A holiday message to any lurking right-wingers who may be around today.

[NightTrain]

Just four days ago, a 21-year-old Army reservist from my hometown was buried in a cemetery not five miles from where I live. He was killed during an explosion in Baghdad two weeks to the day before Christmas. I can well imagine what the mood at his family's house is like today!

Although I never knew the young man in question (or, to the best of my knowledge, anyone in his family), it still broke my heart when I read his obituary in last Friday's paper. Since we grew up in the same town and attended the same high school, I felt that the Iraq war had finally hit me quite literally where I lived. To deal with it, last Saturday night I dedicated my annual SOUL EXPRESS* holiday show to that fallen soldier's memory.

To date, 1,300 American families have lost their precious sons and daughters to King George's lie. Meanwhile, Georgie and his own precious children get to spend the rest of the year relaxing at Camp David, all safe and happy. King George dodged the draft back in '68, and you can bet your ass neither of his twins will ever see a day in uniform!

So fuck all of you armchair warmongers who've never seen a moment of combat, let alone suffered its aftermath. If there really is a hell, I hope your precious Mr. Bush burns there for all eternity and a week-and-a-half longer even!

*www.soulexpressradio.com

[pnutchuck]

1. go to this thread for the RW lurking here today

he's under the impression that Iraq and the US are better off without Saddam http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=116&topic_id=8628&mesg_id=8628&page=

[NightTrain]

3. And I'm sure the families of our 1,300 dead soliders had no problem...

...with sacrificing their kids to get rid of Saddam. After all, it's been a full year since we captured him, and hardly any U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since then! :eyes:

[BrklynLiberal]

4. I saw that post, and was hoping that it would be ignored by everyone..and

disappear into the limbo it deserved.

[pnutchuck]

7. no, unfortunately I bit and so did a few others. n/t

[jonnyblitz]

16. off topic but: I really like that pic in your sigline!

:thumbsup:

[BrklynLiberal]

2. And the same good wishes to ALL the chickenhawks of the Bush admin....

[pnutchuck]

5. sorry to hear about your local

I have two friends that have returned from Iraq and I'm sure their families are happy to have them, however, they are very phsychologically ruined from Dick Head's war. If they start drinking, they start crying and reciting the names of all the soldiers they witnessed die. They become violent and irrational, it's heartbreaking to witness and I'm sure more so to have gone through.

[NightTrain]

8. My buddy Mike's son (who I've never met) is also an Iraq veteran.

Not long after his return from Iraq, Justin separated from his wife and infant son. Now he and Robin are divorced and living about 1,500 miles apart. I can't say for sure that Justin's Iraq experience led to his divorce, but the timing of it certainly would suggest so.

[pnutchuck]

10. One of my friend's husband is the one I'm talking about

and she has been miserable since he came back. He doesn't want to touch her and he becomes violent when he drinks. I witnessed him twisting her arm at a party one night when the conversation turned to Iraq and she tried to stop it by touching his hand and saying "shhh, it's ok, relax". I also saw him 3 days after he returned start crying after someone asked him about Iraq. He was a nurse in the triage unit. He started naming off all of the people he could't save. It's heart breaking. I told her he should seek help from a therapist, but other people in the military told me that it's a sure medical discharge if he does. He's career and in medicine, it would ruin him if that happened.

[NightTrain]

12. Seeing a therapist would guarantee him a medical discharge?

You've reminded me of why I hated being in the military. The pervasive mentality was, if you witness or experience a trauma, don't whine like a fuckin' baby; suck it up like a MAN!!! Go to the barroom, knock back a few, and you'll be just fine.

If only things were that simple....

[pnutchuck]

13. exactly!

I served during Operation Desert Storm and remember quite vividly the mentality of military service. I was fortunate enough to be in during the Bush cuts and able to escape the madness.

[xchrom]

6. indeed -- rightwingers are cannibals

devouring the resources and offspring of our country.
bush is the perfect metaphoric figure for the diseased minds of our fellow citizens.

[super simian]

9. The Stench of Death...

...is on George Bush Jr. His soul reeks of it and will reek of it unto the ends of time. No imaginary scenario about what the puppet enemy Saddam Hussein, product of George Bush Sr.'s CIA, can ever absolve him or his supporters.

Still this repug lurker understands his or her own need for justification. Sounds like a conscience that is ready to take the entrance exams for kindergarten.

[Bouncy Ball]

11. My brother in law is just north of Baghdad now

and last night around 9 pm, I remarked to my husband, "It's Christmas Day in Iraq." And he we sat and sipped our tea, looked at the fire and felt sad for his brother, far from his wife and two daughters (ages 2 and 4). He is against this war, too and voted for Kerry. Wants to be home, obviously, but went because he had to.

I'm sorry for your town's loss. I'm sorry for all the loss, American and Iraqi alike. It's a crying shame and this filthy sham of an immoral war needs to stop.

[flamingyouth]

14. I spent three days waiting for word from a friend who's in Mosul

He's part of the Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis, just south of here. He's the boyfriend of one of my three employees at my little shop. We finally heard from him yesterday; amazingly, he was supposed to go on a mission the day of the explosion and was nowhere near the mess tent.

My heart goes out to all of our soldiers overseas, and to their families who live on pins and needles every day of the year, not just during the holidays. I have never known anyone in a combat zone before. But in our little shop we're like a family, and he's part of it.

I have no message for any lurkers here, other than I wish for the safe return of all of our troops even more now than I did before this past week.

[karlrschneider]

15. I lost five good friends in the Viet Nam debacle in the 60s. Yes, I was

in the military but was never asked (ordered) to go there but obviously would have if so directed. I don't believe in hell, but there are times such as now, I want it to exist for the exact reason you have so eloquently suggested. My vocabulary is fairly robust, but I cannot really collect enough applicable adjectives to properly describe the depravity of G. W. Bush and his cadre of criminal operatives. :grr: