What’s so ironic about it? You have the right to criticize the President and his staff. Go ahead. You don’t (IMHO) have the right to use the dead to do so.
I agree. But then again, you didn’t use your dead friend in a contemptious way to go after the President, did you?
Depends on what you mean by ‘damage.’ Damage to whom? Perceptions of the US worldwide? Who fucking cares! I’m more pissed about another President who ignored terrorist threats at home and abroad for eight years. But that’s ok, because that President was/is human and didn’t have a crystal ball.
Actually, I am. But then again, I’m also a sergeant and fought in “Allied Force” and “Iraqi Freedom.” Perhaps I’m partial. Or perhaps you’re critical. Either way, your opinion of me doesn’t matter.
No, its freedom that endures for those who can see those markers. And for the Afghani people. And the Iraqi people.
In your opinion I don’t have the right to point to the death of thousands of people and lay that at the feet of a man who said that he knew for certain that Iraq currently had weapons of mass destruction and that we were going to war because of it?
Do the parents of dead soldiers and marines have the right to criticize him for lying?
Do the soldiers and maries have the right to criticize him after they return from duty?
I will tell you a secret. Even though I am a pacifist, I think there are noble intangibles worth dying for. Human rights are part of that. I can believe that you think that that is why you served your country. And that is noble.
If I thought that President Bush had such noble intentions and motives, I would not be criticizing him here. Or if I thought there was any way for a peaceful democracy for all to evolve in Iraq, I would at least temper my comments.
You ask “Who cares?” what the rest of the world thinks. It is foolish to ignore our allies or the opinion of mankind in general. We don’t want to wear blinders or end up as the enemy of the free world, do we?
Listen, Sarg. You have the ace of trumps right now. No matter what you say, you have something that will leave me respecting you: You have had the courage to serve your country in war time. Nothing I say can diminish that or is meant to insult that. I hope you understand.
But just as surely as you believe that you and your buddies were there for good reasons, I believe that you and others were sent needlessly – based on what a handful of people wanted to believe, but that was not actually true. And when they knew that it wasn’t true, they tried to cover their tracks and got us in deeper and deeper and more and more people died because of it.
Don’t believe propaganda which is designed to sway your opinion; dig out the truth wherever it leads.
For me, it lead away from the first President that I ever voted for. This isn’t a partisan issue.
Zoe, I respect your opinions and I thank you for respecting mine. I believe that the core of our misunderstanding here isn’t that which was said, but how it was said. A greiving mother or father, brother or sister has the right to hold their loved one’s picture high and yell “You murdering bastard! I hope you rot in hell!” if that is what they believe. A well meaning individual on an anonymous message board can say “Bush lied, our boys died. Impeach the motherfucker.” or whatnot, if it’s what they believe. I say that because although you can attack the President, and hell, you can point to our dead servicemen as proof, you (IMHO) cannont do so in a way that degrades their service and sacrifice. That’s why I was so fucking hot about rjung’s comment.