I want everyone in GD to read this post from another thread

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

as Blue Belle said, "It's a shame we can't nominate POSTS for the greatest page>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3785272&mesg_id=3788537

[chalky]

1. I'm recommending your post as a proxy vote for that one. n/t.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. Good...we all know where the real credit goes

but I think this post is one of the BEST REBUTTALS to all the excuses made for war atrocities

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. Great suggestion!

I also nominated it for the Greatest page.

[pie]

15. Nominated

[Beetwasher]

3. Kick

*sniffle*

[MuseRider]

4. Thank you.

I might never have seen that since I have not been on much the last few days.

That one post could be front page material.

[progmom]

6. thanks NSMA

wow.

[salin]

7. I read that this morning... very, very powerful

[BrklynLiberal]

8. Heartbreaking. Something everyone should read.

[Spazito]

Thank you for posting this, I would have missed it otherwise

and I would have been the poorer for it. Nominated.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. Put Iraqis in charge of the streets of D.C. or San Fran,

and you'd have an insurgency the likes of which would make the staunchest hawks in the Pentagon blush. That's the nature of the beast. If someone made the claim that the U.S. had this weapon, oh say, chemical weapons (it does) and we didn't, or if someone said that we had a few nukes, (rather than the thousands we do have) but we didn't (poor grammatical layout I know) and then invaded us to take away those hypothetical weapons.... we would be miffed in the extreme. I dare say we might even launch those imaginary missiles and gas filled rockets.... maybe just a little we would.... just a little, enough to "scare 'em" out of the country.

On another note, if this invader took over our economy, took control of our oilfields in Texas and La, the results might be similar to what we are seeing in Iraq.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/19293/
The U.S. occupation of Iraq officially ended on June 28, 2004 , in a secret ceremony in Baghdad. Officially, "full sovereignty" was handed from the Americans to the Iraqi Interim Government. But it was clear from the start that this was sovereignty in name, not in deed. First, there is the continued military occupation: 138,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines, plus 20,000 troops from other countries and an estimated 20,000 contractors, all fully under U.S. control and immune to Iraqi laws. Equally debilitating, however significantly less well reported upon, is the continued political and economic occupation by the Bush administration and its corporate allies.

The most important tools being used by the Bush administration to maintain varying degrees of economic and political control in Iraq are the 100 Orders enacted by L. Paul Bremer, III, head of the now defunct Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) before his departure. It was thought that the "end" of the occupation would also mean the end of the Orders. Instead, in his final Order enacted on his last day in the country, Bremer simply transferred authority for the Orders over to the new Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi. For his part, Allawi – a thirty-year exile of Iraq with close ties to both the CIA and British Intelligence Services – is considered America 's new man in charge of Iraq .

[Gronk Groks]

10. Why can't Posts be nominated???

Are we as inflexible as the Repugs? Don't think so. This is about our humanity and also about what this war is costing our country in non-monetary terms. I would like to see it on the MSM editorial pages.Fat chance of that happening...:eyes:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

14. Are we as inflexible as the Repugs?

Heck no! We take the system we have and we make it work for us. Just as the OP did.

Props!

[hootinholler]

22. It would probably require a softare mod.

Technically, I think it would be relatively easy to do.

I thought the same thing when I read that post earlier.

-Hoot

[oasis]

11. Thanks for calling attention to a moving, thought provoking post.

[seabeyond]

12. i posted on the thread

but thank you for bringing this post to our attention. the thoughts will stay with me. those are the best posts

[AwakeAtLast]

18. Same here! n/t

[me b zola]

13. .

I read it.

I cried.

I nominated.




Thank-you

[Maraya1969]

16. Is it OK to post a story here since I didn't see that last thread?

First Blue Belle your husband is a compassionate hero. You can tell him "Thanks" for me too.

There are 3 people I've known fairly well that have joined the military. Each one is vastly different.

The first is a child of a friend of mine. I swear to God I did not make this up but an old boy fiend of mine used to say, "That kid is going to be a serial killer when he grows up" I didn't pay much attention but I think he loved bloody video games and movies and he always wanted my boyfriend to teach him how to fight.

This kid has now spent two tours in Iraq and is chomping at the bit to go back! He said he really loves it over there. :crazy:

The other is my uncle who lived in Canada during WWII. I don't' know how he got into the war but he was living in a nursing home when his mother, (my grandmother) was well enough to live by herself. He also was an alcoholic - the only one in his family. I don't know what happened to make him so ill or if he would have been ill without going to war but I know he was in active combat and saw his friends die and was extremely troubled by it.

The other is my father who was 16 and lied about his age to get into the Canadian army. He had no education and a menial job with not much prospect for the future. In his memoir that I received after his death he said I had asked him as a young child why he wanted to join the paratroopers and his answer was: "it paid and extra $.75 per day and we got to wear maroon high top boots, a maroon beret, a wide white belt plus wings that distinguished us from the Army." He never saw any combat because he was hurt and the war ended soon after.

So some recruits really do like the action and some even the killing.
And for others it can literally kill them mentally and emotionally.

Some people join to get out of poverty. And some really want to serve their country and to obtain the benefits the armed forces can give them.

And there are the ones that just like wearing a uniform. :crazy:

[Tsiyu]

17. nice post

and good of you to point it out.

what Blue Belle said

[checks-n-balances]

19. Thanks - I missed this one & it reminds me of 2 things

1. The story of the husband reminded me EXACTLY of the Good Samaritan Parable from Jesus. The Samaritan carried the wounded man on his donkey and gave the medical/caretaking person all his $ to take care of him. Nobody else would help. But this soldier WALKED while carrying the child himself. As horribly haunting as his memory is of this, at least he can live with himself because he DID help.

2. On the opposite end of the empathy spectrum is the so-called "Culture of Life" from those who not only don't stop to help, they're doing everything they can to enrich themselves while taking away the props to people's well-being and the well-being of our SOCIETY. As Jesus said about such people: "Truly they (already) have their reward," which implies there will be no lasting reward for those kinds of people.

[burrowowl]

20. I hope her husband doesn't have to go back

but while he was there, he did good.
Before the sanctions and the war, Iraqi doctors could have treated her. How sad!

[tnlefty]

21. Thanks for pulling this post out and posting it! I read it about an

hour ago and when I read it I couldn't respond to it 'cause I was tearful. :kick:

[Hissyspit]

23. You can suggest the poster make the post into an original thread.

(As blm did in the original thread.) I've done that several times and the poster's new thread ended up on the Greatest page under their own name.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

28. I recommended that she tweak it and submit it

as an article and she did.

[Hissyspit]

30. Cool!

[The Magistrate]

24. It Is, Indeed, Ma'am, Well Worth Reading

A true and excellent communication....

[Solly Mack]

25. Hi Teena! Thanks everyone! I did what you suggested about tweaking it

and submitting...who knows? Maybe.

[Tesla]

26. Thank you both,

Your husband for being a Patriot, and you for reporting on what they go through.
We need more stories from the soilders comming back from the front.
My father was a flame-thrower in the Pacific Islands during WWII,and he could never talk about it, too hard to go there.
I think he would have felt better if he was "allowed" to tell his story, it always helps.

[Misunderestimator]

27. Great idea.... It should be nominated...

so, I'll add another proxy vote.

[PsyOpsRunsOurCountry]

29. Humanize the war by humanizing the warriors, too. BRING THE WAR HOME.

Not with terrorism, but with humanity.

This is exactly what the anti-Vietnam War activists realized was their biggest and most important challenge.