Posted on 11/09/2005 2:26:03 PM PST by sam_paine
Gary Chapman, REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR
'Why aren't you in Iraq?" That's the question I posed recently to a group of undergraduates at the University of Texas, an honors class studying the legal aspects of the war on terrorism.
I tried to ask this without antagonism or implicit criticism, but the question appeared to unsettle the students anyway. None of them had given military service much thought. All of them were against the war in Iraq. They told me they support the troops, but not the war itself. They won't sign up to fight a war they consider illegal and a mistake.
....
Either we're all in this together, or we should get the hell out. We can't have it both ways.
Chapman is director of the 21st Century Project at the LBJ School. He can be reached at gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu.
(Excerpt) Read more at statesman.com ...
Yes, reinstate the draft.
No surprise this is coming out of Berkley on the Colorado, err Austin.
I second that and loudly.
OUR SOLDIERS ARE MORE OF A HERO THAN ANY ATHELETE,CELEBRITY,JOURNALIST or DEMOCRAT POLITICIAN THAT REFUSES TO PROTECT THEIR NATION.
putz
Are you kidding me!??!!? Rob Balon is the biggest (literally) idiot that could sub! Balon is the food critic that consistently suggests chain restaurants. I refused to listen to him ever again after he complained that local mom and pop Mexican places served him LIMES in his iced tea instead of LEMONS because iced tea should have Lemons in it! Hello? Ever been to Mexico?
You're stronger than I--I had to change the station to sports talk, and I can usually hang in there for just about anything from Jeff. But you know he loves to bait conservatives with this kinda stuff.
I have to agree with you.
It is also important that every adult American gets the experience of barracks living, and having their lives controlled by the Federal government.
Then we would all understand how absurd, "I'm from the Federal government, and I'm here to help", IS.
Impossible.
Soldiers KILL people. This is like saying, "I support those who kill for an unjust cause, but not the unjust cause."
Doesn't supporting those engaged in a cause link one to that cause? Would it make sense to say, "I wholeheartedly affirm that prostitutes are noble young women, and I support them- but I find prostitution morally unacceptable and I cannot support it."(Please forgive the analogy, veterans and service members- used to clarify a point only.)
Killing for the right reason is self defense. Killing for the wrong reason is murder.
How about one of these?
1) (The students position). Our soldiers are murdering people in an unjust war- and I support them in their murder, but I do not support the war itself. (See how absurd?)
2) (My position- and MANY in Middle America). Our soldiers are defending our freedoms at home by taking the fight to the enemy. Al Qaeda was in Iraq, and is in Iraq, and it is them that we are at war with, not the Iraqi people. However, our President did say that we would, "Go after terrorists and every government that supports them" - so if "insurgents" want to lock arms with Zarqawi's boys and attack our soldiers- then our soldiers are fully justified in using whatever means neccesary to take out the enemy combatants. Therefore, I support the troops, the mission, Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, and the War against Terrorism.
It doesn't help that over the past ten years the influx of REAL Berserkleyans has devolved the county even further.
They sell their Mountain View dump for $1.2M, and then move to Travis county, buy two places, and drive the Texans out to the Hill Country.
Though UT is in Texas it is a very LIBERAL university with even more anti American professors. What can we expect?
I'm having some rough work moments via email right now, so actually, Ward is seeming quite tame to me. Brit's on in a bit and I'll switch. I want to make sure I listen to all of Jeff Ward's recorded whore-a-mercials so I know who not to give money to!
Happily, we don't need them.
But can't you tell from his voice that he hates to do those commercials? It's pretty funny. Ed Clements sounds like a happy puppy when he does commercials.
The guy doesn't realize that the quality of men in Iraq is better than the men who landed at Normandy. Healthier , smarter, stronger and even better educated.
You are wrong. 99 would stand there looking on while the smallest female soldier handed him his ass.
News story yesterday is that the minimum score was lowered this time because there weren't enough with the higher cut-off to meet quotas. Random guessing would probably yield a passing score.
>>
the soldiers are bigger heroes than any athlete, movie star, musician, journalist or politician.<<
I just got the latest issue of Men's Journal magazine (a fitness, adventure, and gadget mag with pretty decent circulation.). In their reader's poll, "Soldier" was the most respected occupation with 33% of the vote. They then did a profile of one. "Firefighter" was second at 20%, "Law Enforcement Officer" was third at 14%. I don't remember the rest but got a laugh out of "Journalist" being listed as the last one listed.
Well now, we do get a few cat calls in our local movie theaters when that commercial comes on.
But what do you expect in a theater thats 50% young Airborne Troopers from Ft Bragg. :-)
Its a service related thing - if a reader hasn't done it they would never really understand it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.