Allofus123
Here ducky, ducky, ducky!
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2001
- Messages
- 3,867
I know this has nothing to do with cigars but I think some of you may find this as facinating as I did. Some of yall know that I usually do a Cross Country goose hunt during the spring with a bunch of buddies from a hunting BB I participate on. One of those guys is in the Air Force and happens to be in Iraq right now. He will post on the BB from time to time to let us know he's ok. A couple of days ago we asked him if he could give us an inside report of how it was going over there, how his buddies were doing, and if we could send him anything. Here was his reply:
From the front row.
What I hear from my close compatriots up there is that 80-90% of the people want us there. There is an element that does not, and nobody is surprised at that. Some hate it because of religious reasons. Many hate it because we undid the corrupt and broken institutions that gave them power and wealth. Far to many hate it because of ignorance. Newfound freedoms will work to take care of that. There are a lot of insurgent elements that have come from outside Iraq just bacause that's the best place to try to kill Americans and not have it look like a pure terrorist incident. Easy to camouflage it as an attack by "Iraqi citizens". Many Iraqis are reluctant to wave US flags and show support because the same terrorists will start to target them also.
The infrastructure in the country is growing like mad and their economy is starting to grow. Revenue sources (for Iraq, #1 is their oil resource) are beginning to work, which will improve the lot of the whole country. As all that continues to move forward, the impetus for instability will decrease...people will have a future and will be less inclined to work against progress as well as more inclined to work against destabilizing factions.
If anyone thinks we can fix Iraq by just backing out, they are just stupid. We'd only be giving the country back to the elements that use violence to rule. The people we shoot at are doing the shooting first. We are losing damn good US soldiers every day, but the bad guys are losing a whole lot more. We sometimes kill the wrong people on accident...on the other side, they don't care who they kill and it's not a good way to keep support.
It doesn't need to be a US effort though, yet the UN isn't so helpful is getting more assistance there. (OK, they're completely useless.) Not that it would necessarily help...look how well they've done in Kosovo.
This is a long term issue and what we've done so far is the right thing. Iraq's world-friendly neighbors (i..e., not those who like terrorists) don't say so out loud, but they are glad we've removed the Saddam threat.
By the way, we are watching the Spanish leave and they are not happy about it. Not too pleased with their new government.
Our attitude is great. We know what we're doing despite the BS we see on TV and in the papers. Kerry's rhetoric makes us barf...he demonstrates his ignorance on this subject far too often. (That's not intended to be an anti-Kerry barb, for you Dems out there...it's just a comparison of what we live with what he says.) The prison incident is an aberration. Some people are in some serious sh*t about that one.
A box. Hmmm. It'll never get here in time for my crew, but I can PM ya the address for the unit. My home town VFW sent a big box to me and I spread that wealth out through the unit. I cannot put the address out in the forum due to security issues. We even shred labels off our mail just because we don't want Tommy Terrorist mailing some bad stuff home to our families, etc....or visiting.
I'll take my buddy Mich's word over mainstream media anyday. I know there are thousands of guys just like Mich who are paying the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. Please don't forget them and know that they are doing whats right.
Gods speed my friend! :thumbs:
From the front row.
What I hear from my close compatriots up there is that 80-90% of the people want us there. There is an element that does not, and nobody is surprised at that. Some hate it because of religious reasons. Many hate it because we undid the corrupt and broken institutions that gave them power and wealth. Far to many hate it because of ignorance. Newfound freedoms will work to take care of that. There are a lot of insurgent elements that have come from outside Iraq just bacause that's the best place to try to kill Americans and not have it look like a pure terrorist incident. Easy to camouflage it as an attack by "Iraqi citizens". Many Iraqis are reluctant to wave US flags and show support because the same terrorists will start to target them also.
The infrastructure in the country is growing like mad and their economy is starting to grow. Revenue sources (for Iraq, #1 is their oil resource) are beginning to work, which will improve the lot of the whole country. As all that continues to move forward, the impetus for instability will decrease...people will have a future and will be less inclined to work against progress as well as more inclined to work against destabilizing factions.
If anyone thinks we can fix Iraq by just backing out, they are just stupid. We'd only be giving the country back to the elements that use violence to rule. The people we shoot at are doing the shooting first. We are losing damn good US soldiers every day, but the bad guys are losing a whole lot more. We sometimes kill the wrong people on accident...on the other side, they don't care who they kill and it's not a good way to keep support.
It doesn't need to be a US effort though, yet the UN isn't so helpful is getting more assistance there. (OK, they're completely useless.) Not that it would necessarily help...look how well they've done in Kosovo.
This is a long term issue and what we've done so far is the right thing. Iraq's world-friendly neighbors (i..e., not those who like terrorists) don't say so out loud, but they are glad we've removed the Saddam threat.
By the way, we are watching the Spanish leave and they are not happy about it. Not too pleased with their new government.
Our attitude is great. We know what we're doing despite the BS we see on TV and in the papers. Kerry's rhetoric makes us barf...he demonstrates his ignorance on this subject far too often. (That's not intended to be an anti-Kerry barb, for you Dems out there...it's just a comparison of what we live with what he says.) The prison incident is an aberration. Some people are in some serious sh*t about that one.
A box. Hmmm. It'll never get here in time for my crew, but I can PM ya the address for the unit. My home town VFW sent a big box to me and I spread that wealth out through the unit. I cannot put the address out in the forum due to security issues. We even shred labels off our mail just because we don't want Tommy Terrorist mailing some bad stuff home to our families, etc....or visiting.
I'll take my buddy Mich's word over mainstream media anyday. I know there are thousands of guys just like Mich who are paying the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. Please don't forget them and know that they are doing whats right.
Gods speed my friend! :thumbs:
