He didn't say the army...he said the military. There are other branches you know.

i hope you're not one of those people who think that if you join the military, you deserve to die!

Yeah I really hope not 77. If you do join the military, you DO NOT deserve to die at all. Depending on what the situation is like, you stand a greater or less chance of dying, but that's just the risk you take when you join the military. It's kinda the catch in a career that pays you lots even with no qualifications.

PLEASE DON'T FEED THE TROLL just hit the thumbs down button and don't say anything.

By signing up for the military, he is protecting your right to say that, show some respect

Dear #134, This war has nothing to do with protecting anybody's rights. However, it does have a whole lot to do with politics and money. With Love, - Mouse

I never said this war has anything to do with our rights.

are you from texas? why should his parents who went through all the trouble raising him not get any compensation in the future. Is that what you are taught in texas? Stupid hillbillies not knowing true family love. Oh, OP, the invasion of Iraq was the biggest mistake. No weapons of mass destruction was ever found by even the CIA and the army "appologized" by staying in Iraq longer than necessary thus more deaths in innocence than ever before. Though USA did get the needed oil to make the economy stay a float with their bloody hands. When Obama is trying to make his troops leave Iraq immediately then it is clearly evident that the invasion was a wrong move to begin with.

#19 your comment is completely idiotic. I will try to inform you of how moronic you sound, and remember, if your head starts hurting while you read this, please remember to slow down, and read the words out loud syllable by syllable. First of all, the war may have been a mistake, but the action was completley legal. In fact, congress voted on it. Second, I don't think we should care whether or not Iraq had or didn't have weapons of mass destruction, the real question is, do you want a maniac holding wmds? Do you honestly believe Saddam would've kept the region stable if he had them? Even the potential threat of that is enough to justify an invasion. We let maniacs go before (Hitler) and didn't the world end up just dandy after him? Thirdly, I would really like you to show me evidence of the army ever and I mean EVER apologizing to Iraq. The Iraqis hailed us as liberators when we arrived in Iraq (most at least). Saddam butchered his own people. Also, do you remember about 2 years ago, when the violence in Iraq was at one of its worst points? Do you also remember how at that time, the US army decided to put more troops into Iraq? Did you notice how the violence started to decrease after the infusion of American troops? I'm also thinking you failed to notice how as soon as American troops started to withdraw from Iraqi cities a few weeks ago, that violence began to escalate.. Fourthly, it's a war! Innocent lives will be lost in any war, as they have in the past and as they will in the future. During WWII the amount of innocent/civilian casualties was staggering to say the least. it's a terrible shame that innocents die but that's what happens during wars. Fifthly, the comment about oil is utterly, and competely false. After the US secured the oil fields, guess who they were given to? Guess who received every drop of that oil? Guess who made revenues in the billions of f that oil? I'll give you a hint, the country's name begins with an I and rhymes with raq. The US has not touched one drop of oil, and have not profited one cent from the oil. It's also usually a loot cheaper to simply buy oil, than it is to start a war over it. Just some common sense for you. And finally, Obama is not Mr. Right. No politician is, and no politician will ever be 100% correct in what they do. He has already made a mistake in terms of his bailout, which has really done nothing to help the US. Even VP Biden admitted that the administration had made a mistake in forecasting the economic future. Clearly evident? Give me a break, I'm sure if Obama wanted you to slaughter children, you would immediately say that it was clearly evident that what Obama said was right. So in conclusion, don't be so naive, or else people with half a brain will cut your arguments down and make you look like a fool. Look at the facts before you EVER make a claim as arrogant and as ignorant as yours. Good day to you. And children, stay in school! Don't end up like this idiot!

