BS: Not forf the faint of heart

Subject: BS: Not forf the faint of heart
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 06:35 PM

Joan Ryan

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Not forf the faint of heart
From: mack/misophist
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 08:04 PM

Every war, even just and necessary wars - which this is not - is like that. In one case it's "Dulce et decorum pro patria more est.", in the other, it's "You poor bastard." It is good, though, for the people to know the cost of their votes.

Subject: RE: BS: Not forf the faint of heart
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 09:14 PM

Yes, every war is like that, and that is why wars should not be undertaken when they are not absolutely necessary, in other words, when you are being invaded and attacked by someone. The Iraqis face that kind of a war. The USA never has faced such a war since December 1941.

911 was not an act of war by a nation against another nation, it was a criminal act by a small secret paramilitary group. As such, it was an international police and intelligence matter...not a valid excuse to militarily attack either Afghanistan or Iraq. And it was merely that...a convenient excuse...in order to do what Mr Bush's people wanted to do regardless. Iraq was always the target they had in mind, since long before 911.

Subject: RE: BS: Not forf the faint of heart
From: Amos
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 09:28 PM

Excerpted from Joan Ryan klink above:

And publications that do show wounded or dead soldiers are inevitably accused of being unpatriotic. They are not supporting the war effort. What would happen, the accusers say, if Americans had seen the horror of D-Day? Some realities, they say, should stay in the bunkers and the MASH units. If you regularly printed graphic photos of wounded and dead soldiers, no one would ever enlist. Who would fight our wars?

Maybe nobody, forcing us finally to tap into the world's best and brightest to determine ways of achieving our goals without using lives and body parts as currency.

I wish every newspaper in America could have run the New England Journal of Medicine photos next to Rumsfeld's mug shot on the day he shot off his mouth. It would have ruined some breakfasts, yes. But when our soldiers are dying horrible deaths and surviving unspeakable wounds, the least we can do is bear witness.

E-mail Joan Ryan at [e-mail].


A

Subject: RE: BS: Not forf the faint of heart
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 11:05 AM

We should all keep working for the day when the referenced article has become part of the history lesson: How and why we stopped war. Thank you Bev and Jerry -- and Joan Ryan, and the New England Journal of Medicine. "...When will we ever learn? Oh, when will we ever learn?????"    Tw

Subject: RE: BS: Not forf the faint of heart
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 11:34 AM

They didn't publish pictures like this, or (click on the thumbnails) these, or the first picture here, or the famous "Life" photos?

No -- in fact, the US military put a ban on publishing photos of US dead during WW2 to help keep up morale at home. Frankly, modern folks are too squeamish for the truth of war and killing -- unless you're a cop,or a firefighter, or an EMT, or a nurse, or in the military.

Or in Graves Registration.