I get letter every now from this marine in Iraq, I know the family and he send them to his wife who sends them to a lot of other people. I thought I would post it, and give some perspective on the thoughts of a person in the armed forces now.


> "Greetings"
>
> I write to you two days after the dust has settled on another U.S.
> Presidential Election, and I offer you my thoughts as an American at the
> pointy end of the diplomatic policy's of our Commander-in-Chief. First, I
am
> a Republican. My political thoughts are conservative, and my personal
values
> are in step with those of the GOP. I am happy that George W. Bush was
> re-elected, however I probably would have cast my vote for the GOP
candidate
> regardless of who was running. With that disclosure, as a Marine serving
in
> Iraq, I am happy that President George W. Bush was re-elected because it
> validates for me that the majority of the American people "get it".
>
> The majority of American people "get it", whether conciously or
> unconsciously they recognize evil and for their own protection they want
it
> destroyed. Since 1983, when a suicide bomber blew up the U.S. Marine
> barracks in Beirut, Lebannon the United States of America has been
carrying
> on an undeclared war with terrorists organizations, and the countries that
> harbor and support them. For years people and groups were committing acts
of
> war against our country, and we failed to take action. We had the means,
we
> just lacked the will power to respond. September 11th, 2001 changed our
> perspective and we began to summon the will power to see terrorism for
what
> it is--EVIL. For the most part we are a good people, and can not begin to
> understand or even imagine the darkness behind the September 11th attacks,
> or any other terrorist attack. We simply can't, the good in us prevents us
> from feeling that kind of hatred. I believe that President George W. Bush
> recognizes the evil behind terrorism and is actively engaging it in battle
> so that good will prevail. He "gets it"and those of you who voted for him
> "get it", good will only triumph, if evil is defeated in battle.
>
> Which brings me to Iraq. President George W. Bush sent us to Iraq because
he
> believed Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction, and was going to sell
them
> to terrorist who would use them to harm America. He was wrong on that
point,
> I haven't seen any yet but I'm still looking. What he wasn't wrong about
was
> that Saddam was as evil as they come, and eventually he was going to try
to
> do our country great harm. That was then, this is now. Trust me when I
tell
> you the current battle in Iraq could not be better defined then simply
Good
> vs Evil, and Evil is at Home. That said I will not be manipulated by
> pacifist, who believe that if we just love and understand our adversaries
> their hatred will not attack us. It will and I will not forget it. I will
> not forget September 11th, I will not forget the U.S.S. Cole, Kolbar
Towers,
> Beirut, etc...and I will certainly not forget the cowardly daily acts of
> violence committed against my Marines. Instead, I and service members like
> me, will continue to volunteer to fight this dark plague wherever,
whenever
> and for however long it takes until its defeated. Your re-election of
> President Geaorge W. Bush will enable the warriors of America to continue
> this fight in Iraq with the proper level of support and committment
> necessary to achieve victory.
>
> The fight against terrorism will go on for a long time and be fought on
many
> fronts, Iraq is just one of them. The battle must be won, and President
> George W. Bush's re-election confirms for me that the American people
> understand this and support him in his efforts to triumph over evil. I
hope
> we garner your continued support at home. God Bless America!
>
> Semper Fidelis,

I think i'm going to puke...

perhaps I should have read more, but the idea that ONE people are generally good and another people are generally evil, seems a little ignorant and self-righteous.

Pretty much what I expect from an American soldier in Iraq.
To be fair though, he has to deal with arse-h*le Iraqis who shoot at him all the time.

OH well, whatever.

OMG EVIL IRAQIS!!!!! GOD SAVE THE PURE VIRTUOUS WEST!!!

hehehe, flame anyone?

*ps, i'm entitled to this reply, its late, i'm tired, if you ban me for this, I'll cut you into little peaces.

Good night!!

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

Yeah, you're using the word 'Evil' without first defining it. You must realize that there is no such thing as right and wrong, there is no false and true, there is only the persuite of hapiness. Your hapiness is different from an exremist musleams view on hapiness. Same with evil. That makes neither of you right or wrong, it just makes you both ignorant to eachother's needs.

