The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness
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Over the past several months The Nation has interviewed fifty combat veterans of the Iraq War from around the United States in an effort to investigate the effects of the four-year-old occupation on average Iraqi civilians. These combat veterans, some of whom bear deep emotional and physical scars, and many of whom have come to oppose the occupation, gave vivid, on-the-record accounts. They described a brutal side of the war rarely seen on television screens or chronicled in newspaper accounts.[^] What do the warmongers think about it? Still able to cope with the moral implications of a war?
There are two things that one must get used to or one will find life unendurable: the damages of time and injustices of men Fold with us! ¤ flickr
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Over the past several months The Nation has interviewed fifty combat veterans of the Iraq War from around the United States in an effort to investigate the effects of the four-year-old occupation on average Iraqi civilians. These combat veterans, some of whom bear deep emotional and physical scars, and many of whom have come to oppose the occupation, gave vivid, on-the-record accounts. They described a brutal side of the war rarely seen on television screens or chronicled in newspaper accounts.[^] What do the warmongers think about it? Still able to cope with the moral implications of a war?
There are two things that one must get used to or one will find life unendurable: the damages of time and injustices of men Fold with us! ¤ flickr
Scared that the surge is working? I guess the propagandists are kicking it up a notch.
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Over the past several months The Nation has interviewed fifty combat veterans of the Iraq War from around the United States in an effort to investigate the effects of the four-year-old occupation on average Iraqi civilians. These combat veterans, some of whom bear deep emotional and physical scars, and many of whom have come to oppose the occupation, gave vivid, on-the-record accounts. They described a brutal side of the war rarely seen on television screens or chronicled in newspaper accounts.[^] What do the warmongers think about it? Still able to cope with the moral implications of a war?
There are two things that one must get used to or one will find life unendurable: the damages of time and injustices of men Fold with us! ¤ flickr
K(arl) wrote:
Still able to cope with the moral implications of a war?
What about the moral implications of NOT having a war? I suppose you'd be sitting on your moral high-horse if Hitler had exterminated all the Jews, saying "Well, at least I didn't go to war over it!" War is nasty. The war in Iraq is nasty. But so was Saddam Hussein - very nasty - and so was life (and death...) for hundreds of thousands if not millions of Iraqis (and Kurds) before the war. Sometimes there are no easy, "nice", answers. Sometimes you just have get down and get dirty and fight tooth and claw for what you think is right.
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K(arl) wrote:
Still able to cope with the moral implications of a war?
What about the moral implications of NOT having a war? I suppose you'd be sitting on your moral high-horse if Hitler had exterminated all the Jews, saying "Well, at least I didn't go to war over it!" War is nasty. The war in Iraq is nasty. But so was Saddam Hussein - very nasty - and so was life (and death...) for hundreds of thousands if not millions of Iraqis (and Kurds) before the war. Sometimes there are no easy, "nice", answers. Sometimes you just have get down and get dirty and fight tooth and claw for what you think is right.
So, are you a strong proponent of military intervention where ever there is a nasty despot? Do you believe we should invade Sudan because of Darfur? Did you strongly support Clinton in the 90's in Kosovo. Do you think he should have taken a stronger position and invaded the former Yugoslavia to stop the slaughter there? What about Rwanda?
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K(arl) wrote:
Still able to cope with the moral implications of a war?
What about the moral implications of NOT having a war? I suppose you'd be sitting on your moral high-horse if Hitler had exterminated all the Jews, saying "Well, at least I didn't go to war over it!" War is nasty. The war in Iraq is nasty. But so was Saddam Hussein - very nasty - and so was life (and death...) for hundreds of thousands if not millions of Iraqis (and Kurds) before the war. Sometimes there are no easy, "nice", answers. Sometimes you just have get down and get dirty and fight tooth and claw for what you think is right.
War is fine as long as it's waged by the left.
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So, are you a strong proponent of military intervention where ever there is a nasty despot? Do you believe we should invade Sudan because of Darfur? Did you strongly support Clinton in the 90's in Kosovo. Do you think he should have taken a stronger position and invaded the former Yugoslavia to stop the slaughter there? What about Rwanda?
oilFactotum wrote:
Did you strongly support Clinton in the 90's in Kosovo.
The left did...
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K(arl) wrote:
Still able to cope with the moral implications of a war?
