What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy? - Mahatma Gandhi
The quickest way to change a persons thoughts about a subject, is a 130gr boattale. -Brian Davis 75th Ranger Sniper
Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato
"Still if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all of the odds against you and only a precious chance for survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." -Winston Churchill
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy? - Mahatma Gandhi
Good question, let's ask the dead:
This combat soldier's prayer, Who has served his time in Hell, Is may we learn the lessons of war well, That we not doom future generations, The same old tales of horror to tell, To endure what in youth they see mistakenly as glory. Oh God, do not let our children Repeat the same old story.
Make it so that America's babies live to grow old In this land of the free and the bold. Help us throw off the shackles of hate that bind And grow old in a life of a peaceful kind.
Teach us that there is no glory in war, Nor honor there that brave men should not abhor. Teach us instead, one for another our brothers to love. Shower us with thine Celestial message from above, That we plant seeds of peace evermore And make war-no-more!
But if I should die on some far, far away battlefield Know I answered the call For a grand principle of freedom to yield. My fervent prayer is that death May not have been in vain Fighting for peace and right for the world to attain.
My brothers, American roses standing by my side On alien soil dying In the summer of my youthful pride All the leaves around me falling,
Now I’m lying here still, in sunshine and in shadow, Longing to hear, “brother next door, I love you so." For moldering in the soft ground below, I feel you living and loving in the world above me Standing tall because I fought that you might be... Oh look ye down now, And tell me you still think of me Honor my red blood, spilt that others might stand free.
Tell me that I did not give my all for you in vain That brothers and sisters do not look upon my sacrifice With hateful, Or even worse, Uncaring disdain.
Do not forget me when my valley’s hushed And white with snow, Grass growing green in the summer of my meadow Help me see the peace I lived and died for grow.
Make my lonely grave richer, Sweeter be... Make this truly, "The land of the free And the home of the brave," I gave my life to save That I might too, lie eternally, Forever free...
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11:14 PM
Toddster Member
Posts: 20871 From: Roswell, Georgia Registered: May 2001
"It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation." - William Tecumseh Sherman
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08:56 AM
Toddster Member
Posts: 20871 From: Roswell, Georgia Registered: May 2001
"Something more than mere support for a war without fighting in it is required to earn the "chicken hawk" label. Chicken-hawkism is the belief that advocating a war from afar is a sign of personal courage and strength, and that opposing a war from afar is a sign of personal cowardice and weakness. A "chicken hawk" is someone who not merely advocates a war, but believes that their advocacy is proof of the courage which those who will actually fight the war in combat require." - Glenn Greenwald
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09:30 AM
webbee Member
Posts: 1149 From: Los Angeles, Ca. USA Registered: Jun 2000
“It’s healthy to criticize the CIA’s intelligence. What the people in the Pentagon were doing was right. It was good government.” - Doug Feith, former undersecretary of Defense for Policy, defending "alternative intelligence"
[This message has been edited by SC Coupe (edited 02-12-2007).]
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03:36 PM
PFF
System Bot
webbee Member
Posts: 1149 From: Los Angeles, Ca. USA Registered: Jun 2000
"Chicken-hawkism is the belief that advocating a war from afar is a sign of personal courage and strength, and that opposing a war from afar is a sign of personal cowardice and weakness. A "chicken hawk" is someone who not merely advocates a war, but believes that their advocacy is proof of the courage which those who will actually fight the war in combat require." - Glenn Greenwald
"What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world." - Gen .Robert E. Lee
"Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood." - Mahatma Gandhi
[This message has been edited by SC Coupe (edited 02-12-2007).]
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10:16 PM
Mar 5th, 2007
webbee Member
Posts: 1149 From: Los Angeles, Ca. USA Registered: Jun 2000
The founders of the American republic were unambiguous in rejecting any hint of military supremacy. Under the Constitution, military leaders take their orders from civilian leaders, who are subject in turn to the judgment of ordinary voters. Those who wear the uniform in wartime are entitled to their countrymen's esteem and lasting gratitude. But for well over two centuries, Americans have insisted that when it comes to security and defense policy, soldiers and veterans get no more of a say than anyone else. You don't need medical training to express an opinion on healthcare. You don't have to be on the police force to comment on matters of law and order. You don't have to be a parent or a teacher or a graduate to be heard on the educational controversies of the day. You don't have to be a journalist to comment on this or any other column.
And whether you have fought for your country or never had that honor, you have every right to weigh in on questions of war and peace. Those who cackle ``Chicken hawk!" are not making an argument. They are merely trying to stifle one, and deserve to be ignored.
~ Jeff Jacoby
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01:16 PM
fogglethorpe Member
Posts: 4828 From: Valley of the Sun Registered: Jul 2001
"To those on the other side of the aisle who are opposed, I ask you the same questions that my gunner asked me when I was leading a convoy up and down Ambush Alley one day. He said, ‘Sir, what are we doing over here? What’s our mission? When are these Iraqis going to come off the sidelines and fight for their own country?’ So to my colleagues across the aisle - your taunts about supporting our troops ring hollow if you are still unable to answer those questions now four years later."
-- Rep. Patrick Murphy, debating the Iraq Accountability Act
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09:37 AM
webbee Member
Posts: 1149 From: Los Angeles, Ca. USA Registered: Jun 2000
Your soldiers are working their hardest. Be strong and persistent in your faith with us. Sadr's militia is desperate, so they are dangerous, but keep this in perspective. The pessimists would have you believe this is a disaster. Don't listen. I think some of them believe their reputations require our failure because they have been so negative. Eliminating Sadr's threat is part of the mission. We are further ensuring the liberation of the Iraqi people. This has to be done, and we are doing it.
Don't be seduced by those who would rather that we sit back and just enjoy the freedoms past generations of Americans have sacrificed to gain for us. This is our time to earn it. I remember President Bush saying after the September 11th attacks: "The commitment of our Fathers is now the calling of our time."
~ U.S. Army Specialist Joe Roche, an adjunct fellow of The National Center for Public Policy Research is on active duty in Iraq, serving with the 16th Engineering Battalion of the 1st Armored Division. This essay is taken from a longer letter written by the author based on notes he made while on combat missions against Sadr's forces. The entire letter is available online at http://www.nationalcenter.o...-in-iraq-i-ask.html.
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05:13 PM
texasfiero Member
Posts: 4674 From: Houston, TX USA Registered: Jun 2003
"This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights or keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.
To that high concept there can be no end save victory."
Excerpt from Franklin D. Roosevelt's Address to Congress January 6, 1941.
[This message has been edited by texasfiero (edited 04-02-2007).]
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05:17 PM
Toddster Member
Posts: 20871 From: Roswell, Georgia Registered: May 2001
"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear -- kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor -- with the cry of grave national emergency. Always, there has been some terrible evil at home, or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it." --General Douglas MacArthur
