Daughter Was Deployed Today

[NOSValves]

How so many forget Sept. 11th !!!!!!! What happen when the tons of anthrax everyone knows Iraq has falls into the hands of terrorist ?? Not to even mention all the other lethal stuff they have hidden over there ! Who's to says it is truely in a safe place where the terrorist can't steal it let alone Saddam going even further into his self loving lunatic state of mind and just giving it to them. The 8 years of Clinton is what got us into this mess !! Dismantle are military and intellegence agencies and look what you got Sept. 11th . Sit back and do nothing and next time it will be worse !!

The same people and attitudes stops us from kicking that loons butt the last time. Don't you people learn ??

Craig

[jt1stcav]

Despite what the Bush Bashers say, our young men and women are still proudly serving this great nation, voluntarily defending you and I and our way of life so we can continue to enjoy our freedoms here at home.

This whole situation with Bin Laden and Al Queda and Iraq...it's not all about oil, but because we were brutally attacked as a nation when those jets slammed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and an open field. And it wasn't just Americans that died that day, so it was a wake up call for every freedom-loving nation in the world. No sensible person wants war, and our proud military members don't want to die, but we can't just sit idley by and do nothing like the Clinton Administration did...we need to act, and act now, with or without our allies, NATO or the UN. Resolutions haven't worked. These people do not understand peace...look what they do to their own people! Saddam has had plenty of time to disarm, but he chooses to play games, so now he must be delt with! Then Iraq can hopefully rebuild after Saddam has been eliminated.

Terrorism will probably always continued, I'm afraid. But we were delt a bitter blow when they decided to attack us in our own country. We need to defend the memory of all of those who died on 9/11, and if that means war, then I know (as a prior soldier in the U.S. Army) our military is up to the task!

No matter how you feel one way or the other about this situation, we all need to show our support for all our troops over there, and for those who are about to be assigned to duty. This isn't Vietnam, so let's show our military that we support them 100%, and that we all pray for their safe return home to their friends and family they leave behind!

PVT - SP4 SP4 - SGT

MMC DISCOM 51st Signal Bn, 93rd Signal Bde.

1st Cavalry Division III Corps.

Ft. Hood, TX Ludwigsburg, West Germany

1980 - 1983 1983 - 1986

[AndyKubicki]

All the best to our troops and their families. I'm sure most understand why they are being asked to sacrifice. They will be in my prayers.

As to some previous points, it never ceases to amaze me how little some learn from history. Parallel Sadam to Adolf. How many millions of innocent lives could have been saved if the world of 1938 had the intestinal fortitude to pre-empt evil? Yet, some are saying we should take the same course of appeasement that gave Hitler his opportunities to conquer and murder. Think man! We are NOT dealing with someone who thinks like we do! We should have learned this lesson in WWII and in the cold war. Obviously, the French and Germans of today have no intestinal fortitude and are blinded by their own self interest...but you wait, they will join us and say they really were on our side all along!

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me! Don't get fooled again!

[WMcD]

Dear Greg,

Thank you for sharing this with us. Naturally, all good wishes go to your family, and your daughter.

I can not agree that the subject should be contaminated with politics as others have. and which you warn against. Our armed services do not vote on the politics. They serve with honor.

Gil

[Hofy]

UnHoly Sheep Dip! Craig/Kelly!

Oil & Vinegar

Light & Dark

Conservative & Liberal

Yet it all is cool with our tunes.

Rock and Jazz on!

[Parrot]

Jack Straw, Britain's representative at the UN, was eloquent and exactly right in his remarks a couple weeks ago. I think his best line was talking about those who urged no action be taken against Hitler and Mussolini:

"At each stage good men said wait; the evil is not big enough to challenge: then before their eyes, the evil became too big to challenge."

[HDBRbuilder]

Let's look at France...and its greed...France sells billions of dollars of military equipment around the world...and when our F-16's take out even more of the French-built Mirage fighter aircraft, combat helicopters, etc....it doesn't help French combat aircraft sales to third world air forces very much...neither does it help their sales of other military equipment such as tanks and armored personnel carriers...when we take them out too! Not to mention France's sales of nuclear facilities technology for "power" around the world...we all know where Iraq's nuclear technology is coming from...don't we?

