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Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Another view?
View more of the Las Vegas Sun's opinion section:
• Editorials - the Sun's viewpoint.
• Columnists - local and syndicated writers.
• Letters to the editor - readers' views.
Have your own opinion? Write a letter to the editor.
There they go again. All the neo-cons wanting to send everyone but their own family members to war. Do any of these so-called “real” Americans ever go to the ceremonies when Americans return from these nasty places? I doubt it.
I remember when President George W. Bush would not permit cameras at these returns. Bad press.
Perhaps the neo-cons would feel a bit different if it were one of their family members.
Last time I checked both Obama and Romney are keeping the military option on the table for dealing with Iran's interest in attaining nuclear offensive weapons capability.
Who are you talking about.
What war are you talking about
It was clear from both debates that nobody want war
It was clear that Biden was trying to bait Ryan the other night but Ryan was not biting
-----
Obama is the one who doubled down in Afghanistan with no clear mission
Obama took us into the Libya that left the power vacuum for a growing al-Qaeda
We are attacking with drones in the dead of night everyday in Pakistian, Yemen, Sudan, and else where.
AND the Obama Middle-East disengagement policy leaves a power vacuum for al-Qaeda and the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas and Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guard and Salafi Islamist are alive AND taking over the governments of Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Yemen.
--
So what war are you talking about
Democrats are in full tilt mode these adays.
They have hit the panic button.
I have no clue what the letter writer is saying.
Obama has made a statement in the last 30 days that there is no difference between him and Netanyahu on Iran.
Netanyahu is stating that a strike on Iran in the next 6 months is a strong possibility.
There are people on the Conservative side that favor war in more circumstances than is wise. There are people on the Progressive side that would negotiate forever in all circumstances.
In Obama and Romney, I feel we have two candidates that fall into the middle of those two extremes, and for that, we should be grateful.
Michael
It was probably one of the most shameful policies on the Bush2 watch: Not allowing Americans to see the returning dead in flag draped coffins. He'll carry the blame for that decision for the rest of his earthly life and after life.
CarmineD
Future-
You missed your meds this morning...
The last time I checked the only thing that has kept us free to make these posts is the willingness in many cases to fight for our freedom. Neocons?you got to be kidding. After Pearl Harbor Harbor hold out the olive branch?don't oppose Hitler?today there is a thriving free democracy in South Korea. Stay home and lick our wounds after 9/11?
I hope the lettter writer is not calling everyone a neocon(a leftist label) for those who stand ready to defend American freedoms. And let's not forget no one is being forced to join the modern day military. It makes me sick to witness the death of our women and men serving in these wars. Where it can be avoided it should be. What disturbs me more is to have a commander in chief who is not willing to fight to win ,and feeds our men and women into situations where their hands are tied,they are at a disadvantage or left unprotected like occurred in Benghazi.
In reply to Bruce Karley; I have to strongly resent your letter to the editor.
First, I can't blame any parent for doing all they can to protect their children from the dregs of war. Now, I have tons of political disagreements with these same Republicans. However, to say what you did in your letter to the editor makes all of us Democratic voters look quite bad. Here is my point;
Do you recall the movie "Fahrenheit 911"? Wasn't there a part where Michael Moore and a soldier confronted politicians in Washington, D.C. and asked them to send their children to Iraq?
The impression this movie made was that no lawmakers had children serving in Iraq. That was just not true. In fact, no less than five federal legislators (four Republicans and a Democrat) had children serving in Iraq. With the number of American families in the general populace, and the number of politician's kids serving in combat zones, there is absolutely no inequality.
Your letter to the editor totally misrepresents the facts.
This time Iran has the WMDs. Dubya blamed Iraq and thousands of American soldiers died while hunting for some non existant weapons.
Wars have been waged since the beginning of time and will possibly be waged until the end of time.
What is horrible is war mongering as a political tool. It appeals to those with similar temperaments and it gets votes. A hawkish stance as a foreign policy approach is bullying. It costs an enormous amount of lives, billions of dollars, and depletes our resources.
Has diplomacy gone out of style? Are there any skilled diplomats left? Has our nation's collective intelligence, logic, and reason been seriously diminished?
The children are growing up watching adults do exactly the opposite of what we are teaching them! And, they blame us that kids are not learning! Society, politicians, and bad administrators and teachers, have all but abandoned children. Good Teachers are the only ones left standing in their corner fighting for them. Can you blame us for demanding combat pay?
This letter can serve to show just how some people interpret what they see and hear. I am not sure where he found his information. It is very possible that he read it in our disingenuous media I would assume. He believes, however, that he has a FACT that he would like to share with us and attempt (poor attempt) at making people he disagrees with look bad.
As humans we cherish things that we struggle for. Things that we give everything up to have. Like free speech. So write on writer, just don't believe what you write or all that you read.
antigov if you do not think that Iran has or will have a nuclear weapon then you need to start all over because your current understanding is dead wrong.
