Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (219047)	2/17/2007 4:16:00 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

Who Will Protect and Defend Our Military From the Bush Administration? by Barbara Miller Published on Saturday, February 17, 2007 by CommonDreams.org Last night, I attended a MoveOn event, one of more than a thousand nationwide. Our principal agenda was to view the film, "The Ground Truth." The movie focused briefly on the recruiting, training and deploying of U.S. military troops to Iraq. It did not shy away from deaths-ours, theirs, calculated, accidental. However, the film's main focus was on women and men who physically survive the Iraq War, with or without all of their limbs, facial features and internal organs intact. The "lucky ones" look much as they did when they left for war. But they're not. To some extent, they're soul-scarred humans who are sent home after their literal involvement in the killing stops. They are forever changed. They're also trained killers who have seen and participated in the worst the world has to offer. They must attempt to distance themselves from all of that when they come "home," however that is defined. Just so you know, I'm not going to do a synopsis here. "The Ground Truth's" message is a visual thing, which is why it's a film and not an IPod broadcast. Click here for more information and to view a trailer: thegroundtruth.net It's not the best movie ever made, Oscar nod notwithstanding. But its message is profoundly important. Shortcut: "What the hell are we doing?" "The Ground Truth" combines live footage of carnage and chaos in Iraq, interspersed with commentary from multiple military vets and a few mental health experts. The troop commentary was very moving. As was the additional commentary from some of their spouses and parents. Lives upside down and hind-side to. This is sacrifice that is rarely if ever mentioned, and certainly not by the Bush administration or the DOD. Frankly, I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle this film. I don't do very well with graphic violence. It was hard to watch brutality, murder of children, a soldier whose face was completely disfigured by fire. Bodies and blood. Plenty of both. The things of war. So why watch it? I can only answer retrospectively. I now believe it is incumbent upon every American man, woman, and child whose parents believe they can handle it to watch "The Ground Truth." That includes our elected officials. All of them. It is not enough to hear platitudes ("On behalf of a grateful nation and the President of the United States . . .") nor to see video of the occasional vet who has rehabbed from a lost limb. Oh, no. Not even close to enough. George Bush's war has killed something approaching 100,000 Iraqis and roughly 3,100 Americans. But that's just for starters. How many inner lives and relationships have been utterly destroyed in the wake of George's war? According to "The Ground Truth," to some extent, virtually every American assigned to an ultra-dangerous 24/7 war zone like Iraq returns a different person from the one who was deployed. Some of them are able to eventually manage their fear, rage and self-loathing. Many are not. And they may struggle with the aftermath of war for the rest of their lives. Or they may choose to end their lives. Some do. Sound familiar? Can you say "Vietnam"? Do not tell me I'm an angry liberal. I already know that. The greater issue here is this: Why isn't everyone furious about this war and the one being ginned up as its successor? Why isn't everyone doing everything in their power to protect and defend our military from George Bush? If not us, then who? This is a humanity issue. And so I echo the refrain, "What the hell are we doing?" Here's the real deal. George Bush sends American troops into the bowels of Iraq from his "beautiful White House." And each time he does, he is sentencing them to death. If not death of the body, then degrees of death of the spirit. If they do manage to survive, in whole or partial bodies, there is no bridge long enough to close the emotional chasm between the Iraqi war zone and home. Upon discharge, troops are required to answer (then and there) such questions as: Do you have PTSD? Do you have thoughts of suicide? Do you have thoughts of murder? etc., etc., etc. Give me a break. Who can possibly answer questions like that with any degree of accuracy until there is some distance from war? And even if they can, admission that they may be experiencing some stress/distress means they will be held by the military for some indeterminate period of time and won't get to go home. What would you choose after six months, a year, two years in Iraq? And so it is that our military heroes--and all of them are heroes--find themselves back home with little or no support from the government that sent them to hell. I wept as I watched. What we have done to Iraq is tragic. What we are doing to our own troops is appalling.

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (219047)	2/18/2007 12:01:31 AM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Since you feel that way, WHY haven't you or any of the Left asked why we are still in Bosnia after not only the one year Clinton said we would be, but 10+ years after he said that.... we are still there. Why didn't we take our troops out of NATO? What were we doing there in the first place? And since you seem to know everything....I want to know why the previous Adm did absolutely nothing except a few missiles to the tents and camels....That Adm knew about AQ, didn't warn the US citizens, and did not do much of anything (if anything?????) about any of the AQ caused deaths of our citizens and our Military..... WHY NOT?

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (219047)	2/18/2007 10:53:35 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

A lifelong Republican thinks about Iran vetscommonsense.blogspot.com Dear Harry, My nephew called me the other night and asked if I didn’t think we should go ahead and “take Iran out” since the government says they have been helping the bad guys in Iraq. I thought I would share with you what I told him, since it represents a little different perspective on my part. As you know I fought in Korea, and was in the VFW and have been a big backer of our Presidents, even Clinton. I voted for Eisenhower, Goldwater, Nixon and Ford, and in 1980 voted for John Anderson, because I thought he’d be a better president than a retired actor. I did vote for Reagan later on, and a couple of times for Perot, who I thought had a lot of common sense. But I now deeply regret voting for George W. Bush. I never liked the Bush bunch, much. Rich guys who seemed only interested in making a buck off the voters. Barry Goldwater would have called George W. Bush a fraud, and as I recall, didn’t have a whole lot of regard for the first Bush, either. I haven’t answered the Iran question yet, because I wanted to remind you of where my support has been over the years. These people running our government now have put me in a bind. I no longer am sure I can believe what our government tells us. They’ve been lying to us, Harry, and twice bit, three times shy. It seems like only yesterday that the President pounded on the lectern during his State of the Union address and talked about how Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction, maybe nukes and was helping out Osama bin Laden. We now know none of this was true. Then we saw Secretary of State Powell at the U.N. showing images of how the Iraqis were playing games, hiding their weapons from the U.N. inspectors. We now know this was not true, either. Then we heard from the Vice-President and Rumsfeld about how things were getting better all the time in Iraq, and now only an idiot would believe him. That no-bid deal Cheney and Rumsfeld put through with Halliburton bothered me a lot to begin with. Now we read our wounded veterans aren’t getting the care they need because the guys running the White House and the congress didn’t put through enough funds, not to mention the badly equipped men in the field all over Iraq. These guys are either complete liars or are complete fools, and they must think we are fools, too. Now they are telling us they think Iran has been supplying the bad guys in Iraq with weapons and they are sounding like Iran will be next on the list. But the government of Iran says they have not been doing this, and Harry, I hate to say it, but why should I believe our government over the Iran government? The guys in Washington have lied to us over and over again about Iraq, while they let Osama bin Laden get away. It is a hell of mess when Americans can’t even believe our own government about something as important as war. So, I told my nephew that no, I don’t think we should “take Iran out.” I think we should “take the liars in the White House out”, instead. Impeachment proceedings would be well deserved. I doubt anybody in Washington has the spine to do it, but it would be a bright day in America, if they did.