If you've posted in forums you might remember writing some decent responses. I usually spend a lot of time polishing my discussion forum responses depending on the subject or who I am talking to. Often I want to remember what I said about something, but finding the original post can be difficult. So it makes sense to capture the better responses for later review. Welcome to Clint's Reposts.Monday, March 15, 2004
Spain Freaks Out (Politics Forum)
Spanish Freakout:
David wrote:
"After the terrorist attack in Spain that country's electorate shifted dramatically away from the conservative government's pro-war stance and elected a socialist government that vows to pull Spain's troops out of Iraq immediately upon taking power. This is the first "coalition of the willing" government to be ousted. Both the presidency and the parliamentary majority were lost by the conservatives."
Response, starting with DW quotes:
"There is no ambiguity in what has happened in Spain. The rotten heart of Europe has been exposed. The best comparison one can make is to Europe in 1940, when the entire continent had capitulated to Nazism and fascism, leaving Britain alone to fight. It thus came to be known as "Churchill's war", rather than "Hitler's war", only to revert when the Allies had won it, and a generation of Europeans, who had not lifted a finger, decided retrospectively that they had been in the Resistance."
and
"One must not, under the present circumstances, sound an uncertain trumpet. All men of goodwill, regardless of nation, are fighting the Jihadists in Afghanistan and Iraq, as we fought the Nazis in Italy and France; and if the Americans must fight them alone, so be it. Then as now we made a lot of blather about "democracy". But screw democracy, we are fighting an enemy of civilization, an embodiment of real evil. There is no compromise with such an enemy, no capitulation to him, no way to avoid casualties, no easy way out. We defeat him, or he defeats us."
"We do not retreat because our allies are cowards. We continue to fight, for ourselves, for our children, and for their children."
http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/Comment/Mar04/index205.shtml
I couldn't have said it better myself. And we know that this political turn around is not about Spain's conservative party's support of Bush in Iraq, because Al Qaeda was not in Iraq - right? But it appears Al Qaeda had a hand if not THE hand in the Spain bombings. Sheesh. Call the U.N. so they can make another resolution!
Concientious Objection:
David wrote:
"The war also had it's first conscientious objector today from within the ranks of the US military. Staff Sgt. Camilo Meijia has refused to return to Iraq and has turned himself in to military authorities. In a news conference he stated "I went to Iraq and was an instrument of violence and now I have decided to become an instrument of peace." Apparently the turning point for him was an ambush he became involved in recently that injured or killed a group of innocent civilians. The civilian death toll on this one-year anniversary of the war just topped 10,000, according to IBC (link)."
I will always support individuals who make a conscientious stand under difficult conditions, as readers of my rant's well know. Hurray for Sgt. Camilo Meijia! This is the hardest thing in the world to do as an individual. But this is the kind of action - personal action - that changes the world. It's interesting to note that during Vietnam, such a stance rarely merited a news report but that today, no doubt because of a lockstep press seeking leverage, any leverage, to defeat Bush, it is national news. But I know much about this issue and it goes much deeper than "the war in Iraq is wrong". May the Sgt. live long and reflect on his personal decision - I applaud his individualism.
Clint
David wrote:
"After the terrorist attack in Spain that country's electorate shifted dramatically away from the conservative government's pro-war stance and elected a socialist government that vows to pull Spain's troops out of Iraq immediately upon taking power. This is the first "coalition of the willing" government to be ousted. Both the presidency and the parliamentary majority were lost by the conservatives."
Response, starting with DW quotes:
"There is no ambiguity in what has happened in Spain. The rotten heart of Europe has been exposed. The best comparison one can make is to Europe in 1940, when the entire continent had capitulated to Nazism and fascism, leaving Britain alone to fight. It thus came to be known as "Churchill's war", rather than "Hitler's war", only to revert when the Allies had won it, and a generation of Europeans, who had not lifted a finger, decided retrospectively that they had been in the Resistance."
and
"One must not, under the present circumstances, sound an uncertain trumpet. All men of goodwill, regardless of nation, are fighting the Jihadists in Afghanistan and Iraq, as we fought the Nazis in Italy and France; and if the Americans must fight them alone, so be it. Then as now we made a lot of blather about "democracy". But screw democracy, we are fighting an enemy of civilization, an embodiment of real evil. There is no compromise with such an enemy, no capitulation to him, no way to avoid casualties, no easy way out. We defeat him, or he defeats us."
"We do not retreat because our allies are cowards. We continue to fight, for ourselves, for our children, and for their children."
http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/Comment/Mar04/index205.shtml
I couldn't have said it better myself. And we know that this political turn around is not about Spain's conservative party's support of Bush in Iraq, because Al Qaeda was not in Iraq - right? But it appears Al Qaeda had a hand if not THE hand in the Spain bombings. Sheesh. Call the U.N. so they can make another resolution!
Concientious Objection:
David wrote:
"The war also had it's first conscientious objector today from within the ranks of the US military. Staff Sgt. Camilo Meijia has refused to return to Iraq and has turned himself in to military authorities. In a news conference he stated "I went to Iraq and was an instrument of violence and now I have decided to become an instrument of peace." Apparently the turning point for him was an ambush he became involved in recently that injured or killed a group of innocent civilians. The civilian death toll on this one-year anniversary of the war just topped 10,000, according to IBC (link)."
I will always support individuals who make a conscientious stand under difficult conditions, as readers of my rant's well know. Hurray for Sgt. Camilo Meijia! This is the hardest thing in the world to do as an individual. But this is the kind of action - personal action - that changes the world. It's interesting to note that during Vietnam, such a stance rarely merited a news report but that today, no doubt because of a lockstep press seeking leverage, any leverage, to defeat Bush, it is national news. But I know much about this issue and it goes much deeper than "the war in Iraq is wrong". May the Sgt. live long and reflect on his personal decision - I applaud his individualism.
Clint
