"Our kind of people"
Soon or late, after hundreds more deaths or after thousands, leaving an Islamic state, or a state of civil war, the US will, eventually, draw down the number of troops in Iraq.
And when it does it will be perceived by everyone worldwide (except, apparently, Republicans) as a serious defeat for the United States.
And why will we have been defeated?
Because people like your CaliBlogger have been predicting it before ever we crossed the border into the Iraqi desert?
Because the French wouldn't participate in Bush's folly?
Because the MSM always ignore the "good things" we're doing in Iraq?
Because of ANYTHING any liberal or progressive does?
Because of ANYTHING that ANYONE who opposes this war does?
I think not.
We will be defeated because those who most support this war, who most benefit from the potential spoils of war, refuse to fight it.
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (and thanks to DCMediaGirl for the heads up on the article):
Staff Sgt. Jason Rivera, 26, a Marine recruiter in Pittsburgh, went to the home of a high school student who had expressed interest in joining the Marine Reserve to talk to his parents.Ah yes, "our kind of people". The kind of people with yellow ribbons on their Hummers. The kind of people who love BushCorp™ tax cuts, but don't give a fig for cutting veterans' disability benefits. The kind of people who don't care how many poor, brown Americans go down, so long as their Halliburton stock goes up. The kind of people who support the war, as long as they don't have to pay for it, or suffer for it. The kind of people who would neither stand up against needless war, nor make the sacrifices needed to have even a chance of winning it.
It was a large home in a well-to-do suburb north of the city. Two American flags adorned the yard. The prospect's mom greeted him wearing an American flag T-shirt.
"I want you to know we support you," she gushed.
Rivera soon reached the limits of her support.
"Military service isn't for our son. It isn't for our kind of people," she told him. [Emphasis mine-CK]
"Our kind of people". George Bush's kind of people. That's who'll be to blame for our defeat.
[X-posted at DailyKos]
3 comments:
I like your blog. I found a most recent post interesting. I am a centrist and enjoy reading liberal and conservative blogs. I try to be objective. I have some observations about your post titled "Our kind of people".
First, the post was right on target when discussing the reality that most Iraqi War supporters are willing to send someone else's son or daughter to war, but stop short of sending their own children.
Second, I question the wisdom of the anti-war movement on two fronts. A. Recent protests outside Walter Reed hospital, insulting wounded and perminently disabled war veterans, is counter-productive. And, this particular protest should have been denounced quickly by the Democratic /Republican Parties and the protest movement in general. It makes no sense to insult veterans, who have been blown apart by terrorists.
B. When the anti-war movement implies that American soldiers are War Criminals for fighting in Iraq, the anti-war movement loses creditabiliy with many Americans.
Third, the management of the Iraq War has been horrible. And, I question the reasons for going into a hotbed of Islamic terrorism in the first place. However, I also question the logic of implying that Iraqis are not capable of forming a more perfect union and living more peacefully.
Fourth, liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans were all in favor of "Nation Building" after Eastern Europe broke away from Russia. But now, liberal Democrats are against "Nation Building" in Iraq and refer to President Bush as some kind of Nazi for getting involved.
Fifth, a quick read of American military history will show that the American military wins wars by using all the resources possible to defeat the enemy (WWI and WWII). In Korea, we lost a lot of good soldiers, because we did not fight to win. We fought to comprise. This was a poor decision.
In Vietnam, we made the same mistake. In both cases, we were fighting China directly and indirectly. How fooling it was to get involved in a land war in
Asia, where Asian counties have an endless supply ground troops. We are about to make same mistake in Iraq. Going to war to win a compromise is not wise.
Sixth, the post stated in part ". . .don't care how many brown people go down. . .". I hope I am not reading this correctly, but it appears that this implies that mostly brown (Hispanic) soldiers are being killed in Iraq. Recent research gives the following statistics regarding those killed in Iraq: White 73%; Black 12%; Hispanic 12%; other 3%.
In conclusion, I find this blog easy to read and it has some interesting posts. Take care.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. A couple of points. I fully agree that anti-war protests that place blame on soldiers rather than their leaders are mis-guided at best.
I'm much more inclined to believe that our soldiers and their families do, in fact, bear the worst cost for the administration's abuse of their patriotism and honor.
As for "nation building" I agree its quite fair to accuse both liberals and conservatives of this same fault. What they share is not an ideology, but the fact that they are ideologues. It seems to me that anyone who claims to have all the answers hasn't been asked the right questions.
Finally on the "brown people" comment I'll admit to having no hard data, my experience being more anecdotal. Living in So Cal, the faces of fallen soldiers seen in our local papers to seem to be largely those of people of color. But accepting your numbers I stand corrected.
I suppose the phrase should have read: ". . .don't care how many poor or brown people go down. . ."
Thanks again for your kind comments.
Peace
As for the demographics of the soldiers you have seen in Southern California papers, they reflect the demographics of Southern California.
I think that the group that is most overrepresented in the military, in particular among casualties, are low-income white people (especially from rural areas and small towns); people who affluent urban Americans don't even know exist.
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