Journal Infonaut's Journal: Veterans Day Thoughts 2
As a veteran of the all-volunteer US Army who served in the early 1990s, I can't say I know much more than most Americans about what's really going on in Afghanistan and Iraq, save what I read in newspaper and magazine articles. I do know what I don't know (to paraphrase the tragic leader of our Department of Defense). Those of us back here in our armchairs don't know what it's really like, and no amount of movies or books or first-person-shooters will give us the feeling of being in a combat zone.
Another thing I know is that the "mistakes happen in war" excuse is total crap. If you were running a business, would the board of directors allow the CEO to get off the hook so easily? People are putting their lives in the hands of America's leaders, and those leaders have proven themselves remarkably incompetent in the handling of the war in Iraq, from the run-up to today. It's been four years since 9/11, and I'm pissed off that the American public is only just now coming around to the notion that they've been allowing a small band of self-congratulatory, unimaginative incompetents to run our foreign policy.
Here's hoping the situation improves. I think the people in uniform deserve much better leadership.
Some interesting thoughts... (Score:2)
How do we decide if a war is a bad idea or not if debate is not encouraged or in some cases even tolerated?
If you spend your time supporting a war that you refuse to go fight in, what kind of person does that make you?
If you support something because someone else told you to, and you argue with others by repeating arguments told to you, without looking any deeper, is your behavior American? Or Unamerican?
If you say that crit
Re:Some interesting thoughts... (Score:2)
I'd say that's the crux of the biscuit. There has since 9/11 been a split in America along that very fault line. It may be that your question represents this deep and thus far uncrossable chasm of American politics. If most Americans are actually in agreement about most social issues, despite partisan bomb-throwing over red herrings like the Terri Schiavo case, then the real line of demarcation has been