Saddam did gas the Kurds. I believe chemical weapons count as WMDs

Learn to paragraph #73. My eyes bled from just looking at your post. And what crap are you spouting? The levels of violence most certainly did not decrease after the American soldiers. They went up considerably of course. The Iraqis simply did not hail the soldiers as liberators- that's just the bullshit propaganda that Fox News has been feeding you. Saddam Hussein may have been a tyrant who routinely killed his fellow men, but so did Stalin, and no one ever bothered to try and stop him. Now, don't misread me. I'm not in any way saying that we shouldn't have stopped him, but the American government should have just admitted they wanted to overthrow a corrupt dictator and institute democracy in a failing country; rather than using false claims of WMDs to justify their invasion. And I'm going to chooose to believe you were right about Iraq getting all the rights to their oil. But I'm willing to bet that they sold much of their oil to the Americans for a little under market price. That would mean the Americans still got a good deal out of it. And wouldn't that be funny?

now hold on there pal.. there is footage, real footage that shows the reception that American soldiers recieved from the populace upon their entrance into Baghdad.. It is not bullshit fed to me by Fox news, it is in fact, a fact. I don't watch Fox, NBC, or CNN they are far too biased to be relied upon. I get my news from a wide variety of sources, so that I'm not reading one side of the story. Also, the levels of violence did in fact drop. That's an actual statistic. The numbers of dead American soldiers and dead civilians dropped. I agree with your statement about Stalin.. Americans did nothing however then, because I believe they didn't realize what impact he could have. Prior to WWII, the US government considered the USSR a backwater. During and after the war, the US government said nothing really, and probably did so because the USSR and the USA had been allies (if uneasy ones at that) during the war. I agree with what you say about correctly justifying the invasion for Iraq, and even I have said that we should've just said it was to instill democracy and to temove that maniac. As for the oil, I cannot be sure about that, but I wouldn't completely disagree with you. Surely, the Iraqis did sell some, if not most of their oil elsewhere, or was put into OPEC. However, I wouldn't find it very hard to believe if in fact the US government did buy some from them, at less than market value. The only problem I have with this however, is that it seems to great a cost just to get that price reduction.

Yay for illegal occupations of foreign countries! They just ROCK! Christ, I wish that John Hinckley, Jr. had succeeded back in the day. It would've prevented a worthless fucktard from continuing as President, shown us the shit job that Monkey Boy's dad would have done, and a decent man would have been elected President in 1984. Instead, we got 8 years of a fucktard actor followed by Bush 1.0. Then eight years later we get a mentally retarded asswipe dry-drunk who has no regard for anything but his own greedy agenda. Jesus ******* Christ what a mess.

I'm sorry for shouting at you. I have a really bad temper sometimes... :'( You are wrong though. The number of dead American soldiers cannot possibly have gone DOWN from entering the Iraqi war. And there are statistics that show that the number of casualties went up considerably (as you would expect) when America went into Iraq. Don't bother trying to say that they decreased violence from going into Iraq. In the REALLY long-term, yes, they will have left the country better off I guess. About the Iraqis being glad to see the Americans... I'm not sure about that. I call bias on that video. Obviously the Muslims being persecuted would be glad to see them, but they're the minority... agh! God I can't make up my mind. And war's not actually that expensive to the US. They already have a HUGE defence budget to spend on stuff like this. Plus the war was happening in Iraq, meaning that the Americans didn't have to pay lots on repairing buildings and stuff, which can be quite expensive. The government spending to fund the war in Iraq is actually pretty good for the US economy. War makes a lot of money P.S. Thanks for paragraphing

Wow my comments got buried. Also I will not spend my time or shit on someone whos name is 'the capitalist'. Thanks to IDIOTS like you believe that stealing other countries resources is your duty. My fuhrer go **** yourself.

yes of course your comment was buried, you are an idiot. And judging from your response, a socialist/communist one. Great countries those are right? Cuba, N. Korea, the former USSR.. and how odd.. the capitalist ones dominate the world.. USA, UK, Germany, Japan, the list goes on and on.. capitalism isn't about taking other countries resources moron, that's called imperialism. Capitalism is about economic freedom for the individual, and either little or no interference from the government. Not like socialism/communism, where you're taxed to the hilt, and money is taken from the most productive members of society and redistributed to the least productive. And since you wanna go German: Und ich bin kein Nazi, ich glaube an Freiheit und Kapitalismus. Du bist ein grosse schlampe.

i like how you use "dominating the world" as an example of how effective a certain government is, but then argue that us "world dominators" don't exploit other nations? kk

