The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness
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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.
Indeed. They both rely on drugs for humans developed by (animal) vivisection, which is about as scientifically valid as going into space wearing an aqualung and flippers.
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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
K(arl) wrote:
As you said, war is evil,
I never said that. I said it was nasty. Big difference.
K(arl) wrote:
What the difference for the 2 yo kid kid with a bullet in her leg?
Chances are she'd have died of torture or starvation anyway, or grown up into a life of slavery. But there is a huge difference for those that do get saved.
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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
It wouldn't have been where I started I must admit. Mind you, I would have finished it off first time round in 1990. No-one's pretending that Bush (Jnr or Snr) is perfect, but finding fault with them isn't the point, and doesn't win the arguemnt.
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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.
Red Stateler wrote:
American health care ranks number one in the world in terms of patient satisfaction
That is true. But, how does it rank in terms of general public satisfaction, including the relatives of those who died because their insurance denied them health care? Or those who are ruined for life? Our system may not be perfect, but I never ever got health care denied. Ok, it is not the fastest or the best, but it is free and universal. It needs changes, for sure, but one thing is sure: it will remain free and universal.
----- 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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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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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?
Fred_Smith wrote:
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?
It depends if there is oil on his land.
----- 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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Red Stateler wrote:
American health care ranks number one in the world in terms of patient satisfaction
That is true. But, how does it rank in terms of general public satisfaction, including the relatives of those who died because their insurance denied them health care? Or those who are ruined for life? Our system may not be perfect, but I never ever got health care denied. Ok, it is not the fastest or the best, but it is free and universal. It needs changes, for sure, but one thing is sure: it will remain free and universal.
----- 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, how does it rank in terms of general public satisfaction, including the relatives of those who died because their insurance denied them health care? Or those who are ruined for life?
It ranks highly. The people who complain are those who decide not to pay for insurance, then foolishly chop off their fingers in their garage by engaging in high-risk-behavior, then are denied expensive microsurgery to reattach an inch of finger.
Le Centriste wrote:
Our system may not be perfect, but I never ever got health care denied. Ok, it is not the fastest or the best, but it is free and universal. It needs changes, for sure, but one thing is sure: it will remain free and universal.
It's not free. Sure it's cheaper, but it's also inferior. You get what you pay for.
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Le Centriste wrote:
But, how does it rank in terms of general public satisfaction, including the relatives of those who died because their insurance denied them health care? Or those who are ruined for life?
It ranks highly. The people who complain are those who decide not to pay for insurance, then foolishly chop off their fingers in their garage by engaging in high-risk-behavior, then are denied expensive microsurgery to reattach an inch of finger.
Le Centriste wrote:
Our system may not be perfect, but I never ever got health care denied. Ok, it is not the fastest or the best, but it is free and universal. It needs changes, for sure, but one thing is sure: it will remain free and universal.
It's not free. Sure it's cheaper, but it's also inferior. You get what you pay for.
Red Stateler wrote:
You get what you pay for
In your country, many people don't get what they pay for.
----- 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
Its called 'federalism' also known as Jeffersonianism. Defending the country is an appropriate role for the federal government. Marxist control of the economy isn't.
Nothing in the entire universe is more useless than morality without authority. A morality free of hyprocrisy is no morality at all.
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Its called 'federalism' also known as Jeffersonianism. Defending the country is an appropriate role for the federal government. Marxist control of the economy isn't.
Nothing in the entire universe is more useless than morality without authority. A morality free of hyprocrisy is no morality at all.
:zzz:
----- 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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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
Only 50? Wow, things must be going much better than we are being told by the leftist media.
K(arl) wrote:
Still able to cope with the moral implications of a war?
I don't recall too much angst about the moral implications of liberating france. Of course, perhaps liberating white people is more moral than liberating Arabs. I wouldn't know.
Nothing in the entire universe is more useless than morality without authority. A morality free of hyprocrisy is no morality at all.
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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?
Fred_Smith wrote:
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.
I agree wholeheartedly. Heck, I wouldn't waste time or resources invading. I would wait until the bastard goes out to give one of his long-winded propaganda speeches in front of his supporters, and target him with a couple of cruise missiles. You can be sure that the next guy will carefully consider his goals and ambitions. So... getting back to reality: the bastard ruler in Iraq is history; why are we still there?
Atheist: Leviticus! Christian: Abrogated! Atheist: Gay Rights! Christian: Leviticus!
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Red Stateler wrote:
You get what you pay for
In your country, many people don't get what they pay for.
----- 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:
In your country, many people don't get what they pay for.
Define "many". At any given point in time, it's roughly 15% who are uninsured. However, the majority of those are insured within 3 months such that only about 5% are really uninsured for a significant period of time. Of those 5%, most mooch off of the Medicare system, such that they have coverage. In reality we're talking in the low single digits (approaching 1%) that don't have health coverage of some variety. And that 1% is hardly the cream of the crop. Is 1% too high a figure for you? Especially keeping in mind that 1% could get coverage if they wanted it?
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Fred_Smith wrote:
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.
I agree wholeheartedly. Heck, I wouldn't waste time or resources invading. I would wait until the bastard goes out to give one of his long-winded propaganda speeches in front of his supporters, and target him with a couple of cruise missiles. You can be sure that the next guy will carefully consider his goals and ambitions. So... getting back to reality: the bastard ruler in Iraq is history; why are we still there?
Atheist: Leviticus! Christian: Abrogated! Atheist: Gay Rights! Christian: Leviticus!
Al Beback wrote:
the bastard ruler in Iraq is history; why are we still there?
because...
