WHAT SENATOR JOHN GLENN SAID
With my comments in bold italics.
Things that make you think a little:
There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq in January.
In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the
month of January. That's just one American city,
about as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq.
Detroit: over 900,000 residents (11th most popular US city), medium household income is under 30,000, and over 26% of the population is below the poverty line. 47% of citizens are deemed "functionally illiterate" in 1998, and numbers are currently higher. 72% of all children born in Detroit are to unwed mothers. It's the 2nd most violent city (Camden NJ is #1). There are racial tensions in Detroit and there has been a lot of white flight in the past, which has helped erode the middle class.
But yes, let's look at the despair in Detroit and twist it into proof that the Iraqi war isn't that bad. Let's only look at the number of "combat related" killings while ignoring all of the non fatal injuries. Who cares if soldiers lose body parts or develop illnesses based on our use of chemical weapons? Only deaths count.
A fraction of the money used on the war in Iraq could have been used to help the people in Detroit .
When some claim that President Bush shouldn't
have started this war, state the following:
"Some?" Most of America now thinks the choice to go to war was wrong.
a. FDR led us into World War II.
"Led us into". Note: He didn't start the war. He didn't jump right in. He entered the war when it became absolutely necessary to. Not a moment sooner.
b. Germany never attacked us; Japan did.
From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost ...
an average of 112,500 per year.
Let's compare the Iraqi war (which essentially consists of our army going against insurgents) to a war that went on for years on a GLOBAL scale. Then, the Iraqi war will look small in comparison. Germany attacked free democratic nations. We've always had a policy against such aggression, as well we should.
c. Truman finished that war and started one in Korea.
North Korea never attacked us.
From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost ...
an average of 18,334 per year.
I don't know anything about the Korean war.
d John F. Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict in 1962.
Vietnam never attacked us.
"started the Vietnam conflict". Could that be any more vague? The conflict was already brewing by 1957, and if you look at the bigger picture of the "cold war", it's pretty unfair to put all the blame on JFK. He is a democrat though….
e. Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire.
From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost ....
an average of 5,800 per year.
The issues surrounding the Vietnam war are too complex to just label as this. But yes, I'll agree that there are similarities between Veitnam and Iraq . Shouldn't we learn from our mistakes?
f. Clinton went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent.
Bosnia never attacked us.
He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three
times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on
multiple occasions.
It blows my mind that Clinton is blamed for dropping the ball on terrorism, but Bush has never received even the slightest complaint for allowing 9/11 to happen on his watch. Clinton gets blamed for Bin Laden, but Regan/Bush aren't even mentioned? Yeah, that's fair. Hey, how come the writer failed to post the number of casualties in the Bosnian War?
g. In the years since terrorists attacked us , President Bush
has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled
al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran, and North
Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who
slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.
Please define: liberated, crushed, crippled, without, and terrorist. Because the way I see it, those countries (what's the 2nd country, Afghanistan ?) are not even close to being liberated. Afghanistan is said to be just as bad, if not worse, than it was before, and if memory serves, I think the Taliban is back to being in quasi control there. Is Iraq liberated? Really? The only news I've heard about positive things in Iraq has been from either Fox News or the fake propaganda stories that our government has infiltrated the Iraqi newspapers with. The Bible is perfect b/c it says so, and the war in Iraq is a-ok because our government says so.
How can it be claimed that we haven't fired a shot? We destroyed a country to flex our military muscles. North Korea is an entirely different issue, despite being lumped in with the "axis of evil". Libya and Iran are very complex issues, and we've royally screwed things up with these nations via the Iraqi war.
The Democrats are complaining
about how long the war is taking.
But ..
It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno
to take the Branch Davidian compound.
That was a 51-day operation.
"take Iraq". If we've taken it already, why is there still a problem?
We've been looking for evidence for chemical weapons
in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find
the Rose Law Firm billing records.
Looking for evidence? We were told that they definitely had them and that they could be launched in 30 minutes. Hold onto this lie that we're eventually going to find them. It makes you very credible.
It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the
Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard
than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his
Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick
I wish I could spell that Latin word that translates to "attack the person, not the argument". Ad homonym ? Hillary is a bitch, and Ted is a murderer. I get it. Let's resort to name calling when the democrats attempt to make points.
It took less time to take Iraq than it took
to count the votes in Florida!!!!
Do you really want to bring up the 2000 election in this argument? Really?
Our Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB!
The Military morale is high!
When I read this line, I actually started to think this entire email was being sarcastic. First of all, people who join the military already have an extreme view on patriotism and our country. But, even this group's morale has been sinking.
The biased media hopes we are too ignorant
to realize the facts
The media is biased all right. If I was one of 5 huge media conglomerates that generates billions of dollars, you can rest assured I'd put out a message that protected my interests. One of the big 5, General Electric, generates enormous amounts of revenue from military defense contracts. Damn that liberal media bias!
But Wait there's more!
JOHN GLENN (ON THE SENATE FLOOR)
Mon, 26 Jan 2004 11:13
Some people still don't understand why military personnel
do what they do for a living. This exchange between
Senators John Glenn and Senator Howard Metzenbaum
is worth reading. Not only is it a pretty impressive
impromptu speech, but it's also a good example of one
man's explanation of why men and women in the armed
services do what they do for a living.
This IS a typical, though sad, example of what
some who have never served think of the military.
Senator Metzenbaum (speaking to Senator Glenn):
"How can you run for Senate
when you've never held a real job?"
Senator Glenn (D-Ohio):
"I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps.
I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions.
My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different
occasions. I was in the space program. It wasn't my
checkbook, Howard; it was my life on the line. It was
not a nine-to-five job, where I took time off to take the
daily cash receipts to the bank."
"I ask you to go with me ... as I went the other day...
to a veteran's hospital and look those men
with their mangled bodies .. in the eye, and tell THEM
they didn't hold a job!
You go with me to the Space Program at NASA
and go, as I have gone, to the widows and Orphans
of Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee...
and you look those kids in the eye and tell them
that their DADS didn't hold a job.
You go with me on Memorial Day and you stand in
Arlington National Cemetery , where I have more friends
buried than I'd like to remember, and you watch
You stand there, and you think about this nation,
and you tell ME that those people didn't have a job?
What about you?"
For those who don't remember ..
During W.W.II, Howard Metzenbaum was an attorney
representing the Communist Party in the USA.
Now he's a Senator!
If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English thank a Veteran.
It might not be a bad idea to keep this circulating.
Oh my god, Metzenbaum represented the communist party as an attorney. That means he must be a commie-pinko. This entire speech was just to make us all swell with patriotic pride about how people give their lives for our country. Call me crazy, but shouldn't that be a reason to be extra cautious about determining what they are going to go die for?
How about we thank a teacher by not diverting resources to public schooling and keeping it for your precious private schools? And in what war was "English" on the line? The closest I could think of is WWII, but clearly that was a bad war to get involved in, right?