What about the moral implications of NOT having a war? I suppose you'd be sitting on your moral high-horse if Hitler had exterminated all the Jews, saying "Well, at least I didn't go to war over it!" War is nasty. The war in Iraq is nasty. But so was Saddam Hussein - very nasty - and so was life (and death...) for hundreds of thousands if not millions of Iraqis (and Kurds) before the war. Sometimes there are no easy, "nice", answers. Sometimes you just have get down and get dirty and fight tooth and claw for what you think is right.
Fred_Smith wrote:
What about the moral implications of NOT having a war?
There are many examples of regime changes without an invasion.
Fred_Smith wrote:
Sometimes you just have get down and get dirty and fight tooth and claw for what you think is right.
And becoming then as evil than the evil you claimed to fight? Then nobody wins in the end.
There are two things that one must get used to or one will find life unendurable: the damages of time and injustices of men Fold with us! ¤ flickr
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Fred_Smith wrote:
What about the moral implications of NOT having a war?
There are many examples of regime changes without an invasion.
Fred_Smith wrote:
Sometimes you just have get down and get dirty and fight tooth and claw for what you think is right.
And becoming then as evil than the evil you claimed to fight? Then nobody wins in the end.
There are two things that one must get used to or one will find life unendurable: the damages of time and injustices of men Fold with us! ¤ flickr
K(arl) wrote:
There are many examples of regime changes without an invasion.
But few without a war.
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Fred_Smith wrote:
What about the moral implications of NOT having a war?
There are many examples of regime changes without an invasion.
Fred_Smith wrote:
Sometimes you just have get down and get dirty and fight tooth and claw for what you think is right.
And becoming then as evil than the evil you claimed to fight? Then nobody wins in the end.
There are two things that one must get used to or one will find life unendurable: the damages of time and injustices of men Fold with us! ¤ flickr
Are we as evil as Hitler then? We are a million light-years short of ever being as evil as Sh or AH.
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So, are you a strong proponent of military intervention where ever there is a nasty despot? Do you believe we should invade Sudan because of Darfur? Did you strongly support Clinton in the 90's in Kosovo. Do you think he should have taken a stronger position and invaded the former Yugoslavia to stop the slaughter there? What about Rwanda?
Yes. And Burma and Zimbabwe. But i wouldn't bother with the "winning the peace" crap afterwards. It's time we stopped being so bloody nice/diplomatic to these bastard rulers, but walk in there, kill them and walk out again. If they don't manage better with their next leader, we should do it again. And again, until they get it right. If your next door neightbour was torturing / abusing / about to kill his wife/child, would you not think you had a moral duty to intervene? Why is it any different just because these people hide behind an artificial boundary on a map? They are torturing / abusing / murdering millions of living breathing people every day, and we smile and trade with them and sell them our weapons.... Still, why should we care, eh? They're just a bunch of darkie foreigners, aren't they?
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War is fine as long as it's waged by the left.
Red Stateler wrote:
War is fine as long as it's waged by the left.
Yes, then you, the right, have nothing to answer for.
"Once in Africa I lost the corkscrew and we were forced to live off food and water for weeks." - Ernest Hemingway My New Blog
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So, are you a strong proponent of military intervention where ever there is a nasty despot? Do you believe we should invade Sudan because of Darfur? Did you strongly support Clinton in the 90's in Kosovo. Do you think he should have taken a stronger position and invaded the former Yugoslavia to stop the slaughter there? What about Rwanda?
And Zimbabwe...
"Once in Africa I lost the corkscrew and we were forced to live off food and water for weeks." - Ernest Hemingway My New Blog
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Fred_Smith wrote:
What about the moral implications of NOT having a war?
There are many examples of regime changes without an invasion.
Fred_Smith wrote:
Sometimes you just have get down and get dirty and fight tooth and claw for what you think is right.
And becoming then as evil than the evil you claimed to fight? Then nobody wins in the end.
There are two things that one must get used to or one will find life unendurable: the damages of time and injustices of men Fold with us! ¤ flickr
K(arl) wrote:
There are many examples of regime changes without an invasion.
Then I say again, where are the US efforts at regime change in Zimbabwe?
"Once in Africa I lost the corkscrew and we were forced to live off food and water for weeks." - Ernest Hemingway My New Blog
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K(arl) wrote:
Still able to cope with the moral implications of a war?
