Comments on: Open Letter to the 101st Fighting Keyboarders http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/ Exposing the ugly truths about the Bush Administration. Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:14:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1.3 by: cool site http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-15996 Thu, 01 Jun 2006 01:28:54 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-15996 <strong>cool site</strong> check this out: http://www.aspectinformation.info/ 28 cool site

check this out: http://www.aspectinformation.info/ 28

]]> by: The Mahablog » Fun With Linear Time! http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-15974 Wed, 31 May 2006 19:54:48 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-15974 [...] I&#8217;ve already commented on the Haditha killings here and here. Now I&#8217;m just looking at how the story emerged and how the U.S. military responded. As you can see from what I pieced together from news stories, it isn&#8217;t clear exactly when U.S. military officials in Iraq became aware of the allegations. Maybe it was January, maybe February, but maybe earlier. Nor is it clear when the military began to investigate the allegations; maybe it was two months after the incident, maybe three. The NCIS may have become involved in February, or maybe March. [...] […] I’ve already commented on the Haditha killings here and here. Now I’m just looking at how the story emerged and how the U.S. military responded. As you can see from what I pieced together from news stories, it isn’t clear exactly when U.S. military officials in Iraq became aware of the allegations. Maybe it was January, maybe February, but maybe earlier. Nor is it clear when the military began to investigate the allegations; maybe it was two months after the incident, maybe three. The NCIS may have become involved in February, or maybe March. […]

]]> by: Chief http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-13175 Fri, 19 May 2006 11:43:15 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-13175 I, like the Senior Air Force NCO above am an Un-ashamed liberal who spent 21 years in the U.S. Navy (1958 - 1979). Only 35 monts combat time. Your post is darn near perfect. You've captured my feelings anyway. Un-ashamed ? ? Really, it's DAMN PROUD TO BE A LIBERAL. I, like the Senior Air Force NCO above am an Un-ashamed liberal who spent 21 years in the U.S. Navy (1958 - 1979). Only 35 monts combat time. Your post is darn near perfect. You’ve captured my feelings anyway.

Un-ashamed ? ? Really, it’s DAMN PROUD TO BE A LIBERAL.

]]> by: maha http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-13121 Fri, 19 May 2006 10:30:18 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-13121 Returning home -- I've been told that after my grandpa got home from France in 1919 he would get panic attacks in the night and run around the house yelling until somebody woke him up and calmed him down. He didn't even get to the front until September 1918 and was in the trenches only about six weeks before Armistice. And he didn't get on the boat to go home until June, so he had lots of time to decompress. What he went through must have been horrible. Yet in those days the enemy was still wearing uniforms and fighting in military units. What troops in Iraq go through probably plays with their heads even more than being in the trenches on the western front. Returning home — I’ve been told that after my grandpa got home from France in 1919 he would get panic attacks in the night and run around the house yelling until somebody woke him up and calmed him down. He didn’t even get to the front until September 1918 and was in the trenches only about six weeks before Armistice. And he didn’t get on the boat to go home until June, so he had lots of time to decompress. What he went through must have been horrible. Yet in those days the enemy was still wearing uniforms and fighting in military units. What troops in Iraq go through probably plays with their heads even more than being in the trenches on the western front.

