"Educate Our Troops" says an uneducated college student (Rutgers University)

The Daily Targum -- The Rutgers University school paper ^ | 3/22/2005 | Steven Meck

[repub_phdstudent]

Ever since the phrase "Support our Troops" was coined, it took on the twisted meaning of supporting the troops as blindly as they follow orders. For some reason, cheering for these disillusioned troops as they destroy other countries and in turn endanger America is the politically correct thing to do. If the troops were educated about the damage they are causing, perhaps the men and women who are willing to risk life and limb for the people of this country could actually put their efforts toward defending the American people.

The first thing that the troops need to learn is that their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan are not "defending our freedoms" or "deterring terrorism." The truth, by the government's own research, is that the wars are making the United States less safe by turning Iraq into a breeding ground for terrorists. The CIA report, "Mapping our Future," details how the war in Afghanistan, and Iraq especially, is creating and emboldening new terrorists and, thus, making America less safe.

But even before America invaded Iraq, the United States was aware that the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the country's risk of terrorism. All 15 U.S. intelligence agencies warned that an invasion of Iraq would increase the risk of terrorism, but the United States ignored its intelligence because causing another Sept. 11 would be a shame, but not controlling Iraq and Afghanistan would be even worse. Ignorant of how they are carrying out orders that are spreading terrorism, American troops fight on, sowing the seeds of terrorism with every order they follow.

As Sgt. Paul Dominguez explained, "These people here are a bunch of lunatics willing to die for their God. They won't give up, no matter how many bombs you drop. They're not right in the head. Obviously, they don't think the way normal people think." Asked immediately following his response if he would die for God, he replied, "Yes."

It is ironic that the average American soldier would have so much animosity for the average Afghan or Iraqi fighter since they both share so much in common - both believe they are fighting for justice and against tyranny. The American soldier believes he is fighting terrorism as he spreads it and the Afghan or Iraqi combatants fight to avenge U.S. terrorism but are simply causing more. Both have been led to believe, by their higher powers, to fight for what seems to be a just cause, but both are just causing more injustice.

But whether the murder of civilians is done under the guise of American freedom or under Islamic jihad, it is still, by definition, terrorism. Until U.S. soldiers realize the lies they are being fed, they will only continue to add to the cycle of terrorism.

Another question the troops have to ask themselves is why are they fighting for a government that has continually been against their well being? Only true indoctrination has kept the troops willing to actually support - in fact die for - a government that continually disregards the well-being of its own soldiers. The past provides an exuberant amount of examples of disregard for soldiers' lives, with everything from washing soldiers' brains with LSD to the injection of plutonium on unknowing soldiers, but a recent example of the United States disregard for soldiers' well-being is just stunning.

During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, 17 American pilots were captured and tortured by Saddam Hussein. After some legal problems, the government of Iraq was finally held responsible and forced to pay nearly $1 billion to the 17 pilots in July 2003. But before the pilots had time to celebrate, former President George H. W. Bush's administration stepped in to overturn the case. Now that Iraq was a useful puppet regime, Bush decried that it no longer had to pay for its crimes. For all of Bush's rhetoric of righting the injustices of Hussein's torture chambers, Bush actually broke international law by absolving Iraq of the liability of the torture of prisoners of war.

When asked why the Bush administration had blocked the judge's orders to award the victims of Hussein's torture, White House spokesman Scott McClellan seemingly mocked the soldiers by answering, "No amount of money can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering that they went through at the hands of this very brutal regime and at the hands of Saddam Hussein."

We are not doing U.S. troops any favors by supporting them to fight for the same government that oppresses them and forces them to carry out policies that put all Americans at risk. When the troops are educated about the terrorism they are unwittingly supporting, they can finally fight to end it.

Steven Meck is a Cook College senior majoring in biology. His column, "Humanitarian Intervention" appears on alternate Tuesdays. He welcomes comments at smeck@eden.rutgers.edu.

[repub_phdstudent]

I majored in Biology and Psychology when I was a Rutgers undergrad and I never felt the need to shoot down our troops, so to speak, in the daily newspaper....

[Calpernia]

gotta love nj


NOT!

[Piquaboy]

Brain Dead Blathering! What great school systems we have!

[RexBeach]

This is very, very simple. "Support the Troops" means you support the mission. If you don't support the mission, you don't support the troops. Period.

I know, he's only a kid. No excuse.

[NRA1995]

Missing Barf Alert

[Jibaholic]

I can only imagine how inspiring and freeing it must be for our nation's youth to go off to college and discover the joys of moral relativism.

[jigsaw]

Hmmm. I didn't realize Rutgers University is an elementary school.

[FormerLib]

Deport this maggot so that he may be free of out "oppressive government!"

[darkwing104]

Just an another fine example of an out-of-touch ivory tower moron...

[spodefly]

A senior, huh?

It took him 4 years to get this stupid.

[NoClones]

these stealth-commies use the most amazing rationalizations to support their stupid general concept that the US military is always in the wrong!

[seadevil]

TO: Steven Meck
FROM: seadevil

Look in the mirror. Say my tagline. Exchange the word "you're" for "I'm". Repeat as necessary everytime you feel the need to venture into an area your obvious less-than-stellar upbringing has not intellectually prepared you for.

[polymuser]

Kids say the darndest things!

[jec41]

Properly indoctrinated by a school of proproganda!!!!!

[stm]

Steven Meck is an F'n IDIOT. He's a college student at a liberal ass liberal arts school, what the hell does he know about ANYTHING having to do with the real world? He has not even been out in it yet.

This is yet another instance of a hard-of-thinking liberal ass kid spouting liberal ass garbage from liberal ass Ward Churchill wannabe's.

I am soooo glad I am not in college any more, I would be kicked out within two weeks for very vocally challenging all these idiot professors and demanding they provide concrete proof for all their bleeding heart liberal BS.

[stuartcr]

What exactly is meant by 'supporting our troops'? I haven't quite figured out how someone supports, or doesn't support troops.

[SlowBoat407]

cheering for these disillusioned troops as they destroy other countries...

Ummm, I believe the "country-destroying troops" you are cheering for would be the insurgents

[Fierce Allegiance]

Everybody should be required to do military service before college.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

They should rename their school paper "The Daily Tantrum" for all this rant is worth.

As for "educating our troops" the military paid for my college education, thankyouverymuch. And it certainly wasn't at Rutgers, LOL!

[frithguild]

This is the guy who put the "h" in Ruhgers.

[nuke rocketeer]

"...with everything from washing soldiers' brains with LSD to the injection..."

Speaking of brainwashing, this kid is a perfect example of this. Totally ignoring how the Taliban remnants in Afghanistan are starting to surrender and return home to participate in the revival of their nation.

[CSM]

At least these idiots have come right out and equated our troops to terrorists, therefore equating the US with evil dictatorships.

Their hate for America is on display for all to see.

[sachem longrifle]

Concrete proof? Why would you need anything like concrete proof when emotions and feelings suffice. I love these conspiracy theorists. They come up with the most outrageous theories and if you don't believe them, you need "re-education" or you are not "fully informed."

[river rat]

Rutgers is proving by example - that the least "gifted" and least capable of rational thought, go into journalism or teaching.....

I've defended their right to to wrong -- but just ONCE, I'd like the opportunity to feed a knuckle sandwich to an a$$hole like the author of this article... JUST ONCE.

Semper Fi

[mozrock]

LOL...it's not Yale or Harvard you know! They could turn out this kind of idiocy in a years time no problem!

[sergeantdave]

Without a draft we end up with some percentage of brainless, socialist, whining young people.

With a draft we end up with some percentage of brainless, socialist, whining young people who know how to shoot and handle weapons.

A draft is a bad idea. Keep it voluntary.

[SMARTY]

He probably couldn't pass the physical for the military, any way.

[somniferum]

Bad idea.. would you want this moonbat watching your back on the battlefield?

[Mr.Clark]

95% of Rutgers professors are Marxist/Communists and the fools that run the Daily Targum are in the same mold. This is from a recently graduated Rutgers alum.

[dbehsman]

From the article: "If the troops were educated about the damage they are causing, perhaps the men and women who are willing to risk life and limb for the people of this country could actually put their efforts toward defending the American people."

It is time to defund the school and the students who attend it.

[Conspiracy Guy]

That would hose up the military.

[Gunrunner2]

Sheesh. . .had about the same column in my old university paper. Wrote the following and it was published:

The column, "Fag bomb should be viewed as a reflection of war, not language" is full of self-centered nonsense. Let's take a look.

The article identifies "childish handwriting" on a bomb. As a fighter pilot I have written many fine words on bombs over the past 20-years. Writing on a bomb's uneven rough surface with flaky chalk or a melting grease pencil makes elegant writing impossible.

The column calls military personnel "unenlightened" and says a university education is enlightening. Wrong. A university education without life experience is no more enlightening than a flashlight without batteries.

All military personnel are professionals, performing essential duties under extremely hazardous conditions. They know what is valuable and worth defending. Calling them "unenlightened" is plain dumb and unjust.

The column argues that warriors use playground epithets because they are uneducated. President Clinton is known for his Arkansas blue streaks. You wouldn't call him uneducated, would you?

The column implies service personnel are without privilege and education merely because they are in the military. This is elitist nonsense. Many service personnel (more than you realize) come from backgrounds of privilege, wealth and education. Moreover, military personnel are taking a graduate course on life. You pass, you live; you fail you die. No re-tests. They know good decisions mean people die. They know bad decisions mean the wrong people die.

The column sniffs that the sailor who wrote the offending remark wasn't articulate. I disagree. It was blunt, to the point and got the message across. Elegant poetic verse could hardly be as effective.

Finally, the column threatens to "civilize our fighters." To win wars, we need warriors, not sensitivity troopers. We need warriors of courage, not "educated" fools who admonish politically incorrect thoughts. The battlefield is no place for the politically correct. If you aren't tough enough to handle a vulgar word, I doubt you can handle the horrors of war. "Civilized" armies can only hope to win debates. Warriors win wars.

