G.W. Bush - The Unsung Hero!

A post so cynical my monitor screen eroded.

even though this is written with tongue in cheek, remember we have over 650 of our citizens whove been killed in this and most of them were in the service to"get money for college"
You didnt think this one through John, read some of Gus's posts or slappy or (Joe Nation for a higher level of humor).

Penzade , you must find abetter signature, where the hell did you get that lame line?

Gee FM I got nothing but accolades on it. AND I got the idea from your signature...except mine makes more sense to me. Isn't that what counts?

We should try not to post side by side...don't you think?

-chortle

cute nose shots. Are these your little guy? Theyd make a great calendar .

Great idea!

Wanted to commend you on the "one eye on the radar, one on the tiller" translation. It was very clever.

"To get money for college"...brrrrrrrrr - poor folk.

Such hypocrisy! We know how much Hefner paid for your avatar!

VERY unsung.

I was seriously thinking how awful for the poor kids banking on there hardly being any wars these days!!!!!!! Poor in both senses - some can afford uni without such exigencies!

And my avatar has NOTHING to do with Hefner!!!!

Missed your meaning...now I'm wondering...are there any Aussie COMBAT troops? And are they volunteers?

Hi John:

Great post.

Yes, Bush's handlers, headed by Poppy Bush and Karl Rove, have skillfully crafted a mantle of "wartime President' to hang around his scrawny neck, essentially insulating him from the growing chorus of both domestic and international critics.

How many times have we heard, "how dare you doubt the President during times of war? It's unpatriotic," and so forth.

This tactic has provided a shield for Bush to carry out the duties of any hereditary pawn of the global elites: mainly cutting taxes on the wealthy and thus transfering middle class monies out of the Treasury and into the bank accounts of the Dallas Country Club crowd and their cronies.

But, the mantle is beginning to crack as more and more Americans are beginning to question Bush's war in Iraq -- a war for oil and legacy, as the number of U.S. troop deaths rise daily (40 last week alone) and now the vile reality of hostage taking has emerged, a la Lebanon.

See my thread today on Bush's lethal new poll numbers from Newsweek.

Meone thinks Bush is a one term, GOP wonder, quickly forgotten and swept away by history.

John Webb
John Webb wrote: "This criticism is most unfair, because far too many have not appreciated the subtlety of the Administration's hidden agenda ..... to liquidate the most stupid and gullible members of American society by appealing to their patriotism and sending them to Iraq as cannon-fodder. "

I find it offensive, even in humor, to describe the young men and women members of our military stationed in Iraq as "the most stupid and gullible." They are neither stupid nor gullible---nor are most of them super patriots, especially those in the reserve. You dishonor the wounded and dead resulting from the actions of the stupid and gullible political class in this case.

BBB

All member of the Australian military are volunteers. Whether they volunteered specifically and separately for service in Iraq, I don't know. I believe there's a couple of hundred service people there now. I don't believe they're actively in combat roles as ground troops. Our Air Force was involved in bombing missions during the "war" part of the conflict, but due to this country's being signatories to certain treaties that the US are not committed to, they did not take part in bombing that approached population centres. That's the best I can explain it. I don't know that any of the other Australian members have got any great military experience or insight that could explain it better.

B.B.B., most satire has it's basis in harsh reality.

Members of our forces, under the present administration, no longer fight and face death or permanent injury for truth, justice and the American way. Instead, they are sent to their potential dooms by habitual liars and gangsters who cannot win honest elections, rely upon biased courts to get into office and would avoid risk to their own skins under all circumstances.

And when our surviving heros come home from Iraq, they can expect nothing but budget cuts and contempt from those politicians who previously sang their praises so loudly.

In these circumstances, our forces may have their hearts in the right places, but they are evidently not the brightest sparks in the fire.

Our soldiers in Iraq aren't heroes
4/12/2004
By ANDY ROONEY

Most of the reporting from Iraq is about death and destruction. We don't learn much about what our soldiers in Iraq are thinking or doing. There's no Ernie Pyle to tell us, and, if there were, the military would make it difficult or impossible for him to let us know.

It would be interesting to have a reporter ask a group of our soldiers in Iraq to answer five questions and see the results:

1. Do you think your country did the right thing sending you into Iraq?

2. Are you doing what America set out to do to make Iraq a democracy, or have we failed so badly that we should pack up and get out before more of you are killed?

3. Do the orders you get handed down from one headquarters to another, all far removed from the fighting, seem sensible, or do you think our highest command is out of touch with the reality of your situation?

4. If you could have a medal or a trip home, which would you take?

5. Are you encouraged by all the talk back home about how brave you are and how everyone supports you?

Treating soldiers fighting their war as brave heroes is an old civilian trick designed to keep the soldiers at it. But you can be sure our soldiers in Iraq are not all brave heroes gladly risking their lives for us sitting comfortably back here at home.

Our soldiers in Iraq are people, young men and women, and they behave like people - sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes brave, sometimes fearful. It's disingenuous of the rest of us to encourage them to fight this war by idolizing them.

We pin medals on their chests to keep them going. We speak of them as if they volunteered to risk their lives to save ours, but there isn't much voluntary about what most of them have done. A relatively small number are professional soldiers. During the last few years, when millions of jobs disappeared, many young people, desperate for some income, enlisted in the Army. About 40 percent of our soldiers in Iraq enlisted in the National Guard or the Army Reserve to pick up some extra money and never thought they'd be called on to fight. They want to come home.

One indication that not all soldiers in Iraq are happy warriors is the report recently released by the Army showing that 23 of them committed suicide there last year. This is a dismaying figure. If 22 young men and one woman killed themselves because they couldn't take it, think how many more are desperately unhappy but unwilling to die.

We must support our soldiers in Iraq because it's our fault they're risking their lives there. However, we should not bestow the mantle of heroism on all of them for simply being where we sent them. Most are victims, not heroes.

America's intentions are honorable. I believe that, and we must find a way of making the rest of the world believe it. We want to do the right thing. We care about the rest of the world. President Bush's intentions were honorable when he took us into Iraq. They were not well thought out but honorable.

Bush's determination to make the evidence fit the action he took, which it does not, has made things look worse. We pay lip service to the virtues of openness and honesty, but for some reason, we too often act as though there was a better way of handling a bad situation than by being absolutely open and honest.

Re: John Webb

I agree with BBB. I don't see a damn thing that's amusing about using the deaths of our brave military personnel to support your sick political humor.

Tarantulas, how would you describe the intellectual prowess of any members of the forces who still believe they are in Iraq protecting America from Saddam and his Weapons Of Mass Destruction?

John Webb
John Webb, I doubt that many of the GIs in Iraq thought they would be sent there when they signed up or reuped. Their only alternative to service in Iraq would be to go AWOL. Are you recommending that the "smart" thing for them to do would be to desert?

BBB

Tarantulas
Tarantulas, I'm still faint from my rapidly beating heart at the thought of you agreeing with me.

Shocked my socks off, in fact.

BBB :wink: :wink: :wink: