Bad Day in iraq

[yuc7zhd2]

I went to a high school football game tonight for some 20 minute pre game ceremony. I've not done this in a long time. They did all this ceremony bs, and then they cut to the national anthem, but wait... right before we play the national anthem they will read off a big list of people from the hs that are in iraq. They didn't even get the names right (joe rather than jake, etc.) and this was a small school (90 people in a graduating class). I just really felt some resounding rage and sadness that I've not felt in a long time. Small towns in this country can't even remember the names of kids who graduated four years ago that we're sending to die in some desert nation for what (during a pre written speach made to honor them)? Its just so painfully obvious that no one cares. I'm really having trouble coming to terms with the fact that a lot of my best friends from childhood are having a bad day in baghdad and probably won't come home alive, while soccer moms and nascar dads across the nation are enjoying a big worthless football game, with a moment of silence thrown in, during which they're probably thinking about cheating on their spouse, or how awesome football is, or what artery clogging food they're going to buy in a few moments, because its dreadfully obvious that they didn't notice that no one named jake smith went to school in this town a few years ago and was a high school football star, but somehow he ended up in iraq. I don't really care if anyone responds or agrees with this, but I need to get it off my chest because its ****ing ********. I really can't wait until captain ahab gets re-elected so he can forcibly enlist (draft) some more twenty somethings and send us to our deaths, maybe they'll start to notice when all the dobs on new tombstones are marked 1980-85.

[pseudobrit]

I don't really care if anyone responds or agrees with this, but I need to get it off my chest because its ****ing ********.

My brother is in Iraq. He's QRF in a hotbed.

I cannot begin to put into words what it does to me and my family, but "****ing ********" is indeed one of the hundreds of phrases that springs to mind if you try.

[Thanatoast]

...maybe they'll start to notice when all the dobs on new tombstones are marked 1980-85.Think this bears repeating.

[pseudobrit]

Think this bears repeating.

No they won't notice then either. The only way they'll notice is when it's their son on the tombstone.

That's the only way. Too many Americans don't give a **** about anything that doesn't affect them or their family directly.

Unless they lose their job or their healthcare or their son or their daughter or their rights or their lifestyle, they don't give a ****.

They're just happy going about their workaday life, fighting to get more money so they can buy a bigger SUV and a bigger suburban house or they aspire to such a life.
The fact that we no longer give a **** about our fellow human beings is bad enough, but we don't really ****ing care when our own countrymen fall under hard times.

So you didn't lose your job or your healthcare, and your brother isn't in Iraq getting mortared every day. Try and ****ing imagine. I know it's hard, 'cause it ain't being played out on TV for you, but just try to imagine life in someone else's shoes. We've become so callous, selfish and short-sighted and it'll be the Sturz of us all.

The downfall of this nation will be the demise of empathy.
Mark my words.

[Chip NoVaMac]

No they won't notice then either. The only way they'll notice is when it's their son on the tombstone.

That's the only way. Too many Americans don't give a **** about anything that doesn't affect them or their family directly.


Maybe that is why we should have automatic draft for the sons and daughters of the people we elect to the Capital. No plush office job for them either. If Congress or the President sends troops off to war, these fine upstanding representatives will have their child on the front-lines.

How much do you want to bet that we would see less military action by the politicians?

[skunk]

I say: "Bring back single combat".

Pretzels at 30 paces...

[Thanatoast]

Actually, I think making our leaders learn some form of combat, be it a martial art, fencing/sword fighting, duelist pistols, would probably do us all some good. The training, dedication and discipline involved in such activities would, I think, focus the will and teach the participant something about the nature of him or herself and the nature of war/violence - and its proper uses.

[zimv20]

in that regard, taking some improv classes would be the most useful, imo. you learn how to listen, play well with a group, and put others before yourself.

[toontra]

I just heard a British MP claim (on the radio) that things have become so bad for the British troops in southern Iraq that there has been a news blackout in effect for the past month.

Can this be true? There was no official denial. Could it be that war-time propaganda techniques are being employed to save Blair and Bush from political embarrassment? It seems we cannot be trusted to hear the truth about what's actually going on.

[pseudobrit]

I just heard a British MP claim (on the radio) that things have become so bad for the British troops in southern Iraq that there has been a news blackout in effect for the past month.

Can this be true? There was no official denial. Could it be that war-time propaganda techniques are being employed to save Blair and Bush from political embarrassment? It seems we cannot be trusted to hear the truth about what's actually going on.

My brother has, at least once, reported to us a killing in his unit that went unreported on the official Pentagon site.

[zimv20]

My brother has, at least once, reported to us a killing in his unit that went unreported on the official Pentagon site.
!!!!!!

unreported in name only, are in the totals as well?

[pseudobrit]

!!!!!!

unreported in name only, are in the totals as well?

My dad keeps close tabs on this stuff (he's very worried about his son, naturally), checking the site at least once a day to monitor trends in violence and killings.

My brother reported the death to us (a sniper who specialised in head shots was haunting the area) and according to my father, the death never made it on the list. So I imagine it never made it to the total column either.

My father also noticed that there were no reported deaths during the Republican Convention.

[zimv20]

My father also noticed that there were no reported deaths during the Republican Convention.
wow, that one escaped me. good on dad.