Thursday, November 03, 2005

Rant

I'm really getting tired of people bashing the military. I hear so much on the news about "over 2000 casualties" so far in Iraq. The US lost 2000 alone on Omaha beach on D-day. Do these people actually think that the people of Iraq are less important than the people of FRANCE? What did France ever do for us? All they have ever done for the last 100 years is ask us for military help! Iraq had been oppressed since Saddam took power in 1979. And things were always going down hill, not getting better.

I think I know what the problem is. People in the US have become complacent. It seems the majority of this country thinks that if we just leave other countries alone, they will leave us alone. I guess they have forgotten what's been going on in this world since the 1983 Marine Barracks bombing. As far as I can tell, that was the first salvo in our current war. I guess we just didn't know we were at war until we got hit at home. And they tried once before 9/11 and we didn't get the point.

While I'm venting, let me talk about Ms Cindy Sheehan. Ms Sheehan's son Casey died in Iraq in 2004. He was an adult. He was 20 years old when he joined. He was capable of making his own decisions. Don't get me wrong. I feel for Ms Sheehan. I know it would hurt REALLY bad if my son were to die in combat. But I wouldn't try to use his honorable service against the country he died protecting. And what's Ms Sheehan's background, anyway? I can't find anything anywhere on the net about her. Yet she's the one that gets all the press. Her son Casey died a hero. She's using that to push her agenda.

Don't get me wrong. I support Ms Sheehan's right to voice her concerns. I spent 21 years defending her right to say what ever she wants to say. If I didn't, I'd be a hipocrite, because I'm voicing mine. But I think people should use a little common sense when they talk about people who died in Iraq. There is not one person on active duty today in the US military who did not volunteer to be in the military. There is no draft. I don't see one in the near future. It's too politically sensitive. I feel sorry that Ms Sheehan lost her son, but that's the price of freedom.

Just a few statistics. So far, 2040 military have died in Iraq since January 29th, 2002. That's 2040 people in 1374 days. Thats 1.484716 people per day. That's just a bit different from D-day.

Freedom isn't free.

0 comments: