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Tom, I have 2 sons of military and war age. There are darn few wars that I'd risk their lives for, probably in my lifetime it would be WWII and perhaps Korea, Bosnia, dammn few else,certainly not Vietnam or Iraq or Afghan.
Luckily mine had other options and like most people here (Colo) were not prone to join.But many other kids who were less fortunate, had less education or needed the money, went and too many died or lost limbs or sight. The casualty toll from our two current wars is about 45,000; this to avenge the loss of 3000 on 9-11. Many of these wounded will suffer for a lifetime, you don't regrow an eye or half a brain. The math don't add up, we,ve lost in the wars 15 times what we did in 9-11, not to mention the economic cost. We are supposed to be the capitalist, not Alqeada , but they sure are giving us a lesson in how to get maximum damage for minimum cost. (Just saw on the 6 oclock news, about the funeral service for a young man,a graduate of Boulder High School, a Black kid who wanted to be a Marine in a mostly white school in a very liberal town. Sadness knows no boundries, leaves his parents and a wife of 4 months.)
If Tricky Dick Nixon or Lyin B Johnson or Geo W. Bush called on us to give em your car or airplane or invest in their Ponzi scheme,most of us would say no way, or at the very least we'd have to see all the proof to allay doubts.
But let these same bums ask for our kids and too many parents think about less than a meth addict before his next fix. When the Son, or now even worse Daughter comes home in a box, a few parents say stop the madness. But there are too many more, some on the payroll of a defense contractor or the govt itself, that see the loss of our children as something patriotic. As least that is what they often say in public, I wonder what their conscience says late at night. And those folks who profit off the war seemed to lead a charmed life, doesn't matter who is Pres, the war rolls on. If you don't think war is about money, take a look at the stock price of Osh Trucking over the last years, while making the MAVs.
Pres Bush banned photos of the coffins as the came home, sort of out of sight out of mind. And on July 4th or some holiday we like the patriotic speeches and music and flybys, almost like cheering for Texas vs USC or vs the Barbarians on the Brazos. In England, they drive the coffin through the streets, so people know and see what the cost is, and that war is not some abstract video game. Seems to me, they ought to bring the Pres and Congress out to the coffins each week, and the hospitals to face what their votes mean in real cost. Nothing more patriotic than seeing young men and women getting prosthetic limbs.
By the way, Tom you might think I am overly skeptic, there are those that say our leaders know best and who are we to doubt, much less complain. After all they did such a fine job with Vietnam, the mortgage market, and economy, why should we wonder? Maybe I and others are a bit impatient, its only been 9 years.
On your point about the Geneva Convention, it is a side issue of the war, the question of who is a soldier or a criminal. But in general, I'd like to see our country live up the the high standards that we profess, not stoop to the lowest level of others. We never held even Nazi teenagers for 7 years with no release or trial. Sen. Mcain, who should know, has come out against torture of prisoners, partly to afford some protection to our soldiers if captured.
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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK
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