http://www.sirnosir.com

If you want to quantify deaths in the ranks of the U.S. Military - you need to talk about the general death rate for people in the military. From 1980-1995 the average yearly death toll was 1943 troops. During this time only 226 of those deaths was from “hostile action.” From 1996 - 2022 averaging 866 deaths per year. Now, in a time of hostile action, 2000 soldiers have died during a two year period. And for a single day death toll of soldiers we haven’t surpassed the the October 23, 1983 terrorist attack on our “peacekeeping Marines” in Beirut. That day 241 U.S. Service members died. Anytime someone dies, it is painful for the people intimately involved. But as someone from a military family - I can tell you that it is less painful when they are dying for the cause of liberty than it would be if they simply were a homicide in their barracks, which a vast majority of “peace time” deaths are.

Someone made a comment about the U.S. paying Iraqi soldiers - of course we are. Other than renagade terrorists, real soldiers the world over get paid for being a soldier. There is not much work in Iraq to be had yet, and being a soldier in the cause of freedom is the “employment” choice that these men are making. And they are making it knowing that there is a good chance they will die, that they will be ostracized by their neighbors because in Islamic countries - even if you aren’t a fundementalist and even if you envy the american lifestyle - Hell even if you are grateful at the hope of democracy, it isn’t politically correct to be Pro-American. People in Iraq are risking their lives to turn out to vote; they are risking their lives when Saddam goes to court and they show up in the streets jubilent that finally he is going to trial. I wonder how many Americans would turn out to vote if they knew that there was a liklihood that a suicide bomber would show up at their polling place. Hell, in America people don’t turn out to vote because of apathy, rain, heat, lines that might have more than 20 people in them.

We are sitting on the eve of one of the most important political changes in the history of the world - And some people just don’t get it. Compared to this the Berlin wall was nothing. The break up of the USSR was nothing. Israel getting a homeland was nothing. They all pale by comparison when it comes to the importance of an Islamic country with a real democracy in the middle east.

I’ve been there and I’ve seen it and I can tell you that we are not fighting terror, we are breeding terror. No one should say that we should stand by and let terror exisist. But a BAD plan should never be a subsittuiton for NO PLAN at all. What we are doing is not working. If we stay this course we will FAIL!

We can debate numbers and statistically flawed charts all day long. But what do we say to a vietnam vet like my father? A man who has spent 40 years in the Army, who went to not only Vietnam but, Panama, the Gulf War, Operation Desert Fox, Afghanistan, Iraq, and has done tours in Korea, Bosnia and many other places.

He is convinced that we are HEADING for another Vietnam. A no one can call him a coward, or an anti-american.

Why is the resistance growing in popular support among both Shiite and Sunni Muslims everywhere? Because of the stupid policies of George W. Bush, that’s why. Can anyone think of a way to make more enemies? Short of attacking additional innocent countries, we can’t.

Hey, Republicans! If you voted for this war, go fight in it.
By Donald Trader

I’d like to put out an urgent call to Republicans to make sure their sons and daughters volunteer for active military service. Uncle Sam needs you. National Guard and Army Reserve recruitment is falling short by some 50%, and it’s getting tougher and tougher for the Marines, the Army and the other services to get the kind of recruit they want. Wait a minute — the Marines and the Army ought to be flooded with volunteers!

I know that George Bush ran as a war president, and his main declaration was that he would stay the course in Iraq and Afghanistan, and wherever he felt military intervention was required. He held one crowded and cheering rally after another on this theme all across the United States, including Tennessee. I saw all those good people on TV waving their American flags and doing high fives. I read many letters in this very newspaper supporting the war, including some from students of fighting age.

Some 59,000,000 Americans voted for George Bush and the Republicans. That includes the majority of the people in Tennessee. So why are we short of recruits to fight in Iraq? We ought to be inundated with enthusiastic volunteers. Tomorrow morning, I’d like to see 59,000,000 SUV’s pulling up in front of Marine Corps and Army enlistment offices. I see Tax Cut Hummers full of happy families, including healthy looking young people, whizzing by U.S. recruitment offices, and I wonder what the problem is: brake failure every time you get close to signing up to fight in a war you supported for a President you elected?

