WAR: Mother of Slain Soldier Says his Life "Wasted" in Iraq

The insults and name-calling stops NOW.

Originally posted by soficrow

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

Give it up--we were duped into another corporate war and I knew as soon as left Viet Nam with our tail between our legs. Give it up.

[edit on 5-3-2005 by kazi]

You're incredibly ingnorant and you and those like you are wasting your lives because there is nothing more important than your life and your own self gratification.

Why don't you do the rest of us a favor and end it all, so you don't waste precious resources that can be used by those with some character and fortitude.

Kazi - I don't think you're ignorant.

Grady - there are two sides to this story, at least. ...My post above shows exactly what kind of freedom we gave the Iraqis - and what we took. Check it out.

Source

Grady, you're the only one name calling around here. Why don't you just shake hands with Kazi and make up like gentlemen. ...No harm done.


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[edit on 6-3-2005 by soficrow]

I have not found where I called anyone here a name. Certainly, I have used descriptive terms for the sentiments and attitudes expressed here. If an individual dislikes the terms that apply to that individual's attitude and character, then perhaps it is time to reconsider oneself and one's place in the universe.

Name calling is not the only form of insult and I have been insulted in this thread far more than anyone else, and what is worse the memory of PFC Daniel Anderson, who sacrificed his life for the ideal of liberty, has been dragged through the mud by those whose very breath is an egregious crime against humanity.

I don't know who made you, soficrow, the supreme judge of all things, but such is grossly missplaced, so limit your comments to the subject at hand and leave the moderating to the moderators. Some of us have lived long enough and experienced enough that we don't require validation from the immature and the pathologically grandiose.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

I don't know who made you, soficrow, the supreme judge of all things,

Hmmm. This thread seemed mainly to be pretty civilized - but Banshee posted a huge warning about name-calling. ...Yours was the last post and you called kazi "incredibly ignorant" I didn't see any other cause for the censure...?

Don't mean to step on anyone's toes, just wanted to enjoy the discussion.




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Here is the exchange in question:

Originally posted by kazi
Grady--I picture you with your wworn-out fatigue jacket standing in front of the mirror telling yourself what a hero you are. Give it up--we were duped into another corporate war and I knew as soon as left Viet Nam with our tail between our legs. Give it up.

[edit on 5-3-2005 by kazi]

You picture wrong so give it up. You're incredibly ingnorant and you and those like you are wasting your lives because there is nothing more important than your life and your own self gratification. We didn't leave Vietnam with our tails between our legs, we left because cowards and traitors like you turned our own country, especially the campuses, into riot zones.

Why don't you do the rest of us a favor and end it all, so you don't waste precious resources that can be used by those with some character and fortitude.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Kazi failed to read this exchange where I made it clear that I am not a hero nor do I present myself as such, so therefore he is ignorant of my position regarding heroism.

Originally posted by General Zapata
Every war since WWII the US has been involved in was a war of aggression, not of defence. You are not a hero, and you have been deceived.

Every war that has been fought by the US has been fought to defend either ourselves or those who have entered into a treaty with us for mutual defense.

I am not a hero.

It is you who is either decieved or willfully ignorant.

Kazi claims that the US left Vietnam with our "tail between our legs":

Give it up--we were duped into another corporate war and I knew as soon as left Viet Nam with our tail between our legs.

This indicates an ignorance of history. So you see, informing kazi that he is "incredibly ignorant" is a compassionate response and a gentle admonition to get his facts straight before puts his mouth in gear, so to speak. He is fortunate that he is beyond small arms range.

Well that was the discussion alright. ...If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't have posted a warning. ...A lot worse exchanges have gone down on other threads.

...But surely you see that most US military action is undertaken on behalf of corporate interests? ...or at least, that the goals are subject to debate, not cut and dried?

Especially this one in Iraq.

...before the fires from the “shock and awe” military onslaught were even extinguished, Bremer unleashed his shock therapy, pushing through more wrenching changes in one sweltering summer than the International Monetary Fund has managed to enact over three decades in Latin America.”

...In his first major act on the job, Bremer "fired 500,000 state workers, most of them soldiers, but also doctors, nurses, teachers, publishers, and printers. Next, he flung open the country’s borders to absolutely unrestricted imports: no tariffs, no duties, no inspections, no taxes. Iraq, Bremer declared was "open for business," "

Before the war, Iraq’s non-oil-related economy consisted of 200 state-owned companies, that produced everything from cement to paper to washing machines. In June, Bremer attended an economic summit in Jordan and announced that the firms would be privatized immediately. “Getting inefficient state enterprises into private hands,” he said, “is essential for Iraq’s economic recovery,"

In September, to entice investors to buy the state-owned companies, Bremer enacted a new set of laws. For example, Order 37 lowered Iraq’s corporate tax rate from roughly 40% to a flat 15%. Order 39 allowed foreign companies to own 100% of Iraqi assets outside of the natural-resource sector.

Investors could take 100% of the profits they made in Iraq out of the country. They would not be required to reinvest and would not be taxed. Under Order 39, they could sign leases and contracts that would last for forty years. Order 40 welcomed foreign banks to Iraq under the same favorable terms


Source

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So now what one person (in no position of authority) says qualifies as "news"...maybe if this was a majority opinion it would be news, but I see this as a fishing expedition of selective reporting that backs a certain reporter's preconceived point of view.