JediKirby

Murdering thousands of innocent civilians just because they live in a democratic capitalist country is evil.

In the bleeding heart liberal world, this is true.

In the real world, when someone tries killing you because someone you may or may not agree with is in some somewhat obscure political office, that is wrong.

You're generlizing. He said Saddam was evil, not the Iraqi people.

I hate this saccarine filled letter as much as I hate the Kerry one.

Take that from their angle, as well. My theory holds true. Or rather, my theory holds hapiness.

Though I respect him for going out, and actually fighting this war, his labeling the terrorists as completely "evil", is completely ignorant, and shows no understanding whatsoever from the position of the islamists(Yes, it is a correct term).. Yes, the attacks were a terrible tragedy, and to some extent, unwarrented, but we(the West) have harmed them culturally, as well(in some aspects) economically, not counting the thousands,if not millions, of deaths caused by our countries.

No, your theory holds idealistic and unrealistic bull****. Sorry to burst your bubble.

This has prompted me to finish my 'any marine' letter. Thanks for posting.

Mr. MatrixHacker speaks of what I speak of. I like him. He makes me happy.

Sorry we're a prosperous nation. Sorry we don't make everything easy for everybody, we instead make nations work to get ahead. Sorry we have a decent political system. Sorry the people in America hate terrorists who try to harm us and label them as evil. Sorry we're rich. Sorry we're...human?

really? only puirsuit of happiness? i'm the most cynical guy i know, and yet i still believe there is a basic sort of morality. Go read The Science of Good and Evil by Michael Shermer, if you have the time. Shermer, an agnostic non-atheist (bascially an aetheist), makes a pretty damn good argument for morility not being based in religion, but being based in natural law. I'm not going to go on much more, i've been told to tone my responces down, but just know this: there is more then 'pursuit of happiness' in this world.

Great letter. I thought the marine clearly described the terrorists as evil. I'm not sure how any of you see them as otherwise but whatever.

Good: People who are selfless and will do much to help out their fellow man kind.

Bad: People who shoot you point blank for bothering you or having a different point of view.

In case we are not clear on this let me get the dictionary out.



There are good and evil and they have been defined for you.

I'm sorry, I could honestly only get past the first few paragraphs.

The entire idea of a 'War Against Terrorism' is entirely STUPID. Terrorism is NOT something that can be stopped. If you don't want it, you might as well just kill every human being on the face of this planet.

This is why it's stupid.

Terrorists are out to instill fear through (usually) violent acts. Correct? We can't have that, so we kill those people who would harm us. This part is perfectly logical. This could even work, if it weren't for the simple fact that people die and are born every day. If you kill one terrorist, another will take his place. Maybe not for the same reason, or even in the same part of the world, but another person will have ideals so drastic they will feel the need to terrorize to get their points across. You can't stop that. It's an on-going cycle. You kill one terrorist, and another will emerge elsewhere. Over, and over, and over again. Unless you somehow stop humans from reproducing long enough to kill every terrorist in existance, you will always have terrorism.

Do you see why that entire 'War on Terrorism' is stupid? No one will win. Ever.

That might be completely off topic with what this entire thread was about, but it's a point I felt needed to raise. This seemed a good place. Especially considering some of the content of the letter that I read.

Millions of deaths? Where?

The terrorists are evil if they are going to resort to attacks on civilians to prove their point. There are other ways to get your voice heard that don't resort to violence. I don't see them lining up to try to work things out before blowing people up, but that will never happen because they are fanatical. Don't try to tell me that groups that seek the entire destruction of Western society aren't evil.

If by 'entire groups of people' you mean extremists. And if that's what you mean, than take a look in our own lovelly country. What about all the people that seem to think all muslims should die? Those people are all 'good' right?

JediKirby

And where exactly did I talk about anything along those lines, at all?

No, those people are not good. They are fanatics that should not be allowed to carry out their will. Take another look at the definitions again. I think you can clearly determine who is good and evil.

no, looks to me that comes quite nicely under "arising from actual... bad character or conduct", considering thinking an entire race should die seems to me bad conduct. Avenger never said that such extreamists were right, he just said that terrorists are evil. I, personally, considider extreamists just as evil as terrorists,a nd jsut as blind to thier own arrogance.

