Grim Milestone More Than A Number

Immigrants, Grandfathers, Newlyweds Make Ultimate Sacrifice

Published on September 7, 2004 By blogic In Politics

From CNN:

Their faces, smiling or solemn, have become all too familiar in newspapers and on television. The roster, a somber roll call -- Smith, Falaniko, Ramos, Lee -- seems to grow daily.

Now, 1,000 American military personnel have died in the Iraq war.

They are teens who went from senior proms to boot camp and battle and middle-aged men who put aside retirement and grandchildren for a war zone.

What does the number mean?

Conclusions of the 9-11 Commission:

No weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
No connection between Iraq and the 9-11 attacks.
No coordination between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.

Comments

sandy2

on Sep 07, 2004

I think it's horrible, and we shouldn't have gone to the war, but guess what, thats what happens in a war. Sorry to be blunt, but you go into a war expecting casualties. How about the more than 5,000 Iraqi civilians that died though? They didn't volunteer to enter the war.

ShoZan

on Sep 07, 2004

They didn't volunteer to enter the war.

Nor did the Iraqis who were killed by Saddam.

No weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

You know, how fast can someone find buried chemicals in a the middle of a big sandbox when the person hiding them had 20 years experience with hiding said chemicals, what all of sudden we were expecting to walk in and say "Oh you silly Saddam we caught you with your pants down, and uh look at what we have here weapons of mass destruction, silly Saddam"

1,000 is a terrible number, but last time I checked we are fighting a war on terror, and I can say most would have still gone even knowing they were going to die, because they do it not just for you and me, but to protect the United States of America, and even more than that "To Liberate the Oppressed" the translated motto of the United States Special Forces "De Oppresso Liber". Those 1,000 and others who have died in the service of the military shall and will always be remembered for having made the ultimate sacrifice.

Each soldier in Today's Military are volunteers, they chose to put their life on the line, they chose to go, they chose to sign up and join, they chose to fight and even if it meant dieing.
Could you make the same choice? I did, but was discharged for medical reasons (service related injury) after battling to stay in, and if I was asked by the military to come back and go to Iraq or to whatever place on the globe to the fight for the United States Military I would do it without hesitation.

Daiwa

on Sep 09, 2004

Well, darn.

I just spent two hours plus excerpting quotes from the 9/11 Commission refuting blogic's assertions and just after highlighting one last word to bold it, the whole freakin' thing went "poof" and disappeared when I hit the Bold button. Man, does that hurt or what.

I'll get back here & post the quotes again if I can, but anyone can read the report and find the documentation to support what I'm about to say:

1. We know Saddam had and had used WMD's. Whether later shown to flawed, there was also current intelligence suggesting that Saddam was actively seeking to reconstitute and expand his WMD capability. Even Kerry and Edwards believed that, based on the same intelligence.

2. No one, not President Bush or anyone in his administration, ever claimed there was a connection between Iraq and 9/11, so to say that "no connection" was proven is a specious argument.

3. There is well-documented evidence of connections between Saddam and Al-Qaeda and well-documented evidence of mutual interest, to the point of Saddam offering Al-Qaeda safe haven in Iraq. So, again, to say that no "coordination" was proven is specious, as "coordination" in the sense implied was never alleged.

These are the facts as laid out by the 9/11 Commission, blogic. The "conclusions," as you call them, are yours, not the Commission's.

What I see in reading the Commission Report is a President, in the midst of a chaotic and unprecedented set of circumstances, severely hampered by institutional obstacles put in place long before he arrived in office, sifting through the best evidence available given those obstacles, correctly identifying priorities, then making the difficult decisions to act on them forcefully and proactively to reduce the risk of any further 9/11's. In other words, doing his job. Eliminating Iraq as a potential safe haven for Al Qaeda (not to mention a potential source of aid, comfort and hardware) was, and remains, a legitimate part of that effort.

I'll do my best to get back with those quotes, but given the effort that went into the first time, that may not happen and maybe the best thing is to just suggest you read the full report yourself. You should anyway. And I'm now spent.

Cheers,
Daiwa

Texas Wahine

on Sep 09, 2004

but guess what, thats what happens in a war.

Not cool.

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