It was started by two wives of Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan. I live within 100 Kms of base Petawawa. Quite a number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan were serving at that base.
It’s been ongoing for over a year now. Some people wear red: most don’t. I sometimes do. I’m proud of the job the Canadians are doing in Afghanistan. They’re punching well above their heads.
My kid came home with a sticker on his shirt saying that they should wear red tomorrow. Not sure what Red on Tuesdays is about - I didn’t notice anything explaining it on the sticker.
Yeah, I just walked The Boy up to school and almost everyone was wearing Red. He’d forgotten, and I didn’t really care, so he was wearing a camoflauge shirt. It’s his Math Bowl final (to make the team), so that was his focus. Turns out it has something to do with “Say No to Drugs”. I guess he’s saying yes. Nancy Reagan must be spinning in her crypt.
There IS no middle. You support the troops, you ARE supporting the war, and you ARE supporting the killing of Iraqis and the devastation of their country. No matter how much you want to have it both ways.
If I suddenly saw an outbreak of people wearing red, I would come up with roughly a million other possible causes, including some rare form of zombie-ism or a massive shortage of non-red colored clothing dye, before arriving at “supporting the troops”.
Eventually, I expect it would stop, when a new stable government takes over. It will NEVER stop as long as we are there, because no stable government can exist while we are there. Nor can they rebuild their economy or do anything else to recover while we are there.
No. We don’t seem to be preventing much violence at all, just slowing some down while provoking some more, and making an end to the violence impossible.
That’s like saying that anyone who doesn’t love the police wants the streets to be ruled by gangs.
How does this sound: I support the troops. They have been put into a pretty bad situation, in some respects, and their job is difficult. I would rather they were home, but that’s not going to happen right now.
So, in the meantime, if I do what I can do support them. Sending care packages and donating to causes that help the families, things of that sort.
So it’s entirely possible to support the troops, without supporting the war, no matter how much you want to have it only your way.
The current power output of the Iraqi infrastructure now exceeds pre-war output. This would indicate that work is getting done, and things ARE getting better. And once we are gone, that will drop again, as the Sunni’s and the Shia ignore their government (like they are doing now) and ramp up killing each other.
There is some violence directed at US soldiers. Most of the violence is internal sectarian violence. When we pull out, the gloves will be off and we will see what is usually refered to as “ethnic cleansing” as the 2 main factions in central and southern Iraq realize nobody is there to stop them. The only way to prevent this is to get a well trained police and military set up that has some loyalty to the state of Iraq, rather than tribal/religous ties. Of course, that can only happen if we stick around. If we leave without that, Iraq is going to be like Afghanistan was after the Soviets left (at least until Iran sends in “advisors”)
No, that’s the same as saying that anyone who doesn’t support the police doing their job supports the streets being ruled by gangs. Which they do. The difference is, the job of the police is not fundamentally evil; the job of the military in Iraq is.
And by supporting them in any way, you support the war. Their job is to grind down Iraq, to terrorize or kill Iraqis who do not submit, and to grind them down into deprivation and chaos. You might as well express sympathy for the terrible burden of being a hit man and send him various goodies, then claim you don’t support organized crime.
And their job is not difficult; they are bullies. Thugs. Scum. They are preying upon the weak. They are the victimizers, not the victims.
Cite ? And a cite that much of that power is actually getting to people ? A non-American cite, since an American one can safely be assumed to be a lie.
Because US soldiers are heavily armed and spend much of their time in fortifications.
We already are seeing that; we certainly aren’t stopping it. In places like Baghdad, it’s already done; the people you say we are stopping not only have not been stopped, but they’ve won. Everyone is in their own fortified enclave.
It CANNOT happen until we leave, if it can happen at all. Anyone with actual loyalty to Iraq is going to be one of the people shooting at us.
Sorry, but by your own logic if you “support the police” in any way whatsoever you are supporting the herding enemies of the regime into “free speech zones” to be ignored.
No, because that is not the primary job of the police. If there was a special unit whose job was that and similar tasks, it would be the same for that unit.