Quote:
Originally Posted by 12thMan
Hey, I grew up in the inner city of D.C. during the 80s and then went off to the first Gulf War a couple of years after high school. I spent 4 yrs on a Naval vessel which was deployed to the Persian Gulf. So you're preaching to the choir on the murder rate of our inner cities vs. the virtues of fighting a war.
I probably know of more 'street casualties' than I really care to talk about. But your point is certainly well taken. It's just that we live in a culture that, unfortunately, places a premium on what's news worthy and what isn't.
I feel your passion, bro, I really do. But there are no real positives in war. The events of 9/11 made our country very emotional and we stood behind President Bush 110% when he declared war on Iraq. And for the most part, even when things began to unravel, we still said, let's do the patriotic thing and support our leader. However, at some point reason and blind loyalty have to give way to truth and facts. Now that the facts have surfaced little by little, the media now feels justified in taking shots at Bush and his cabinet. People that stood with him in the beginning are now distancing themselves from him. They now stand in stark contrast to the individuals that 'went to war' with Bush in the beginning.
The media, in many cases, are simply echoing what's coming out of Bush's own house, so to speak.
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I'm not saying in any ways to give the administration a free ride but bashing everthing that goes on is not good for us or the troops. Yes not many positives in any war but as in most bad situations there are always so many good stories of man helping man etc... When was the last time that anything positive was reported about Iraq, schools opening, the other 90% of Iraq (not Bagdad) where people are living normal lives etc... Its just not fair to our troops to leave out all the positive stories and its human nature to feel good about yourself when you hear positive thing on what your doing. I'm not sying ignore the negative stuff but just give us some balance to the story.
Deseal, i have a very large military customer base and live beside a home rented to four guys with a total of 10 tours over there. All seem pretty positive and yes I have heard some negative stuff. The guys next door all hate the media's reporting and say that its a very common feeling among the troops. I had this issue before on this site and I think (it was you) who was surprised by stuff I linked because the media gave such a negative view.