again I didn't start this thread to start an argument.

 

I don't see this thread as an argument.
More of arespectful discussion.

Like I posted a couple months ago, if there's anyone who feels they can't discuss this topic with a cool head, they should be staying away from this thread.

Also, as everyone knows, it's hard to tell if someone is upset sometimes just by reading their words. Hence the reason we have smilies and net lingo like LOL, LMAO, and so on.

If anyone is wondering, my previous post was not in anger or anything. Everything is all good here.

I think it's safe to say, that we all are supporting our men and women in uniform. It's the politics involved that's in question.

 

Ialso don't really think of this as an arguement. I appreciate honesty from people about what's going on over here, sometimes the soccer moms who just stick a magnet on their car and forget about it really annoy us, to be honest, and even if it's just to think that we (as a government/country, not the troops) aren't doing the right thing, I much prefer people thinking about the situation in some form or another than forgetting we're over here, minus the occassional inconvenient newscast. The support is great, but the point that we aren't doing many of the things that might give us an advantage is also a valid point, and without debate, nothing changes, which in most cases, means nothing gets better. Thanks for everything, guys, I gotta get to work now.

 

No RJ, sorry if it came out that way. I just really really get pi**ed off with the apathy towards our men and women who are fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan every day.

All most people see is what is on TV, and since about September of last year all you see on TV is how great things are going over there, but no real reports of the fighting and dying. Our people are literally fighting and getting killed and wounded on a daily basis, and all I see on the tube is the President, Vice President, or some other mouthpiece telling us how peachy everything is over there.

Well, I look at the caualty list, read everything on every major news outlet on the internet, (even BBC and al-Jazeera), along with soldiers blogs, and it doesn't seem like a walk in the park over there to me. Also, you never hear, and most people don't know, that we have 4 of our guys MIA in Iraq, right at this very moment.

So, to all who thought I came off wrong, I'm sorry, but I can't support half measures and apathy when it comes to war. Either you fight to win, from day one, or you don't fight, period. Screwing around for 3 and a half years got thousands of our brave men and women killed, maimed, captured, tortured, and abused, and I just can't understand why the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't front page news in every newspaper, internet site, and TV station every single day.

This is the story of many of our lifetimes, and it just isn't being handled properly, either by the news organizations or our top civilian leadership.

 

fazwich, First i would like to say THANK YOU AGAIN!!
Mad717. goign back to your first post I have gone Deon and seined on that dotted line 4 times threw out my career.
Also i supported my wife while she was in till last Feb. and then was Medically discharged.
I have flown a MIA POW flag in or on our property since i was about 7 years old and was told why i had a step father and i could not understand why my dad had to die in a foreign land for a fight we should have never been in.

I have been to the sand box.BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY NOBODY IS DOING MORE FOR THOSE FOLKS THEN OUR COMBINED TROOPS THAT ARE THERE!! Their own freaking country turned their backs on their families if they would attempt to fight at all. And if they did fight and were killed unless it was a suicide bombing or they fought and were killed by one of our men and women over there or even our plane's etc.... they were considered lower then DIRT.

I do not care if the president him self says we are not doing anything there I know first hand that we are. I have seen the light come on in kids eyes as they relies that the folks in green or brown are not all bad and that we really are caring people. When you sit there and see this for 9 months to only have the villages bombed by a terrorist group 3 months before ya leave and you find out that not only those Innocent folks have died but also you have lost several very close Friends there due to the bombings. will anyone ever understand why we are there to protect ,train,or fight off anything that comes our ways.

Yes we are fighting with one arm tied behind our back, But this is only due to the politics being so involved in the war to try being POLITICALLY CORRECT for everyone Else's benefit that we put all kinds of restraints on our troops.
It is honestly sad to see our men and women die for a cause that not even all of them understand. I'm not saying they dont have a clue this would be very wrong because they do and then know better then any of us.

as far as the oil money goes,
This is something from the git-go that was mentioned. one of the reasons they were protected so well this time is due to the environmental damage that was caused threw out the last time when oil wells were lit on fire. I am not saying i think none of the money from it should be not used to pay for the stuff over there. Right now i feel like they are getting rich while we pay for the whole bill. I have yet to receive a check from a terrorist group to our government for the bombings that we had to clean up.
Faz wich said it long time ago. this was one of the last events of several that were against us.
Black hawk down was a movie based on a real life situation that was also in the efforts to fight against terrorism.
This is not a new fight but it is a more exposed fights then any of the others were in the past.

I have seen our troops come back from this war While we were in Germany i would go to the hospital at Landshtul and help take them to the BX in Kiserslutren and help them shop for things that they needed to get.

I have seen men and women come home that shoudl ahve had a easy trip there and back that were in th wrong place at the wrong time and were injured to the point that thier kids cant reconise them any more. I have seen brides and grooms have to le tthier newlywed spouse leave to go to a place they never knew if they were goign to see them agian.

So YEAH i know what your saying I do support our troops and any efforts they may need to do to make damed sure our kids do not have to have this in our country. I dont care if Sadm or even Bin dumbazz showes his shinny face in K mart to ge tthe next special i hope they drop him where he stands Sadam is over with now lets get the rest of the freken fools tha thtink they need to be stupid. But remeber THEASE COLORS DONT RUN!
and it will cost, we all know it goin in this is wh

 

sounds about right to me. good thread sir.

SGT, US Army

 

Mad717,

I posted in another thread talking about Iraq,

1. They want us to fight fair.
2. They can use whatever means they have at their disposal.
3. They want us to fight fair.

Cause that's the way it's seemed to me from day one of this. They can kidnap our people, torture them, even post on the net these people being beheaded. Someone lets pics of prisoners we have laying on the floor in their underwear and the world goes ape zhit over it. BIG DEAL!!!

It's war. War isn't for fun. War isn't to show how well the prisoners you have are being treated. H--l let's bring overhere and make them U.S. citizens.Give them free health care right offthe bat.

I know there areU.S. citizens over there unaccounted for. And you never hear the News inthis country report on the missing or killed U.S. civilians in Iraq.

There's too much similaritybetween Viet Nam and this war on terrorizm in the sense our fighting men & women aren't allowed to do the job they were trained for. They're being held back if anything.

One thing I'd like to know. When we went to Iraq one of the reason given for going there was to protect our interest in oil. WHERE'S THIS INTEREST? Cause no one's protecting it!!!

 

Don't get me wrong, everybody, I KNOW we are doing good things over there, it's just sickening to see clowns like Al-Sadr (who just ended his cease fire) still breathing good air. If a guy like that, responsible for THOUSANDS of dead Americans and Iraqis isn't a terrorist, who is? In my opinion, a good .50 cal shot right between the eyes is what he needs.

I also agree with Mickey, 2 years service to the country for all.

I just think theterroristproblem should have been addressed back in 1983, when our barracks was blown up in Beirut and 241 Americans were killed.

That would have been the time to start dealing with these people. Now, 25 years have passed, giving them time to get bigger, get more money, better weapons, and stage bigger attacks.

As for the oil, it wasn't our interests they were protecting, it was the big oil companies interests they were protecting. Record profits every quarter for about the last 5 years, if I'm not mistaken.

Also, they come up with a new reason why we went into Iraqabout every 6 months or so. I thought originally it was because of WMD,today I believe they say it's because of Al Quaida. Tomorrow, who knows?

Thanks to all the veterans of every country who are going in harms way for us. America and the world can never properly repay you or your families for all you do.

 

HOORA!!!!!!

as faras the oil gose were all just gettign bent on that stuff. this is yet another good reason to figure out a better soluition to our dependencey on oil and get rid of it