Bondage Forums

‡Ellison‡

Futbol's post is an extremely important point that bears repeating. Kerry volunteered for the Naval Reserve, not the active Navy.

Ironic, isn't it, that the Kerry camp criticizes Bush for volunteering for a reserve component (i.e., Air Nationl Guard) when Kerry himself also volunteered for a reserve component? This is hypocrisy, pure and simple.

Speaking of hypocrisy, here's Kerry's ultimate hypocrisy. Kerry and his camp complain that the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth ( http://www.swiftvets.com/ ) are smearing his service. But Kerry, when he gave sworn congressional testimony in 1971, and in other statements, smeared the service of EVERY soldier who fought in Vietnam. Moreover, he claimed that attrocities committed by US soldiers "were not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command" (Kerry's own words in sworn congressional testimony). Kerry built his early political career by walking all over Vietnam vets. Please remember that when you go to the polls.

i have read first person accounts from vets who targeted mortar fire to a baby crying. and they find it fucking hard to live with. it was the only sound to locate the living in the zone everyone was supposedly warned to leave. so any living were assumed to be enemies. that is a 'free fire zone'.

the only problem is that peasants who get shot up by both sides still need to plant their rice and try to stay alive and they probably can't read the leaflet that might have been dropped near their village telling them to go away or get killed anyway. so they hide when each side comes, and each side murders some of them.

that is worthy of coming home and saying, 'HEY! we need to stop this!'

to come home and say that giving such orders is wrong is a GREAT thing to do.

and no, of course, i do not blame the soldiers. i do blame the ones who gave such orders.

to come home and say no one wants to be the last man who died for a mistake is also great. 'land war in asia' is a military aphorism for 'unwinnable'. but lots of people on all 4 sides, usa, north viet nam, south viet nam, and peasants who just belonged to their villages and truly no nation at all, died and were tortured and crippled and crazed. that war was an ugly loser and saying so was brave and right.

ben barnes, then the lt gov of texas is on videotape viewable at buzzflash apologizing for getting bush and a lot of other kids of the rich and powerful into the safe harbor of the texas national guard while the powerless got drafted and sent over to manage as best they could with sometimes unbearably cruel orders and a very very ugly loser of an ill conceived and poorly strategized war. barnes said when he visits the war memorial he is ashamed of himself.

why is all of this germane? bush did not go and hasn't got a clue. he is sending young men and women into situations almost as hopeless and horrible. kerry did go and has a clue. things are not very rosy in iraq or afghanistan. the 'easy' delusional wars of these men now in power who did not go are killing, torturing crippling and crazing a lot of people without achieving the avowed, and worthy, aim of making america safer from terrorism.

if we are going to send our sons and daughters to kill and die it needs to be for a very good reason and to achieve its aims. those who have served in combat are much more likely to be careful with the lives of those they command. the bush team talks about war like some video game! 'shock and awe'.

if the big lie had been true, if saddam was near to having nuclear weapons, that was enough reason. but it was a lie. not a mistake. a lie. and now we are stuck there. getting back out is not going to be easy, whoever is elected.

I am no Kerry fan, but a point that bears noting is in order. When someone receives a commission, it is rarely a "regular" commission (academy grads being the most notable exception.) The commission is as a "reserve" officer. Most officers can only become a "regular" after several years of satisfactory service as a "reserve" officer.

FP

Edited by - FlyingProf on 2004-08-29 22:23:19

I'm sure it is.

By the way Nixon sucked.
--
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