Having re-read this thread, something I'm repeatedly seeing here, particularly from military/ex-military, is a 'quick, let's jump to the defense of our boys' reaction that's not necessary. Nobody here has criticised, judged or condemned the troops for their role in Iraq....Vietnam, Korea or WWII, for that matter....and nobody's going to.
I find it honourable, refreshing even, that there are still loyal, committed, patriotic and genuinely caring people in this day and age of increasing greed, corruption and high divorce rates, etc. What I find alarming, however, is how many a showing blind loyalty to a war mentality/figure whose unpatriotic ideals saw war as being the only solution to problems HE saw. A true patriot would not send his own countrymen to a foreign land to die for a personal/hidden agenda based on pack of lies.....
Truth is....Iraq posed no direct threat to the US or its territory at the time of the invasion. There were No WMD's or Bush 'd have been shouting it from the rooftop of the White House....and even if there were a rocket or two, which there wasn't, they were still no threat to the US. Shit, most fell well short of the intended target, Israel, during the first Gulf fiasco, so none were ever going to land in downtown Washington, were they
I hate John Howard's guts with a passion, because he sent our young men and women to war and is a two-faced lying weasel, but does that mean I'm unpatriotic? Does it mean I do not love my country?? Far from it, I love Australia, and because its leader is lower than a snake's belly, doing more far harm than good, I'm entitled to say he's as low as snake shit.
No, patriotism is about being fiercely proud of your country....and being willing to defend it should anyone threaten its shores, not launch a pre-emptive 'what if strike' and to hell with the consequences. Being patriotic is not about figurehead worship or following him blindly where ever because he happened to get the top job, but about the position he's supposed to hold/was elected for. Bush was not elected to send your young men and women to die on foreign soil, but to protect and help you grow and prosper....over a trillion in Iraq War expenses is not getting any of you tax cuts so you can better put food on the table, clothes on your backs...its not making the system of health any better or more affordable for anyone, while the pharmaceutical companies get richer and richer unchecked off all your woes/ill health
Is this killing war in Iraq where you want your patriotically paid up taxes to go? Or would you rather see more tax revenue allocated to raising the standard of living for everyone? It's total bollocks that welfare for those less fortunate takes a back seat to Bush's war machine/military funding. In fact, I find it abhorrent that the US Gov't has this 'I'm alright Jack, fend for yourself' mentality, thus reducing welfare to those less fortunate to pretty much eff all and creating a third world nation within your own shores.
(no I don't live there, but the mrs & I have numerous US contacts who have the same or similar illnesses and face far worse problems obtaining and affording proper health care than we do ....so out of the mouths of horses, so to speak.)
You see, patriotism isn't just about the bit of dirt you call home, it's about the people you share that bit of dirt with, and if Bush is going to put your young men and women in harms way to oust a has-been dictator who had pretty much come to the end of his reign anyway, then his idea of patriotism is seriously flawed. No, patriotism should be about protecting your own, by shaking off the warmongering/gun indoctrination and getting rid of the arsehole who declared war on another power, using your loved ones to prove a point.
Ranger I can understand that a soldier needs to validate his personal beliefs and reason with being present on a battle field....his commitment to the job and his fellow troops....but more to the point, Bush needs to validate HIS reason for sending him, any of them....but he hasn't and can't, not when it's all based on a pack of lies. Yes, lies!! I call them lies because the subsequent evidence proves them to be, and still Bush has done nothing to convince the world he had just cause to launch a Saddam witch hunt, using your buddies as cannon/roadside bomb fodder. So tell me, anyone, how he is a true patriot doing that?