@147 Oh for God's sake use your head and don't read the comment so literally. By "dominate, I simply mean that countries that practice capitalism tend to be the most propserous and typically enjoy the most freedom. For example, we live in a capitalist society and are allowed to ridicule the system if we so desire. Countries that practice communism/socialism tend to be less proseprous and enjoy less freedom. In those societites, you cannot ridicule the system, or you will most likely end up in a prison being "re educated". I used the word dominate, in terms of who has the most influence, power, and prosperity. Good lord I can't believe there are so many people like this.. Who find the need to completely ignore history, facts, and statistics, in an effort to get their own, often wrong viewpoint across. Hopefully you will all pick up a book and read and discover for yourselves what the truth really is, and not have it fed to you. P.S. The Communist Manifesto, and Das Kapital do not count. These are books that describe a failed system. If you are particularly fond of failure by all means, go ahead and read them, but they will get you nowhere.

Capitalist? I'm not surprised with your response. You obviously breath in all pro-war propaganda and refuse to listen to the truth. Iraqi citizens DID NOT want America to invade their country and bomb their houses. They DID NOT ask for us to "help". The military was ordered to TAKE DOWN THEIR LEADER and IMPOSE THE DEMOCRATIC STYLE OF GOVERNMENT, as well estate an AMERICAN-APPROVED LEADER. Imperialism, in its worst form. Just because we don't like it, doesn't mean we have to barge in and change it. And if the military was sent to stop Saddam from killing his people, then why isn't the military sending troops to all the other parts of the world where leaders are killing their people? OF COURSE, you do not care that innocent people were killed because "thats apart of war". IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE. Like I said before. War doesn't prove who is right, it determines who is left. You will only hear the victor's side of the story.

#165 Haha. we're in Libya now aren't we? at the end if WWII when great Britain said they could no longer support nations looking to have a Democratic government the United States took over that responsibility. it was called the Truman doctrine. its to halt the spread of communism to the free world. that's why America has bases all over the world. We are the world's police basically.

So many long comments no way to thumb them

It's not the soilder's fault for going to war, it's many government's faults for starting the war in the first place.

Dont you ever talk about the armed forces that way, there giving there LIVES so that you can sit on your computer eating twinkies all day. I hope you get hit by a car, I seriously do.

#26 and 27, seeing how dumb you guys are here is my word of advice. Listen to the Beatles. That is all. It may possible change your mind from the right wing to atleast the central wing.

pfft... as if I'm a beatles fan AND a liberal and I have to disagree with you... I am proud of our soldiers and I love America and I think you would have to support the soldiers no matter what sort of politics you believe in, because soldiers are here to defend out freedom, and even if you might not believe in this war, you can't say that all wars are pointless, because if that was true, then America wouldn't have been founded, slaves wouldn't have been liberated, and so on...

#17 You are a moron. First to bitch about the situation, last to react. Regardless of what you think of the war (if you dont like it elect different officials), Soldiers follow orders from your representatives stupid.. No Soldier really wants to be there.. its 130 degrees sandy, smelly, and o ya people are trying to kill you. If soldiers really wanted to kill babies they would do it out of the comfort of thier own cities; theres running water, your friends, your family. Hopefully you realize your error of your ways, if not please go talk to some trees because no one else is going to sit there quietly listening to your dribble.

You moderless satan worshipping atheist! They are fighting for your FREEDOOOMM amidoingitright?

Your comment on this topic has no value to the discussion. Obviously you aren't in the military, and know very little about the armed forces. Just to enlighten you some, there are jobs that one can sign up for in the military that don't involve combat. Some good examples are chaplains, doctors, nurses, dentists, and supply and support personnel.

107 Supply and services run on convoys stupid ****** POG

@ 51 If they don't want to be there, then... why are they there? I wasn't aware we had begun drafting people into the military against their will. ALSO, NEWSFLASH - this war has nothing to do with "protecting our freedom." Just FYI.

Because stupid, you signed into the military and following the orders of the people YOU elected to office. Protecting your freedom requires sometimes you go to war. Example, revolutionary war (read the constitution), WWII, etc. Sometimes there are aholes in the world that you have to fight back against, ie when they threaten your freedom. Afganistan would be that example. But you wouldnt know anything about that you stupid hippie would you..

