Quote :

"I used to think the same thing. Then I realized that middle eastern cultures don't think the same way I do. "

You're so naive.

[Edited on March 11, 2012 at 3:42 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2012 3:41:41 PM

go figure, GeniuSxBoY contributing absolutely nothing to a thread.

3/11/2012 3:43:40 PM

Quote :

" That's why the Republican Party must be stopped at all costs."

LOL

Chain-rattling rhetoric for someone whose "all costs" is voting and bitching on the internet.

3/11/2012 3:58:54 PM

^Lol

3/11/2012 4:03:52 PM

Quote :

"Joining the military only perpetuates the violence."

Unless you're joining the service for free, you need not worry about propping up the military industrial complex. If they're defunded, you can rest assured that they won't recruit you or other people. Heck, if you want to get philosophic about it, you joining may mean that someone else doesn't join because they've met their quota. If enough people don't join (who otherwise would have), they'll ratchet up the advertising. This is the normal ebb and flow of recruitment that you can already see year to year.

Is joining the military an altruistic act? A lot of people sure talk like it is.

3/11/2012 5:13:59 PM

I don't normally participate in these types of threads but I'll add this:

Most people who join the military are altruistic, myself included, but after your initial enlistment it becomes just another job; personally I don't give two shits about flag-waving.

3/11/2012 5:17:55 PM

^ Exactly. In fact, I just left the lounge in my barracks where everyone was gathered around talking about what a shit show our government is.

3/11/2012 5:24:12 PM

A lot of men were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and realized how fucked up things are over there. The suicide rate among veterans is very high. PTSD rates are high.

I've read a lot of about VA and some of it's not good at all. The government doesn't give a shit about the troops. Republicans and Democrats don't give a shit about the troops. The troops are pawns, nothing more. Many of them realize this mid process and many of them end up supporting candidates like Ron Paul or Gary Johnson rather than establishment puppets.

When it's Romney versus Obama, there will be a contest of who "supports the troops" more. Remember that neither of these men actually care, they only pretend to care. The United States population has rejected the only candidate that does care. U.S. soldiers have been abandoned by the politicians and the people despite the enormous burden they were asked to carry. That's why I'm hopeful that when it comes time for real change (not this rigged form of democracy we currently live under), the troops will be on the right side.

Nothing infuriates me more than this stupid fucking concept that in order to support the troops, you must support more and more wars. The media supports it, the people believe it, and it's one of the many reasons that I have become very jaded.

[Edited on March 11, 2012 at 5:30 PM. Reason : ]

3/11/2012 5:28:15 PM

We don't care that they don't care.

3/11/2012 5:32:17 PM

I understand that you need to have that mentality, but many veterans will care 30 years from now when it's all too obvious that the government turned its back on them.

The reason we can so carelessly go to war is that the long-term consequences are never laid out. We were told we could lower taxes and start these wars. We were told they'd be over in a couple months with very limited casualties. No one talked about the dead, the families left behind, PTSD, the disfigured and maimed. When the wars were sold to us, all of those considerations were left out, and they always are.

[Edited on March 11, 2012 at 5:37 PM. Reason : ]

3/11/2012 5:36:26 PM

So far no one has heard either side of the story, you've got the media accounts and nothing else. The media has an interest in slanting stories to make them more sensational than they really are. Rather than reacting, how about we wait and see what pans out?

3/11/2012 6:00:31 PM

Quote :

"We don't care that they don't care."

do you care that you're tools of destruction, essentially working for large corporations?

3/11/2012 10:21:31 PM

I learned more about myself and the world I live in serving in the army than any of you could possibly hope to learn in school. It opened opportunities for me that I would not have had. It straightened me out and made me appreciate every second of my life, every thing that I do, and every person that I know and spend time with more than had I not served. Thats what I got out of serving.

3/11/2012 10:27:38 PM

that's good. unfortunately many of the people you served weren't as lucky. mental illness, substance addiction, debilitating injuries, etc. 10,000 (and counting) servicemen/contractors didn't make it back.

not to mention the immense trauma suffered by countries we're fighting in.