Now if you’re a young Republican who hates taxes and supports the war in Iraq, you can’t get away any longer with a ridiculous yellow ribbon on the back of your car. You’re going to have to pay for the war, and you’re going to have to fight in it. Who did you think was going to do that, if not you? Democrats?

I’ll volunteer to drive busloads of young Republican volunteers to their first military basic training session after they enlist. And there should be a huge number of volunteers; I don’t think Republicans are cowardly blowhards like most Democrats. Otherwise, I’m sorry to say, I’m going to tell my Congressman Lincoln Davis that we need a military draft in this country. The reason is simple: we need to hold people accountable for what they do, and it’s time for Republicans to go face combat and support their Commander in Chief. You voted for it. Now go get in it.

What an ass we have for president. He alone should be able to clear Iraq of a handful of insurgents

On the topic of Iraq, you cannot plug in a style of government (US government) which is barely over 200 years old into any nation. It’s absurd. Anyone with half a brain knows this. One of the oldest civilizations known to man was born in Iraq thousands of years ago (the Sumerians). Those people were doing just fine and were still doing fine. And it was the Iranians who gassed the Kurds, not Saddam. It was during the Iranian-Iraq war. AND THAT WAS THEIR BUSINESS: NOT OURS. Of course there are no weapons of mass destruction. We are the ones causing the mass destruction. We are the only ones to have ever used nuclear weapons. No wonder no one likes us. We have become the bully of the world. This is how great empires fell in the past. Time and history never lie.

It is not liberating Iraqis when 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed and their men, women, and children have been abused, tortured, and raped since we invaded. It is 2.5 times more likely that an Iraqi will die after our invasion. They are not “free”; they are terrified and dying. The Iraqi economy was doing well under Saddam before the sanctions were imposed. During the sanctions pushed by the U.S., 500,000 Iraqi kids perished according to UNICEF (United Nations Childrens Emergency Fund). Sadaam may not be the greatest guy, but the people were safe, people of all faiths could worship without threat, and the economy was improving. And there were no weapons found. There are over 80 dictatorships in the world with horrendous conditions for the citizens. But we don’t care about them; they have nothing of value to us. Thanks to Bush for all the senseless murder and violence. And thanks to Bush for the 87,000,000,000 we taxpayers paid for nothing, while citizens here are suffering from lack of health insurance, declining economic conditions, and growing poverty. The gap between the lower and upper class is growing. And it seems, ironically, the lower to lower middle class (which comprises most of this country) are for this. Go do some research and find out for yourself that one out of every five children HERE IN THE U.S. goes to bed hungry. Go find out for yourself how many millions of people here are in poverty.

To get to the bottom of any issue one must examine the problem from all sides possible, no matter how ridiculous it may seem, and use his or her own brain to come to a conclusion. However, in this country, the lower to lower middle class has become brainwashed sheep believing every stupid thing the media states, which is owned and controlled by a few individuals. What does this mean? We get THEIR point of view. Think people. Think. Use that wrinkly mass inside your heads.

One day it may be us suffering from invasion and occupation, murder, abuse, and torture. You never know what can happen. We need to start caring and valuing the lives of everyone, not just ourselves. That will be our downfall. We are all human beings.

The choice wasn’t between War and Peace… it was between war and disaster. You think there’s discontent in the middle east now? Wait 20 years when all of the oil is gone, and all they have to show is some palaces with porn and weapons in the basement. We need democracy in Iraq now!

Saying that the USA was attacked on 11 September 2001 “for no reason”
completely ignores decades of history. During the Reagan presidency,
Libya was bombed, Lebanon was occupied, and troops were sent to the
Persian Gulf region to engage in various joint exercises with the
rulers of countries like Saudi Arabia. The USA supported Iraq in
the conflict with Iran and also, apparently, sold enormous amounts
of weapons and ammo to Iran in exchange for however many hostages
the Hez Bollah could grab.

So, the person who says the USA was attacked “for no reason” should
certainly take a few days, visit a college library somewhere, and
research the “Iran Contra” scandal, just for starters. A bit of
research about how Reagan re-commissioned some WW2 battleships so
they could use their 16 inch guns to lob huge explosive shells into
Lebanon would seem like another thing to read up about. It might
also be useful to look at some more recent events, such as that
complete mess in Somalia where Americans were sent to capture the
leader of the Habr Gidr clan, Mohammed Farad Aideed because he had
the courage to stand up to the UN when they sent Pakistani troops
to seize his radio station.