Oh, so obviously I'm the stupid one here for questioning what I'm told by the government? Believe me, I've read the US Constitution - not that it really has much to do with the reasons behind the Revolutionary War. I honestly doubt you have. I think it's a beautiful document. I really do. I also think we should strive to achieve some of the ideals it contains. However, I don't think these ideals have anything to do with the war we're waging ATM against people who have NEVER threatened our freedom. You really think a single errant act of terrorism is a good excuse to start a full-on war that has lasted for, what? Six years now? But really, you just keep on eating what you're given. It's your choice, bb. :)

Seriously you dont know how to run an organization. The Armed forces ONLY work as a hierarchy if you want it to be functional. That has nothing to do with believing everything your told, I personnally believe in questioning everything, but when it comes to taking orders from superiors as long as its not immoral or illegal you have to do it. As far as you knowledge of geography and power structure of Afganistan, its probably as large as bullfrogs dick. The taliban and its allies have controlled large vast areas on the mtns and other areas. Prior to our arrival the "government" there was not in existance, at least not effectively. If you actually read some accounts by any news outlet you would realize thats its not just a few debo extremists but a shitload, 10000+, since they have already lost 1000 and fighting continues. I would qualify this as an "army", with funding since guns and explosives they have dont just magically appear in there hands. You getting this so far David Copperfield? Now with these "guns" and Funds, and a willingness to spread their faith by the sword, yes this part is in the Koran and their press releases to the "infadels" ie you, you stupid ****, then yes they are a threat.. Next up a stick diagram so you can learn better.

How is killing someone in cold blood not "immoral"? Also, get this - a lot of countries hate the United States. That doesn't mean we should invade and murder them, does it? There have been quite a few terrorist attacks on countries closer to the Middle East, (that are in much more danger, btw), but you didn't see them storming headlong into a hopeless war. This war has brought nothing but a terrible loss of life and drain on the economy for entirely too long now. (PS: you realize the Christian Bible is also all for "spreading the faith" through terror and murder, right?)

Don't talk about things you don't know you idiot. I don't go dissing other people's religions or making opinions on them until I know for sure what I'm talking about! Even then you should only say positive things!

Believe me, I know plenty about the Christian bible; I was raised Pentecostal/Southern Baptist. The entire thing is full of murder, misogyny, rape, and any other horrible action you can think of - all in the name of God. Maybe you should look a little deeper, hm, sweetheart? P.S. - not everything can be all puppy dogs and rainbows. If the only comments we were ever allowed to make were positive ones (ie the old adage "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"), there would never be any progress whatsoever. I'm afraid such shallow philosophies never last long past grade school. :)

So let me get this straight, you think MONEY is more important then your own KID?! I think as a parent you shouldn't care about the money the government gives you, but about your child that just died. Then again, I'm only 15 so how should I know. But still, that's my point of view.

The truth is if he dies after he turns 18 they don't get shit. He is the one who decides who's the benficiary of his life insurance. Before I met my husband he had his brother put down as the benficiary because he wasn't on good terms with his parents. And what happens to the rest of his belongings will be put in his will. Both the will and the life insurance have to be updated before every deployment. At least that's how my husband's unit handled it (he's Army)

It is kinda the guys fault for joining the army in the middle of a war, maybe ^o) Perhaps then... his parents just didn't want him to sign up? And hoped that a saying something like that would make him reconsider.

"It is kinda the guys fault for joining the army in the middle of a war, maybe ^o) Perhaps then... his parents just didn't want him to sign up? And hoped that a saying something like that would make him reconsider." should be in response to "It's not the soilder's fault for going to war, it's many government's faults for starting the war in the first place." but it got messed up somewhere :/

A majority of FMLs are from whiny emo OPs Maybe they should also enroll to slap some sense into them.

Great, another person who doesn't know what the **** emo is. Look it up, it's short for emotive hardcore (a music genre). Not emotional. The "emo kids" who whine about how their lives suck when they really don't are just douches.