Do you know the truth?

[BFG]

The nature of stopping terrorists is to stop the problem at the source, which is the education of people and their believes - and their right to force those believes on others.

Well Ara however much my posts have seemed critical of you or derogatory I just hope it all goes well for you. Good luck with the training, don't let them change who you are, let it only make you stronger. I hope you do yourself proud, doing what you believe in and standing up against what you believe is wrong.

Oh and every action causes a  reaction.

And from what i hear it might be worth brushing up on your Iranian

[SanitarySal]

It is sad to think aramath that you are a history major (and presumably will be teaching this to others someday) yet you study such a one-sided skewed version of history.

You are mistaken about a great many things.   You know very little about the truth from Iraq because your only sources are the very "liberal" media which claim is not trusthworthy.   Go figure!   The United States was equally responsibile for the polticial oppression of Iraqis as was Saddam Hussein himself.  Why?  Because they supported and encourage antoagnoists within the government to try to overthrow and assassinate their president.  When you are the leader of a country, that is constantly under attack, under threeat, under infiltration by Israeli and American forces...the treatment of those caught as dissidents becomes more extreme.

The war in Iraq was unjust, not because of the WMD lie, it was unjust because our world leaders (Democrats and Republicans) alike, failed to attempt ANY diplomacy.   Put more simply, THEY DIDNT TRY TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE WITH SADDAM.   They used an ancient Imperialistic doctrine which was shared by both republicans and democrats "Diplomacy backed by military force".   Our way or the hiway.   Now Saddam couldnt do much in those regards.   THe Americans Media (You know the liberal media you dont trust) they would not give Saddam a fare shake inthe press, or allow him an american audience, because the Press is Pro-Israel.   The Baath party opposed Israel.   Point is the war was unjust because no one in our government ever made any attempt to seek a peaceful resolution because the aggressive approach was going to be much more profitable and compelling to the American people.  Never mind the Americans we lost just to put Saddam (perhaps temporarily)behind bars.

You as well as several other who try to discuss foreign policy on here are brainwashed.  Let me explain.


A - You apply a double-standard to fact-checking.   You only question those things which are contrary to what you already think you know, when you should also be checking the things you have already accepted as reality (ie Saddam was Evil or America doesnt oppress people politically).

B - You apply a double standard to your sources.   You complain of liberal American media, yet that apparently is your only source.   You have never been to Iraq but 'THINK' you know what life was like there.   Or Think you know what the people want there.   THe people we "liberated' now hate us.   About %80 of them hate us, and want us out.   Before Iraqis actually liked america, even when Saddam was president.   They liked American culture, ideology, economics etc...  however they did not appreciate two things....  the Sanctions (which prevented them from rightfully benefitting from their natural resources)and our support for Israel in the occupation of Palestine.  They didnt hate america for those two things, but but surely put a sour taste in most Iraqis mouths.   Today, after we have slaughtered thousands of people not just the Iraqi freedom fighters, but also innocent families, children, parents who got caughtup in the middle or cluster bombed.

You need to figure out what it is your dont like about American media.  You call it liberal.   Why are they liberal?   You need to find that out.   The answer isn't that hard to find.  Once you start digging (perhaps once you become a little more experienced in life) you will realize each news organization has an agenda of its own.   some call it a hidden agenda, and to be honest their agenda is completely seperate from the government (rep and Dem), often they work together.  There is a root cause for the corrupt media in this country, and if you try to simplify it by saying it is liberal, you have not yet dug deep enough.

C - You are also brainwashed because you have not taken the time to try to understand the perspective of people throughout the world.   That means traveling abroad, before you go toting a gun abroad.  Have you ever been to the middle east, to a muslim country, to asia, to Western Europe, Eastern Europ, Central America where people have different views?   If you havnt traveled you have not been exposed sifficiently to other cultures and beleifs.  If you did, you might decide that the people THE MEDIA, tells you are horrible people, arent so bad afterall.  *again you hate the liberal media, but when they tell you muslims are horrible you fall right in line.

D - Probably the biggest indicator that someone is brainwashed, is they become HOSTILE when they hear something that contradicts what they "THINK" they know as a fact.   For example you became hostile in this very thread and started name caliing  "Spetsnaz. He is the first moron"   and again hostile when you implied BFG was illiterate "if you could read,"   or when you said to snipe "I must question your reading skills."   The thing is Spetsnaz had a very valid point that you completely closed your mind too, which is there are many ways to service ones country even in the government you have the State Department, CIA active in Iraq.   Are you saying the American woman State Department employee I met two weeks ago who lost her arm in a rocket attack in Iraq wasn't servicing her country as much as a soldier who carries a rifle and follows orders blindly (like so many soldiers I saw while I was in Iraq)?   In my opinion sh e was more brav than any soldier because she went into a hostile environment armed only with her wits.  That is true bravery, and her positive attitude which remains despite the sacrafice of her arm is a testament to TRUE American character, not some bullshit psuedo-patriotism.   How insulting to your own Americans to imply the only way to service your country is militarily.   YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!   Face it, enlisting in the military is for people who arent smart enough to serve their country in a way utilzing their brain, therefore the army  provides them a rifle so they can use braun.   I know many people, hundreds who are true patriots, who serve their country in ways you never thought of, and it wasnt by carrying a rifle.

It seems to me are you are confused.   You don't understand your own world let alone one that is 7000 miles away.   You played too many video games, watched too much (liberal) hollywood, and watched too much (liberal) american Television and that is how you became brainwashed.

"Question Authority"  those two words are the keys to overcoming your brainwashing.

Question the medias authority.
Question your governments Authority.
Anyone purporting to be an Authority, Question that Authority.  That doesnt mean oppose it, it means just to question it.  You will find alot of frauds if you do that.


