Okay, get ready. Here’s my two cents. I just can’t sit this one out.
Maybe there is a different perspective garnered from fighting a revolution against an oppressor to create a new nation dedicated to the premise that all men are created equal. Anyone see any similarities here? Did you know the French aided us in that conflict against England? Did anyone do a tally on how many lost their lives trying to create this nation? Maybe we should have just paid all the taxes and been happy without representation.
Americans who have failed to study American history are doomed to be unable to see any similarities to their own country’s evolution.
Maybe that different perspective is something one doesn’t have if one is from Australia, a nation who’s heritage is that of descendants of penal outcasts? Hesitate before you strike, I do admire and respect the Australian Prime Minister and the Australian people for standing beside the President and the American people in the war against terror and many other issues and for having the backbone to hold Saddam to the terms of surrender for the Gulf War, a document Saddam signed and pledged to honor. Something the United Nations was responsible for doing but was incapable of doing.
What price is freedom?
pooks (quote), “We’re talking about Iraq right… when exactly were we hit the first time?”
What was 9/11? The World Trade Center? How many died? Did anyone ever hear the Saddam Hussein’s regime was a major destabilizing influence in the Arab world? Wasn’t the training camp for airline hijacking in Iraq? And don’t think I’m so gullible to believe that Saddam didn’t know what was going on in his own country. This was one of the most oppressive military dictators of all time!
commiegirl (quote), “But in the meantime, while you are sleeping, there’s a war on, and it is messy, and it is wrong, and there are WAY more Marines and Army and Air Force over there wondering what the F*** than you might imagine, and more and more every day that are coming home in boxes. I know that gives you a little chill of uncommon valor, but for many of us, it just makes us feel sick.”
Why is it that of the troops that come home, the vast majority claim that we are there for the right reasons and are doing good things and 95% of the Iraqi people are grateful that we did. Oh, I forgot, its the right wing controlled media that is orchestrating that chorus of military puppets.
You dishonor our men and women fighting and those who have given their lives to protect you and your way of life, not to mention protecting, defending and preserving the Constitution of the United States of America.
Oh yes, what price freedom? This conflict is too costly in terms of loss of life. Let’s ask ourselves, how many public safety personnel have lost their lives over the same time period? I mean local, county, state and federal law enforcement, fire safety, etc. Today? This week? This month? Since the beginning of the year? Where is the moral outrage for this meaningless loss of life? Oh, I’m sorry. They were protecting your property or your way of life and that made it okay.
I am not trying to diminish the sacrifice of our men and women who have given their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq to protect our lives and our way of life, but to try to put this question into a little different perspective.
How many have died on our Nation’s streets and highways today? This week? This month? And since the beginning of the year? Where is the moral outrage for this loss of life? Why isn’t there a similar or louder cry for the abandonment of automobile transportation? Oh, I forgot again. Automobile transportation is the means to the end and that makes it okay.
How many people were killed today by drunk drivers? This week? This month? And since the beginning of the year? Where is the sense of moral outrage for this meaningless loss of life? Oh, I’m sorry, they weren’t fighting to defend your country and your way of life. That made it okay.
Maybe what you all are saying is that you just feel guilty that someone else is willing to put their lives at risk in an effort to protect your life and the life that you are able to enjoy. Maybe you feel guilty that, for some, that gives meaning to their lives and their sacrifices.
Or maybe you are just saying that, for you, its just not worth it to fight and risk your life to defend what you believe in and cherish.
Many people have given their lives to defend and protect this nation over the years of this short lived experiment in democracy. This affords you the privilege and right express your opinion in public.
I, however, am disgusted and offended by those who think the cost of freedom is free. And I also believe that if you attack me, literally, that I am far better off taking that fight to your doorstep than waiting for you to come to my doorstep again. If you are my enemy, then your friends and supporters are my enemies too. To believe otherwise, in my opinion, is foolish. But comfort and luxury has a tendency to breed fools. Maybe this is a cost of freedom too.
Okay, there’s the target. Shoot.