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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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Nov 12, 2014 - 08:27am PT
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see what kind of sh#t storm you stir up when you put a mirror in front of a republican...
they go batshit crazy with the historical references...
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bergbryce
climber
East Bay, CA
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Nov 12, 2014 - 08:29am PT
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Sorry, this is a day late. I haven't read anything else that so succinctly lays out exactly how I feel about the Iraq disaster. The author passed away yesterday. Godspeed Mr. Young.
Also, I challenge anyone posting in this thread to refute what follows.
From:
http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/the_last_letter_20130318
The Last Letter
A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran
To: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
From: Tomas Young
I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.
I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.
You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.
I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.
Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. You sent us to fight and die in Iraq after you, Mr. Cheney, dodged the draft in Vietnam, and you, Mr. Bush, went AWOL from your National Guard unit. Your cowardice and selfishness were established decades ago. You were not willing to risk yourselves for our nation but you sent hundreds of thousands of young men and women to be sacrificed in a senseless war with no more thought than it takes to put out the garbage.
I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. I joined the Army because our country had been attacked. I wanted to strike back at those who had killed some 3,000 of my fellow citizens. I did not join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States. I did not join the Army to “liberate” Iraqis or to shut down mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called “democracy” in Baghdad and the Middle East. I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq’s oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion. I especially did not join the Army to carry out pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war is illegal under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes. The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as the dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences.
I would not be writing this letter if I had been wounded fighting in Afghanistan against those forces that carried out the attacks of 9/11. Had I been wounded there I would still be miserable because of my physical deterioration and imminent death, but I would at least have the comfort of knowing that my injuries were a consequence of my own decision to defend the country I love. I would not have to lie in my bed, my body filled with painkillers, my life ebbing away, and deal with the fact that hundreds of thousands of human beings, including children, including myself, were sacrificed by you for little more than the greed of oil companies, for your alliance with the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, and your insane visions of empire.
I have, like many other disabled veterans, suffered from the inadequate and often inept care provided by the Veterans Administration. I have, like many other disabled veterans, come to realize that our mental and physical wounds are of no interest to you, perhaps of no interest to any politician. We were used. We were betrayed. And we have been abandoned. You, Mr. Bush, make much pretense of being a Christian. But isn’t lying a sin? Isn’t murder a sin? Aren’t theft and selfish ambition sins? I am not a Christian. But I believe in the Christian ideal. I believe that what you do to the least of your brothers you finally do to yourself, to your own soul.
My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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Nov 12, 2014 - 08:31am PT
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There is too much reality in that letter to the president than any republican would ever take credit for causing...
And it's even more hitting
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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WBraun
climber
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Nov 12, 2014 - 08:34am PT
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A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran
Yes bergbryce
If 150 million Americans would also come forward against these criminal leaders in the US of America then we would surely be on our way to a better world .......
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WBraun
climber
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Nov 12, 2014 - 08:50am PT
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Yes we are the "finger pointing" society.
We point the finger at everyone but ourselves,
We, ourselves, are the ultimate cause of all our problems.
We wanted to be born in the material world ......
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crankster
Trad climber
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Nov 12, 2014 - 08:51am PT
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It matters. The Republicans circus begins soon. The consequences of a conservative Supreme Court will be front and center.
The general public will vote in greater numbers in '16. The Republican block (old, white) will be diluted.
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Norton
Social climber
quitcherbellyachin
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Nov 12, 2014 - 08:52am PT
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Sketch said
turn out this time was truly pathetic, in fact the worst in literally decades
Pathetic? Aren't you a Republican?
yes, I am in fact a Registered Republican
explain what that fact has to do with my observation that the turn out was pathetic, simply a fact
think hard, take your time
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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Nov 12, 2014 - 08:54am PT
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Typical for such a spoiled weak society of whiners, DEMS that is.
Good thing you cleared that up....
No sense in thinking it was a weak society that voted in repugs and all the hate that comes with that.
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bergbryce
climber
East Bay, CA
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Nov 12, 2014 - 09:02am PT
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/\ Froth alert!
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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Nov 12, 2014 - 09:02am PT
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Evidence...
Of Non-Whining:
Nov 12, 2014 - 08:57am PT
Weak SOCIETY Jingy? You are such a loser. ALL you post is your consistent HATE. You and DrF are one in the same. YAK YAK YAK and WHINE WHINE WHINE but do NOTHING but sit on your LAZY azzes and WHINE. Typical.
