<p>This war really sucks. And the media sucks for hiding it. Imagine if you were the wife/husband or mother/father of one of these soldiers. No one paying attention to your enormous sacrifice…</p>
<p>I hope America hasn’t forgotten our soldiers over there. I hope everyone who reads this will take the time to at least look at their names and thank them for their sacrifice.</p>
<p>One thing NPR has continued doing is choosing one fallen soldier per week to profile. They let the family and friends talk about him and tell his story, and they are usually reporting from his hometown.</p>
<p>To answer your question look at the re-enlistment rates of those who have served in Iraq. The real soldiers “get it” - too bad the armchair generals back home don’t.</p>
<p>What do you expect out of an administration where NO one served on active duty? The only one who did was forced out at the earliest face saving moment.</p>
<p>Heck, war is easy - as long as some other group is doing it. What is curious here is that the “other group” is largely the socially conservative wing of the republican party. It will be interesting in the next round of congressional elections to see what happens.</p>
<p>nmd - Don’t you think the “NO one served in active duty” canard is getting a bit old? What does that have to do with whether the war is worth fighting? It certainly is irrelevant as Lincoln and Rooseveldt have proven. </p>
<p>The question that was raised was, was “voting” the reason given by those who signed up. The answer, as shown by their re-enlistment rates was an emphatic yes. Those closest to what is going on there know that the war is worth fighting. It’s those who look for any way to discredit the administration and use the the reports of their allies in the media to support their views who have no clue as to the worth of the war. Most probably have never spent an objective moment to consider the ramifications of NOT fighting the war.</p>
<p>If you are suggesting that being in uniform is a requirement for making foreign policy decisions, then there is no question that the war has the strong support of those eligible to have an opinion.</p>
<p>I take it a uniform never graced your physique? No surprise.</p>
<p>And, regarding voting, reenlistment rates etc., I’m not sure where you are coming from. Compared to historic trends, those closest to the action, army vets, ARE voting in record numbers, to get out. It is only those folks sitting back in stateside secure air conditioned offices that pushing this effort forward. </p>
<p>No, you don’t need dirt under one’s boots to make decision, but it sure does help to have someone around who’s done the drill. GWB, of course, pushed all those folks out, and look at the result.</p>
<p>We were distracted, but for me personally, I was reawakened by the reality of war last week with the news of the death of the son of one of my close college friends - it really hit close to home, figuratively and literally. This young nineteen year old lived in a community 70 miles from us and competed in Cross-Country along side my boys. He had only been in Iraq for a couple weeks. The funeral was today and my heart is heavy.</p>
<p>In case you have all forgotten, we still haven’t had a terroist attack on our soil since we took the war to the enemy. Had we not attacked in Iraq, I feel sure we wouldn’t be able to say that. This war does have a reason behind it. Had we done it sooner, the towers might still be standing.</p>
<p>Gosh, I’m sure glad that when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we didn’t declare war on Korea. (Since Clinton had already killed a million in Iraq, including half a million children before 9/11, would you argue that his action was a pre-emptive strike? If so, it didn’t work, did it?)</p>
<p>I, for one, hope the referendum succeeds, so that Ayatollah Sistani can get down to the business of running the country.</p>
<p>Actually, if you count the first attack on the WTC, Islamic radicals have been attacking on American soil every 8 years, like clockwork. I guess we’re due for another one in 2009. It’ll be Clinton’s fault, by the way…
And Mini, shame on you! You should know that Oklahoma City doesn’t count - radical right wing Americans are like the crazy uncle in the closet. We just dont talk about such things…</p>
<p>Sorry, my bad. Those trained by the American military or former military shouldn’t count. Wait! The pilots for 9/11 were trained by former American military!</p>
<p>Maybe attacks on the midwest don’t count? (We shouldda had Michael Brown watching their library cards…)</p>
There you go again! Trying to have it both ways. When Bush gives a speech in front of a group of veterans you (the left) complain that all he does is give speeches in front of friendly audiences. And now, you claim that they really aren’t friendly after all that they are actually very anti-war. So - which is it? If you want to go with the latter, I’ll need some documentation. In the mean time, the those who are closest to THIS war are staunchly supportive of it as seen by the re-enlistment rates.</p>
<p>BTW, thanks for the snide personal attack. Very snarky indeed.</p>