Quote:
Originally posted by ZZ-kai-
Why else would Bush be sending a few hundred thousand troops to that area? I am sure its not for a good game of Risk.
|
I would be a whole lot smarter keeping my thoughts on this to myself...but what the hell.
First, to the topic of the thread. It's stupid for any group to claim that any organization is 100% agreed on any topic. They will just make themselves look ridiculous.
Now, to digress in the direction of many other posters...the upcoming war.
My age, experiences and background leave me really conflicted at the moment. I lived through the Vietnam era and was just out of college and working as a television director (6 and 11 PM News) in Columbus, about 100 miles from Kent, when the shootings occurred. Those two things have left me and a large part of my generation really questioning a lot of things.
I'll try to organize my thoughts, which keep racing wildly in different directions.
First, if nothing else, Vietnam left with me a not very subtle feeling of mistrust of things I hear from our government. History (tapes, archives, letters, papers etc.) from the Presidents (both Democratic and Republican) prove that our leaders were less than candid with us. That's being kind. I'm not a big George W fan, but would like to believe him. I wish I could see the "smoking gun" that they keep looking for. And before you take off on my politics, I'm not registered in either party -- have voted in every election since "Vote 18" passed in 1968, and have probably voted for an equal number of each party's candidates. I lean more toward conservative than liberal, but don't consider myself either.
Second, if we go to war, I hope the professional military officers are allowed to prosecute it -- and it is not subject to political pressures and medeling the way it was in Vietnam. We would have won that war if it had been run by the Pentagon instead of the White House.
IF it's really necessary to fight, let the Air Force turn the Iraq into a parking lot and send in the Marines to paint the stripes. Yes, innocent people will be killed. That happens in war. That's tragic, but if we don't want any collateral damage, we shouldn't go to war. Period. That's reality.
Third, regarding the shooting at Kent State, I truly believe that the late Governor Jim Rhodes and General Sylvester DelCorso, former Ohio Adjutant General should have been indicted and tried for murder after the Kent State incident. The local and state grand jury investigations were a white wash.
Rhodes, a conservative Republican from the Apalachian counties of S.E. Ohio (he was a friend of part of my family) was out to prove a point to all unruly college students. Of course he didn't expect shots to be fired and people to be injured and/or killed, but he put loaded weapons in the hands of young National Guardsmen who had no training whatsoever in riot control and no combat experience.
Also, not many remember that Kent State followed closely on the heels of a national Teamster truckers strike. Many of these guardsmen had been riding "shotgun" on independent trucks -- some of which had taken fire. These kids were scared, and not particularly stable. Putting them in that situation was criminal.
The final irony is that none of the killed or injured were taking part in the "demonstration." They were walking to class or their cars or whereever. Bullets from badly aimed military wepons travel a long way. These dead kids weren't peacenik hippies -- one was an ROTC student. All were simply minding their own business on campus. Nobody in the crowd that was allegedly threatening the guardsmen was hit.
I appologize for the rant, but I find it difficult to support sending our professional and civilian soldiers into harms way without some proof of the claims of Wepons of Mass Destruction in the hands of an admittedly tyranical despot. Prove he has them and his motives, and take him out. But the fact we don't like him just isn't a good enough reason for me. I wish the hell that W's dad had finished the job the last time. Another political decision.
(I questioned again whether to post this -- but guess I will. Some of my opinions seem a little strident especially about Vietnam and Kent, but were formed after living through the turbulence of those times. So, here they are for whatever they're worth.)