Another day, another bunch of dead Marines. 4 more yesterday.
I'm sick of it. Every day I check CNN and my local paper for the latest news in Iraq. Every day it's bad. Rarely does a day go by when a Marine isn't killed. Never does a day go by without an Iraqi citizen being murdered. Usually it's a citizen that's trying to help and get involved in the restoration of their country. It's an Iraqi standing in line for police recruit training, or a group gathered outside a business looking for a job.
We're now up to 1,953 dead American soldiers (per CNN). We have increased our troop levels in Iraq to 152,000 as of today. That's up from 140,000 through the summer. We keep sending young men into a meat grinder. Haven't we been here before? Hasn't the Bush Administration told us time and time again they're cutting back on troop levels?
I served in the Navy for 4 years and slowly but surely it has crept up on me that I was one lucky b@st@rd. No one ever fired a shot at us and thankfully we never had to return fire. The only war I saw was the cold war. Long, slow, boring, and loaded with propaganda from the US and Russia. The most exciting time we ever experienced was on halfway nights when we had homemade pizza. Oh and we had a fire in a clothes dryer. A shirt got burned... Big night.
I feel pity for those soldiers in Iraq. They will now have to suffer through another holiday in a violent, foreign land. They will miss their loved ones. They will be missed in kind. They're gonna put up a sh1tty little tree, and make ugly paper decorations for it. They're gonna eat army bought and cooked turkey for Thanksgiving while they sit around waiting to go out on another patrol hoping they don't get killed during the holidays. Isn't it just great when the family back home gets that call from a Congressman on xmas eve telling them their son is dead?
Merry Christmas!
You and I meanwhile will be stuffing our faces, taking time off from work, and complaining about the malls being crowded.
Congress just authorized another 50 BILLION dollars for the Iraq war. 50 Billion dollars. That tells me we're gonna be in Iraq for a whole lot longer. The measure passed by a vote of 97-0.
President Bush is considering vetoing the legislation because a few senators, one of them a former prisoner of war, had the audacity to tack on an amendment declaring that the US must not treat anyone in US custody in an inhumane, cruel, or degrading manner.
I'm telling ya, the leaders of my country have their collective heads up their collective @sses and this has to stop.
I have come to a conclusion that there is a way out of this mess. It's the only way to restore dignity to our country and restore a faith in the rest of the world that we Americans are not governed by baboons in nice suits. Here it is...
Step 1. The president should announce a press conference and apologize to every single American citizen, soldier, and every citizen of every country throughout the world. Just say "I'm sorry, it was a dumb and greedy idea, and we screwed up".
2. The President, Vice-President, and their entire staff will then resign immediately.
3. Normally the Speaker of the House would assume the Presidency at this point, but oh no, he's one of the idiots that helped to get us into this mess. So...
4. Disallowing the Order of Succession, I say we skip all the way down to John Snow, Secretary of the Treasury. He seems harmless enough, his name is on a lot of money in my wallet, and he only has to do one thing - order our troops out of Iraq. President Snow will then serve out the remainder of his term lacking the power of the congressional referendum that was given to President Bush by our idiotic congressmen and senators. That means the president can no longer declare war without the consent of Congress. The way our founding fathers intended things to be. (Vice Prez will be Mrs. Rice)
5. Rescind all contracts with private US firms in Iraq. And by rescind I mean stop paying them. Once the money stops flowing the contractors will leave Iraq on their own. No money = no workey. They'll probably leave with the troops anyway. I don't blame them.
6. Take all of the money that had been allocated to the contractors and dispense it equally to the family members of every soldier killed or wounded in Iraq. If there's any odd amount left over use it to fix a D@MN pothole in a street somewhere.
7. And last, take all of the money that was earmarked in the future for Iraq and use it to help the people of New Orleans.
Problem solved.
What about Iraq you ask? What about the Middle East, our precious oil, the instability of the region, Iran and Syria, and blah blah blah. To hell with'em. To hell with all of them. Let'em slaughter one another on their own dime. I'm sick of paying for it and I'm sick of Americans dying with no end in sight. To hell with that whole region and everyone in it.
Let's clean up our own backyard for a change.
Originally posted by wibAnd then, maybe the terrorists will leave us alone?
Another day, another bunch of dead Marines. 4 more yesterday.
I'm sick of it. Every day I check CNN and my local paper for the latest news in Iraq. Every day it's bad. Rarely does a day go by when a Marine isn't killed. Never does a day go by without an Iraqi citizen being murdered. Usually it's a citizen that's trying to help and get involved in th ...[text shortened]... l with that whole region and everyone in it.
Let's clean up our own backyard for a change.
You must have really hated Vietnam....what was the count there?...over 50,000?
Originally posted by wibYou make some very valid points. What do you suggest we do? Leave now and say screw the 1900 who gave their lives in defense of the idea of a free Iraq. Have we become a nation of quitters who cut and run at the first sign of trouble? I wonder what you would have thought if you were around when the D-day invasion occured and we lost over 5000 troops in one day. Would you have petitioned Roosevelt to quit? I like you am saddened when I read about a servicemember dying in Iraq. I think we are tying the troops hands when we try to kiss up to the Sunnis who don't want peace over there. Their hero Saddam will never be the leader of Iraq again and it just pisses them off to no end. We need to send a stronger message to Syria and Iran to quit meddling in Iraq's affairs.
