Letters to the Editor
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Elephantman
"One might think that the first reaction, irrespective of party would be, let's hunt down the people who are doing this and pop a hellfire missile up their miserable asses. That's my attitude, and I don't consider it to be a 'Republican' one."
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"let's"?
Enlist today, motherfucker. Your nation needs your heroic, gung-ho, take-no-prisoners ass.
Othwerwise, STFU.
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Put Gen. Jeanne Schmidt In Charge!!
"Only cowards cut and run!!" The newest member of congress at the time, Rep. Jeanne Schmidt, said this on the floor of The House referring to Rep. Murtha advocating a re-positioning of our forces. This war needs gung ho, bellicose, belligerant people like Schmidt so why not award her an honorary commission as a four star general and put her in charge over there? (Making such awards to favored people,such as Jack Warner during World War 2, is not unusual.)
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Elephant - man ... Pea - brain
"If that means a 'defeat' for American troops, then so be it, must be the attitude."
Like all Bushies and Cheney sychophants, GOP-man wants to make this "about the troops." So let's make it about the troops. Is this what Elephantman considers a "triumphant army?"
Suicide rates among active duty military are double what they were a decade or so back. Experts tie that escalation directly to multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe we should give the troops more time between deployments. Oh wait, we tried to do that but the Republicans said no.
It took almost three years and countless deaths before the troops in the field got the proper body and vehicle armor. A report from the Marine Corps indicated the marines lacked sufficient numbers of machine guns.
Returning amputees from the war are increasingly turning to private philantropy to make essential alterations to their homes because the VA doesn't provide enough funding for such retrofits.
The backlog on disability claims among returning Iraq and Afghanistan vets are the longest in modern history. These veterans need their claims processed.
A record number of corruption indictments, some of active duty military officers, has been filed in connection with the theft and extortion of government funds. Properly spent, these funds might have restored some reasonable quality of life to the Iraqi and made them look more favorably upon the occupying army. And that doesn't even count the money that Halliburton got.
You don't "support the troops" with a yellow car magnet and a flag in your lapel. You don't "support the troops" by keeping five sons out of harm's way while the sons and daughters of middle America are killed and maimed. You don't "support the troops" serving your church in France. You support the troops by bringing them home in one piece.
I am a "troop" - a troop from a so-called defeated army that came home from Vietnam. My victory was my life. It had nothing to do with the goals of my government.
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Folly of 'strategic hamlets'
I know that General Petraeus is supposed to be a counter insurgency expert and a source of new thinking, but when the notion of a pullback to strategic areas is proposed by the Baker Hamilton commission or floated in preparation for the official report on the surge, we should take a look at history. This is not new thinking.
I'd reccommend Barbara Tuchman's March of Folly as a start. Look at the notion of 'strategic hamlets' in Vietnam as a parallel and sure loser strategy. This is not a new idea. And it is based on the same false assumption as in Vietnam -- that opposition and insurgency are the result of external forces rather than internal contradictions in the country.
The Colin Powell doctrine of 'you break it, you fix it' is not an accurate reflection of the policy of Pottery Barn or anyone else. The policy is 'you break it, you pay for it' -- there is no power or capablity assumed that you can fix what you've broken.
Out Now!