War has started...

[tyledras]

no, not really

[Ski]

nevermind then

[Miral]

*hugs to all the soldiers* Just come home, that's all we ask.

[crazy a]

Tyle---Perhaps Ski means people, especially these protesters, have a tendency to confuse or equate "opposing the WAR" with "opposing the TROOPS BEING THERE". They can be in protest marches all they want, but they may not be aware that it sends a mixed message to a troop in the desert. The troops in general aren't necessarily hearing "...oh, of course I support our men and women in uniform..."; what they ARE hearing is "protest march, protest march, protest march".

Or maybe Ski meant something different altogether. [img]wink.gif[/img]

[Ski]

No crazy thats pretty much it. thanks for the clarification. I'm just not good with words and getting my point across. need to work on that more I guess. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[AsIs]

What Bran said and keep your fool head down 'bird!

[Lulu]

I really don't get the impression- from people I've talked to (and I have been to a lot of demonstrations, sit ins and vigils at this point) that protesters in general are blaming the soldiers. The armed forces do their job to protect our country and safeguard it's interests. it's not the fault of individual soldiers that the military is being misused by our government. I really abhore Bush. He's doing everything he claims to be fighting against.

He's ignoring the UN and the security council- treating them as if they're invalid organizations.

Saddam Hussein is a bad guy, to be sure. He's an evil and unjust ruler. He's willing to sacrifice the welfare of his country and threaten innocent people just to control wealth and power. All the same, that doesn't give us the right to launch a preemptive war- He hasn't attacked us.

I don't see Bush doing this for anything other than personal gain- and I do feel it's criminal. He has oil interests. His cabinet has business interests in the defense industry. He is riding on an ultra right wing agenda.

In two years, he has turned a surplus budget into a 300 billion dollar deficit. Now he's investing in an unneccesary war while our economy is going bankrupt. He's supposedly "jumpstarting" the economy by giving tax cuts to the wealthy, while more and more people are out of work and losing their health care.

The public education system in California is taking major funding cuts because of this war- That means that kids (mainly poor kids, because the middle class families can afford to supplement) are losing their science, music and art classes, their tutoring, their extra-curricular activities. Teachers are being laid off during a time when we have a shortage of educators. And this is what we call "no child left behind?"

He's pilfering our natural resources with oil drilling. He's easing environmental restrictions on corporations that produce byproducts that contribute to global warming.

He's attacking our basic civil rights.

And we're so distracted by the fact that we are about to bomb another country that we don't have time or attention to address these pressing issues.

Bravo Bush for being so clever. What idiot ever let this guy and his cronies get their hands on weapons of mass destruction? They'd probably blow up the world if they stood to gain a red cent by it.

[AsIs]

*hugs Lulu*

Very well put.

I have a personal interest in this military action. My best friends son, a young man I admire a great deal is over there. For selfish reasons and the people I love, I dearly hope he comes home safe.

I hope all our soldiers and the innocents of Iraq survive this safely. I'm just not naive enough to believe it. *sigh*

'Bird, I truly hope you come home safe! I have more book recommendations for you. *hugs*

[bachelorette]

We in Brasil are making protests against the war.
But personally for me this is nonsense... We have enough war in the world why the heck one more. May god protect us all, because this war will affect everyone. May God protect both sides.

I?m shocked by the images of the bombs. As shocked as I was with the incident in 11 sept. I ask myself why the hell bush and saddam are shocked too.

[crazy a]

Demonstrations. Sit-ins. Yep. If everybody just sits down and sings "Give Peace a Chance" or walks around with a sign saying "AMERICA IS THE GREAT SATAN", maybe this and other wars will stop. Yep.

How about being in a march in support of the military? Marching against war doesn't accomplish anything. The show is gonna go on whether anybody likes it or not. Marching in support of the people in uniform is different. Contrary to popular belief, everybody in the military is not war-hungry. Everybody in the military is not eager to bust caps into a "gook"/"raghead"/whatever just to watch them die. It would be fair to say that there's plenty of people being sent over who don't believe in it. But they go. They do their job, not asking for anything in return except maybe a box of candy from home or a letter from a stranger that says "God bless you. We're thinking of you." The ones that don't want to be there have enough to worry about. They don't need ideas that everybody back home is marching and protesting against them.

You want to do something about the war? Try boosting the morale of the men and women actually over there. Let them know they are thought of and they will be welcomed home with open arms and not with anger and name-calling. Then, after it's all over, then you can get on Bush's case about education and the environment.

Rant OFF.

(By the way, for clarification, the above is not specifically directed at Lulu. I like Lulu. She made a post and I made a response. Nothing more should be read into it.)

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ March 20, 2003 05:25 PM: Message edited by: crazy a ]</font>