joesnuffy

Sorry, but I have to climb on the box once more. At the risk of hijacking (sorry, DK) I have to jump in and catch the First Sergeant's back on this. As he said, bottom line with the news vultures is: If it bleeds, it leads. There, my friends, is why they are suddenly silent on the subject excepting, of course, when the subject of withdrawls is brought up or when the occasional IED goes off, or when a reliable news source needs filler and runs the rare good news story. Money and ratings drive these idiots. Period, end of subject. Iraqis are immensely better off than they were in 2002. That is a proven fact. Just the fact that Saddam and his scum are history is a total improvement.
Nobody I ever saw was starving--on the contrary, they were thriving. With the exception of the south of the country where the (edited) drained the marsh lands. I've seen a total swath of the country, south to the Kurdish region in the North right up the middle. The Kurds have it so good, nobody would believe it. May as well be Europe or England. We were invited to have dinner at a local mayor's house. The spread they put out was like I've seen at family reunions with the very same cameraderie. I asked the mayor what would have happened if Saddam were still in power and found out he had invited us to his house. He said that he and his family and his house would be dust in the wind. As for the children? All well fed and thriving as far as I could tell. Kids are kids and love candy. Or ANYTHING from a G.I. for that matter. They chase vehicles and soldiers throw them candy from their MREs. We used to save it up for the next trip out to the projects. Sort of winning the hearts and minds, I guess. The parents see that and all of a sudden "Hey, these Americans aren's so bad, after all!!" Works real well. Not to mention that noone wants to see children suffer. They are still innocent, yet the first to suffer under a brutal regime or a war. They will grow up and remember those troops giving them candy and hugs and that goes a long way to peace. All the guns, bombs, and money in the world can't force that.
As for KBR, ditto what Top said. We were eating like kings, even in Kuwait. The news dorks found out the V.P. was tied to them, and the feeding frenzy was on. I only wish I knew how many locals KBR employed and still does. It's a win-win for all. We don't look at ourselves as heroes. Far from it. The heroes are in Arlington and other cemetaries here and around the world. We just went, did our jobs, and came home. Unlike our brothers from Vietnam, who came home to the jeers and dis-respect of our fellow countrymen for having the balls to go and do an ugly job for their country. Well, those young hippies are now our leaders and look what we've got. God help us all. Ward Churchill. The Clintons. John Kerry. The list is long and vast. I grudgingly respect Kerry for going but seriously question his motives and have total ire for his actions after he got back. So, like it or not, we're there so we had better damn well be allowed to finish the job or the entire world will regret the outcome. If my 44 year old bones are found fit enough, I'll probably be going back as well. That's how strongly I feel about it. This is serious business, folks, and unless you want to live under Sharia (sp?) law, weigh your votes very very carefully. Our futures swing on this election a whole lot more than you think!! I relinquish the box and apologise for being long-winded.