The military industrial complex is the source of our fetish for war.
It is also a huge part of our economy which makes war an attractive option for our politicians.
We haven't heeded President Eisenhower's warning, and we are the losers for that.
We should reinstate the draft for all wars. The politician's would have to be more accountable to the American voters. There is nothing like having your child conscripted to fight in a war, or two, to make you think about why we are in a war in the first place. Perhaps that is why the politicians don't do it anymore.
There are all kinds of efforts for a cyberspace defense, as well as first strike cyber forces.
Just about anything that has to go through the current Congress is a lost cause.
In spite of all, I must ask why we are so willing to become incrementally more fascist in the name of freedom? That is not leadership.
Certainly, because of our willingness to become economically dependent on the military industrial complex we can only blame ourselves for the effects. We should become informed of just what the reality is about how the military industrial complex has operated and changed our economic realities as well.
Anyone interested can start with this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWyhOKbqd...
Bruce, yooooo: Let's allow a little room for what Mr. Ryan mentioned the other evening: We don't show our hand to the enemies. After that we need to take a serious look at results. After spending trillions of dollars we don't have to "defend" ourselves, things keep getting worse. Are we going about it the wrong way? Let us FIRST stop aiding any and all peoples who are not self-supporting. We send food aid to Somali and they generate pirates to attack us. We send $50 Billion a year to Egypt and they attack our citizens. We send and send and are poorly thought of. Why? Because we are fools to do this. To minimize unforeseen consequences, let's wean them off our aide--let's gut 25% right now, 25% next year.... And get out of this quickly. When a nation or people concentrates on supporting their people via farming, mining, industry or anything else productive, we can consider assisting--BUT FIRST we must let them seek out the type of assistance they need--by this I mean, that an EMERGING economy can contract with American (and other) firms to work with them--say they're trying to develop farming and would like suggestions or trials with different seeds, different types of crops, ideas on irrigation.... Let's try it. Let's STOP SENDING WEAPONS even to the chosen rebel groups--those weapons become fast and furious lethal attacks on our citizens, embassies, threats, and wind up in the hands of Iranians--who can reverse-engineer....
And for those who haven't yet discerned it, the idea is to NOT HAVE HOT SPOTS OF REBELLIOUS GROUPS with the attitudes and weapons to threaten us.
John Thompson, I don't doubt that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. The sanctions are having an effect though and that is supported by Israel. Why do you feel we should always be at war with some middle eastern country? I don't think people on earth need to worry about an asteroid impact killing us all off, the republican party will find the wrong country to pick on someday and they will start the nuclear war. Maybe Pakistan?
"There they go again. All the neo-cons....."
Karley -- according to you, what exactly is one of them "neo-cons"?
"In reply to Bruce Karley; I have to strongly resent your letter to the editor."
BChap -- good post
"What is horrible is war mongering as a political tool."
peacelily -- amen to your post, but I'd add it's also a corporate tool. See below.
"We send and send and are poorly thought of. Why? Because we are fools to do this. . . . .Let's STOP SENDING WEAPONS even to the chosen rebel groups. . . . . "
Roslenda -- about foreign aid on the backs of Americans being driven to subsistence living, I agree with you 100% there. Your last point means America supports terrorism globally, as in one man's terrorists is another's freedom fighter. A point so many flag wavers consistently forget.
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class thug for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902--1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents." -- Major General Smedley Butler, a Marine and one of only 19 people to be TWICE awarded the Medal of Honor, from a 1935 issue of the socialist magazine "Common Sense"
"the republican party will find the wrong country to pick on someday and they will start the nuclear war".
Surprising to hear since two democratic Presidents got us into two more deadlier wars, WWII and Vietnam.
Anti says "This time Iran has the WMDs."
There is no more proof tha Iran has WMD then when the same people though Iraq had them. You do recall the these same Intel people said Iraq moved them to the Syria Barada valley. We're you intending to talk about the Syrian WMDs
War is a very costly proposition. My understanding is that there is still a woman collecting World War I entitlement benefits. Over 2 million World War II veterans are still alive in the United States and costing the country a fortune. God knows how much the wars will cost from World War II on.
The military is spending so much money on medical benefits they don't have enough left over to develop the weapons systems they need.
I don't think we have too much to worry about in terms of wars going forward. The military can't afford the medical costs.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2012/03...
read the above article. Sky high medical costs are eating the military alive.
antigov I am not sure where in my post you assumed that I wanted to be at war with the middle east but whatever. The sanctions are NOT having an affect to their weapon development. It is only having an affect on crippling their people. I recently received an email from a friend of mine from Tehran. He has returned to Holland because the sanctions were devastating to the people but were having little or no affect on weapon development. He was concerned for his families lives because he believes that once the weapon is available there is not control over what his countries leaders will do. Especially to Israel.
