Overheard a former special ops soldier tonight talking to a current Army

[Bushfire]

Reserve soldier.

Basically he didn't say who he was going to vote for, but he was a Gulf War 1 vet who knew what his exit plan was. He was not happy with the quagmire the other soldiers are in now. The soldiers who are there now have got to be pissed they don't know how to accomplish a mission that has no end.

JK needs to keep up the pressure that there is no EXIT PLAN under *.

[xxqqqzme]

1. A man approached me 2day

cuz he saw my Kerry/Edwards sticker on my backpack. He said he was voting 4 Kerry and he was reserve who managed 2 get out. He said all but 5 of his 110 member unit was in Iraq now and none knew when they would B home. He kept repeating, 'I'm voting 4 Kerry'.

[Bushfire]

2. Thanks for replying

rozf. I knew there were more stories out there.

[Wind Dancer]

3. Our troops are being put in a no win situation

without adequate supplies and little chance of coming home any time soon. There are several websites with letters from our troops that are heartbreaking, this one I just found:

http://www.optruth.org/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=userShowStories&lnav=3

[POAS]

4. A recruiter

stopped in at our HQ's and bought several K/E buttons. Talked about how bad recruiting is going and agreed that the draft is all but inevitable, no matter who gets elected.

[Toots]

5. I never believed in that part of the Powell Doctrine anyway

I believe in the overwhelming force part but how can you plan an exit strategy when you have no idea what you will encounter along the way, and you don't want to set time tables that will encourage the enemy. What you do need planning for though is what your soldiers will do to protect the people and their property after your advance. We did not do that. We plan an exit strategy after the war part is over and the Peace is secured. We have not secured the peace except at the oil terminals. We still don't have the ammo dumps guarded or the nuclear facilities. We sure as hell have the oil terminals guarded though. We have not provided any means for the Iraqi people to find employment even though the place is in need in every single area. We think it is in the Iraqi's interest to import American workers instead of hiring Iraqis. The people love us for that..

[BeFree]

6. Eh, Toots?

Planning: There were objections from some pentagon people who could foresee the quagmire. Ya know, old timey planners. Conservative military men. They, however, were ignored.

Please, don't use the word "we" when describing the quagmire, it is not being done in our name, or for us; we are not a party to the destruction.

"We" didn't do Iraq, it's Capt. Busharoo who is to blame.

[Toots]

7. Actually America did do the Attack and Americans are dying

I am an American and am proud to be so. I am not proud of my country at the moment and hope this so called Leadership can be replaced and we can once again become part of the world community. But WE did attack Iraq. That is how the world sees it.

[BeFree]

9. There are more dead Iraqis

And they didn't do it in my name, so please, don't say we.

The rest of the world knows who B*sh is, and they know he's the one to be scared of, not the people.

I, too, am a proud American, but I am not quite so proud of what the government is doing. There is a big difference between the government and "We, the people" let's keep the arrows on the right mark. Please.

[Booster]

18. If Bush get elected, that "we" argument goes right out the

window as far as the rest of the world is concerned. We will be endorsing his policies; that's why this election is so important to get the word out to the rest of the world that we also do not agree with his policies.

[tabasco]

8. It never was the "Powell Doctrine." That is a hijacked term.

The strategy of the use of overwhelming force has been known as "Grantian" strategy since the Civil War. The neocons hijacked the term to make Powell look like a brilliant commander (bullshit).

[barb162]

12. thanks for mentioning that. I always think too many hold that

ass kiss in too high esteem, like he is some great strategist.

[rocktivity]

10. There's no exit strategy because the strategy isn't to exit

They're not building 14 military bases in Iraq for the exercise--they're going to be used as a base of operations for invading the rest of the Middle East. And now that Bush has actually said that there would be no draft, you can count on it.

:headbang:
rocknation

[AngryAmish]

11. Thank you

We are never leaving Iraq.

[nostamj]

14. ding ding ding !

absolutely.

what, if anything, has K/E said about the 14 bases?

[barb162]

13. I have been seeing letters in my local paper from soldiers in

Iraq now who are sick of being cannon fodder for AWOLBush. These letters are basically saying the whole situation is getting way worse and they are target practice for the Iraqis.

[TahitiNut]

15. The reservists and National Guard in Iraq are truly screwed.

They're under-supplied, not equipped and trained for the duties they're given (security and policing), impressed into service ("stop-loss") beyond their 'voluntary' enlistments and, worst of all, facing family financial hardships of immense proportions while simultaneously seeing people around them (about 40,000 of them) doing the same jobs but getting paid $80-120,000/year tax-free but with the liberty to resign and return the their families at any time. It's an absolute abomination.

The abomination is compounded (staggering the imagination) when one considers that Iraq has over 50% unemployment and carpetbaggers are being paid $80K/year (plus enormous profit markups) to drive a freaking truck!!

We had a word for lesser abominations in Vietnam: clusterfuck.

[Hello_Kitty]

16. I wear my Veteran for Kerry button when I'm out working for the campaign

I get so many vets, many from the current war, who come up and tell me they're voting for Kerry. I wish the media would start talking to them instead of always talking to active duty military based stateside who seem to be expressing all this overwhelming support for *. It creates this false impression that the military is behind him. I don't buy it. I remember well the conservative climate of the military. You didn't dare express liberal political views or criticism of a republican president.

[ridgerunner]

17. War is a racket

Have y'all ever read this by Major General Smedley Darlington Butler?

http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

As true today as it was then.

[merh]

19. The freepers hate it if you remind them that President

Eisenhower warned against what is happening now, that we sell the soul of out nation to corporations that profit from war and that we perpetuate war so they can continue to fill their pockets with the blood money.