Iraq.....Ugh.

[8Mud]

Don´t think it was revenge, think it was unfinished business, world opinion made them stop before they got the job finished the first time. It´s rarley just one objective anyway, we now have troops on two borders with Iran, another case of unfinsihed business.
The only real solution, is energy independance from the middle east. But even then, a bunch of religious fanatics, not even a generation removed from goat herders, with way to much authority and atomic weapons scares the heck out of me. Worse than Russia did in the cold war.

 

[8Mud]

Most of Europe wants to play Ostrich with there head burried in the earth, or the three monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. The fundimentalist and extremest movements are gaining momentum in Europe. The top Cop in Germany was on the other day and said the biggest threat to Germany since WW II is Muslim fundamenatalism. Things could get really crazy.

 

[Fergie]

Bush is such a piece of crap!!!! He took one of my best friends to Iraq. If he wants to get revenge for his daddy, he should go do it himself, the asshole.

Boy is the first part of your moniker fitting...Goon is right.

Part of the oath your buddy took included a line about "without any reservations." If he thought that his service was gonna be sitting around in the motor pool, then he was wrong, and shouldnt have joined. Those are the type that you cant count on when it comes down to it.

And as was said before, if you think our President "took" your friend, you are dead wrong their too, and your statement shows how naive and clueless you are.

Fergie

 

[GI-John]

All servicemembers take this oath:

I (state your name) do solemly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against ALL enemies foreign and domestic, and that I will bear TRUE faith and allegiance to the same. And that I will OBEY the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, in accordance with regualtions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, so help me. (god optional)


If your buddy was smart enough to join, he is smart enough to figure out what he was getting into.

If he is gone, I am truly sorry, I have lost several friends and colleagues myself.

If he is alive, say your prayers for him and his family.

John

 

[woody]

All servicemembers take this oath:

I (state your name) do solemly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against ALL enemies foreign and domestic, and that I will bear TRUE faith and allegiance to the same. And that I will OBEY the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, in accordance with regualtions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, so help me. (god optional)


If your buddy was smart enough to join, he is smart enough to figure out what he was getting into.

If he is gone, I am truly sorry, I have lost several friends and colleagues myself.

If he is alive, say your prayers for him and his family.

John

Well said John.

 

[seanR]

Bush is such a piece of crap!!!! He took one of my best friends to Iraq. If he wants to get revenge for his daddy, he should go do it himself, the asshole.

American policy has always been to fight wars on foriegn soil not here at home. I am glad we invaded Iraq. Quit listening to the nightly news and turn on something that is unbiased and you will see that the majority of the people in Iraq welcome U.S. and our liberation!

 

[ColoCherokees]

I agree that the situation is frustrating - often my first thought when seeing the "insurgents" on the news (true description is criminal/terrorist/thug, but who expects Dan Rather to get anything right?) is to nuke em all.

But - they had Father Saddam for 20 some years. They didn't have to think about what laws they wanted, what direction they wanted their country to take, no political opponents to debate and disagree with. Basically, their political minds were starved and became, for lack of a better word, retarded. And they are now behaving in a retarded manner. I'm sure any parent here has gotten exasperated with their 3 year old, but you didn't kill the kid, you sucked it up, and did what you needed do to do educate the ignorant child.

Right now, Iraq is a retarded country and has to relearn (everything I've heard said pre-Saddam Iraq was quite the modern/sophisticated nation) how to think, govern, behave, etc. Think of the Marines, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen as the biggest f@#$ing spanking possible, it will just take time for the Iraqis to wake up and start thinking again. Those that don't - well, they're dead or soon to be dead.

Of course, if we're still having this discussion ten years from now - nuke em till they glow, then shoot em in the dark, every last one.

 

[Woodstock]

Hello,

I don't want to teach you or anything else. I just want to bring in some arguments to discuss on:

1) See that they have an other confession. And they don't like the western very much. But they didn't do anything bad on people who are not involved to the iraq war. Bomb attacks were in England, Spain, Turky, (just Poland missing by now). Maybe they only want to get out of their country ???? Just think if muslims come to the US to free you from capitalism??? What would you want to do??

2) We are not sticking the head to sand. Maybe we are not as progressicve in europe as you are, but in some cases it was good to have some to conciliate between. So we are also not hating muslims - we try to understand them. So they have no argument to fight against us. We let them their religion, they let us ours.

3) The argument that the US troops in germany helped to secure the borders to the east: In Austria we have not a good army! Not much money, no good weapons (beside our StG 77). Ther were no other troops, and we had no problems with our borders. So why do you think was that??

That's just some arguments to think of. I think tolerance to each other is the best way to fight terrorism in the world. The other case is only eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth ...

greetings from austria Rainer

 

[8Mud]

Some guy running around the streets with an AK is just to dangerous to let live. There spray and pray technique of fire, is probably gonna kill grandma and the kids, before it does much damage to the so called enemy.
Most of the soldiers over there didn´t ask to go, measured responce is probably gonna get more of them killed than necessary.
You can´t really start educating anybody until you get there attention. Like the old joke, about the baseball bat and the mule, Do you use the baseball bat to train him, no just to get his attention. If you got a big stick use it, quick and as painlessly as possible.
Kissinger used to be big on plans, schemes and the big picture, got a lot of people killed needlessly. His chess game just didn´t work, when the other guy wasn´t playing by the rules.
The pacification program in Irag, has the same smell of one of Kissingers grand schemes. If the long term objectives or theories get one more person killed than necessary, they are flawed, from the get go, and unfair to the American soldiers fighting and dieing over there.
If they figure, bombing isn´t getting the job done, try a battalion of tanks. 50 some tanks rumbling through town, will bring the shock and awe technique down to ground level. If a battalion doesn´t get there attention, use a division.
Had an active political insurgency in Germany at one time, whole villiages were going red, near the east german border. Rolled through with a battalion of tanks a couple of times a year, just to get there attention. Newspapers used to call it manuver, we called it training the mule.

