A veteran's thoughts on the Iraq war

[marc]

A very pissed off veteran, to be more precise.

Absolutely Nothing: A Veteran’s Savage Indictment of the Iraq War

"Tragically, all we’ve fought for in Iraq, all that 4,500 American lives were shed to gain, is on the cusp, potentially, of vanishing."

- Mitt Romney, “Ideas Summit,” 6/13/201

All we fought for in Iraq.

All we fought for in Iraq is on the cusp of vanishing.

That’s what Mitt Romney says.

We fought for. We fought for. We.

Oh, so it’s we now, is it, Mitt?

We.

I must have missed you over there, but it was a busy place. We. The guy who helped set up “pro-draft” rallies and yet somehow managed to avoid service in Vietnam is upset about losing what “we” fought for? We.

Yeah, fuck you, Mitt.

And you’re all welcome to quote me on that.

Asking questions on the mystery of why we went to war, and what exactly did we gain, that we are supposedly about to loose now?

 

[ksen]

:bravo:

 

[Tom Sawyer]

You didn't really fight for anything in Iraq. You shouldn't be surprised when none of that nonexistent stuff doesn't pan out.

Perhaps you should take a new tack and prop up oppressive strongmen dictators who slaughter any opposition and try that strategy for a few decades and see how it works out.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Speaking as a veteran ...

Who is this "we" that bastard is talking about? Fucking armchair generals who think it is great to send other peoples kids off to war! Fucking armchair patriots who think the best was to support the troops is a stupid ribbon magnet! Fucking stupid patriots who think that they are helping the troops by keeping them in harms way! Those assholes make me fucking sick!

Sorry about the language, I'm usually not this vehement, but few subjects make me as mad as hypocritical militarists using the first person plural when discussing what the troops have to put up with to fight their political battles. We should send the neocons like Cheney and Hillary to the front lines.

 

[RavenSky]

It was Mitt Romney

 

[Bacillus anthracis]

Who wants to hear that what they fought for was a lie and to this day still has no discernible good reason?

But thinking about it from another angle, why should vets be pissed at politicians? The military is all volunteer, which means that no one was forced to go. Meanwhile, life in the States goes on as usual; the only thing sacrificed is higher prices at the pumps (which is a mind boggling mind fuck in its own right). The people could have spoken after they discovered that the WMD thing was a complete fabrication, but instead they re-elected Bush.

Iraq, an artificial nation with boundaries arbitrarily drawn by European powers is going down the shitter without a strongman to hold it together. Let's just admit that when we found Saddam in that hole we should have given him a shower and a good shave and put him back in power. Man ... all that blood and treasure spent by a halfwit who now spends his time painting child-like water colors has been wasted. Oh Saddam, we did ye wrong.

There could be an upside though. What if oil prices get so high that we actually do demand and develop viable alternative energy sources?

Just kidding. I'm not that fucking crazy.

 

[SimpleDon]

Mitt, can I call you Willard? As a Vietnam veteran I missed you over there. I actually never set foot in Vietnam, although I got within fifty feet of both the north and the south, vertical feet that is. Perhaps that is why.

I was so stupid that I volunteered, so I didn't need to have an exemption as a lay priest from a religion dreamed up by some asshole who wanted more than one wife. Maybe that is why.

How was France by the way? Except for killing that guy in the traffic accident I bet that it was better than Vietnam. Or the grey boat cruise to nowhere that I was on.

Bush II rode out the war in the Texas Guard protecting us from an invasion from Mexico. They didn't invade us, did they? Chaney stayed in school until he became a father, I wonder if he ever told his daughter that she was a draft dodge that sent someone else over there? Clinton resigned from the ROTC the day after his birthday drew a high draft lottery number. At least I respect McCain for his service, even if he got there on his daddy's star. He did manage to kill sixty or so US sailors though on the Forestall because he landed his A4 with armed missiles. Oops.

I tell you what, if we want to stay out of wars, re-institute the draft and draft the wealthy first instead of the poor, I guarantee you that we would never get in another war.

 

[RavenSky]

I tell you what, if we want to stay out of wars, re-institute the draft and draft the wealthy first instead of the poor, I guarantee you that we would never get in another war.

^^^ that

 

[Hickdive]

Pah! All this negativity! The US and their allies went to war over WMDs in Iraq; are there WMDs in Iraq today? No.

 

[Hickdive]

... At least I respect McCain for his service, even if he got there on his daddy's star. He did manage to kill sixty or so US sailors though on the Forestall because he landed his A4 with armed missiles. Oops.

To be fair to McCain, this isn't true.

He was in his aircraft, waiting to be launched when a rocket from another parked aircraft was accidentally launched, hitting the plane next to his, bursting its fuel tanks and starting a fire. McCain noticed the flames and escaped by sliding down the nose of his aircraft onto the deck. He was understandably running away when the first 1000lb cooked off in the flames, injuring him with shrapnel.

The launching of the missile, fire and subsequent explosions were nothing to do with him.

 

[ksen]

Speaking as a veteran ...

Who is this "we" that bastard is talking about? Fucking armchair generals who think it is great to send other peoples kids off to war! Fucking armchair patriots who think the best was to support the troops is a stupid ribbon magnet! Fucking stupid patriots who think that they are helping the troops by keeping them in harms way! Those assholes make me fucking sick!

Sorry about the language, I'm usually not this vehement, but few subjects make me as mad as hypocritical militarists using the first person plural when discussing what the troops have to put up with to fight their political battles. We should send the neocons like Cheney and Hillary to the front lines.

