Saturday, September 22, 2007

YOU AIN'T GONNA LIKE LOSING

Article by Bill Harrison, a retired military man

Sorry, I don't know the author of this, but it is a good one. President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq. Bush's mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not. Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those leaders. Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not or whether the war was going badly or not. And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it i s today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty. Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war. Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort. Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap, to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining. You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President. Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our President. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted. And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with a pledge of allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops! Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies. A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being "tortured" by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning. There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornog raphy, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crackheads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets. No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve. It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra and the land of Oz. We even have the wicked witch of the West as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives. We did unite for a short while after 911, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices. We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one-third or over three hundred million Muslims are sym pathetic to the terrorists cause...Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits. We either win it -- or lose it -- and you ain't gonna like losing.

Please ne flaming if you don't feel the same way. Just something to think about.

5 comments:

Jill said...

I guess I agree with this in theory. The other big difference between this war and WWII is that we are not suffering in our daily living (rations, etc) like they did then. If we had to suffer for the cause of freedom, people may be more careful about bad mouthing the President, the troops, and the war. My feeling is, if a bully hits you once, let alone 4 times (9/11) you hit them back. People today want instant gratification, and it ain't gonna happen where a war in concerned.

Irene said...

I do agree with you. We are such a different country now than we were during WWII, and NOT in a good way. Can you imagine rationing today? This country would go nuts!

I read Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation" and it made me sad. It was a different and much better world back then in many ways.

Unfortunately, I am afraid that our lack of support is only making it easier for the terrorists to plan the next 9/11 - and you can bet that the most vocal non-supporters will also be the most vocal finger pointers as to who is to blame for the next attack....and I'm guessing they won't be pointing at themselves.

Angi said...

I do agree with this completely, the letter was right on. The President is doing his best to make sure we don't suffer here for the cause of freedom. Unfortunately, there are many soliders families and 9/11 victums that are suffering, and I feel very sad for them. For those who suffered 9/11, we should fight for safety here so it doesn't happen again, for those soldiers families, thank you for making it so I can sleep peacefully in my home every night.

Anonymous said...

You can think Bush is a good man, but you'd be wrong!
Bush was talking about attacking Iraq years before 9-11 happened. Bush authorized illegal wiretaps before 9-11. Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. Bush is a bully, and his friends are exploiting the whole mess by stuffing their pockets with unprecedented amounts of money. Bush and boys should be in prison for war crimes, and our sons and daughters die for no good reason.
Vietnam Veteran
Dave Patterson
Ramona, CA

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous said...


You stated as fact:

("Bush was talking about attacking Iraq years before 9-11 happened. Bush authorized illegal wiretaps before 9-11. Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. Bush is a bully, and his friends are exploiting the whole mess by stuffing their pockets with unprecedented amounts of money.")

("Bush was talking about attacking Iraq years before 9-11 happened)
GW Bush was not the president YEARS before 911....try less than 8months....hummm

("Bush authorized illegal wiretaps before 9-11")
Please provide proof IF you can!!

("Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11")
Why did Sadam have a mockup of a jet airliner in the terrorist training camp north of Bagdad?

("Bush is a bully, and his friends are exploiting the whole mess by stuffing their pockets
with unprecedented amounts of money")

Please provide proof IF you can!!

From Anonymous asked

PS: I served 2 tours 65-68 but I don't need to impress anyone like some wannabes do.
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