[Fierce Allegiance]

OK, I understand your point, but I think everybody should have to do some kind of service for the country ala Americorps or Peace Corps. IIRC the Israeli's do something similar.

[sticker]

"both believe they are fighting for justice and against tyranny"

What the ______???????? Little stevie is a dope smoking idiot. The murdering thugs America is opposing are fighting to establish a religious tyranny across the world. He has the same mindset as the people that insisted that the Vietnam war was fought by "the freedom loving" people against the evil capitalists. The really sad thing is that just like a large part of the anti-war dopers in the 60's & 70's would have been the first shot it the ussr had control of the world, this little sh@t and those like him would be among the first killed by the islamists.

[layman]

Steven Meck is a Cook College senior majoring in biology.

I was ready to blast Rutgers when I noticed that Steven apparently flunked out and ended up at Cook College. Cook College! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA

[Fierce Allegiance]

No but he could do a proper job cleaning the heads. It wouldn't take long to weed out the chaff. Only a small percentage of the mil jobs are combat or direct support.

It would lilekly straighten his ares out, as well.

[imskylark]

Our troops are more intelligent than this guy. He knows nothing but thinks he knows everything.

[ken21]

"But even before America invaded Iraq, the United States was aware that the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the country's risk of terrorism."

stupid.

it's just the opposite. our troops went there, and destroyed the terrorists and their training camps.

[stm]

"Peace Corps"???

You are joking right? The Peace Corps is a breeding ground for liberal "not a clue about the real world" Kool Aid induced oblivion

[Fierce Allegiance]

Yeah, but it would make us look sooo good in the world view. </sarc>

[dead]

Cook College is a college under the Rutgers University umbrella. It is the agriculture school, where the NJ farm boys go. Other colleges include Douglas College (the lesbians go there), Livingston College (the minorities go there), the Mason Gross School of the Arts (gay men go there), and a bunch of others.

I graduated from Rutgers College, which is part of Rutgers University. I resisted the indoctrination and emerged wiser for the resistence. This idiot obviously went in with a malleable mind made of Playdoh, and they sculpted his brain into the shape of a small pineapple.

[stm]

And I him:

"You have obviously overdosed on the bleeding heart liberal Kool Aid. But it's not too late, there is an antidote. It's called reality. Maybe you should try it one time, you might find out you like it.

What makes you an expert on anything related the military, or for that matter, life in general? Unlike you, I have spent 23 years in our military, protecting the rights of uneducated smart-ass college kids like you to spew this unfounded liberal rhetoric.

I was once a college kid just like you. And just like you, I did not know my ass from my elbow when it came to anything in the real world. You live in a very sheltered environment in college. You listen to liberal ass Ward Churchill wannabe professors that are in that profession because they cannot function in the real world. It's not your fault, at least not entirely. But one day you will have to wake up and really go out into the real world. Maybe one day you will even have to pick up a weapon to defend yourself or someone else. Maybe then, things will finally sink in. If not you will continue to go through life living in liberal utopia and remain clueless. The choice is up to you.

If you had the benefit of seeing what I have seen in two wars in Iraq, then perhaps you would not be so quick to spout your liberal ass misinformed bullshit. You have no concept of what life was like in Iraq under Hussein and his sons. All you know is what you have heard from a socialist mainstream media that would not give our President for credit if he single handedly cured cancer. Did you know that Uday used to feed prisoners to his lions for fun? Did you know that Qusay used to have the Fedayeen execute people in front of their families purely on heresay that they were unloyal to Saddam? Did you know that Saddam did not kill 5,000 Kurds with poison gas, it was closer to 30,000? And why? Because he hated them.

Get a friggin' clue and wake up out of your liberal Kool Aid trance before you do something stupid like that Rachel Corrie libtard and get yourself killed over bullshit."

[duck duck goose]

Must be nice to be "supported" while not knowing what to do with your life, while in school that mom and dad pay for. Our troops made a decision to serve our country. The VERY LEAST we can do as a nation, is to support our troops who are defending us each and every day.

[KurtAZ]

Spoken (written) as I would expect from someone that has not done one day of service to their country. Spitting on the very canopy of protection that allows him to write this drivel.

[Balding_Eagle]

Educate the College Students!

[DocH]

Everybody should be required to do military service before college.

As someone who served in the military, I ask, "Who in the HELL would want to serve next to an obviously ignorant, liberal, anti-American TURD like this Rutgers Elementary School student?"

NO ONE, that's who.

[stm]

I can tell you one thing, a kid like this would have a very difficult row to hoe in my unit. As soon as he opened his mouth with this liberal BS, he would most likely get a pillowcase party.

[Fierce Allegiance]

But why waste good volunteers on the shit jobs real soldiers hate. Less like a draft, but more like an addition to primary education. It could involve all sorts of maintenance, etc roles, thereby allowing us to have a well trained combat force not bogged down by crap details.

I agree with your point, I didn't enjoy serving with some of the dirtbags (small minority) who were volunteers, and conscripts would be a an even lousire bunch