Now...let's look at Russia...just who do you think has been supplying Iraq with the oilfield stuff it has been using since the embargos and sanctions began? Now...what about their military equipment? Russia hates to see its top of the line export version of its tanks get taken out with the first round one of our tanks lays into it...it hurts their sales to third world militaries!! Not to mention all the other equipment they produce that can't hold a candle to our stuff, but is the bread and butter of Russia's current export market!!

Germany's take on this is kinda strange...and mostly political survivability-oriented! This attitude from the people who brought us two world wars, and Auschwitz...then who relied on the USA to save them from becoming another Soviet satellite for over four decades!! Hell...they even had their own terrorism fiasco many years back!! Makes you wonder just what the hell they really want as a member of the global community!!

[Bruinsrme]

Hey Guys,

Enough with the political bashing here.

It isn't easy being deployed or watching a son, daughter, mother, father, or even grand parent packing up there things and heading to a world of uncertainty.

Whether you disagree with the decisions of this administration or France and Germany's stand the fact is our Sons, Daughters, Mothers, Fathers and Grand Parents are being called on and for the most part stepping up to the call.

We may not agree with the "Policy" but let's show our support to the families and troops who are affected by this call for duty.

Best Wishes for our troops and let's hope and pray for their safe return.......

Scott Carroll

US Navy Veteran

Disabled Veteran

[HDBRbuilder]

I have...and always WILL...support our soldiers in any endeavor to which they are assigned...and wish them the best in completing their assigned missions and returning safely home! It isn't the individual soldiers who make policy decisions, it is just their task to carry out orders...and they do it well! In this day of (as things stand now, anyway) an all-volunteer military in this country...our citizenry MUST provide support for these individuals who have CHOSEN to serve their country...whether in an active-duty mode or in a reserve forces mode...THESE PEOPLE HAVE CHOSEN TO BE THERE WHEN WE NEED THEM...it matters NOT whether we agree with the policies that put them in harm's way...but IT DOES MATTER THAT WE SUPPORT THEM!!!

[middlecreekguy]

Sadam has horns. But I`m against this war and am behind the troops 100%. We have not connected the dots in a timely fashion since 9/11. You know what I mean, the evidence is there to go to war but....we did`nt push the right bottons in the beginning. Just my opinion. If the Bush administration were the prosecution team in the OJ case, he would be found not guilty. AGAIN!

[Parrot]

mdeneen,

What a novel interpretation you have on freeing the people of Afghanistan from the oppression of the Taliban and Al Qaeda: "dislodging local religious leaders and practices."

It always amuses me--all the protestors in the USA seem oblivious to the fact that the guy they are defending, Saddam, would be the first one to kill them if they were protesting in Iraq. Or perhaps you think there are no demonstrations in Iraq because the people there have such rosy lives, and because Saddam got 100% of the vote in the last election.

[Parrot]

You are resorting to absurd levels of exaggeration.

If you think the people of Afghanistan liked being under the thumb of the Taliban, I guess I'm not going to be able to change your mind.

[Parrot]

By the way, the Bush administration has only said a few thousand times that this has nothing to do with Islam. Terrorism is not a religious practice, even when it is practiced in the name of religion.

It seems like you've determined the people of Iraq are happy under Saddam. I can only think you haven't read or listened to a single report about their situation.

[JohnA]

Black has nothing to do with anything, unless you have no other means of making an arguement, or are senile like Mandela.

[Parrot]

Taking things to their logical extreme is fine in a philosophy course, but doesn't translate to the real world. A common form of this is, "What if everyone in the world did what you just did?" The simple reply is, "Not everyone in the world *is* going to do what I just did."

Bush has not said anything remotely suggesting that he has anything against the Iraqi people. As a matter of fact, he has gone out of his way to make it clear that the only target the US has is Saddam and his evil regime, the ones who control the common people through intimidation, fear, and threat of torture.

You don't see Bush nuking Afghanistan and the borders of Pakistan, do you? No, instead individual US soldiers are trying to kill individual terrorists, one by one--an immense task considering the terrorists look exactly like regular civilians.

If Bush were like Saddam, he'd have had Gore executed, he'd have the leaders of the Democratic party executed, and he'd have anyone who said anything he didn't like executed. It wouldn't take long under those circumstances for everyone to be afraid. You need make only a relative few examples to get everyone scared. It took just a couple of Iraqi scientists "disappearing" for it to sink in to the remaining scientists what would happen to them if they fell under suspicion.

[leok]

Thanks, encouragement, and backing to all members of our armed services. These people do not make the decisions. Like the rest, as citizens, they are responsible for the decisions, whether or not they agree. But they are part of an organization that has agreed to act for all of us. In doing so they think as citizens and act as soldiers. It is a complex role and we are proud of them for participating in something that is so difficult.

leok

[Fish]

I once heard, there are those who will feed an alligator all the people they can,hoping they will be eaten last.They should've tried FRENCH fries.

[Deang]

Greg -- would you please thank your daughter and family on our behalf for the sacrifice. It is much appreciated. I'm sure she will be home soon enough. God is with her. Of course, you will have the two year old, and I fear you may be in need of more prayer than your daughter.

[Clipped and Shorn]

Imagine you let a doctor amputate your fingers everytime you had a hangnail. It is not healthwise to always be addressing symptoms and not the causes which produce them. Not to say that sometimes surgery is not indeed called for, but I sense a pattern here, and I am seeing the escalation of a bad pattern with little real long range wisdom behind it. How about a "military" that was aggressively dealing with causes instead of symptoms? How about an industry that produced as much peacefully useful stuff as weapons.

Ultimately I don't think we have really set a good example, and now it is late in the game to turn it around. We are about to totally blow the potential credibility that was already kind of waivering.

It is difficult to listen to our chief without hearing hypocrisy and denial at its core. The deeper causes for the problems are never addressed. It is more "might is right" and not "might as a force to make right".

We are reaping what we have sowed from years of arrogance,greed, blindness, and denial in relation to the rest of the world, even though we all thought and have been told we were the good guys who were out to save and protect the world. Could it be that someone here at some time was greedily profitting from the support of oppressive regimes over the years?

Time to study the ramifications of what are called the "laws of karma" in certain realms.

There is a consequence for placing more importance on material things than human lives and also for placing more importance on human lives than on nature itself.

If nothing else, war shows the potential for humans to get focused. If only that same focus could be applied to the causes of disharmony and want, in a few years we would have a peaceful planet with a future... and think of the music and culture that would flourish.

C&S

[mobile homeless]

Good points, Mark, especially summarizing the bait and switch Bush pulled concerning the thin air introduction of Iraq. I am having a very hard time believing that people here cant see this. Ask yourselves, when did Saddam suddenly enter the picture? What happened to bin Laden? bin Laden has gone on record referring to the Iraq people as "infidels" yet the administration works hard to keep the connection alive. Colin Powel was hanging in there, offering a modicum of sense. Somewhere in the last few weeks, he caved in like a good many Democrats.

Sadly, as soon as one brings this point to light, suddenly he is lacking patriotism, not supporting our armed forces, un-American, and not of the real World. I look around us and cant believe this is actually happening. As we are now told to purchase duct tape and plastic wrap to cocoon our homes as we rush off to a war against the evil doers and those "weapons of mass destruction," a phrase that is now bandied about till it had become a mantra, yet the Americans seem to fall for it, hook line and sinker, suddenly equating Iraq with 9-11. The transparency is startling.

I love the "God is on our side" line of thought as well, as if God is suddenly an American. My bet is God has thy head in hands. Man knows no bounds, and if left to his own devices will never fail to sink to new lows.

What really bothers me is the idea that the above means there isnt suppport for our American soldiers. No, there is support. What I dont support is the notion that this war is called for nor the proper decision based on the evidence. I told myself I would not post in this thread again, as it is a lost cause. Then I saw Mark's post. The first few paragraphs do an excellent job of summary. And the massive marches held around the World show that a few might be thinking. Blind patriotism can be a dangerous thing.

kh