Children of a Lesser God?
Read Time:2 Minute, 43 Second
Six Hundred Fifty Two Thousand…..652,000…..652k
No matter how you write it, that is a large number. A very large number.
Keep that number in your head as you read the rest of the story.
Suppose a family member of yours, a sister or brother, became addicted to drugs of some sort. Doesn’t matter what drug, Meth..Heroin, whatever. Because of your love for that person, part of your family, wouldn’t you try to do anything in your power to save that person?
While you are intervening or voicing your strong opinion against that person’s choices, they may hate your guts, scream, try to physically harm you in some way. But your love for that person is the driving force for your decision.
If you didn’t give a damn about that person or actually disliked that person, you would just not even bother. Who gives a shit, let that person destroy themselves. Never liked them anyway.
It is because of your care and love, your concern for their future, that you make your decisions.
When I am voicing my opinions about the 2 wars over in Iraq and Afghanistan, expressing my strong disagreement about being over there, does that mean that I want harm to come to any of our soldiers in the field? NO! 2 letters, one word. NO!
And I resent anybody, and I mean fucking anybody, saying that I am Anti-American.
There is only 2 things that I would give my life for in a second, that is my family and the DEFENSE of this country. Notice I said defense of country, I didn’t say an illegal war started by criminals and profiteers! Jus ad bellum.
Oh, that number? The one above?….652,000?…is a LOW estimate of the deaths that we have caused over there. How many children is that? How many grieving Fathers and Mothers is that? Do you think that a “Oops sorry, we thought there was some WMD’S over here.” is going to comfort them?
Let’s just keep THOSE people out of sight and mind to make it a little more palatable. Somehow make them not worthy of living in some way. Just a bunch of extremists anyway. Crazies. Especially that Iran…
One of the major reasons that Obama was elected was to get us the hell out of those wars. He has failed at that miserably. Troop reduction in Iraq is being replaced by private “soldiers” and corporate “bodyguards” at the same rate. He has actually increased the war in Afghanistan. Failed! Failed! Failed! We have CREATED more terrorists from our actions than EVER was there when this mess started.
You DO NOT win the hearts and minds of anybody by torture,kidnappings,murder,and depleted uranium. CHANGE, and not the Obama kind of change, has to come about for the sake of our country. Today, it’s us against the Middle East. When it gets to be us against the world, guess who’s going to win that one?
Oh, and the day that someone is able to convince me that “war is just war” is the day I want somebody to put me out of my apathetic misery! No matter who that someone is, wide eyed Liberal OR narrow eyed Conservative!
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I totally agree with you on this Krell, I don’t think you are a “my country right or wrong” guy, but a patriot calling tragic events what they are. Believe me, if I disagreed with you 1000%, it would still be a priority to get this post out there and any others like it.
Thank you, Holte
Krell,
great post, absolutely right on all counts.I occasionally get “How can you hate your own country” type of comments from work. When one of them suggests I go back where I came from I can only laugh.
Kudos to Mike as well.
Thx my friend….
There is something that I have to mention on this. I know that Mike and I disagree with the current WikiLeaks thing and some of the things that I have posted recently. In fact, some of his comments after the last post I did really got me pissed off.
But in spite of that disagreement, Mike did several “link shares” on the post and continued to send the post out there so other people could read it.
When I did this post, I had it finished and had scheduled it to run on Sunday not on Saturday because Saturday was the Music theme.
I noticed that the post had already been read and helped out by some more relevant tags, etc. That is spite of some subtle (or maybe not so subtle) jabs Mike’s way. It had to have been Mike that did that editing.
Mike took the high road of integrity on this. He didn’t have to do the extra effort at all. In fact, he could have killed this post before it even came out. I commend him on that. He definitely “walks the walk” not just the talk.
I wonder if I would’ve been able to do the same thing.
I’m not sure there was any disagreement my friend, at least not in principle. I hate war. There is nothing I hate more than war. I just hold a different view as to its necessary evil. I want us the hell out of Afghanistan yesterday, but understand why we are there. The president never campaigned on a “get out of Afghanistan platform.” On the contrary he knew it to be the forgotten war and emphasized on more than one occasion the need to take care of business there before it’s too late. I will bide my time and hold my peace until such time as I see the mission FUBAR.
As to your post I consider it brilliant and I noticed the occasional jab but you are entitled to your opinion as is any writer with whom I have the pleasure of working.
I’m probably just obsessing over this stuff too much. I do appreciate the opportunity that you give to writers to speak out. About whatever is in their thoughts.
Hey, Cat butts to the Cosmos..the next great adventure!
LOL! Cat butts and the cosmos. What a great combination 🙂
Hey- at least one of us is an expert on those subjects. Guess which one?
No guesswork needed there MH 🙂
Krell, good job.
IMHO, those of us who don’t support these wars, who NEVER supported these wars, and who ALWAYS suspected it was a crock of shit, be it WMD or “liberation”, are the only ones who ever WERE supporting the troops. Supporting the troops is not going to war based on false pretenses and then dragging said wars out forever. Supporting the troops is giving them the equipment they need to wage such a war, if they have to go in the first place, but those little yellow stickers, made in China, on the backs of Hondas while simultaneously sporting “american flag” stickers, also made in China, is a big fat crock of bull.
That is absolutely it Bee. No parent wants their child to go to war, unless it is the only option. Our presence in those countries just made that option more appealing to Afghani and Iraqi parents.
We are bankrupting ourselves to drag out a conflict that is creating more enemies and ill will for our country. When troops come home so disillusioned and disturbed that 1 of 5 suicides in this country is a veteran, then I hardly think we are “supporting them” in any case.
We share the same viewpoint on that Bee. Keep the soldiers out of harms way by getting them the hell out of there as quick as possible.
Make sure that ANY of them, when they get back, get all the education, support, or medical treatment they need and deserve. PTSD or whatever. No red tape, no bullshit, and no bumper stickers.
I would love to know the unstated reason for not just pulling out of Afghanistan now. I simply have to believe it is something. Polling has shown that a majority of Americans are in favor of leaving Afghanistan to the Afghanistans. (Correct me if I am wrong on that). So it’s not a political reason that we are still there. I just can’t believe that Obama has decided to keep us there and increase our presence at great cost to life and treasure for ridiculous reasons. But if there are any good reasons to be there, they’re lost on me.
I saw something recently about a treasure trove of natural resources. Reckon that might be it?
That’s right. And they have known about that for years. But could that possibly make up for what we have spent to be there, and how long we would have to be there to insure security for mining operations? I can’t say I know.
I pimp this book out whenever I can, Three cups of tea by Greg Mortensen. This is what we should do over there, and get to rebuilding our own damn country. He doesn’t say that last part, that is me. Oh and the 650k, is a really low estimate IMO. Love this article, you have said things I say all the time.
It’s always been an illegal war – the Brits went with American forces cause we always do – can’t blame the troops – it’s the politicians…maybe Blair will get his soon? Don’t hold your breath….