According to this article in Stars & Stripes, 85 percent (of US troops in Iraq) believe a major reason they were sent into war was
[quote=“Maoman”]According to this article in Stars & Stripes, 85 percent (of US troops in Iraq) believe a major reason they were sent into war was
You don;t suppose it might be in the interests of the military leadership to explain exactly why it is they are involved? It might just go some way towards easing resentment down the track, no?
HG
[quote=“Maoman”]
:loco: Are these guys all ignorant? Do they not get newspapers over there? Have their families not clued them in to these little essential bits of information? Unbelievable![/quote]
There are still people here at Forumosa who believe Saddam was connected to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center via Mohammed Atta.
The next salesjob is creating the illusion Iran was somehow connected to 9/11 in preparation for a military assault prior to the end of George Bush’s second term:
"I used to think that the Bush administration wasn
Not only that, but there also seem to be signs that the commander in chief might use the opportunity to break the nuclear taboo and try out their nifty new ‘tactical nuclear weapons.’
Here is a moving home video by a UCSD Physics professor, in which he outlines his concerns on this issue. The video is only 10 minutes long and about 100MB.
physics.ucsd.edu/~jorge/iranmovie.mpg
I made a set of screenshots and transcribed some of his words, which can be read here.
Here is one very current and provocative image:
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]You don;t suppose it might be in the interests of the military leadership to explain exactly why it is they are involved? It might just go some way towards easing resentment down the track, no?
HG[/quote]
To be honest, most troops don’t care. They train and then they fight. I can’t forget all the times I questioned what we were doing in
non
combat training, only to be told, "Goddamnit Smith! You’re not here to think! Do your fucking job then you can go home!
Now wax that deck!
"
Roger that Sir! OORAHH! 
That maybe the case now, but I’m willing to bet you whatever amount you care to name that in ten years time film-makers will have documentaries showing scenes of shattered vets huddled in circles holding shitty styrofoam cups of crap coffee blubbering “we was bullshitted to, man. There were no WMDs, there was no terror link . . .”
I can assure you that every member of the Australian contingent in Iraq would be very clear why they were there, even if it has nothing to do with what is said in the media.
HG
[quote=“Maoman”]According to this article in Stars & Stripes, 85 percent (of US troops in Iraq) believe a major reason they were sent into war was
Well it took them some time of course, but they do see the need rather clearly now.
HG
The U.S. tends to win wars when its troops and its citizenry know why we’re fighting. Why on earth did Bush & Co. think that their brand of cheap chicanery was going to get us through this war? Shows absolutely no respect for our troops, but then we already knew how the GOP felt on that score. Particularly bad form of Rumsfeld to try to achieve overall troop reductions via un-armored humvees and trucks.
Yeah! You tell’em Sarge!
[quote]Looks like you can see it in Australia right now.
MORE than 100 Australian troops returning from Iraq have been medically discharged from the military, many for psychological trauma.
The Defence Department has revealed that 121 veterans of the campaign have been medically discharged. That is 4 per cent of the 3000 or so soldiers who have served in Iraq over the past three years, four times higher than the normal medical discharge rate for the military. [/quote]
What can I say? The culture of blame is in the ascendant in Oz and you’d be mad not to get a part of it. It may also be the SAS and others sneaking off by whatever means (like a nice compo payout) to work for private contractors.
Still, I’m sure there is a flurry of earnest meetings with sincere but ugly and lazy social workers proffering crap coffee, Jatz and cheese to handle it in my absence. I’m absolutely sure of that. We might one day be short of soldiers, but I’m sure there will always be enough social worklers for every maladay . . . as long as the meetings aren’t happening too far from middle class urban suburbs.
HG
HGC -
Wise post.
It is probably best to let the troops remain deluded. It would be more cruel if they knew the truth that they were there because of an intelligence failure at best or, at worst, one of Dick Cheney’s get richer quicker schemes.
To make the ignorant and erroneous assumption that US troops are deluded is to assert a non-existent and delusional pretense of intellectual superiority.
An excellent sufficiency is much more preferable to superfluity and is much more salubrious.
How do you explain the fact that most of them believe something that is not true?
You’re [i]sure[/i] about that? [i]Real[/i] sure?
I’m pretty sure that we did not attack Iraq in retaliation for 9/11.
I’m pretty sure we did.