3/11/2012 10:38:41 PM

what gave you the impression that I don't deal with all of those on a daily basis, and I have found that the VA and other organizations have been incredibly helpful, also, i can honestly say that when i left Iraq it was a better place then when i arrived, we handed out blankets, provided medical care, passed out school supplies and did other humanitarian missions

whatever asshole did this is the exception not the norm

3/11/2012 10:43:28 PM

GG The E Man. You made all of these saps fall for a parotty thready.

3/11/2012 10:47:17 PM

Quote :

"whatever asshole did this is the exception not the norm"

i don't agree with the op's sentiment. i don't think most soldiers are bad people, just misled

Quote :

"i can honestly say that when i left Iraq it was a better place then when i arrived"

the families of the 162,000 casualties might disagree with you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War

as well as the 2.8 million displaced persons
http://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/iraq

3/11/2012 10:52:34 PM

Maybe he got there after the shit started.

3/11/2012 11:25:04 PM

I'm not going to argue anymore with anyone who uses wikipedia as a source

3/11/2012 11:26:53 PM

the iraq war logs disclosed 66,081 documented civilian deaths alone.

feel free to peruse wikipedia's sources for that article. you probably don't care though.

3/11/2012 11:33:43 PM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17334643

damn, this is so terrible and sad:

Quote :

"Speaking through tears, a grandfather, Samad Khan, told Reuters news agency that 11 members of his family had been killed, including his children and grandchildren."

Quote :

"The farmer, who had been away from the village when the attack happened, said he believed that chemicals had been poured over the bodies and set alight. Photographs show at least one child's body partially charred, while a pile of ashes lay on the floor of a room in one of the houses with what appeared to be bloodstains close by."

Quote :

"Images of the bodies also suggest that at least some were killed by a single shot to the head. One photograph shows the body of a small girl in a red and green dress, with a bullet hole in the middle of her temple."

3/12/2012 8:46:29 AM

Quote :

""i can honestly say that when i left Iraq it was a better place then when i arrived""

but still much worse than when the first bomb was dropped.

3/12/2012 8:33:59 PM

Quote :

"Fuck US Soldiers "

3/12/2012 8:42:28 PM

For real though....



Can we please hear the soldier's side of the story?

3/12/2012 8:51:13 PM

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-withholds-soldiers-name-afghan-shooting-172025297.html

Quote :

"U.S. soldier in Afghan massacre had brain injury: official WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army staff sergeant accused of the massacre of 16 villagers in Afghanistan on Sunday was treated for traumatic brain injury after being in a vehicle that rolled over in Iraq in 2010, a U.S. official said on Monday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was premature to state whether there was any link between the 2010 injury and the Afghanistan incident."

3/12/2012 9:16:42 PM

Easy to write off.



I'd like to hear from the soldier himself though. There has to be an alibi. From the alibi, we can determine if he's crazy or not.

3/12/2012 9:22:46 PM

Fuck US soldiers? Nope, just fuck him. he needs to be publicly executed and quickly.

3/13/2012 3:54:08 PM

^you haven't heard his side of the story yet. Remember? The constitution? Justice for all? Innocent until proven guilty?

3/13/2012 3:56:33 PM

what caused the vehicle to roll over? those 16 family members?



also, fuck your title OP.

3/13/2012 3:59:47 PM

It is only fair that he is handed over to the Iraqi government as they are demanding.

3/13/2012 4:01:51 PM

It's not fair at all. Iraqis are not fair people. They kill emos.

3/13/2012 4:21:47 PM

And Americans are fair?

10 years in Guantanamo with no trial, secret evidence hidden from the defendant and his lawyers, etc.

And that's US gov action.

Of all the examples you could have given to show how unfair Arabs are, you chose that? Is the gov of Iraq killing the emos?

3/13/2012 4:25:46 PM

Quote :

"And Americans are fair?"

