Hmm.
That's quite a package deal, Olie.
I have great respect for A LOT of the people who serve in the military... my father was career Army -he served in Viet Nam- and my uncle also served in Viet Nam.
And I have the utmost respect, in particular, for the Veterans of WWII.
I tend to think or BELIEVE that a large percentage -HOPEFULLY the majority- of people serving in the military are good people who fit the profile of people who are risking their lives for freedom, the rest of us, etc.
Unfortunately, it is clear that there are A LOT of bad apples out there. I like to think they're a small amount... but there's some really disturbing evidence to the contrary. I recall recently (past couple weeks) seeing a survey indicating a shockingly large amount of soldiers (40%?) indicating that non-combatant civilians don't necessarily deserve to be treated with dignity, and a large percentage of soldiers indicating they'd help cover up atrocities done by fellow soldiers.
I come from a military/police family. And I know a lot of things that are well-known to others from such backrounds. The sad truth is that, while there are a lot of truly wonderful & exceptional people who are risking their all for freedom, apple pie, etc... while a lot of people in the military represent the best of us... there are a lot of people who represent the worst of us -to be sure.
Saying this won't win me points in a popularity contest... but it needs to be said.
I'm not at all convinced we're living in the greatest country in the world... at one point in my life, this was arguably the case... it certainly is NOT the case now. We are certainly living in one of the most deluded countries in the world.
I tend to BELIEVE that the majority of people serving in the military now genuinely believe they are fighting for freedom... but, while they're over there fighting for freedom or whatever they're actually doing... freedome is being dismantled as we speak... as you read this.
I consider the President and our political leadership to be an INFINITELY greater threat to freedom than Al-Quida. This is NOT to say I don't consider them a threat... I DO. It's simply to say that the threat from Al-Quida pales in comparison the the threat imposed by the like of the traitors that are currently in political power in our country. Their list of transgressions is as long and well-known as it is obvious.
The two fastest growing industries in this country are the prison industry and the debt industry. Why doesn't our government do anything about it? Well, amoung other things, because it has a vested interest in it... it profits from it.
For decades, the American government has spend as much or more money trying to imprison people like me and Bill and Flax and MANY OTHERS for excercising our rights... to smoke a little pot, for example. I currently can't do this anymore... but that's not the point. When George Bush talks about freedom he's a disingenuous little scum-sucking weasel. He's a liar. George Bush has done more -INFINITELY MORE- to harm freedom than Osama Bin Laden did -or ever could do. Osama's victory(ies) can only come through the default of American leaders... who for decades have been more worried about depriving harmless smokers of their rights, and imprisoning productive patriotic citizens in jail -than in protecting them and everybody else from the likes of Al Quida.
I'm scared of Osama Bin Laden... but just a little. I'm VERY SCARED of George Bush -and Hillary Clinton as well... THEY'RE the ones who have screwed up this country. They -and their ideology- are responsible for bringing things to this point.
If all the money and resources wasted on putting pot-smokers in jail was spent on actually protecting freedom and American lives, and if the U.S. wasn't complicit and directly responsible for well-known mass scale violations of human rights in the Middle East (and all over the world) we wouldn't be dealing with all this right now. This is the chickens coming home to roost.
Remember the Iranian Hostage crisis? I do. It started because the CIA had been propping up the Shah of Iran... for some time. Our country was responsible for sending the CIA over there to teach his cronies how to torture and terrorize the people, and keep them in line.
The Iranian people knew this. Even if Americans CHOOSE to be oblivious. And we've been doing this for decades, all over the world... in Iran, Iraq, Angola, Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua, El Salvadore... just to name a few.
And the U.S. is (obviously) highly involved and complicit in the pervasive and gross atrocities committed by Israel. Again, this is common knowledge, and plain fact.
Can anyone blame the Iranians for their response? How? On what grounds? The fact is, America was largely responsible for their Islamic Revolution.
And we all know we were ARMING SADDAM. The crimes he was eventually hung for... they were committed while he was our boy. Again, this is plain fact, as undeniable as the sun in the sky. The fact is, there is a long list of Americans who deserved (and still do deserve) to be hung with him.
It gives me NO PLEASURE to say this. But it needs to be said -as much, if not more, than plattitudes about supporting the military.
WE ARE RESPONSIBLE for what's happened over there. We are responsible for 9/11. We brought it on ourselves. We made it inevitible. It came as no surprise when I saw it on TV. The thing I remember feeling is surprise that it took so long.
And it is equally inevitible that there will be more... a lot more... until we identify and address the policies that are responsible for these things.
I also must take issue with your characterization of people burning the American flag as unthinking and ungrateful.
It is certainly possible (and likely) that SOME people fall into this category. But I know plenty of people who support it in principle as a protected form of free expression, and also as a way of drawing attention to the horrible atrocities committed by the American government. Unthinking and ungrateful? No, that is not necessarily the case. I would have to say that my experience is the opposite extreme. I've met two people that have burned flags, and they were both extremely intelligent and patriotic people. They were NOT in any way unthinking, nor ungrateful.
It is important that we all respect the sacrifices of people who risk their all to protect freedom; but it is AT LEAST AS important that we respect people and efforts that PREVENT the needless sacrifice of these people.
If there were more people burning flags -for the right reasons- and more people engaging in intelligent discourse about the many valid reasons for burning the flag... maybe our military personel wouldn't have even been their wasting their lives in the first place.
It's all such a needless waste. Their sacrifices are so totally needless. That is the great tradgedy.
Let's make sure we strive to become and/or continue to be conscious... so that we can minimize future tradgedies.
Take care, folks, I wish you all the best.
And to all the well-meaning folks in the military... you DO have my utmost respect and support. But even more, you have my resolve that I don't want to see you dying and sacrificing pointlessly -because of obliviousness and stupidity on the part of our people and our leaders.
