SASless,
Why? Because it is nothing more than a rant, using the tired old lines of putting troops at risk through wanting them safely home. I mean, if Mr. Stark's son on his 3rd tour of Iraq comes to any harm, perhaps Stark Jnr's father is to blame more than Murtha?
Murtha is doing more to save lives on both sides of this conflict than Mr Stark and his son are. That is admirable, and he's taking a lot of stick for it.
No, I love to hear views other than mine (that being most of the reason I loiter around on PPRUNE). Many thoughtful points have been put forward; this rant from Mr. Stark hardly qualifies.
Free Speech? Yep, I'm a big fan too. Kerry is a skunk? Yep, I agree again - I reckon he is from much the same build as the Republican leadership.
It isn't cut and run, SASless....it's a war we shouldn't have been in in the first place. Not that I don't think Iraq needed serious attending to, but it just didn't need us supporting it's **** regime in the first place, it did not need us contributing directly or indirectly to the deaths of tens, hundreds of thousands of people, at a time when we needed the average Muslim in the street to see us as acceptable human alternatives.
The Cut and Run Brigade are indirectly responsible for harm coming to our troops by using the war as a method of hopefully regaining their own lost power.
And the people who got the troops there in the first place, and who refuse to give a clear indication of when Iraq will belong to Iraqi's again are helping our troops stay alive? Orwell was a man ahead of his time.
They hate Bush and the Republican Party more than they love the country and forsake National interests for purely personal issues at a time when we are engaged in a war.
Sadly that is what you get when you run political regime like Bush's, that stridently marches out against half the population, let alone alienating the world population. He is hated to the extreme by most people on earth it would seem. Is it surprising that the Americans who don't support him will do anything they can to get him out? He is a liability and in my mind a bigger threat to America than Osama bin Laden could ever be.
His orders boil down to go to a combat area and attempt to save as many lives as possible.....not kill people.
If I was a doctor in 1939 Germany, I would have serious ethical issues with heading to the front knowing I would be directly supporting a war effort. The saving of lives is one thing, knowing that this role is being used to prop up a bloody and illegal war is another.
It's a fine line, I agree, but this man is putting his balls on the line with his decision, and I doubt very much he is getting an easy ride by chosing this approach.
Whether you agree with the reasons given...our countries and society in general are at "War" with a determined enemy which seek to destroy us. Iraq is but one campaign in that war.
I absolutely disagree with that. Every word of it. This is a convenient line to scare people and motivate them into supporting the unsupportable.
If you do not like what you are being asked to do....then resign....leave....depart....but do so honorably. You signed a contract when you entered....abide by the contract terms.
I enlisted, but I never expected I would be in a situation like Iraq. Fortunately with a bit of thought and using my own countries experience in Vietnam I realised I might just find myself engaging in something utterly wrong and couldn't possibly justify serving further in the knowledge my country could put me in that position. Some people might not have thought it through that far (the army relies on people not thinking these issues through), and I suspect the Doctor is perhaps one of them.
For the record, I certainly don't align myself with Kerry, but if given the choice of Kerry or Bush, Kerry would have it. That's a sad indictment on the state of US democracy.
Enough said from me....we are way off topic here.