Should have said “my life” or “his dad’s life”

When they frag their officers

Do you really mean this, or are you simply trying to express an opinion with a limited basis for comprehension. As someone who at least makes himself out to be a veteran, how could you possible make that statement?

This is my third combat deployment, 1 as enlisted (under Clinton) and 2 as an officer. Why don’t you go up to my 11 year old and tell him that you wish one of his Soldiers to take away his life. After all, he is only having to deal with the fact that his father cannot tuck him in at night any more, the fact that kids at his school (family is not living near a military post right now) cannot comprehend what his life is like, not being able to speak to his father but every couple of weeks, and finally, the true terror that one night he will see a government vehicle pull up to his house to tell him the most devastating news one can imagine at that age.

I don’t want any sympathy, or for that matter empathy. I do not expect most people who have never seen TRUE tyranny or what REAL human suffering to understand why I do what I do. Most people throughout the world are lucky, lucky to be able to remain ignorant to such horrors. In their ignorance they do not have the ability to understand, truly understand what hell really is. I do not judge or condemn them. I treasure their desire for discourse. However, I also realize that to most of them, the things that they protest are simply words and phrases. Things like patriotism and freedom are tactile to me. I can see, touch, and taste them. I understand that with our rights and freedoms come certain responsibilities. One of the most true is with the freedom of speech, comes the responsibility to speak intelligently. Hopefully one day you may realize this.

Dear General Petraeus,
Please name me one terrorist that has attacked my freedoms.

R E M E M B E R:
Your president said:
THEY(sic) HATE US FOR OUR FREEDOMS…

Was it these “Muslim extremists” that legislated away my Habeas Corpus Rights; That are attempting to legislate away my Right to privacy; That are attempting to label me a threat that needs containment in a detention facility because I exorcise my Constitutional Right to Peaceful Protest?

I want my FREEDOM to protest without the threat of internment, back!
I want my FREEDOM to Habeas Corpus, back!
I want my FREEDOM to have private communications, BACK!
I want my FREEDOM to be an American, BACK!

You know what that means, if the Bush administration is right on this, which I doubt very much, then by its own logic, it surrendered to the terrorists who want to steal away our freedoms. It did the bidding of the terrorists… /sarcasm

Just tell us who does not not pose a threat to us; the list will be short. Don’t put Bush, Cheney, the GOP or the neocons on the list – they are the biggest threat to the U.S.A.

Ho,
Support the troops…
… who refuse illegal orders.

Please do not advocate violence.

.

6 1/2 years later and the result? “al Qaeda’s senior leadership has been strengthened”

Heck of a job mr Bush!

Iraq’s fight is, has been, and will be a Sunni minority that used to be in charge and hates being on the outs versus a Shia majority that used to be oppressed by the Sunni, but are now in charge and exacting revenge against the Sunni who oppressed them. In addition to that, there are Shia religious fundamentalists who want a clerical state with ties to Iraq.

Al Qaeda is in AFGHANISTAN! Afghanistan is NOT in Iraq.

We did NOT go to war in Iraq because were were looking to bring al Qaeda to justice after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. We went to war in Iraq because Saddam had WMDs, or WMD programs, or the ability to reconstitute WMD programs, or the intent to reconstitute WMD programs…

Now, General Petraeus surely knows better than to say stupid things like this, which help the Bush administration continue the false conflation of Iraq and al Qaeda. His problem is that he’s all to willing to suck up to the President and the Secretary of Defense, either for his own advancement, or out of some misguided sense of loyalty.

A major problem with today’s military, aside from the Bush administration’s stupid and flawed Iraq policy, is that leaders with integrity have felt compelled to retire, or have been fired for not falling in line with the administration.

General Petraeus ought to be ashamed and he ought not to be confirmed. I have no doubt, though, that the Democratic Senators who SAY they’re against the President’s Iraq policy will vote to make Petraeus the CENTCOM commander, and he’ll continue doing Bush’s bidding. Petraeus will continue implementing the flawed Iraq policy and the Democrats will continue saying they’re against it. In short, nothing will change.

When they frag their officers

Vote Dem for a change to stronger, more honest & capable military leadership in the ME. We can & should do better than an obvious BushCo sycophant like Petraeus, & his little pal Odierno.

If there is a nails head out there you hit with that