When you step back and take a look at this from the outside, it is really hard to justify any of what the people protesting the war are saying.
Here's my philosophy: If you want to know what to do in a situation you are not hands on with, ask the people who are. Do not pretend you know what they know and then make decisions for them....
With that said, I have yet to come across a soldier that did not believe in what was being done in Iraq or one that thought we shouldn't be there. Many of the ones I have spoken with have already done a second tour and are trying to get back for a third. I did have a conversation with a National Guard woman who was using the VA and PTSD (alleged problems from Gulf War 1) as a last resort to keep from deploying to Iraq this time. No family, no kids, she just didn't want to go. I made it clear what my opinion of that was and went on my way.
So, to the people who keep saying we need to get out, bring our troops home, forget the whole thing, I ask, who the hell are you speaking for ? The guys and gals doing the real work here aren't bitching and complaining, why the hell should you be ??
I agree with you Bob, everyone has the right to an opinion, but an opinion based on nothing but feelings is about as useful as tits on a bull. I'd be hard pressed to believe that anyone who has looked at the reality of all this could possibly come to the conclusion that running the other way is the right thing to do.... Who are we, France now ?
It's ironic isn't it, that the people who started the whole "this is gonna be another Vietnam" chant, are hell bent on making it one....
Ok, listen. For those out there that just have to have something to whine about, let me give you two things to work on that won't be undermining anything and instead of getting bashed, you'll probably get an award for actually doing something worth while:
Fix it - DRUNK DRIVING:
In 2003, 17,013 people died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, accounting for 40% of all traffic-related deaths in the U.S.
An alcohol-related motor vehicle crash kills someone every 31 minutes and non fatally injures someone every two minutes (NHTSA 2004).
Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (NHTSA 1993).
Each year, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion (Blincoe et al. 2002).
Most drinking and driving episodes go undetected. In 2002, about 1.5 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (NHTSA 2004). That’s slightly more than one percent of the 120 million self-reported episodes of alcohol–impaired driving among U.S. adults each year (Dellinger et al. 1999).
Fix it - CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT: (this turns my stomach)
An estimated 906,000 children were determined to be victims of child abuse or neglect in 2003.
For 2003, an estimated 1,500 children died due to abuse or neglect. More than three-quarters (79 percent) of children who were killed were younger than 4 years old; 10 percent were 4 to 7 years old; 5 percent were 8 to 11 years old; and 6 percent were 12 to 17 years old.
Infant boys (younger than 1 year) had the highest rate of fatalities, with nearly 18 deaths per 100,000 boys of the same age in the national population. Infant girls (younger than 1 year) had a rate of 14 deaths per 100,000. The overall rate of child fatalities was 2 deaths per 100,000 children. More than one-third of child fatalities were attributed to neglect. Physical abuse also was a major contributor to fatalities.
Children ages birth to 3 years had the highest rates of victimization at 16.4 per 1,000 children of the same age group. Girls were slightly more likely to be victims than boys.
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So there you have it, now make yourselves useful....