...fuck it, I will tell you the truth about war and why it sucks.   I saw people die and it wasnt that hard to stomach.   Once you have seen one dead body burnt to a crisp to a point where the skin has cracked and blood is pooling out of those charred cracks, you have seen them all.  Harder to stomach is seeing injustice, which is rampant now that our military is in Iraq.  As long as it doesnt happen to me...it is alot easier to live with.   But the absolute worst thing about being in a war zone....  it is not the fear.  The fear could be paralyzing.   It gripped me on more than occasion and I saw it absolutely paralyze soldiers.   I saw them crying, bawling,  uncontrallably in fear, pure fear of death.  Bawling at the site of a fallen comrad killed in a IED attack, not because they felt for her, but because they feared and knew the same could very easily happen to them.  But that isnt the worst thing...
The hardest part about war is that there is no intimate contact (sex) with your girlfriend or wife . The though "why am I here when I could be at home fucking my girlfriend who loves me"
  If you aren't sexually active anyway you probably won't have any trouble...I was only there for three months and I nearly died.   It was like a feeling of starvation that could not be satisfied.   And you should have seen how the lack of sex impacted the others.  I only had three months, they had a year.  I tell you....some of those soldiers DID NOT wait to get home.   Do You know what I mean?

[*DAMN Hazard]

All political views aside I wish you a safe tour Aramath. Hopefully you can return and enlighten us about what its really like. I think it would be a more valid source compared to reading it off a website or judging it from across an ocean.

Once again good luck and come home safe.

[Aramarth]

Sal, reading this makes me think you are writing about someone else. I do not see a single fact in your post that I did not know, especially the parts about checking my facts. Did you confuse someone else's post with mine?

A - You got an example of something I have not questioned?

B - How is liberal media my only source.. when I started a thread written by a pro-war army ltcol? Here is a fact for you: I did not use the phrase 'liberal media' in this entire thread, till now. America does have a conservative media outlet, named FOX. FOX is merely an arm of the Republican party, and I know this because I can tell that they are bullshitting me whenever I am unfortunate enough to be in the same room as a TV with FOX on. Who in heck do you think you are writing to, because you obviously have me confused with someone else.

Someone else help me here, is it just me, or did this guy just completely see everything I am saying and doing backwards? Does he have me confused with ghostsniper or something?

C - I never cheered at the claim muslims are horrible. I do not think they are. Who do you have me confused with? My roommate here in college is from India, even at the most domestic level I have opened my mind to international opinion. Who are you confusing me with?

D - I asked people if they could read, because they made statements which showed that they had not. If I say that I have a cat, and then BFG or whomever replies with "you have no cat," guess what, I am gonna question if they can read. The hostility toward spetz was because it appeared that he was claiming vets, thats people like you, didn't sacrifice anything. Your pardon if I ask what on earth you mean? You just got finished saying how much you went through. Who are you confusing me with?

You played too many video games, watched too much (liberal) hollywood, and watched too much (liberal) american Television and that is how you became brainwashed.

What? I don't even have words for that. Hollywood cannot have brainwashed me, because I view what it says skeptically. Who in the heck are you confusing me with?

I have got to ask now if you can read. Someone, please, are you seeing this? He is accusing me of not doing everything I tried to encourage others toward in this thread... How can I be a mindless liberal and a mindless conservative at the same time? Does what he wrote make sense to anyone?

[Aramarth]

President Bush makes our nation look foolish. He is a nightmare.

...

Why did I bother to write this? I felt that I was being labeled a conservative. America deserves some blame, nay, a good deal. I'd like Bush to own up to that before he leaves, so the nation can move on.

...

Cool spetz. Your text was misinterpreted, and I appreciate it. Freaking forums just don't communicate tone properly.

Did you read this post sal? Yes, I know why we went to Iraq and why it was wrong. A few hours before you posted, I said that, in so many words. You have me all wrong.

Face it, enlisting in the military is for people who arent smart enough to serve their country in a way utilzing their brain, therefore the army  provides them a rifle so they can use braun.   I know many people, hundreds who are true patriots, who serve their country in ways you never thought of, and it wasnt by carrying a rifle.

My MOS is to use my brain, not combat arms. I scored so freaking high on the ASVAB that they had the recruiter make a special trip, to ask me about a different job that could use my head (I was originally joining to be a airfield fireman). I am attending Virginia Tech, got a 1320 on the SAT, and it was only that low because my geometry was years neglected. People just don't come more mentally capable. I was the kid in courses who answered a question, only to have every member of the class turn their heads to ask how I knew that. High school lectures stopped while I shared an insight with the teacher, the class around us listening in dead silence. I've spent hours upon hours thinking about things, I do not express an opinion unless I've checked all the angles. You talk to anyone who knows me. I said in one of my first posts of this thread that I did not sign up to enforce any idea of the administration, I signed up to serve.
Who are you confusing me with? If you and I knew each other personally Sal, you would realize that you just performed the equivalent of walking up to the face of Howard Taft and calling him too thin. (History lesson: Howard Taft got stuck in the presidential bathtub during his presidency.)



P.S. I feel like crap after writing the above. I feel like I am bragging. However, I typed all that because each and every statement was made to me by others. It is biographical, not autobiographical.

[SanitarySal]

Then maybe I have you wrong.  The article you linked to however was extremely biased and presented several assumptions as fact, when they are much more debatable than that.   I'm going to read that article again, and  take a closer look at it.

My first advice is strike the word "moron" (and others like it) from your vocubalary, those kind things only discredit you.

[Aramarth]

'Moron' and other such name-calling references are not personal, nor are they an expression beyond mere annoyance. It is a habit one picks up in college, though I water it down quite a bit.