 

[Boatwrench]

Probably going to regret entering this fray but.........

Last year I was not sure that invading Iraq was a good idea...the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi not Iraqi....however...once the show was on the road, once we were committed last March 20th my attitude was damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. I knew many folks there as my former reserve unit was engaged the first day.

My only two disappointments are we seem to have no leaders of vision, I don't believe there was an Iraqi version of a Marshal Plan...if it's what's going on now it's bad. I also believe the US should use General George Patton's 5-word manifesto of war when dealing with Iraq i.e. "violent attacks everywhere with everything" This is also how Grant's Army of the Potomac finally defeated Robert E Lee. This is how the allies won WWII.

Two weeks ago we shut down an Iraqi newspaper (freedom of the press?), reminded me of one of the causes of our own rebellion against the British. Today we bombed and rocketed a mosque...probably not a way to influence folks...direct violation of the Geneva Convention..but saved US lives.

So..I'm confused...but praying daily for our men & women over there in the gulf and their families here at home. What's really disappointing is that some of the POS officers in my work area don't get it, these fanatic terrorist people want us dead, and our citizens are counting on us to prevent that.
Tom

 

[8Mud]

Hey Woodstock, Go take a close look at the eastern border of Austria, the valleys and mountain passes clear to the swiss border. Get up high and look down. Gun emplacements, built into the side of the mountains, pretty much covering any larger access routes. Bridges are all wired and primed to blow. Austrian Government does a pretty good job of insulating it´s population. If Austria didn´t keep a tight border, it would have been overrun by Slovacs, hungarians and Slovenians a long time ago. Austria would be a tough nut to crack, in an invasion and they keep a really tight control on immigration.
Austrians did a really good job with there defences, hard to spot, unless you know what your looking for.
Austria has a history of being teflon coated, maybe the rewards weren´t worth the effort. They have had rather large upheavals near and all around you in the last half century. I was down on your border when, Russia invaded Czechoslovakia, worked with the Austrian troops, small units but well trained. Saw the F-15´s and 16´s flying through your airspace, also saw the MIG´s flying through your airspace.
Froh Osterzeit, Happy Easter

 

[8Mud]

Guess Austria is more than a little off topic, just makeing a point, that living in a mountain fortress, is some removed from being a pacifist and getting along with everybody. When Serbia was doing it´s thing in Croatia and Slovinia,there was no refuge to be found in Austria. About the same refuge the Iraqi, Kurds got from Turkey.
Most time it appears Austria sits behind it´s walls and doesn´t worry much about what´s gonna on outside them. Austria has really tight borders, always has. There Army may be small, but there border police are huge.
By the way, Wien (Vienna) is one of the nicest and friendliest cities I´ve ever been too. Really neat place, nice place to visit.

 

[ladywolf]

can we turn iraq into a big parking lot?

Everyone, please pray for all of us in 1st Armored Division. We all just got extended, and everyone who just got home gets to come right back out here. I was ready to convoy to kuwait, all my stuff was packed and on the truck, when they told us. for you other soldiers out there, send me a message if you want, I'll be around for awhile.

 

[8Mud]

Wish you the best and pray for your safe return. Don´t get so down, you don´t pay attention, attitude is a large part of getting home safe. People might argue about the war in Iraq, but nobodies argueing, the people in the military deserve our whole hearted support.
P.S. talking about movements is a no-no, but it will probably be on the news tonight anyway. Take care.

 

[Eagle]

Re: can we turn iraq into a big parking lot?

Everyone, please pray for all of us in 1st Armored Division. We all just got extended, and everyone who just got home gets to come right back out here. I was ready to convoy to kuwait, all my stuff was packed and on the truck, when they told us. for you other soldiers out there, send me a message if you want, I'll be around for awhile.

God bless y'all, Ladywolf. Stay in one piece.

 

[Ralph]

Hang tight, girl. You'll get you home as soon as the time is right. Your being there really does matter to a lot of people. Your presence supports not only your brothers in arms but the Iraqi people and all of us Americans. Thank you and the rest of our forces so much for your effort and sacrifice. I pray that the effort put forth by all of you will help make the world a safer place for not only we Americans, but the world.

Thank you and may God bless you,

 

[ladywolf]

We got the okay to tell everyone, so its fine. its not like the iraqi's dont know where we are at anyhow, ya know?

 

[woody]

Reorient and get stronger. Pass the lessons learned over to your newbie peers... If my bro-in-law flys a MH60 Nighthawk into your camp, patch him up extra good... sis wants him home intact.

See ya on the trail someday Kristen & thanks for serving! We're :clap: you cats awn!

 

[Glenn B]

Reorient and get stronger. Pass the lessons learned over to your newbie peers... If my bro-in-law flys a MH60 Nighthawk into your camp, patch him up extra good... sis wants him home intact.

See ya on the trail someday Kristen & thanks for serving! We're :clap: you cats awn!

Patch em all up... even Woodys kin. America loves em all. Get home safe, and thanks for doing what ya do.
Glenn

 

[woody]

Patch em all up... even Woodys kin. America loves em all. Get home safe, and thanks for doing what ya do.
Glenn

Woody's Kin includes a CW2 Hawk Pilot and a Marine E2 Grunt.

Friends include 2 more young Marine Grunts who know little of it, and several SpOps NCOs who love it & live it every day for the last 15-20. Just another game day for those cats. We ain't paying them to be anything less than competent.