Another day, another bunch of dead Marines. 4 more yesterday.
I'm sick of it. Every day I check CNN and my local paper for the latest news in Iraq. Every day it's bad. Rarely does a day go by when a Marine isn't killed. Never does a day go by without an Iraqi citizen being murdered. Usually it's a citizen that's trying to help and get involved in th ...[text shortened]... l with that whole region and everyone in it.
Let's clean up our own backyard for a change.
Originally posted by wibAll you have to do is get elected, WIB. The Presidency will be open in 2008.
Another day, another bunch of dead Marines. 4 more yesterday.
I'm sick of it. Every day I check CNN and my local paper for the latest news in Iraq. Every day it's bad. Rarely does a day go by when a Marine isn't killed. Never does a day go by without an Iraqi citizen being murdered. Usually it's a citizen that's trying to help and get involved in th ...[text shortened]... l with that whole region and everyone in it.
Let's clean up our own backyard for a change.
Originally posted by slimjimI don't know Slim. I honestly don't know. I keep asking myself how much longer we're going to be there. How many more lives do we need to lose and how much more money do we spend before we accomplish... what? A democracy in Iraq? Peace? Those things are nowhere in sight.
You make some very valid points. What do you suggest we do? Leave now and say screw the 1900 who gave their lives in defense of the idea of a free Iraq. Have we become a nation of quitters who cut and run at the first sign of trouble? I wonder what you would have thought if you were around when the D-day invasion occured and we lost over 5000 troops in one d ...[text shortened]... o end. We need to send a stronger message to Syria and Iran to quit meddling in Iraq's affairs.
And D-Day didn't take 3 and a half years. The entire second World War, for America anyway, barely took 3 and a half years.
As for the 1900 that have given everything in this war, their families need to take that up with the men that sent them to a foreign land to die.
Wars should be fought when they MUST be fought. That was not the case in Iraq.
But back to your question. I'm not kidding when I say I don't know. I did not support starting this war, but I also believe once you're in one that's it. The bullsh1t stops and you do everything you can to win it. I simply don't see how now.
Originally posted by wibLet me kjnow when it's time and I promise to contribute as much to your campaign as I did to the Bush and Kerry campaigns last time around. No chyance of hanging chads in Michigan, at least not in Medina Township.
I'll be running for the "Minding Our Own Business" Party.
And don't leave my chad hanging after you vote. 🙂
Three very large and three small whitetail doe deer eating apples in our front yard about 20 feet from the deck at the moment, 6 p.m.
Originally posted by UmbrageOfSnowI've already suggested securing the border with Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Jordan with drafted soldiers from US and UK. Seal it tighter than a gnat's ass...then let the Marines and US Army clean house interiorly, so to speak. Once that's done, have an elected government in Iraq with a strong Iraqi military, wait for it to be stable enough, and then get the hell out of the entire middle east.....find an alternative source of energy and tell the Islamofascists to eat chit....and then secure our own borders...
And you think Rice-Snow will be any less of a disaster? Especially Rice. Why wouldn't you want to just hold another election. Remember, Rice had a pretty big hand in this as well.
Originally posted by UmbrageOfSnowWell I couldn't find anyone in the succession named "White" or I would have chosen him for Prez along with Rice. Then we could have had the "White - Rice" ticket.
And you think Rice-Snow will be any less of a disaster? Especially Rice. Why wouldn't you want to just hold another election. Remember, Rice had a pretty big hand in this as well.
"Brown" of course would also be funny.
No, no second election. This country can barely get through one every 4 years without anally impaling ourselves on our own voting machines. Plus another election so soon would cause our media to spontaneously combust.
Originally posted by chancremechanicSee, this is a plan. Now it's a violent, extremely bloody, and wildly expensive plan, but at least it's an F'ing plan!
I've already suggested securing the border with Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Jordan with drafted soldiers from US and UK. Seal it tighter than a gnat's ass...then let the Marines and US Army clean house interiorly, so to speak. Once that's done, have an elected government in Iraq with a strong Iraqi military, wait for it to be stab ...[text shortened]... e source of energy and tell the Islamofascists to eat chit....and then secure our own borders...
It's actually one of only two ways I can see to solve the Iraq "problem".
1. The Chancre/SlimJim plan. I've included slim because I think he'd go along with it. We seal the borders and terminate all resistance in Iraq. We kill everything even remotely associated with terrorism and let the decent folk try to run the place after we're gone.
The downside is we're talking about a whole lot more manpower than we have there now. You would need to triple the number of troops IMO. That ain't cheap.
2. We leave. We leave and we let everyone kill everyone else and we watch their carcasses rot in the sun while we search for better alternative sources of energy. To hell with the whole lot of'em.
Downside. We just wasted 3 years, 1900 lives, and about 200 Billion dollars.
Neither plan is perfect, but at least it's a plan. My feeling is that the people running this war right now have no idea what the hell they're doing.
