"Here is the bottom line. There are too many left-wing freaks, and there are too many right-wing freaks. The voice of this country is the middle voice, and that is not being heard." - Kid Rock
That's one of my favorite songs. And I respect those who serve in our armed forces.
I still believe the Iraq war was/is a mistake and I do NOT believe that saying it is a mistake shows disrespect for those who volunteer to fight. Many of them are brainwashed--I'm not blaming the troops for the war.
I'm sure the gentleman in the video believes NO war could ever be a mistake. Why would a commander ever ask him to be part of a mistake?
Well, for the first half of it, my main thought was that although the positive aspects of the Iraq war are indeed measurable and it's undoubtedly true that most of the Iraqi people probably want to live in freedom from oppression and fear and terrorism, just like the veteran in the ad said, that doesn't make it the job of the United States of America to GIVE it to them. I'd like to end all suffering everywhere, just like I'm sure most people would, if they could somehow accomplish that.
But I can't; I'm just one person. And even if I were the President, with the entire US military at my command and resources greater than perhaps any other single individual on earth at my command, I STILL wouldn't be able to accomplish THAT. Just look at how long it's taken us to come even THIS far in Iraq, and at what cost. The desire of the Iraqi people to live in peace and freedom from oppression and terrorism is far from unique in this world with so much death and strife in it. In fact, it's probably (sadly) more the norm for most of the world's population than not, sadly. But the USA is not large enough nor strong enough to provide those things to every country, every region, every town everywhere that wants/needs it.
Nor do we possess moral authority to play God in each and every case, deciding what is right and what is wrong. I think everyone can agree that Saddam Hussein was a bad actor, a terrible, despotic dictator (and the world is better off without him). But he's far from alone in that regard. We cannot invade our way to peace throughout the world, it just isn't possible. And even if we DID have the resources to do so, invasion and the military isn't the way to achieve it, many times. The cost that we have paid as Americans - and the veterans perhaps most of all - is too high for what has been achieved, and for the manner in which we went about it.
Neither "liberals," nor Barack Obama, take lightly the gains which have been made, nor the sacrifices of the soldiers and their families which have gone to achieving them. That's why guys like Pat Tillman signed up - abandoning what would almost certainly have been a multi-million-dollar football career, to enlist in the military to fight in a cause he believed was important and just.....in Afghanistan. But he served an early tour in Iraq, too, and was both clear-eyed and intelligent enough to famously quip "you know....this war is so f***ing illegal." It isn't that there hasn't been good accomplished, or sacrifices made. It's the way it was the logical and moral foundations on which it was initially undertaken, and the mismanagement of it since which has led to such waste of resources, both human, financial and material.
The last part of the ad descended into insulting, jingoistic horse poop of the kind that John McCain claimed he wouldn't fill his campaign with, what with the "because you do not understand that freedom comes with a price" cliches and the "Proud To Be An American" backing soundtrack. As a much better songwriter named Billy Bragg put it a couple of decades ago, in "Help Save The Youth Of America," - "you can fight for Democracy at home, and not in some foreign land." Barack Obama came out of Harvard with a resume and a background which would have allowed him to do literally ANYTHING he wanted. He could have headed off to Wall Street and today he would be a person nobody except his friends and family knew, with a bank account in the tens of millions. But he chose, earlier in his life, to give back to the country on a local level by working in some of the poorest areas of Chicago, the south side, "Back of the Yards." That, too, is patriotism, is "sacrificing for freedom," because for dead certain, the continuation of the America we all love rests as much on keeping the home fires burning, keeping our children educated with the best in the world, keeping our founding documents alive and representing all people, not just the few, as it does on keeping ourselves safe from those who would do us harm by force of arms.
In fact, I'm going to link to that Billy Bragg song, and print its lyrics here, as an antidote to the knee-jerk jingoism expressed in the last part of that ad:
Help save the youth of america
Help save them from themselves
Help save the sun-tanned surfer boys
And the California girls
When the lights go out in the rest of the world
What do our cousins say
They're playing in the sun and having fun, fun, fun
Till daddy takes the gun away
From the big church to the big river
And out to the shining sea
This is the land of opportunity
And there's a monkey trial on tv
A nation with their freezers full
Are dancing in their seats
While outside another nation
Is sleeping in the streets
Dont tell me the old, old story
Tell me the truth this time
Is the man in the mask or the indian
An enemy or a friend of mine
Help save the youth of america
Help save the youth of the world
Help save the boys in uniform
Their mothers and their faithful girls
Listen to the voice of the soldier
Down in the killing zone
Talking about the cost of leaving
And the price of bringing him home
Theyre already shipping the body bags
Out into the desert sand*
But you can fight for democracy at home
And not in some foreign land
And the fate of the great united states
Is entwined in the fate of us all
And the incident at tschernobyl proves
The world we live in is very small
And the cities of europe have burned before
And they may yet burn again
And if they do I hope you understand
That washington will burn with them
Omaha will burn with them
Los alamos will burn with them
-------------- * (when he wrote this, in the '80s, used to say "down below the Rio Grande", but this is how he sings it now)
Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling
Begging
I listened to Bob Woodward and thought the same. I realize the man in the video made a sacrifice, he lost one of his legs, what is sad is that Bush's mistake is WHY he lost one of his legs.
Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling
Begging
Pages
That's one of my favorite songs. And I respect those who serve in our armed forces.
I still believe the Iraq war was/is a mistake and I do NOT believe that saying it is a mistake shows disrespect for those who volunteer to fight. Many of them are brainwashed--I'm not blaming the troops for the war.
I'm sure the gentleman in the video believes NO war could ever be a mistake. Why would a commander ever ask him to be part of a mistake?
I ask myself that question every day.
-----------------------------------------------
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/october/meet_the_new_health_.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQTBYQlQ7yM
I thought it was simpy ridiculous.
Well, for the first half of it, my main thought was that although the positive aspects of the Iraq war are indeed measurable and it's undoubtedly true that most of the Iraqi people probably want to live in freedom from oppression and fear and terrorism, just like the veteran in the ad said, that doesn't make it the job of the United States of America to GIVE it to them. I'd like to end all suffering everywhere, just like I'm sure most people would, if they could somehow accomplish that.
But I can't; I'm just one person. And even if I were the President, with the entire US military at my command and resources greater than perhaps any other single individual on earth at my command, I STILL wouldn't be able to accomplish THAT. Just look at how long it's taken us to come even THIS far in Iraq, and at what cost. The desire of the Iraqi people to live in peace and freedom from oppression and terrorism is far from unique in this world with so much death and strife in it. In fact, it's probably (sadly) more the norm for most of the world's population than not, sadly. But the USA is not large enough nor strong enough to provide those things to every country, every region, every town everywhere that wants/needs it.
Nor do we possess moral authority to play God in each and every case, deciding what is right and what is wrong. I think everyone can agree that Saddam Hussein was a bad actor, a terrible, despotic dictator (and the world is better off without him). But he's far from alone in that regard. We cannot invade our way to peace throughout the world, it just isn't possible. And even if we DID have the resources to do so, invasion and the military isn't the way to achieve it, many times. The cost that we have paid as Americans - and the veterans perhaps most of all - is too high for what has been achieved, and for the manner in which we went about it.
Neither "liberals," nor Barack Obama, take lightly the gains which have been made, nor the sacrifices of the soldiers and their families which have gone to achieving them. That's why guys like Pat Tillman signed up - abandoning what would almost certainly have been a multi-million-dollar football career, to enlist in the military to fight in a cause he believed was important and just.....in Afghanistan. But he served an early tour in Iraq, too, and was both clear-eyed and intelligent enough to famously quip "you know....this war is so f***ing illegal." It isn't that there hasn't been good accomplished, or sacrifices made. It's the way it was the logical and moral foundations on which it was initially undertaken, and the mismanagement of it since which has led to such waste of resources, both human, financial and material.
The last part of the ad descended into insulting, jingoistic horse poop of the kind that John McCain claimed he wouldn't fill his campaign with, what with the "because you do not understand that freedom comes with a price" cliches and the "Proud To Be An American" backing soundtrack. As a much better songwriter named Billy Bragg put it a couple of decades ago, in "Help Save The Youth Of America," - "you can fight for Democracy at home, and not in some foreign land." Barack Obama came out of Harvard with a resume and a background which would have allowed him to do literally ANYTHING he wanted. He could have headed off to Wall Street and today he would be a person nobody except his friends and family knew, with a bank account in the tens of millions. But he chose, earlier in his life, to give back to the country on a local level by working in some of the poorest areas of Chicago, the south side, "Back of the Yards." That, too, is patriotism, is "sacrificing for freedom," because for dead certain, the continuation of the America we all love rests as much on keeping the home fires burning, keeping our children educated with the best in the world, keeping our founding documents alive and representing all people, not just the few, as it does on keeping ourselves safe from those who would do us harm by force of arms.
In fact, I'm going to link to that Billy Bragg song, and print its lyrics here, as an antidote to the knee-jerk jingoism expressed in the last part of that ad:
Help save the youth of america
Help save them from themselves
Help save the sun-tanned surfer boys
And the California girls
When the lights go out in the rest of the world
What do our cousins say
They're playing in the sun and having fun, fun, fun
Till daddy takes the gun away
From the big church to the big river
And out to the shining sea
This is the land of opportunity
And there's a monkey trial on tv
A nation with their freezers full
Are dancing in their seats
While outside another nation
Is sleeping in the streets
Dont tell me the old, old story
Tell me the truth this time
Is the man in the mask or the indian
An enemy or a friend of mine
Help save the youth of america
Help save the youth of the world
Help save the boys in uniform
Their mothers and their faithful girls
Listen to the voice of the soldier
Down in the killing zone
Talking about the cost of leaving
And the price of bringing him home
Theyre already shipping the body bags
Out into the desert sand*
But you can fight for democracy at home
And not in some foreign land
And the fate of the great united states
Is entwined in the fate of us all
And the incident at tschernobyl proves
The world we live in is very small
And the cities of europe have burned before
And they may yet burn again
And if they do I hope you understand
That washington will burn with them
Omaha will burn with them
Los alamos will burn with them
--------------
* (when he wrote this, in the '80s, used to say "down below the Rio Grande", but this is how he sings it now)
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
Pages