US Deploys Two More Carrier Groups to be Directed to Korean Penninsula

[MorningGlory]

13 hours ago, walla299 said:

 

This is starting to sound like Muammar Gaddafi before they bombed Libya. He went silent after they bombed his palace . . . stayed quiet too, for the most part. Just like most bullies who've gotten a bloody nose.

It would have remained that way if Qaddafi had been left in place.  Bad call to remove him.  Thanks, Hillary!

[MorningGlory]

14 hours ago, Running Gator said:

Yet it was used in this thread to define what a rogue nation is, a nation that doesn't see itself as being bound by international law.  I found that definition lacking as the US fits that definition on a regular basis.  

Well maybe Kim Jung Un or Ayatollah Khomeini will step up and teach us a lesson about being 'rogue'....ya think?

[Running Gator]

36 minutes ago, MorningGlory said:

Not true; we liberated Iraq and then turned it over to it's people.  But it's interesting to see another American's low opinion of this country.  That's what happens when someone  believes  leftist propaganda though. 

I have an honest opinion of our country, not a pollyanna view.  But I had friends and fellow Marines come back in bodybags, my bootcamp bunkmate came back minus a limb.   We invaded a country at the cost of over 4000 american lives and over 1 trillion dollars and then we "turned it over" and the people gave us ISIS. 

I guess it is easy to use such platitudes as "liberated" when you watched the war from the mall while drinking a slushie. 

[MorningGlory]

1 hour ago, Running Gator said:

I have an honest opinion of our country, not a pollyanna view.  But I had friends and fellow Marines come back in bodybags, my bootcamp bunkmate came back minus a limb.   We invaded a country at the cost of over 4000 american lives and over 1 trillion dollars and then we "turned it over" and the people gave us ISIS. 

I guess it is easy to use such platitudes as "liberated" when you watched the war from the mall while drinking a slushie. 

I don't pretend I have combat experience, RG, and I'm sorry you lost your comrades over there.  I mean that sincerely.  I just have a knee jerk reaction to criticisms of my country, I guess, but I know that when one can't criticize their country they  can be pretty sure they're living in Russia or Iran.

[Running Gator]

Just now, MorningGlory said:

I don't pretend I have combat experience, RG, and I'm sorry you lost your comrades over there.  I mean that sincerely.  I just have a knee jerk reaction to criticisms of my country, I guess, but I know that when one can't criticize their country they  can be pretty sure they're living in Russia or Iran.

On this we agree, the day we stop criticizing our country it means that either it is perfect (which is never going to happen) or it is no longer our country. 

I will tell you that in 2003 I was the biggest supporter of the war there was, I was 100% behind Bush II and going over there and getting those WMDs.  But it was all based on a lie, and talking to those that were there, it was a mistake.    The cost in lives and resources was way too high to pay, even for a good reason. 

In 2002 I was chosen for Recruiting duty for the Marine Corps.  In Jan 2003 I went to recruiting school and then in March of 2003 I started my recruiting duty.  For the first year I was just a basic recruiter putting 25 people into the Corps in 11 months.  At least 2 of them never came home from Iraq.   For the next 20 months after that I was the MEPS guy, every person that joined the Corps from a 3 state area came through me.  There are over 1200 folks with my signature on the contracts.   I do not know where most ended up as I only dealt with them when they joined and when they shipped to bootcamp.   I will tell you that those 3 years are the years I look back on and am the least proud in my life.  I feel like I helped to perpetuate the lie that was the war in Iraq and talked kids into joining to go kill the bad guys.  We had no business going there and I see it as one of the darkest days of our country.  

I apologize for being snippy with you, you did not deserve that. I love this country,I really do, but just like I love my kids sometimes I want to strangle them!  

Sorry for rambling.  Time to go ice some cupcakes!

[Churchmouse]

I would suggest we understand just why there are so many tyrannical regimes in the Middle East before we look to replacing them with anything.

[Running Gator]

44 minutes ago, Churchmouse said:

I would suggest we understand just why there are so many tyrannical regimes in the Middle East before we look to replacing them with anything.

Now that is the wisest thing I have seen on this board all day!   

[Churchmouse]

13 minutes ago, Running Gator said:

Now that is the wisest thing I have seen on this board all day!   

I read the Bible for wisdom. Common sense is something I stumble into by accident.

[Running Gator]

29 minutes ago, Churchmouse said:

I read the Bible for wisdom. Common sense is something I stumble into by accident.

Well then you stumbled well today

[Churchmouse]

59 minutes ago, Running Gator said:

Well then you stumbled well today

There are conflicting things that burden my heart, which are that many fail to learn history and by doing so know the reasons why people are the way they are, but the most depressing thing of all is that we will never know just how much real history has been fabricated to make the actions of the victor more palatable.

Many know of the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, but how many know about the Sykes–Picot Agreement or the competing promises the West made to the Arab world and to the Zionists.

I, myself became very interested in history when President Clinton was sending peace keepers to a certain part of Europe that I had no idea how long they were fighting there, until I found out that Archduke Ferdinand, whose death sparked the beginning of WWI was shot in the same town as one of their capitals. A little town called Sarajevo.

People talk every day about caring for others, but how many are unwilling to see these people as human beings, instead of victims that need money thrown at them instead of understanding. How many do deeds out of a sense of duty because God said they should do so, instead of an honest determined feeling of love for their fellow man.

Tribalism is a very old and powerful pull and one that deserves to be acknowledged, but when loyalty to ones tribe blinds people to the ugliness within that tribe we volunteer ourselves and our posterity to the lowest levels within that tribe.