]]> by: justme http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-13007 Fri, 19 May 2006 03:34:37 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-13007 I don't believe it is possible to return from combat the same person as before.I believe our troops are trained to forget their targets are human, even though it goes against everything they were taught as children.I believe the military plays whatever mind games it needs to in order to keep boots on the ground...but with those games comes a risk.....once you allow someone to become a cold blooded killer .. the toothpaste can't always be put back into the tube..... we can't have troops that won't fight....and when a troop becomes an animal unleashed we don't like that either....we are asking our troops to be something in between wimp and cold blooded killers..throw them into a combat zone and watch as some snap from fear they can't show and a conflict going on inside them with no resolve( thou shall not kill vs KILL KILL KILL)....sitting behind my keyboard in my safe home I can see it is a tough balance to strike....how does anyone remain sane in the midst of such insanity?? Locally we had a story of a woman run down a few days before christmas as she walked into her job at a home improvment store...cameras caught the act on film and after a few months they picked up the man who commit the crime... He was a young vet who had just returned to Iraq with a wife and child ... he left his home in the early morning hours intending to kill someone (so he tells police), anyone before going to his regular job... he ran this woman over at random, then backed over her a second time and left her to bleed to death in the parking lot...after looking at her(all on camera) then he went on to work.....he just needed to kill someone and then he felt better...this is the kind of thing we will be dealing with as troops return....I bet I have read a few dozen stories of men who came back only to kill their wives in out of control rages... because IMHO a normal person cannot go from killing on the streets of Iraq to grocery shopping in des moines...the ability to kill cannot be turned on and off like water yet that is what is expected of these young men and women...I am suprised we don't have more situations like the one Murtha spoke of... I am also not suprised to see righties reaction to it...they seem to believe if they just don't hear it, it didn't really happen or they don't have to deal with it.. anyone who brings it up risks shattering their illusion,, and really isn't that all that matters???Doesn't the entire world believe in perception over reality??How dare Murtha spoil their otherwise perfect war?(snark) Re- opening an old can of worms does anyone recall the video of troops going into a building where several Iraqis lay dead and a troop opened fire on one who was not dead yet ?We all saw the tape right? The guy didn't move,, he was just laying there minding his own business bleeding to death.. they cleared the troops later , saying the body could have been booby trapped...which made no sense because shooting an explosive body in such close quarters would have caused all of the troops injury, much less the one standing over the body to shoot it..AND the conversation between the troops made the intention pretty clear...people could see what happened with their own eyes and ears and STILL say it could never happen.. go figure...perception over reality indeed I don’t believe it is possible to return from combat the same person as before.I believe our troops are trained to forget their targets are human, even though it goes against everything they were taught as children.I believe the military plays whatever mind games it needs to in order to keep boots on the ground…but with those games comes a risk…..once you allow someone to become a cold blooded killer .. the toothpaste can’t always be put back into the tube….. we can’t have troops that won’t fight….and when a troop becomes an animal unleashed we don’t like that either….we are asking our troops to be something in between wimp and cold blooded killers..throw them into a combat zone and watch as some snap from fear they can’t show and a conflict going on inside them with no resolve( thou shall not kill vs KILL KILL KILL)….sitting behind my keyboard in my safe home I can see it is a tough balance to strike….how does anyone remain sane in the midst of such insanity??

Locally we had a story of a woman run down a few days before christmas as she walked into her job at a home improvment store…cameras caught the act on film and after a few months they picked up the man who commit the crime…

He was a young vet who had just returned to Iraq with a wife and child … he left his home in the early morning hours intending to kill someone (so he tells police), anyone before going to his regular job… he ran this woman over at random, then backed over her a second time and left her to bleed to death in the parking lot…after looking at her(all on camera) then he went on to work…..he just needed to kill someone and then he felt better…this is the kind of thing we will be dealing with as troops return….I bet I have read a few dozen stories of men who came back only to kill their wives in out of control rages… because IMHO a normal person cannot go from killing on the streets of Iraq to grocery shopping in des moines…the ability to kill cannot be turned on and off like water yet that is what is expected of these young men and women…I am suprised we don’t have more situations like the one Murtha spoke of…

I am also not suprised to see righties reaction to it…they seem to believe if they just don’t hear it, it didn’t really happen or they don’t have to deal with it.. anyone who brings it up risks shattering their illusion,, and really isn’t that all that matters???Doesn’t the entire world believe in perception over reality??How dare Murtha spoil their otherwise perfect war?(snark)

Re- opening an old can of worms does anyone recall the video of troops going into a building where several Iraqis lay dead and a troop opened fire on one who was not dead yet ?We all saw the tape right? The guy didn’t move,, he was just laying there minding his own business bleeding to death.. they cleared the troops later , saying the body could have been booby trapped…which made no sense because shooting an explosive body in such close quarters would have caused all of the troops injury, much less the one standing over the body to shoot it..AND the conversation between the troops made the intention pretty clear…people could see what happened with their own eyes and ears and STILL say it could never happen.. go figure…perception over reality indeed

]]> by: uncledad http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-13006 Fri, 19 May 2006 03:33:48 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-13006 "Some soldiers are going to break down" True statement, although won't all soldiers eventually break down? I joined the Army after I flunked out of a couple years of college. I was a Conscientious objector when I turned 18 and never registered for the draft. After 3 months of Basic&#38;A.I.T. I was a trained 13B (cannoneer) ready to rain down all the death and destruction a 155mm shell could deliver on anybody that had it coming. Fortunately for me and the rest of the world it was 1982. I guess the point I am trying to make is that soldiers are trained to kill. Isn't that the "purpose" of a war, to kill the enemy? Unfortunately in war "innocent" people get killed, this war is certainly no different. In fact I believe Rumsfeld himself said the "enemy" was 10,000 or so dead Enders. The innocent lives lost in this war seem even more tragic, given the lack of a "real" reason for being there in the first place. But in the end this incident is just a war story; true or not, it is a war story. I see no point in Murtha discussing it because there is nothing that can be done. Military investigations and subsequent prosecutions are not influenced by media hype. I ask myself why is he (Murtha) going on the record about this killing. I believe something like 40,000 Iraqi’s (or in theater Arabs) and 2,454 U.S. troops have been killed. I would venture a guess that at least half of these deaths have been equally gruesome. I understand Murtha’s frustration and outrage, but all this story does is point the blame at some 20 year old college dropout that was trained to kill and told by his keepers that he had a reason. http://www.uncledad.org/uploads/one_by_one.mp3 “Some soldiers are going to break down”

True statement, although won’t all soldiers eventually break down? I joined the Army after I flunked out of a couple years of college. I was a Conscientious objector when I turned 18 and never registered for the draft. After 3 months of Basic&A.I.T. I was a trained 13B (cannoneer) ready to rain down all the death and destruction a 155mm shell could deliver on anybody that had it coming. Fortunately for me and the rest of the world it was 1982. I guess the point I am trying to make is that soldiers are trained to kill. Isn’t that the “purpose” of a war, to kill the enemy? Unfortunately in war “innocent” people get killed, this war is certainly no different. In fact I believe Rumsfeld himself said the “enemy” was 10,000 or so dead Enders. The innocent lives lost in this war seem even more tragic, given the lack of a “real” reason for being there in the first place. But in the end this incident is just a war story; true or not, it is a war story. I see no point in Murtha discussing it because there is nothing that can be done. Military investigations and subsequent prosecutions are not influenced by media hype. I ask myself why is he (Murtha) going on the record about this killing. I believe something like 40,000 Iraqi’s (or in theater Arabs) and 2,454 U.S. troops have been killed. I would venture a guess that at least half of these deaths have been equally gruesome. I understand Murtha’s frustration and outrage, but all this story does is point the blame at some 20 year old college dropout that was trained to kill and told by his keepers that he had a reason.

http://www.uncledad.org/uploads/one_by_one.mp3

]]> by: Swami http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-12998 Fri, 19 May 2006 02:07:58 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-12998 Sorry D.R....I guess I qualify to be called an undisciplined maggot,Huh? But..am I correct in guessing Murtha's motives? If Murtha was to smoke marijuana he's become Mirtha. Sorry D.R….I guess I qualify to be called an undisciplined maggot,Huh? But..am I correct in guessing Murtha’s motives?

If Murtha was to smoke marijuana he’s become Mirtha.

]]> by: Edward Deevy http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-12997 Fri, 19 May 2006 01:57:31 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-12997 It's the thought that you expressed so well...this war did not have to be fought. I continue to believe that we would never have gotten ourselves into this mess if it had not been for the manipulation of the NeoCon lobby in Washington. The blood of thousands of dead Americans and Iraqi's are on their hands. It’s the thought that you expressed so well…this war did not have to be fought. I continue to believe that we would never have gotten ourselves into this mess if it had not been for the manipulation of the NeoCon lobby in Washington. The blood of thousands of dead Americans and Iraqi’s are on their hands.

]]> by: D.R. Marvel http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-12992 Fri, 19 May 2006 00:52:41 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-12992 Oh...And there ain't no "Marine Corps Hymn", neither... It's "The Marine's Hymn"... Glad S/Sgt Rogers (my Sr. DI and a Missourian) didn't see that... We'd all be in for a long evening's Mass Punishment... Oh…And there ain’t no “Marine Corps Hymn”, neither…

It’s “The Marine’s Hymn”…

Glad S/Sgt Rogers (my Sr. DI and a Missourian) didn’t see that…

We’d all be in for a long evening’s Mass Punishment…

]]> by: D.R. Marvel http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-12991 Fri, 19 May 2006 00:49:38 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/18/open-letter-to-the-101st-fighting-keyboarders/#comment-12991 The Corps ain't no "Her"... It's an It... And I must be one of "Those" that the Zoomie thinks about... A young Guardsman I know (slightly) just went back to Iraq for his second dose...He spent the whole two weeks he was "At Home" smoking crack...Scared his little woman silly... You're right about the stress... The Corps ain’t no “Her”…

It’s an It…

And I must be one of “Those” that the Zoomie thinks about…

A young Guardsman I know (slightly) just went back to Iraq for his second dose…He spent the whole two weeks he was “At Home” smoking crack…Scared his little woman silly…

You’re right about the stress…

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