What about the moral implications of NOT having a war? I suppose you'd be sitting on your moral high-horse if Hitler had exterminated all the Jews, saying "Well, at least I didn't go to war over it!" War is nasty. The war in Iraq is nasty. But so was Saddam Hussein - very nasty - and so was life (and death...) for hundreds of thousands if not millions of Iraqis (and Kurds) before the war. Sometimes there are no easy, "nice", answers. Sometimes you just have get down and get dirty and fight tooth and claw for what you think is right.
Yeah, you are right. It was a good thing to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to free the Iraq people from Saddam. I just find it strange that American people (mostly republican ones) find it normal to spend all that money to free a country you didn't even know about prior to 1991, but implementing a universal health care system for your own people is something unimaginable with all its communist implications. Sorry, this does not add up.
----- If atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby. -- Unknown God is the only being who, to rule, does not need to exist. -- Charles Baudelaire
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Yeah, you are right. It was a good thing to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to free the Iraq people from Saddam. I just find it strange that American people (mostly republican ones) find it normal to spend all that money to free a country you didn't even know about prior to 1991, but implementing a universal health care system for your own people is something unimaginable with all its communist implications. Sorry, this does not add up.
----- If atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby. -- Unknown God is the only being who, to rule, does not need to exist. -- Charles Baudelaire
Le Centriste wrote:
but implementing a universal health care system for your own people is something unimaginable with all its communist implications.
Your failied universal health care has probably killed more people than Iraq.
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Le Centriste wrote:
but implementing a universal health care system for your own people is something unimaginable with all its communist implications.
Your failied universal health care has probably killed more people than Iraq.
And the private health care insurance companies have probably killed even more than both combined.
----- If atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby. -- Unknown God is the only being who, to rule, does not need to exist. -- Charles Baudelaire
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Yeah, you are right. It was a good thing to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to free the Iraq people from Saddam. I just find it strange that American people (mostly republican ones) find it normal to spend all that money to free a country you didn't even know about prior to 1991, but implementing a universal health care system for your own people is something unimaginable with all its communist implications. Sorry, this does not add up.
----- If atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby. -- Unknown God is the only being who, to rule, does not need to exist. -- Charles Baudelaire
And I find it sad that, to use your words, the American people didn't even know about Iraq prior to 1991. In 1985 (I think it was) Saddam Hussein wiped an entire Kurdish town (ok, large village) off the map by dropping a chemical bomb on it. Nice guy. Maybe, just maybe, this willful ignorance of Americans towards the rest of the world had something to do with 9/11 - someone thought they needed a wake-up call... Things start to add up if you take into account that you cannot go through life ignorant of and uncaring about the rest of the world.
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And I find it sad that, to use your words, the American people didn't even know about Iraq prior to 1991. In 1985 (I think it was) Saddam Hussein wiped an entire Kurdish town (ok, large village) off the map by dropping a chemical bomb on it. Nice guy. Maybe, just maybe, this willful ignorance of Americans towards the rest of the world had something to do with 9/11 - someone thought they needed a wake-up call... Things start to add up if you take into account that you cannot go through life ignorant of and uncaring about the rest of the world.
Fred_Smith wrote:
Things start to add up if you take into account that you cannot go through life ignorant of and uncaring about the rest of the world.
And why not start with an oil-rich country...
----- If atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby. -- Unknown God is the only being who, to rule, does not need to exist. -- Charles Baudelaire
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And the private health care insurance companies have probably killed even more than both combined.
----- If atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby. -- Unknown God is the only being who, to rule, does not need to exist. -- Charles Baudelaire
Le Centriste wrote:
And the private health care insurance companies have probably killed even more than both combined.
American health care ranks number one in the world in terms of patient satisfaction. The notion that private health care is a failure is just a leftist myth.
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Are we as evil as Hitler then? We are a million light-years short of ever being as evil as Sh or AH.
Fred_Smith wrote:
Are we as evil as Hitler then?
As you said, war is evil, and there is no just thing as a morally justified war. This is an illusion democracies need to send their citizen kill and being killed.
Fred_Smith wrote:
We are a million light-years short of ever being as evil as Sh or AH.
What the difference for the 2 yo kid kid with a bullet in her leg?
The most wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed Fold with us! ¤ flickr