Obviously not if you think giving him to the iraqi people is fair without hearing his side of the fucking story.


Shit. He might have done it to save 10,000 more iraqi's lives by a forced pull out of the region.


Sacrifice 16 to save 10,000? Sounds reasonable to me.

3/13/2012 4:32:16 PM

Why would we hand him over to Iraqi Arabs for killing Afghans?

O and speaking of fair, America usually doesn't even bother capturing or accusing. Typically, we just blow the people up along with everyone in the near vicinity.

3/13/2012 5:35:13 PM

Sorry, I obviously meant the Afghani government.

3/13/2012 10:36:27 PM

American ignorance at it's best in this thread.

Iraq /= Afghanistan

3/13/2012 10:41:36 PM

so if we were going to start another war....why not sweep through africa and some other areas and wipe out the warlords and all the people who kill the innocent.

also, you have mexico and south america....lets go take out those people.

3/13/2012 11:15:25 PM

Build a gallows in downtown Kabul and use them. Let's use the nature of military justice to our advantage and hang the cocksucker ASAP.

3/13/2012 11:37:28 PM

Quote :

"American ignorance at it's best in this thread. Iraq /= Afghanistan"

ahahahah this dude thinks i am an ignorant american

3/14/2012 5:21:54 AM

If everyone weren't so worried about a huge statistical improbability, perhaps we wouldn't let the government do as they please in the name of security.

3/14/2012 6:10:07 AM

good thing killing enemy civilians is punishable under the UCMJ

3/14/2012 5:09:11 PM

What about Major Hassan who killed all the innocents af Ft Hood, where was the condemnation of all Muslims due to the actions of one? There wasnt any, but you all can sit here and condemn all US military people for the actions of one soldier?

3/14/2012 5:28:10 PM

Quote :

"ahahahah this dude thinks i am an ignorant american "

You corrected yourself, I wasnt referring to you.

3/14/2012 7:12:39 PM

Obviously if Steven wasn't talking about you, he was talking about a wall.

[Edited on March 14, 2012 at 9:14 PM. Reason : .]

3/14/2012 9:13:40 PM

3/16/2012 2:35:26 PM

Quote :

"Up to 20 US troops behind Kandahar bloodbath - Afghan probe"

http://rt.com/news/massacre-kandahar-soldier-american-705/

3/16/2012 2:41:19 PM

Quote :

"“We are convinced that one soldier cannot kill so many people in two villages within one hour at the same time, and the 16 civilians, most of them children and women, have been killed by the two groups,” investigator Hamizai Lali told Afghan News."

Do they think he was shooting a fucking musket? come on now. Semi/full auto weapons...

3/16/2012 5:43:43 PM

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. paid $50,000 in compensation for each villager killed and $11,000 for each person wounded in a shooting rampage allegedly carried out by a rogue American soldier in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Sunday.


http://news.yahoo.com/afghans-us-paid-50k-per-shooting-spree-death-160404824.html

3/25/2012 5:27:43 PM

so I just found out that combined with his head injury the soldier was taking mefloquine (an anti-malaria pill) that causes hallucinations and crazy dreams. I have been on that stuff and it gave me craaaaazy dreams, some people said that it gave them terrible nightmares.


Anyway, not defending his actions.... but it makes a little bit more sense considering his clean past.

4/4/2012 11:26:45 AM

I'm torn about it. I don't see how it's possible that he "snuck off base" without anyone knowing and started killing only women and children.

Even in a hallucinacinated state it doesn't explain why "he walked back to base, turned in his gun, and explained what he had done" He knew what he was doing.

The story I've read is either complete false or completely false. The fact that the story keeps changing is another big WTF.

Oh damn: here is a reality check on it:

http://www.fox19.com/story/17326578/reality-check-is-the-us-military-conducting-an-information-blackout-for-soldier-in-afghanistan-massacre

[Edited on April 4, 2012 at 11:47 AM. Reason : .]

4/4/2012 11:39:43 AM