I do just hope to all Heaven and Beyond that we can get some health insurance around here. I was stupid and desperate, and continue to be. I’m sorry. I said some idiotic and mean things and I wasn’t smart. I care about my family member and I’m very, very mad that I don’t have the resources to help him.

I apologize again. The things I said were angry, and I’m just frustrated and stupid angry about my close family member’s condition.

I did all the things we are supposed to do to prevent the war…voted, wrote letters, campaigned for the candidate of my choice, spoke in person to one of my senators. None of it made one bit of difference. I did not want this war to happen. But that does not mean that I do not respect the sacrifices made by our volunteer servicemen and women. The biggest sacrifice is that they are doing this in obscurity. What does our president tell us to do when the going gets tough…go shopping. He is clueless that he is the source of many of the problems that exist in this country right now.
We are weaker economically, militarily, and in our diplomatic strength than we were when he entered office. We are more vulnerable to terrorism, because the number of terrorists has grown, and their hate for the U.S. has increased because of our actions.
I am sorry you are so angry. But we went to war as a nation. We have a responsiblity, as a nation, to be aware of the actions of our country, and the price being paid by such a small number.

Maybe if we stopped focusing on the good guys and the bad guys, and started looking more clearly at the reality of the world, we could work more effectively towards peace. But that will not happen with this president.

Just stop it already. If you want change, get active. This isn’t rocket science. Stop crying on national public radio and go to the supermarkets, where people are paying out the kazoo for corn. Or go to the “discount” clinics, where people are paying upwards of $180 for the privilege to see a doctor.

You want to talk about dead Americans? We don’t have to go to Iraq to be outraged about that. We only have to go to these message boards. This is some of the most idiotic stuff I’ve ever read. You people are dead. You should just be ashamed.

Of course this is true.

With all due respect, truth and righteousness are both illusions. I am not going to get all philosophical, but those two things are strictly personal. What one person believes is true, the other may not. Same with being right and wrong.

But, as long as there are people in this world, who believe that war is a necessity, we will continue to have wars.

You can call me naive, but I believe in a world without a war. I believe that humans will evolve and live in a world where war is not a necessity. I am not saying a world without conflict. I am saying a world without war. And we don’t have to agree on this.

But we’re getting off topic.

Thank you

Jane: you really need to go easy on the Voice & Articulation in the way you speak.

Its not ‘Ho-ua-hat’ its ‘W-hat’.
Its not ‘Hu-ua-ay’ its ‘W-ay’.

The over-enunciation really makes me want to barf. You wonder why people make fun of NPR (or ‘WPR’; White People Radio), and its this exactly the reason.

Relax a little…

thanks, Stefan in Montreal

1. A clear picture of why the military wouldn’t want these images published and I think their concerns while possibly over-stated are reasonable

2. A feeling that their concerns probably had led to an overly severe policy which came from a better safe than sorry mentality and should be lightened.

Of course this is true.

For us to enjoy our way of life, we must continue to demonstrate that we can carry out a war, and that we have the capacity to generate war.

In general, it is the most warlike societies that survive and or thrive. But what is not talked about so much is that the reasons for war are always more abstract that what is commonly held to be true. We are all witness to the collapse of the WMD cover story, yet the war continues. Armies need to war. For us to enjoy our way of life, we must continue to not only demonstrate that we can carry out a war, but we must also have the dexterity to start a war and shape the perceptions that the common person has vis a vis “just war.”

As much as I hate war, I agree with this comment.
If everyone could be reasoned with and convinced about the ‘right’ way, we wouldn’t need wars; nor law enforcement nor jails nor locks on my door

The sanitizing of a war is part of a larger strategy called “manufacturing consent,” a technique of social control based on the irony that a government’s own populace is potentially its greatest threat. As for why the public seems apathetic about the war, with more interest in Michael Phelps’s gold medals than the catastrophe of Iraq, the Romans had a phrase that summarized their rule: “bread and circus” (i.e., allow people to obtain daily sustenance while distracting them with entertainment so that they don’t become organized for their own self-interest). It’s clear that the Bush administration follows a long line of authoritarian–style (if not openly fascist) governments in effectively using this strategy.

Most of the U.S. populace wants an end to this war, but if their only recourse is a group of supine Democrats who have given in continuously to President Bush’s demands for extending the war, then what’s the wonder they feel apathetic?

The Los Angeles Times has a war photograph on its front page (8/12/08). It depicts a soldier dead on the ground. Quite graphic.

Iraq you think? No. It’s a picture of the war in the former Soviet Georgia.

So much for fair and balanced reporting.

Cheers.

If the US is so Orwellian, I propose journalists leave the safety of the army imbeds and independently cover the conflict. There are stringers also who cover the conflict and some who have even been arrested for collaborating with the enemy.

I hope I have misunderstood your comment.
But, in case I didn’t, how about learning from history to avoid mistakes made in the past and avoid human cost and sacrifice associated with all and every war?

How about evolving into human beings where war is not a necessity? Where people – humans, whatever their nationality, political views, age, soldiers, children, contractors, women, etc do not have to die in order to resolve a conflict.

On another note, if showing a death of a husband, child, sibling, a loved one on TV or seeing it in a newspaper allowed for one less person to die, I would endure such personal sacrifice, knowing that not only their life was not in vain, that they sacrificed themselves for others, but also their death was not in vain. If showing such imagery helped one more person, allowed one more person to live, such knowledge, I think, would allow families to endure the pain of seeing their death on national tv and major newspapers.

Thank you

Everyday I listened to the hearings of the Iraq Veterans Against the War. You can too. But I warn you it is painful.

The human cost is immeasurable. To the surviving veterans of wars and their families please know that my family knows what’s going on and we care and we grieve. But we don’t live with it as someone touched directly by the wars.

I for one do not believe that the real problem is the reaction of soldiers’ families. This administration has already demonstrated the extent of their lack of sensitivity. The true reason for the censorship is just that: censorship. Keeping the true costs of the war way, way off the radar of most Americans.

Furthermore, I found your discussion incomplete. What about the dead and wounded contractors? And what about the Iraqis who are really bearing the brunt of the violence? Why are there no images of them in the media? I submit it is the same as the above.

Please do better next time.