You and I probably don't agree on a lot of things but as a veteran myself and with one son currently in the Navy and the other heading off to college this fall on an Air Force ROTC scholarship I'm with you 100%.

Hearing people like Mitt Romney and all those other chickenshits try to personally identify with soldiers pisses me right off. Especially given the fact that the vast majority of them have never served and did whatever it took to get out of serving when the shit was hitting the fan.

Scouts out.

 

[ksen]

I tell you what, if we want to stay out of wars, re-institute the draft and draft the wealthy first instead of the poor, I guarantee you that we would never get in another war.

My god, that's a brilliant idea!

 

[EricB]

Speaking as a veteran ...

Who is this "we" that bastard is talking about? Fucking armchair generals who think it is great to send other peoples kids off to war! Fucking armchair patriots who think the best was to support the troops is a stupid ribbon magnet! Fucking stupid patriots who think that they are helping the troops by keeping them in harms way! Those assholes make me fucking sick!

Sorry about the language, I'm usually not this vehement, but few subjects make me as mad as hypocritical militarists using the first person plural when discussing what the troops have to put up with to fight their political battles. We should send the neocons like Cheney and Hillary to the front lines.

Could not agree more, and for the same reason.

 

[Underseer]

Why do you hate America? [/conservolibertarian]

 

[Underseer]

Mitt, can I call you Willard? As a Vietnam veteran I missed you over there. I actually never set foot in Vietnam, although I got within fifty feet of both the north and the south, vertical feet that is. Perhaps that is why.

[...]

How dare you criticize patriot Romney? Why do you hate our troops? [/conservolibertarian]

 

[Tom Sawyer]

How dare you criticize patriot Romney? Why do you hate our troops? [/conservolibertarian]

I, like Romney, hate your troops because they're poor people. Also, their stubborn insistence on not dying and on coming home after the war strains the resources of the Veterans' Adminstration and they leech away at the tax dollars provided by all the hard-working job creators.

 

[Jarhyn]

Well, from the perspective of another soldier: fuck Romney. That ass knows nothing of service, duty, or obligation. He only knows how to be a psychopath, looking out for himself and who cares nothing about those around him. The war on Iraq was one of the most singularly bad ideas possible. I talked to the Iraqis we had with our unit. Before we took out Sadam, there were night clubs, casinos, and rapidly developing infrastructure. The guy was an asshole, but he was the best asshole available. We killed chances for stability and peace in the ME with him. We spent our money on the wrong mission, trying to fight crime rather than building a country of schools, bridges, refineries, hospitals, and power stations.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Speaking as a veteran ...

Who is this "we" that bastard is talking about? Fucking armchair generals who think it is great to send other peoples kids off to war! Fucking armchair patriots who think the best was to support the troops is a stupid ribbon magnet! Fucking stupid patriots who think that they are helping the troops by keeping them in harms way! Those assholes make me fucking sick!

Sorry about the language, I'm usually not this vehement, but few subjects make me as mad as hypocritical militarists using the first person plural when discussing what the troops have to put up with to fight their political battles. We should send the neocons like Cheney and Hillary to the front lines.

Why do you hate America? [/conservoprogressive]

Fixed that for you.

And this is exactly the issue where your nonsense word is most offensive. It is the Libertarian Party and the libertarian ideology that has been solidly anti-war even when going into Iraq was still being discussed and had not yet happened. It was libertarians that led the anti-war movement, actually establishing ties with liberals during the 2003-2009 time frame, yet those ties didn't last after a Democrat was put in charge of the war.

Progressive Anti-War Movement, RIP January 20, 2009.

Yes, you voted for Romney, and in 2008 voted for McCain. And yes, you do want to increase the bloodshed in Iraq, and see current events an opportunity to send the troops back in. But this is the biggest single difference between conservatives and libertarians. Neoconservative Republicans like you think dropping bombs on poor brown people is a good thing. Libertarians like me think that any use of the military other than actual defense against an actual attack is a crime. To me, your idol Cheney is a war criminal that needs to be tried before a judge.

Your use of that word is generally offensive, but on the subject of war and peace is actually downright nauseating. And to say that to a veteran should be a violation of the TOS.

 

[SimpleDon]

... At least I respect McCain for his service, even if he got there on his daddy's star. He did manage to kill sixty or so US sailors though on the Forestall because he landed his A4 with armed missiles. Oops.

To be fair to McCain, this isn't true.

He was in his aircraft, waiting to be launched when a rocket from another parked aircraft was accidentally launched, hitting the plane next to his, bursting its fuel tanks and starting a fire. McCain noticed the flames and escaped by sliding down the nose of his aircraft onto the deck. He was understandably running away when the first 1000lb cooked off in the flames, injuring him with shrapnel.

The launching of the missile, fire and subsequent explosions were nothing to do with him.

I will stop repeating it.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

... At least I respect McCain for his service, even if he got there on his daddy's star. He did manage to kill sixty or so US sailors though on the Forestall because he landed his A4 with armed missiles. Oops.

To be fair to McCain, this isn't true.

He was in his aircraft, waiting to be launched when a rocket from another parked aircraft was accidentally launched, hitting the plane next to his, bursting its fuel tanks and starting a fire. McCain noticed the flames and escaped by sliding down the nose of his aircraft onto the deck. He was understandably running away when the first 1000lb cooked off in the flames, injuring him with shrapnel.

The launching of the missile, fire and subsequent explosions were nothing to do with him.

I will stop repeating it.

WTF is with that? Just because you found out that you were completely wrong about something, all of a sudden that becomes a reason to not keep repeating the thing as if it's the undeniable truth?

Do you not get politics or something?