What a Difference 60 Years Makes
February 24th 2008 19:18
I recieved an email message with the subject "What a difference 60 years makes". I don't know who wrote it, or I would give them credit here, but this is the message (my response will follow):
I may be misunderstanding the intent here, but it sounds to me as if this author is insinuating that those of us who oppose the war are not patriotic. It also seems as if the author believes that Iraq was responsible for 9/11. I don't see it that way.
A group of terrorists, not a country, attacked the World Trade Center and The Pentagon on September 11, 2001. I agree, those terrorists are fanatic Muslims. What does that have to do with the war in Iraq? We attacked Iraq because they supposedly had weapons of mass destruction that they refused to get rid of. We had been demanding Saddam Hussein to disarm since the first Gulf War. He refused, or so we thought. (No WMD's were found.)
Our reasons for invading Iraq did not have anything to do with 9/11. Because of 9/11, we went to Afghanistan in search of Al Queda and Osama Bin Laden.
I fully support the "war on terror" and bringing those responsible for the 9/11 attacks to justice. The war in Iraq, however, is a different story.
Patriotic means "having or showing great love for one's country." Can I not show my love for my country by opposing a war I do not believe in? I don't believe this type of love must be unconditional. It doesn't mean I have to love the leaders of my country, or the decisions they make. It is BECAUSE I LOVE my COUNTRY that I oppose this WAR!
I don't think it is possible to WIN this war. We've already accomplished the goals we set out to accomplish. Saddam Hussein is dead. There are no weapons of mass destruction. There's a democraticly elected government in place. We're done. We won. Now we need to leave and let the Iraqi's learn to handle their own affairs. Advisors, yes, we should leave some there. A small force to protect the borders - sure, why not. But we have no business continuing to fight a war with the people of Iraq.
We haven't accomplished our mission in Afghanistan. We should be putting more focus there, where the terrorists are still strong.
One final thought: America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the mall. Didn't our president tell us to go shopping? (I, for one, will feel more like shopping when we bring our troops home!)
President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the
mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq. Bush's mistake came
in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in
WWII. It is not.
Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country
was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed
fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their
leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those leaders.
Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied
behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or
not or whether the war was going badly or not.
And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it
is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we
have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people
stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty as
Americans to put aside their differences in WWII and work together to
win that war.
Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in.
Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the
war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for
war bonds to help the effort.
Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition,
trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep
things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to
soap and butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining. You
never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President.
Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat actors and
entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile
countries and complain to them about our President. Instead, they made
upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And
a bunch even enlisted.
And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with
a Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops!
Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in
our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No
newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch
spies.
A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had
complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by
being forced to wear women's underwear, being subjected to interrogation
by a woman, being scared by a dog or that they did not have air
conditioning.
There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to
a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in
movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crackheads, dope pushers
and armed gangs roaming our streets.
No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism.
He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and
fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country
that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve.
It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra
and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our
attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would
require some sacrifices. And the majority went back to sleep.
We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe
that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to
Islam. It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred
million Muslims that are sympathetic to the terrorists cause...Hitler
and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits.
So...we either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing.
America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the mall.
mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq. Bush's mistake came
in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in
WWII. It is not.
Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country
was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed
leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those leaders.
Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied
behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or
not or whether the war was going badly or not.
And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it
is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we
have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people
stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty as
Americans to put aside their differences in WWII and work together to
win that war.
Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in.
Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the
war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for
war bonds to help the effort.
Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition,
trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep
soap and butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining. You
never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President.
Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat actors and
entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile
countries and complain to them about our President. Instead, they made
upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And
a bunch even enlisted.
And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with
a Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops!
Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in
our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No
newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch
spies.
A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had
complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by
being forced to wear women's underwear, being subjected to interrogation
by a woman, being scared by a dog or that they did not have air
conditioning.
There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to
a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in
movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crackheads, dope pushers
and armed gangs roaming our streets.
No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism.
He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and
fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country
that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve.
It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra
and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our
attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would
require some sacrifices. And the majority went back to sleep.
We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe
that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to
Islam. It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred
million Muslims that are sympathetic to the terrorists cause...Hitler
and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits.
So...we either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing.
America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the mall.
I may be misunderstanding the intent here, but it sounds to me as if this author is insinuating that those of us who oppose the war are not patriotic. It also seems as if the author believes that Iraq was responsible for 9/11. I don't see it that way.
A group of terrorists, not a country, attacked the World Trade Center and The Pentagon on September 11, 2001. I agree, those terrorists are fanatic Muslims. What does that have to do with the war in Iraq? We attacked Iraq because they supposedly had weapons of mass destruction that they refused to get rid of. We had been demanding Saddam Hussein to disarm since the first Gulf War. He refused, or so we thought. (No WMD's were found.)
Our reasons for invading Iraq did not have anything to do with 9/11. Because of 9/11, we went to Afghanistan in search of Al Queda and Osama Bin Laden.
I fully support the "war on terror" and bringing those responsible for the 9/11 attacks to justice. The war in Iraq, however, is a different story.
Patriotic means "having or showing great love for one's country." Can I not show my love for my country by opposing a war I do not believe in? I don't believe this type of love must be unconditional. It doesn't mean I have to love the leaders of my country, or the decisions they make. It is BECAUSE I LOVE my COUNTRY that I oppose this WAR!
I don't think it is possible to WIN this war. We've already accomplished the goals we set out to accomplish. Saddam Hussein is dead. There are no weapons of mass destruction. There's a democraticly elected government in place. We're done. We won. Now we need to leave and let the Iraqi's learn to handle their own affairs. Advisors, yes, we should leave some there. A small force to protect the borders - sure, why not. But we have no business continuing to fight a war with the people of Iraq.
We haven't accomplished our mission in Afghanistan. We should be putting more focus there, where the terrorists are still strong.
One final thought: America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the mall. Didn't our president tell us to go shopping? (I, for one, will feel more like shopping when we bring our troops home!)
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