Now playing
The Patriot
Ashamed of his savagery during the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin decided he would sit out the American Revolution, while his oldest son Gabriel enlisted minutes after South Carolina joined the fight. He changes his mind when his house is burned down and one of his children is killed by the savage Green Dragoon commander Colonel Tavington. Quickly realizing that traditional 18th century warfare tactics won’t work, Martin organizes militiamen into a guerilla unit to harass Cornwallis’ army long enough to allow the French to arrive.
This movie is currently playing in Iraq. We are the Green Dragoons.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVOWUkXiN1I]
Pick an argument.
The equivalent in Iraq applies to the Shiites in the eyes of the Sunnis (The Sunnis are the insurgents).
AQ in Iraq fights us there, but last I checked, they were outside fighters with some recruitment inside the nation.
We are no Green Dragons. Love your country.
I love it. I don’t like that we are in a country that we have no business being in killing people we have no business killing.
Do you recall the French assistance in the Revolutionary war? That would be us.
I think the analogy holds up pretty well. An occupying force, by definition, has to employ a level of brutality that the occupied might find discomforting.
Are you saying the American forces are being brutal in Iraq?
I’m saying that, yes. I don’t know about Anon, but I don’t blame our guys. They have been put in an untenable position.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNxeynmRmnk
You must have skipped the class on statistics. A few bad apples in any organization should not taint the entity. I do blame those responsible for Abu G, regardless of the situation they were in (besides Abu G took place a while back, when support was still strong, so no excuses for the actions of those idiots).
That said, you’re fucked up if you think American troops are doing anything else other than helping their Iraqi brethren. We risk our lives everyday to open schools, rebuild businesses, rehab infrastructure, all while conducting combat ops to those wishing to disrupt the progress.
You’re better than that Jason. American troops are NOT brutal in any way shape or form! The American public knows it and supports them 100%.
“Do you recall the French assistance in the Revolutionary war? That would be us.”
Really? The Continental Congress formally requested French assistance against British. What local Iraqi resistance group asked us to assist them in the overthrow of Saddam? Who? And big oil doesn’t count.
“Are you saying the American forces are being brutal in Iraq?”
The invasion & occupation itself is a war crime. Any brutality our troops might engage in beyond that is merely icing on the cake.
Remember the phosphorous chemical bombs of Fallujah. Remember Abu Gharib, etc. And love your country by naming and resisting its crimes.
“What local Iraqi resistance group asked us to assist them in the overthrow of Saddam? Who? And big oil doesn’t count.”
Maybe some of the following individuals would like to have had a Continental Congress in Iraq, but never had the chance:
August 8, 1979 in History
Iraqi president Saddam Hussein executes 22 political opponents
and the rest of the story…
After the 1968 Ba’athist Coup, he began his career as Chief of Iraq’s security services, and he executed opponents and suspected potential rivals, including scores of high-level government officials and thousands of political prisoners. Since the 1970s, he escalated and made routine the systematic torture and execution of political prisoners. Saddam Hussein ordered the use of chemical weapons against Iranian forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and against Iraq’s Kurdish population in 1988. The 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war left 150,000 to 340,000 Iraqis and 450,000 to 730,000 Iranians dead. Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and destruction of Kuwait in 1990-91 with 1,000 Kuwaitis killed. Directed the 1991 bloody suppression of Kurdish and Shi’a insurgencies in northern and southern Iraq with at least 30,000 to 60,000 killed. he later ordered the destruction of southern marshes to extinguish the Shi’a insurgency.
Condensed version:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Saddam_Hussein's_Iraq
“Remember the phosphorous chemical bombs of Fallujah. Remember Abu Gharib, etc. And love your country by naming and resisting its crimes.”
Well then lets name them all Dana. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden, Tokyo, Midway, Phillipines, Guam, Saipan, Okinawa, numerous other pacific islands, Hawaii, Normandy, France, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Hungary, Austria, China, Burma, India, Libya, Turkey, Egypt, Monaco, Poland, Czechoslovakia…where else am I forgetting that our military has been….oh yeah. Korea, Vietnam, Siam, Cambodia, and Mexico (that was a while back).
Can you think of any other places the military has been…since that seems to constitute war crimes in your book.
Sorry the link didn’t fully paste on the previous entry. Here it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Saddam_Hussein%27s_Iraq
Since J seems to have first hand knowledge of what is happening in Iraq, mind if he tells us when, where and why he was there?
The only reason I ask, is because his interpretation is far different from the one I am hearing. The interpretation I hear from a soldier that just returned, is that the only two secure areas he saw, were the airport, and the Green zone. Everyone stays in those two zones. And if you want to live, you drive 100 mph between the two….That’s all.
“Can you think of any other places the military has been…since that seems to constitute war crimes in your book.”
I’m sorry. Did you notice that my criterion was the use of PHOSPHOROUS weapons, not as you put it in your caricature of my argument “places the military has been.”
Phosphorous is a prohibited chemical to be used in weapons under treaties the USA has signed. You might not like that fact, but the use of chemical weapons is a war crime. End of story.
“Maybe some of the following individuals would like to have had a Continental Congress in Iraq, but never had the chance”
Oh, in other words you couldn’t identify an indigenous group that asked us to invade and liberate them. You cite a bunch of victims, the latest of which occurred in 1991!, and ASSUME they wanted the USA to invade.
So we invaded in 2003 to avenge victims from 1991. You really don’t believe that bullshit, do you?
Here’s a thought: perhaps the Iraqis wanted to be rid of Saddam but they preferred him to us. JUST AS THEY FEEL NOW–90% of them, in fact:
http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20061229-101021-1168r
Try smoking that in your pipe of total disregard for the USA’s criminal invasion of Iraq.