If you think it is so stupid, I would really like to know what you suggest we do. We cannot just sit around and wait for a repeat of 9/11.

We can just sit back and do nothing, because doing nothing will make it all better, make the terrorists forget that were are evil in their twisted minds

You're absolutely right. We shouldn't just sit on our asses, but going to war to fight something like terror, which will NEVER go away, and having thousands of people die on BOTH sides of the equation is the wrong way to approach it. I'm no expert on politics, or how to run a country, but I know that having thousands of people die to fight something as vague as terror is not the way to do things.

according to doctors without borders, over 100,000 iraqis are now dead thanks to george bush.

shock and awe and shock and awe. you tell me the difference. and if you haven't read the 9/11 commision report then do so before you tell me they did it to the US without warning. as a matter of fact, they gave the US years of warning and a few trial runs.
http://www.whopissedyouoff.com/images/dave/jennifer_eccleston_miss_shock_and_awe.jpg http://www.whopissedyouoff.com/images/dave/010912wtc_attack1p.jpg


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You guys would have the same opinion if you had to uncover the mass graves of all those Iraqi's that stupid jerk murdered.


Dude! You mean Bush is behind all those suicide bombers in Iraq? Call Michael Moore immediately!

If that's so, why didn't Bill Clinton do anything about it? If Bush hadn't done anything about it, it's a sure bet terrorist attacks would've kept occuring.

And the goal isn't to defeat terrorism and make it go away forever; the goal is to subdue the threat that is at hand and is most dangerous at the moment.

I especially like the part where the marine says "That said I will not be manipulated by pacifist, who believe that if we just love and understand our adversaries their hatred will not attack us. It will and I will not forget it." I agree on most of what the marine said, but I disagree about there being such a fine line between good and evil; it's not that simple. But I do think most Americans are smart enough to make a distinction on what the terrorists are doing... and what they're doing isn't right, but any standards, or any "pursuit of happiness".

I think we can all agree that killing another human being is evil... unless someone wants to refute that.

Iraq has never been a threat. Ever. Ask Bush Sr.

I would.

Ditto. If someone is threating my life, I'd have no qualms taking theirs.

they are rebelling against bush and the invaders. i thought that was made very obvious by cnn, fox, cbs...

Oooh can I? Can I pleaseeee? YAY!

In Before da lock!
WHOOHOOHOOO

First time Ive been able to do that

Oh, the mass graves you helped uncover? I'm sorry but Saddam's killing of the kurds is kind of in the same vein of us killing the terrorists. The kurds were a separatist group in northern Iraq/southern Turkey. They want their own state and arent opposed to using violence and terror to make their point. They're not all innocent. At the same time, Saddam WAS an evil psychopath and murdered thousands.

However, like jediKirby is trying to say, in the views of the terrorists what they are doing is perfectly in line with their religion and moral code so there is justification in their own minds for what they are doing. Nowadays, Americans cringe when they hear what their forefathers did to the Cherokee Indians and the Trail of Tears, but to our forefathers, the removal of the Cherokee nation to the West was essential and justified.

It's all very much justified and good, from a certain point of view.

Are you not aware that the murder of the Kurds by Saddam was not caused by the US? The US told the Kurds that if they amassed an uprising to overthrow Saddam, that the US would support them. Then when they actually did try to uprise, the US never backed them up, failing to overthrow Saddam. Saddam then in turn, ordered the massacres of the Kurdish people by the Iraqi military.

You're oblivious to the aims of Islamic fundamentalism, they in no way, shape or form, wish to annihalate Western society. They just wish to rid western influence and culture from the majority of the Middle East.

Iraqis certainly aren't the invaders and they're suffering the greatest losses. hmm....

werent you in Iraq? did you come in contact with Agent Orange?

That doesn't add up to millions by any stretch of the imagination.



Not going to happen as long as they keep selling oil to the West.

wookie06 you know exactly what i mean. the targets are those affiliated with the americans and their new governemt appointees (including securtiy and police).
before the US got there how many car bombings were there at police stations?