Really. If you support the UN seizing radio stations in Somalia
and closing newspapers in Kosovo in order to control what people
read and hear, then you are some sort of dimwitted fascist and there
would be no point to you reading any further. On the other hand,
if that happened in Texas, if a radio station were seized by UN
troops, there would be nothing *left* of those troops by the time
the boyz here got done. At least Aideed left the eviscerated bodies
of the Pakistani troops where they could be found.

To follow up on the radio station thing from May 1993, the USA sent
military helicopters, 19 choppers by some accounts, to surround a
meeting of the Habr Gidr clan elders. TOW missiles and 30 mm cannon
were fired into that building until it was obliterated, killing
dozens, including all the men of the Habr Gidr who were cautioning
against going to war. Read about it at Mark Bowden’s Philadelphia
Inquirer web site on “Black Hawk Down” or in his book. The movie
by Bruckheimer left all that stuff out.

Or look at “Monica’s War” when Clinton sent cruise missiles to
destroy an aspirin factory in Sudan and some tents in Afghanistan.
There has been plenty to motivate the suicide bombers and those
who flew aircraft into buildings in 2001.

Iraq was not involved in the attacks on 11 September 2001. If you
doubt it, read the report of the 9/11 Commission. That’s what they
say. And they looked at a lot more data than they are allowed to
report.

Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell lied when he
said that they did. George Tenet lied when he said that they did.
George W. Bush lied when he said that they did. In the two years
of occupation, the USA has not even been able to manufacture a
credible story for Iraq having weapons of mass destruction. It
is obvious beyond any doubt that nothing Iraq had would ever have
been able to reach the USA - they had no delivery systems by way
of missiles, they had no military aircraft that were allowed to
fly, and they could not have harmed the USA. Yet, the USA attacked.

Now, I am not one to say there must be no retaliation. Okay, Saddam
was a jerk, he killed a lot of his people, just as well he’s gone.
Okay, Saddam tried to kill GW’s father around 1993 timeframe, and
that may be a source of ire that resulted in some old fashioned
retribution. Fine. But, Saddam is gone. Saddam is in captivity.
Saddam is going on trial. What is it going to take to get the USA
to accept victory and let the Iraqi people choose their own fate.

Newsflash! The Afghans just elected Hamid Karzai, to the surprise
of no one, and the USA has not withdrawn its troops from Afghanistan.
No doubt they are now there at the request of Karzai. Does anyone
remember president Thieu of South Vietnam?

Regards,

Sum Homo Indomitus
“I am not part of your empire.”

Why are we willing to go back to 1961 for Vietnam, but not to the attack on the American warship in 88?…the first Gulf War?… the hijacking of Aquile Lauro (sp) (whose leader was given asylum in Iraq)… the first WTC attack (whose leader was given asylum in Iraq)? … the operation of the no-fly zone?… This analysis kills the credibility of the website. It’s hard enough to know the right course of action in the world without lobbing on these spurious obfuscations that you call arguments.

I would be more patient with these arguments if somebody on the anti-war side would take accountability for the costs of not going to war. This isn’t a choice between war and a happy little peace.

People protested entry into WWII. We waited until we “had to go to war.” Had we acted earlier, would we saved some of the 80 million civilians and soldiers that died? Will you take responsibility for that?

If you’re holding Bush accountable for deaths in Iraq, are you willing to accept the deaths that occurred when we took your side of the argument? Had Bush senior went into Iraq, how many Kurds and Shiites would have been saved? 100,000? Surely the 10k that were gassed. Maybe Bush Sr was listening to your argument. Will you put a bumper sticker on your car that says, “Bush Sr and I contributed to the deaths of 10,000 kurds” ?

It’s healthy to question leadership, but this demonizing and feel-good, holier-than-thou stuff doesn’t belong. Is this about making Bush the bad guy to distinguish you as the nice guy/gal? Or is this about contributing to a discussion about the right course of action?