[edit on 3/5/2005 by djohnsto77]

Originally posted by djohnsto77
So now what one person says qualifies as "news"...maybe if this was a majority opinion it would be news, but I see this as a fishing expedition of selective reporting that backs a certain reporter's preconceived point of view.

The source was Associated Press (AP). ...An international news agency.

IMO - If it's good enough for the mainstream world press, it's good enough for ATSNN. Not that I don't LIKE alternate sources. I just know you guys would never let me slide any by as a main source.



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I don't know why in a capitalist system the presence of corporations creates such consternation. Yes, we have large corporations. Yes, our national interests include corporate interests. That's because we depend in no small measure on private business to provide for our needs, rather than government, as is the case in socialist states.

The vast majority of business in the US is small business and their interests are no less than those of big business. Who are the corporations? They are us. While many are privately held, many, very many, are publicly held and therefore can be owned by you and me. That's what the stock market is all about.

Annually, the US spends billions to help people around the globe in the form of foreign aid. Every now and again we have to bear up against belligerents around the globe who wish for our demise, but never have we enslaved or colonized a nation. For all our faults, the US has a profoundly good effect on the world.

It's okay for our enemies abroad to continually whine about our power and our interests, but when it comes from Americans it is all the more irritating because the complaints are never realistic. They always contain the same old crap that I have been listening to for several decades and every day some late adolescent pops onto the scene spouting the same old lies as though he was given his enlightenment by God.

Trust me. I have been around a long time and I have been listening to the promises of the left for no fewer than forty years and they were lies when I first heard them and they are lies still today. No promise ever made by the left has ever been realized.

The promise of America is that if you work real hard and do your best, you might make it big before you die. That's the best promise anyone can have. All the rest is crap.

[edit on 05/3/6 by GradyPhilpott]

I think Grady enjoy all the attention that his opinions in his post brings above, after all Grady is a man with education and he knows better than putting down people around.

Grady likes to be controversial.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

Originally posted by General Zapata
what liberty? civil rights in america are being eroded more and more and violated on a daily basis. If thats your liberty, I can tell you, I have not benefited from it.

Please tell us how your liberties have been eroded. How have your civil rights been violated? Don't tell us what you have read in the paper.

i'm not american, grady.

Originally posted by General Zapata
i'm not american, grady.

Good!

My 'favorites' list keeps telling me someone called 'romeo' is posting here - but nothing shows up. ...Anyone else see this?

I think it has something to do with ADVISOR's warning that he would warn x4 and GI anyone insulting Grady.

Not sure about that, Sofi, but it's the only thing I can figure...

I U2Ued ADVISOR about it, asking what the deal is..hopefully I'll get an answer.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne

warn x4 and GI anyone

Well, now that we're way off topic anyway - what the heck is "warn x4" and "GI"? Any idea?


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4 warnings topped off with a General Ignore cherry. It's a regular "your opinion don't mean squat" sundae. I hope there's more to the situation, still no response from ADVISOR...

I looked back at the preceeding pages, and I see no one sided insults. I see a lot of back and forth between myself and Grady, between oops and Grady, and between Zapata and Grady. I don't know what's going on, but I thought we were discussing here...

In any case, I think people need to show some respect for the grieving mother. I said it before, I'll say it again, she can do whatever she pleases, she can say whatever she pleases, she just lost her son. I feel for her, and think anybody rushing to judge her should take a good long look at their own principles, and how far they're willing to go to achieve their goals.

I'm sure she'd put some of our members in their place if they ever met in person. There's some things that are just off limits. Anybody with the balls to presume to tell her they cared about her son more than she did...whoa boy, they'd be in for a beating. She lost her son for christ's sake. Show a little respect, yaknow what I mean?

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
He is fortunate that he is beyond small arms range.

Nice! An overt threat of deadly violence. This is the sort of speech that is protected and encouraged by ATS?

I must have everything all upside down. I was under the impression there were rules that applied to EVERYONE.

I feel bad for the family of this brave soldier, I know he died for iraqi freedom. I think his family would have rather, if he had to die, die fighting to protect his own country his own kids or maybe that is just the way I wound feel.

[edit on 6-3-2005 by Kramthenothing]

Originally posted by Kramthenothing

I feel bad for the family of this brave soldier, I know he died for iraqi freedom. I think his family would have rather, if he had to die, die fighting to protect his own country his own kids or maybe that is just the way I wound feel.

Very thoughtful and compassionate Kramthenothing. Thank you.

I think the soldier might have thought he died for Iraqi freedom. I don't think he did though. ....International corporations picked up Iraq and Iraq business at fire sale prices - and now they've got their rights protected for 40 years or so. Not Iraqi freedom IMO.


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No one knows for sure what that soldier thought, for certain, but his mother indicated that he believed in his cause. Really, soficrow, only a communist would make such a fuss about corporations profiting from Iraq. The business of business is to make a profit and private industry is how we do things in the US. We just couldn't do anything without private contractors and it has never been any different in US history.

In WWII, Andrew Higgins is credited for actually winning WWII by many historians because of his boat and ship design and the output of his shipyard. Firearms were made, not only by firearms manufacturers, but others as well. Singer Sewing Machine retooled and made many, very many firearms.

In America, soficrow, business is how we do things and, contrary to your paranoid delusions, we are American business, whether we are workers, managers, small business owners, CEOs, stockholders, or some combination of these.

Wake up and smell the coffee, soficrow. America is not your enemy. At least, it won't be until your delusions push you beyond some legal limit.

By the way, in what third world country do you currently reside, or are you actually biting the hand that feeds you?