SilverNRed Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Forget about whatever Biden said, the most offensive stuff I've heard in months came from some genius the Washington Post hired. Link I've been mulling over an NBC Nightly News report from Iraq last Friday in which a number of soldiers expressed frustration with opposition to war in the United States. I'm sure the soldiers were expressing a majority opinion common amongst the ranks - that's why it is news - and I'm also sure no one in the military leadership or the administration put the soldiers up to expressing their views, nor steered NBC reporter Richard Engel to the story. I'm all for everyone expressing their opinion, even those who wear the uniform of the United States Army. But I also hope that military commanders took the soldiers aside after the story and explained to them why it wasn't for them to disapprove of the American people. The troops are "American people" and they're using the same first amendment as this moron. It gets worse: These soldiers should be grateful that the American public, which by all polls overwhelmingly disapproves of the Iraq war and the President's handling of it, do still offer their support to them, and their respect. Through every Abu Ghraib and Haditha, through every rape and murder, the American public has indulged those in uniform, accepting that the incidents were the product of bad apples or even of some administration or command order. The soldiers should be grateful that the American public doesn't assume they are all rapists and murderers? That's indulging them? So, we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?The soldiers are in this for the money and the great lifestyle that military life brings? "Obscene amenities"? Really? Finally, the grand finale: But it is the United States, and the recent NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.In other words, the soldiers are mercenaries who are getting too full of themselves. It's just a fact of life that there are people this delusional and retarded in the world and you just have to live with that. But the fact this this guy is paid to write this sh-- for one of the top 5 newspapers in the country is a little tough to take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Forget about whatever Biden said, the most offensive stuff I've heard in months came from some genius the Washington Post hired. Link The troops are "American people" and they're using the same first amendment as this moron. It gets worse: The soldiers should be grateful that the American public doesn't assume they are all rapists and murderers? That's indulging them? The soldiers are in this for the money and the great lifestyle that military life brings? "Obscene amenities"? Really? Finally, the grand finale: In other words, the soldiers are mercenaries who are getting too full of themselves. It's just a fact of life that there are people this delusional and retarded in the world and you just have to live with that. But the fact this this guy is paid to write this sh-- for one of the top 5 newspapers in the country is a little tough to take. That guy's a hero [/molsen_golden2000] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 No comment on the article, but I am pretty sure William M. Arkin is a blogger on the Washington Post website, not a print columnist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molson_golden2002 Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 That guy's a hero [/molsen_golden2000] Actually he's sort of a moron. I have criticism of the original report on NBC of the troops, but this guy goes way too far. Why did he bring up Abu Gargib or the rapes? Was that necessary? He made it seem like they had lets us down. No, many of us understand that was an bad but not the norm. My cirticism is different. The only thing that the troops need to know is that we the people are the ultimate 'deciders,' not them and not Bush. I feel bad and sort of frustrated they take it personally we don't support the war, but that's tough sh-- I guess. They'll just have to live with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 I feel bad and sort of frustrated they take it personally we don't support the war, but that's tough sh-- I guess. That's OK, they probably feel sort of bad and frustrated that you're so damn ignorant. Also tough sh--. I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molson_golden2002 Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 That's OK, they probably feel sort of bad and frustrated that you're so damn ignorant. Also tough sh--. I guess.Wow, that's funny! That's how I feel about you! Tough sh-- all around. Who knows, maybe you will grow up someday, but I doubt it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molson_golden2002 Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 That guy's a hero [/molsen_golden2000] Another reason the guy is a moron, he took that story at face value. Here is different take on it: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16616389.htm BAGHDAD, Iraq - Army 1st Lt. Antonio Hardy took a slow look around the east Baghdad neighborhood that he and his men were patrolling. He grimaced at the sound of gunshots in the distance. A machine gunner on top of a Humvee scanned the rooftops for snipers. Some of Hardy's men wondered aloud if they'd get hit by a roadside bomb on the way back to their base. "To be honest, it's going to be like this for a long time to come, no matter what we do," said Hardy, 25, of Atlanta. "I think some people in America don't want to know about all this violence, about all the killings. The people back home are shielded from it; they get it sugar-coated." While senior military officials and the Bush administration say the president's decision to send more American troops to pacify Baghdad will succeed, many of the soldiers who're already there say it's a lost cause. "What is victory supposed to look like? Every time we turn around and go in a new area there's somebody new waiting to kill us," said Sgt. 1st Class Herbert Gill, 29, of Pulaski, Tenn., as his Humvee rumbled down a dark Baghdad highway one evening last week. "Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting for thousands of years, and we're not going to change that overnight." "Once more raids start happening, they'll (insurgents) melt away," said Gill, who serves with the 1st Infantry Division in east Baghdad. "And then two or three months later, when we leave and say it was a success, they'll come back." Soldiers interviewed across east Baghdad, home to more than half the city's 8 million people, said the violence is so out of control that while a surge of 21,500 more American troops may momentarily suppress it, the notion that U.S. forces can bring lasting security to Iraq is misguided. Lt. Hardy and his men of the 2nd Brigade of the Army's 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Carson, Colo., patrol an area southeast of Sadr City, the stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. A map in Hardy's company headquarters charts at least 50 roadside bombs since late October, and the lieutenant recently watched in horror as the blast from one killed his Humvee's driver and wounded two other soldiers in a spray of blood and shrapnel. Soldiers such as Hardy must contend not only with an escalating civil war between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Muslims, but also with insurgents on both sides who target U.S. forces. "We can go get into a firefight and empty out ammo, but it doesn't accomplish much," said Pvt. 1st Class Zach Clouser, 19, of York, Pa. "This isn't our war - we're just in the middle." Almost every foot soldier interviewed during a week of patrols on the streets and alleys of east Baghdad said that Bush's plan would halt the bloodshed only temporarily. The soldiers cited a variety of reasons, including incompetence or corruption among Iraqi troops, the complexities of Iraq's sectarian violence and the lack of Iraqi public support, a cornerstone of counterinsurgency warfare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 But if anything proves the writer's ignorance, it's... So, we pay the soldiers a decent wage... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molson_golden2002 Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 But if anything proves the writer's ignorance, it's... Ya, that was pretty stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC-Bills Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 Forget about whatever Biden said, the most offensive stuff I've heard in months came from some genius the Washington Post hired. Link The troops are "American people" and they're using the same first amendment as this moron. It gets worse: The soldiers should be grateful that the American public doesn't assume they are all rapists and murderers? That's indulging them? The soldiers are in this for the money and the great lifestyle that military life brings? "Obscene amenities"? Really? Finally, the grand finale: In other words, the soldiers are mercenaries who are getting too full of themselves. It's just a fact of life that there are people this delusional and retarded in the world and you just have to live with that. But the fact this this guy is paid to write this sh-- for one of the top 5 newspapers in the country is a little tough to take. Unbelievable. That guy is an effin' douche bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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