Al Beback wrote:
getting back to reality
..the world is full of people who couldn't string two coherent thoughts together if their life depended on it. Unfortunately, it's usually other peoples' lives that do...
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:zzz:
----- 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
You asked the question. Thats the answer.
Nothing in the entire universe is more useless than morality without authority. A morality free of hyprocrisy is no morality at all.
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Regime changes are made only if it fits the interests of the 'changer'. Nobody is interested in the fate of Zimbabwe.
Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. Syndicalism is the opposite. Fold with us! ¤ flickr
That is true, and understandable really, even if the consequences are sad. But most people only act in ways that are in their best interest, and why not? Life's hard enough as it is... I guess the thing is that we need to recognise that it is, in fact, in all our interests to see the Robert Mugabe's of this world eliminated... In the case of Zimbabwe it is, for me, very sad - I was born out there (well, Zambia) and spent my early childhood in Zimbabwe (though they were Northern and Southern Rhodesia at the time...) It's a beautiful country, it's peoples (leader apart) are intelligent, and it has all it needs to provide everyone with a good life. It is a crying shame to see it reduced to the state it is now by one insane man.
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Only 50? Wow, things must be going much better than we are being told by the leftist media.
K(arl) wrote:
Still able to cope with the moral implications of a war?
I don't recall too much angst about the moral implications of liberating france. Of course, perhaps liberating white people is more moral than liberating Arabs. I wouldn't know.
Nothing in the entire universe is more useless than morality without authority. A morality free of hyprocrisy is no morality at all.
Stan Shannon wrote:
I don't recall too much angst about the moral implications of liberating france. Of course, perhaps liberating white people is more moral than liberating Arabs
Nice fallacy. "You can honestly see how the Iraqis in general or even Arabs in general are being, you know, kind of like dehumanized," said Specialist Englehart. "Like it was very common for United States soldiers to call them derogatory terms, like camel jockeys or Jihad Johnny or, you know, sand nigger." According to Sergeant Millard and several others interviewed, "It becomes this racialized hatred towards Iraqis." And this racist language, as Specialist Harmon pointed out, likely played a role in the level of violence directed at Iraqi civilians. "By calling them names," he said, "they're not people anymore. They're just objects."
Change of fashion is the tax levied by the industry of the poor on the vanity of the rich Fold with us! ¤ flickr
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Stan Shannon wrote:
I don't recall too much angst about the moral implications of liberating france. Of course, perhaps liberating white people is more moral than liberating Arabs
Nice fallacy. "You can honestly see how the Iraqis in general or even Arabs in general are being, you know, kind of like dehumanized," said Specialist Englehart. "Like it was very common for United States soldiers to call them derogatory terms, like camel jockeys or Jihad Johnny or, you know, sand nigger." According to Sergeant Millard and several others interviewed, "It becomes this racialized hatred towards Iraqis." And this racist language, as Specialist Harmon pointed out, likely played a role in the level of violence directed at Iraqi civilians. "By calling them names," he said, "they're not people anymore. They're just objects."
Change of fashion is the tax levied by the industry of the poor on the vanity of the rich Fold with us! ¤ flickr
It was also common to call the Germans "krauts" during WWI/WWII. What's your point?
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Stan Shannon wrote:
I don't recall too much angst about the moral implications of liberating france. Of course, perhaps liberating white people is more moral than liberating Arabs
Nice fallacy. "You can honestly see how the Iraqis in general or even Arabs in general are being, you know, kind of like dehumanized," said Specialist Englehart. "Like it was very common for United States soldiers to call them derogatory terms, like camel jockeys or Jihad Johnny or, you know, sand nigger." According to Sergeant Millard and several others interviewed, "It becomes this racialized hatred towards Iraqis." And this racist language, as Specialist Harmon pointed out, likely played a role in the level of violence directed at Iraqi civilians. "By calling them names," he said, "they're not people anymore. They're just objects."
Change of fashion is the tax levied by the industry of the poor on the vanity of the rich Fold with us! ¤ flickr
K(arl) wrote:
Nice fallacy.
No fallacy at all. Liberation is liberation.
K(arl) wrote:
"You can honestly see how the Iraqis in general or even Arabs in general are being, you know, kind of like dehumanized," said Specialist Englehart. "Like it was very common for United States soldiers to call them derogatory terms, like camel jockeys or Jihad Johnny or, you know, sand nigger." According to Sergeant Millard and several others interviewed, "It becomes this racialized hatred towards Iraqis." And this racist language, as Specialist Harmon pointed out, likely played a role in the level of violence directed at Iraqi civilians. "By calling them names," he said, "they're not people anymore. They're just objects."
I seriously doubt that is as common as you are trying to propagandize. I find it highly unlikley, for exmpale, considering the number of african americans serving in the us armed forces that the term 'sand nigger' would get used more than once. So I am very suspecious of this information and put it into this [^] category.
Nothing in the entire universe is more useless than morality without authority. A morality free of hyprocrisy is no morality at all.
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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?
Fred_Smith wrote:
But i wouldn't bother with the "winning the peace" crap afterwards
Really? What's the point then? Deposing a dictator and leaving behind chaos, doesn't seem like it will accomplish much. Most likely another strong-man will take over, and it is likely nothing will have changed. Going in a second time is unlikely to improve the situation. It seems to me that winning the peace is essential.
Fred_Smith wrote:
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?
Sure, but removing the husband (and probably the bread-winner) and then walking away, without providing assistance to the wife/child is not very moral. They could very well end up on the street, or hooked up with another abuser.
Fred_Smith wrote:
Still, why should we care, eh? They're just a bunch of darkie foreigners, aren't they?
Why would you say that? Is that your position?