Flight,

Not sure if this has been posted before but it is a good read.

Tom GAtor 851.

Subject: Ramblings of an old man

This was pretty good reading....and written by the officer who is the
subject of "We were Soldiers".
If you aren't interested in the ramblings of an old man, please delete now.

If you're still there, pull up a chair and listen.

Is there anyone else out there who's sick and tired of all the polls being
taken in foreign countries as to whether or not they "like" us? The last
time I looked, the word "like" had nothing to do with foreign policy. I
prefer 'respect' or 'fear.' They worked for Rome, which civilized and kept
the peace in the known world a heck of a lot longer than our puny two
centuries-plus.

I see a left-wing German got elected to office recently by campaigning
against the foreign policy of the United States. Yeah, that's what I want,
to be lectured about war and being a "good neighbor" by a German. Their head
honcho said they wouldn't take part in a war against Iraq.

Kind of nice to see them taking a pass on a war once in while. Perhaps we
needed to have the word "World" in front of War. I think it's time to bring
our boys home from Germany. Outside of the money we'd save, we'd make the
Germans "like" us a lot more, after they started paying the bills for their
own defense.

Last time I checked, France isn't too fond of us either. They sort of liked
us back on June 6th, 1944, though, didn't they? If you don't think so, see
how nicely they take care of the enormous American cemeteries up above the
Normandy beaches.

For those of you who've studied history, we also have a few cemeteries in
places like Belleau Woods and Chateau Thierry also. For those of you who
haven't studied it, that was from World War One the first time Europe
screwed up, and we bailed
out the French. That's where the US Marines got the title 'Devil Dogs' or,
if you still care about what the Germans think,
Teufelhunde I hope I spelled that right; sure wouldn't want to offend
anyone, least of all a German.

Come to think of it, when Europe couldn't take care of their Bosnian problem
recently, guess who had to help out there also. Last time I checked, our
kids are still there. I sort of remember they said they would be out in a
year. Gee, how time flies when you're having fun.

Now we hear that the South Koreans aren't too happy with us either. They
liked" us a lot better, of course, in June 1950. It took more than 50,000
Americans killed in Korea to help give them the lifestyle they currently
enjoy, but then who's counting? I think it's also time to bring the boys
home from there. There are about 37,000 young Americans on the DMZ
separating the South Koreans from their "brothers" up north. Maybe if we
leave, they can begin to participate in the "good life" that North Korea
currently enjoys. Uh huh. Sure.

I also understand that a good portion of the Arab/Moslem world now doesn't
like" us either.

Did anyone ever sit down and determine what we would have to do to get them
to like us?

Ask them what they would like us to do. Die? Commit ritual suicide? Bend
over? Maybe we should follow the advice of our dimwitted, dullest knife in
the drawer, Senator Patty Murray, and build more roads, hospitals, day care
centers, and orphanages like Osama bin Laden does.

What with all the orphans Osama has created, the least he can do is build
some places to put them. Senator Stupid says if we would only "emulate"
Osama, the Arab world would love us.

Sorry Patty, in addition to the fact that we already do all of those things
around the world and have been doing them for over sixty years, I don't take
public transportation, and I certainly wouldn't take it with a bomb strapped
to the guy next to me.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not in favor of going to war. Been there, done that.
Several times, in fact. But I think we ought to have some polls in this
country about other countries, and see if we "like" THEM. Problem is, if you
listed the countries, not only wouldn't the average American know if he
liked them or not, he wouldn't be able to find them. If we're supposed to
worry about them, how about them worrying about us?

We were nice to the North Koreans in 1994, as we followed the policies of
Neville Clinton. And it seemed to work; they didn't restart their nuclear
weapons program for a whole year or so. In the meantime, we fed them when
they were starving, and put oil in their stoves when they were freezing.

In a recent visit to Norway, I engaged in a really fun debate with my
cousins son, a student at a Norwegian University. I was lectured to by this
thankless squirt about the American "Empire,"and scolded about dropping the
atomic bomb on the Japanese. I reminded him that empires usually keep the
stuff they take; we don't, and back in 1945 most Norwegians thought
dropping ANY kind of bomb on Germany or Japan was a good idea. I also
reminded him that my uncle, his grandfather, and others in our family spent
a significant time in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, courtesy of the
Germans, and they didn't all survive. I further reminded him that if it
weren't for the "American Empire" he would probably be speaking German or
Russian.

Sorry about the rambling, but I just took an unofficial poll here at our
house, and we don't seem to like anyone.

Provided by Joe Galloway, author of We Were Soldiers.