Tag Archives: iraq war

Lying is good. So says the Pentagon.

Posted on by
Comments

Yep.  Lie to me, because I just DON’T WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH.   I like my head in the sand.  It’s nice and warm on my …sinuses.

In other words, “Don’t ask, don’t tell”.

A Military Times poll recently released states that 58% of soldiers don’t want “don’t ask, don’t tell” repealed; 10% would not re-enlist, and 14% would consider ending their careers.

Elaine Donnelly, President of the Center for Military Readiness states that soldiers shouldn’t have to endure ‘forced intimacy’ situations with gay soldiers, and that ‘sensitivity training’ to learn to get along with their gay brothers and sisters-in-arms would make their jobs that more difficult.

Um, right. Some things you may want to consider:

Gay and straight soldiers are already having to endure ‘forced intimacy’ in the course of their work.  Only now, the gay and lesbian soldiers have to keep their sexuality a secret.  Kinda works against the whole trust paradigm that is so important when you have to rely on someone to keep you alive.   Some gay and lesbian soldiers choose to risk all for the sake of truth, and reveal their sexuality to a few of their peers who they trust.  I can only assume this is because they want to be kicked out of the military, right?.  No?  It couldn’t be because they are trying to build a trust relationship with their peers…   For the sake of argument, if you were a soldier, and had a (quite unreasonable) fear of gays and/or lesbians, wouldn’t it make you feel better to *know* who is one?  And then maybe, wouldn’t you realize that you really had nothing to fear in the first place?

You can not dictate to the human heart.  Just because male and female soldiers don’t bunk together, doesn’t mean that there are no hookups.  The lack of co-ed bunking is just a minor hurdle, and I doubt that has ever stopped any two people in the military who were determined enough to have sex.  Similarly, just because “don’t ask, don’t tell” was implemented, doesn’t mean that gay and lesbian servicemembers don’t hook up.  I happen to know that they most certainly do.  Seriously, sex happens, and a law on the books has done virtually nothing to impede it.  Repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” will mean that gay soldiers will no longer be discharged for it.

Since “don’t ask, don’t tell” was instituted, approximately 12,000 gays and lesbians have been discharged for being gay, averaging about 1,000 a year.  Just for being gay.  Not because they weren’t good soldiers, the majority of them are.  When we are fighting two wars, one in Iraq and a far more difficult one in Afghanistan, can we really afford to lose that many willing and able servicemembers?  Many of them with necessary skills (Arabic speaking)?  These numbers don’t include all the gay and lesbian Americans who have tried to enlist and been refused, or those who would try to enlist but don’t, because of  “don’t ask, don’t tell”.

Keep in mind, these are only the ones who have been discharged, because they slipped up and got caught.  How many gay and lesbian soldiers are still there, fighting the good fight for our country, dying for us, for the betterment of our planet, and are forced to lie to their brothers and sisters?  I firmly believe that even the smallest lie, told under extreme circumstances, can begin to eat at you.  Imagine lying about something so personal, so intrinsic to your life as your heart, to men and women who share that deeply with you.  Your compatriots, who need to form such deep bonds in order to stay alive.

I wonder if more gay and lesbian soldiers are killed in action, because of such a seemingly little thing.  Perhaps it’s unlikely, but who knows?  We don’t, because we’ve told them not to tell us.

Five Years Later

Posted on by
Comments

Five years later, the Senate finds no link between Iraq and al Qaeda

Five years later, we are no safer, just more aware.

Five years later, there’s a both a big-screen and a made for TV movie. In my mind, the deepest travesty.

Five years later, our country is torn apart by bipartisanship.

Five years later, the American people have little trust in their leaders, and no faith in those leaders’ vision.

Five years later, I am proud to be a New Yorker at heart, but am embarrassed to call myself an American.

A War Without End?

Posted on by
Comments

Category: Thoughts_, Randoms_
I was over at my friend Beau’s blog yesterday, and he was talking about a post from a guy named Bob Parks, who has a blog called Black and Right. The blog post was called “War Without End“, and in essence it exposes the differences between the ‘liberal’ and the ‘conservative’ points of view on the war on terror:

I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce terrorism, you could — if that were your sole purpose, abort every Muslim extremist in this world, and your terrorism rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your terror rate would go down. So these far-out, far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.

Couldn’t resist….

Obviously, to the sheer denial of the left, sitting down and talking with them won’t work. We’ve all witnessed “the word” of terrorists in Israel. Every time the Israelis came to some kind of truce, cease fire, “peace”, the Palestinians would send in another suicide bomber, set off another car bomb, or launch a few mortars into the most densely populated areas possible. So as much as there liberals who think a nice chit chat would smooth things out, are there any volunteers?

Read the article. And then answer me this: If the military was ‘unencumbered’ by the media, and therefore allowed to ‘do what needs to be done’ without any (American) cameras watching, will that really win this war? I don’t think so. Our military will not have to be burdened with the conscience of the country when they kill, mutilate and torture terrorists. I don’t want to win a war that way. I don’t even care to ‘win’ this war at all. All I want is for the terrorists to no longer have the reasons or the ability to do what they do. Does that mean that if someone shoots as us, we try to kill them? Is that our only solution? Surely we, as a human race, can think of a better way to deal with fringe elements than gradual, partial, extermination until they (whoever they are) give up (which will never happen). We cannot march into their country and take over – they have no borders. We cannot kill their leaders – another will always take their place. So the only solution left to a military armed with guns and WMDs is to use them. This is an enemy that will not back down, will not surrender, will not go away unless you exterminate them. Are we prepared as a country – as a world – to live with that?

Category: Thoughts