This thread has taught me tons about all this "HOPE and CHANGE" crap you DEMS keep screaming about. You DEMS all HOPE that things might CHANGE. But are unwilling to go out and actually do something to initiate that.
OR, could it be you all finally realized them thieves in DC, DEM and REPUG are all one in the same and just aren't worth the effort. SO, you all stayed home and lit up a bowl or two HOPING someone else will initiate that real CHANGE.
Better yet, you all will just sit at home or on the job posting more fantasy Liberal rhetoric on the interdnet HOPING that may do something. Some day.
Nov 12, 2014 - 08:44am PT
Apparently they weren't too interested last Tuesday, Werner.
Just goes to show how LAZY, GULLIBLE and WEAK them DEMS truly are. Sit on their azzes "HOPING" someone else will do all the voting for them.
This thread is such a fking joke. You LIBS all post your hate towards Repugs over and over on the ST/interdnet. But did not go out and vote.
Typical for such a spoiled finger pointing weak society of entitlement seeking whiners, DEMS that is. Facts speak tons. Tons. You DEMS are truly a weak lot in reality. Whine Whine Whine but DO NOT do a damn thing about it.
Nov 8, 2014 - 11:58am PT
Every single one of you are sooooooooooooooo predictable. Beyond funeeeee now. Truly it is hysterical. Really.
All I do is point and laugh at the repugs... call them dumb when I think they are dumb (which is never off, or alwys on).... sorry, you misunderstand often, it seems
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dirtbag
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 12, 2014 - 09:03am PT
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Chief, who gives a flying fook what you've learned you lying windbag.
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Norton
Social climber
quitcherbellyachin
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Nov 12, 2014 - 09:04am PT
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actually Rick
I think your anger at the Dems, in general, for not turning out is misplaced on this thread
my guess is just about everyone who votes for Democratic candidates and who reads and posts on this thread did indeed vote recently
so, while it IS accurate to blame the general Democratic voting base for the loss, it is not valid
to aim your anger at anyone on this thread
and as far as the "general Democratic voting base", it is also very well known that they turn out in large Republican crushing numbers in the every four years Presidential elections, in fact the popular vote has gone to Dems in 4 of the last 5 Pres elections, which bodes very well for them in 2016
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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Nov 12, 2014 - 09:18am PT
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Evidence of a profound troll
Nov 12, 2014 - 09:04am PT
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA YOU LOST DIRTBAG... YOU LOST GOOD! Now wipe your sorry azz and deal with it. WHINER!
Truly learned how all your rhetoric DIRTBAG is just good old Liberal BULLSHET whining that has absolutely NOTHING to back it up. Last Tuesday proved that.
You and your croanies here DIRTBAG are the epitome of weak sauce MEDIOCRITY in America. When shet hits the fan, ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun and blame it all on the Repugs!
NORTON!!! Anger? Nah. Just RFLMAO at how you liberal entitled whiners can't deal with the reality of the day.
Is it anything like dealing with an arrogant 9 year old?
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Geometric
Mountain climber
Boulder, CO
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Nov 12, 2014 - 09:26am PT
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So the take home is that:
general Republican = Profound Troll?
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rincon
Trad climber
Coarsegold
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Nov 12, 2014 - 09:27am PT
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I wonder how much the Supreme Court's gutting of the 1965 Voting Rights Act had to do with the low turn out? Voter ID laws disinfranchise the old, young, and low income voters who usually vote for democrats. GOP misinformation campaigns and voter intimidation are also possible reasons for low turn out. I doubt that anyone posting here failed to cast their vote. I like Bernie Sanders idea of making voting day a national holiday.
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Norton
Social climber
quitcherbellyachin
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Nov 12, 2014 - 09:39am PT
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What possible reason do you have for going after me like that, Rick?
Why do you seemingly make every post personally insulting?
I know this is all just entertainment to you, but does that have to be part of it?
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Norton
Social climber
quitcherbellyachin
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Nov 12, 2014 - 10:00am PT
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ok Rick, in general then, but you do make it personal when you mention people by name and include them in your general insults, it just seems like you post to be intentionally obnoxious or contentious, rarely agreeing with anyone and seemingly always in opposition
if your purpose by doing so is to provoke people to reply back to you often then in anger and returning the insults, then you are succeeding
are you entertained?
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Nov 12, 2014 - 10:03am PT
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The Chief, you are certifiably nuts.
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