Letters to the Editor
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apologies Paul in KY. silly.
I see a bit of both sides. I'm mostly cross eyed. O, too many morels. If I was a lecturer about things I'm not versed about, I should wear dirty t-shirts with butter, garlic, comfrey, and asparagus stains on it.
I have never observed,
A boy check a dipstick.
A boy with a yarmulke.
It needs to be pinned?
A yarmulke may fall off,
and get all chewed up?
Ruined by the fan belt.
If me/anyone checks,
A dipstick low on oil.
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Cowardly RW trolls
Knorbit is naive, not very bright, probably quite young, and has a lot of time on his hands. He is easily confused and thinks he is far smarter than he is. (Use this to your advantage.) He literally spouts nonsense and silliness to get attention, yet takes himself very seriously.-- Baldie McEagle
Baldie... those appear to be very good assessments of those trolls. I think you might be right on the money. Especially about NOB. He ran his mouth all day yesterday but he wouldn't answer one simple question:
Why isn't he over there fighting the greatest threat to civilization evah?!
My best guess is that he is indeed a classic chickenhawk and fundamental coward who is more than willing to have us fight wars of choice to last drop of everyone else's blood. I just wanted him to come up with a standard chickenhawk excuse. Of course, he wouldn't answer the question.
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Thank's LWM
for your info on Toledo Blade's excellent articles.
As for the Liberty incident, I have heard that the Israelis thought our spying would get back to their enemies somehow or that they were afraid of us picking up radio chatter concerning various summary executions of enemy troops they apparently were engaged in.
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@bigguns
India and China love our two wars. They spend billions on infrastructure and we spend trillions on imperialism.
Dunno about China. As an India-watcher, I can assure you that India does not love the two US wars, and the threatened third one with Iran.
1. India needs a quick and successful conclusion to the US/NATO war in Afghanistan with a non-Islamist government in charge; no Taliban, no refuge or training camps for terrorists/militants that constantly strike India, and less room for Islamist extremism in Pakistan.
2. Remittances from Indians working in the Middle East still rival earnings from software, as well as giving gainful employment to millions of Indians. India imports 75% of its petroleum needs and depends on the Middle East. That region is also a major target for India's exports. India needs a stable and peaceful Middle East. A normal Iraq would be helpful, too.
3. India's energy needs also make its relationship with Iran very critical to it, both for petroleum and for natural gas. The US relationship is also strategic and India would prefer not to have to choose sides.
4. After Russia, India's largest defence partner is Israel (in terms of military equipment imports to India).
I think India would very much want the US to abandon its neocon ways and instead proceed by diplomacy.
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LWM . interesting to read..... sometimes a read makes me feel bulimic. Thanks anyway. Serious.
I just want to say, I saw photo's after the war about what you described and read/listened attentively. No one can find appropriate words, or say everything that's within us clearly. Much depends on the person in the audience. It may need to be said 1001 times ti finally HEAR.
I never saw any deliberate carnage, rape, hut-roof burning, torture, or severing of body parts. It did Not happen in every unit. Our First Cavalry Unit even allowed NVA to walk inside a ambush... sniff around to smell and detect grunts... and then walk hurriedly backward... To safely into the lush green jungle canopy. Not all soldiers are blood-lusty. The GOP are THAT! There is such a 'experience' as a naive soldier.... who's drafted, tricked, a National Guard youth, and maybe more often than we'd like to admit... There is a Noble soldier. booty? the story. Truth.
`
I think I said my first sincere prayer in `Nam. The psychopath with a m-16 was very scary to listen to, and observe. Insane. A bomber was surly insane. My prayer was to keep me from depravity. In so many words.
Ellipsis? To speak is a struggle.
We may as well choose the truth.
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Aycharaych
I'm on the road for much of today, and there's a lot on this thread I would love to comment on but won't be able to ... still, I wanted to write a quick note to thank you for that post. Fascinating. Thanks.
As a somewhat smaller benefit with more immediate application, you've also provided me some fuel for a long conversation with my brother in law, who is a pilot with great interest in such things, and whose birthday is today. So, thanks again!
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@orbitboy
Iran's efforts to obtain nukes pre-date Bush, by decades.
Yes, it dates to the time of the US ally, the Shah of Iran. At that time Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons was not a problem.
After the revolution, Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons started after Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons on the Iranians; Iran took it to the United Nations, and the western powers and US in particular sat on their hands. With that is was a rational conclusion Iran, indeed for any state, that it needs WMD if the Western powers are antagonistic to it.
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GC
Thanks very much for that wonderful post. Well said.
When this latest debacle was just warming up, I wondered aloud, in public meetings, book readings and college classrooms, whether we were ready to absorb the costs (in addition to the tangible ones) of an eroding moral fabric, the upticking trend of atrocities that always accompany such long and bitter fighting as it was easy to imagine (though easier to forget), the other moral contortions that we would inevitably find ourselves in as we denied, isolated, divided and hated.
My imagination was unequal to what has actually happened. Serious as the damages I could project were, they were nothing compared to what's happened. Still, people looked at me with skepticism and disbelief (on this point, anyway).
I wish you'd been there.