I truly wish we could all live together (kumbaya) but I am also pragmatic and realize that there is evil in the world and to ignore it is problematic.
killer... Smedley Butler died at 58. That's manageable. Today veterans are living to be close to 100. That gets expensive. I was filling my wife's truck up at Costco yesterday. The guy in front of me had a Pearl Harbor survivor plate number 570. He was 92. His wife said that the 570 represented that there were still at least 570 Pearl Harbor survivors alive and living in Nevada. Think about that. Pearl Harbor was in 1941.
Excuse me, but wasn't it the Obama administration that just sent troops to Jordan?
The funny thing about Iran is that the Iranian people like us. They like are clothes, music, culture and everything else that goes along with being an American. Nearly everyone else in the Middle East hates our guts. Iran is the country that were talking about going to war with. We are a bunch idiots.
My parents and grandparents grew up under totalitarian regimes. They don't last. People don't like being repressed. If we leave Iran alone the regime will crumble under the weight of the people.
In the 1800s there was a French economist named Bastiat. He invented the concept of opportunity cost. He argued against massive military spending because he believed that it made it country much more likely to go to war. When you look at all of the crap the United States has gotten involved in over the last 100 years I think he was absolutely correct.
Mr. Hageman you are correct about Iranians. They love western culture and crave it. As soon as they leave the country the women remove their headscarf's to blend it more with westerners. Women from north African countries will still were the burqa no matter where they are. Much of this has to do with the male attitude towards traditional dress. Iranian men want to be more western and want their women to do so as well whereas north African men want to be more traditionalist.
Iran doesn't have a delivery system per VP Biden. Reverse engineer an anti-aircraft launcher and apply the technology on a larger scale. Ok, I'm not into engineering terminology, but do you really think they couldn't get a dirty bomb in a brief case and a suicide bomber to carry it anywhere?
Carmine,
"It was probably one of the most shameful policies on the Bush 2 watch.Not allowing Americans to see the returning dead in flag draped coffins.He'll carry the blame for that decision for the rest of his earthy life and after life."
Carmine, and I do not agree on most of our comments, but we do agree on the above comment posted by Carnine
I might add Bush 2 will also not live down his decision to invade Iraq in 2003. With 4400 dead U.S. soldiers,and over 34,000 wounded he has a lot more blame to carry around for the same time on earth and after his life
Iran doesn't have a delivery system per VP Biden.
Well Biden did not know el-Qeada was in Libya
Regardless it is easy to assembly the other parts of a nuclear weapon. Like the trigger.
The weapon can be assembled in a garage, or classroom.
The long pole in nuclear weapon developed net is the HEU that is enough to create a critical mass. There is agreement that the RED LINE enrichment percent to acheive the Critcal mass will be complete spring of 2013 with the spining machines. Then it is just a matter of weeks to assemble the bomb in a garage .
DOES ANYONE ACTUALLY BELIEVE BIDEN WHEN HE CLAIMS TO BE ABLE TO STOP THIS. ANYONE.
KillerB 9:45: You got it AND you said it concisely, better than I did. Sometimes, I wonder about you.
peacelily said:
"The military industrial complex is the source of our fetish for war.
It is also a huge part of our economy which makes war an attractive option for our politicians.
We haven't heeded President Eisenhower's warning, and we are the losers for that."
DING.....DING.....DING.....DING.........
peacelily hit the nail squarely on the head! I've been saying that same exact thing for several years.
We're spending approximately $700 billion on defense which is simply insane.......it makes no sense!
The amount that we spend is almost 6 times what China is spending & its twice as much as China, Russia, France & the UK spends combined....
Yet, we have a man running for president who wants to increase that amount.
I realize that the Republicans have NEVER seen a war that they disliked if that war was going to put money into the pockets of the rich & the American corporations that deal in war production, but enough is enough...
How much longer can we serve as a "policeman for the entire planet."
How much longer can we allow the "tail to wag the dog?" In other words, when are we going to start saying no to the big defense contractors?
It's time to cut the defense budget....20% would be a great start!
Good comments, Gerry. Thanks!
Thanks Killer B. I agree about corporations.
The billions that Chevron will have to pay out for the damages they caused in Argentina, will translate here.
The Trans Pacific Trade agreement being worked on has a part that basically is hold harmless for corporations. That is not the kind of thing that makes the US a good governance neighbor.
It will end up coming back at us eventually, just like the no oil payback from Iraq.
When will we learn?
gerry hageman said:
"The military is spending so much money on medical benefits they don't have enough left over to develop the weapons systems they need.
I don't think we have too much to worry about in terms of wars going forward. The military can't afford the medical costs."
Sorry but I must disagree with you....
I hate the thought of us getting into another war but the cost of war has NEVER been a reason for us not to go to war. It NEVER will be.....
As far as developing the weapons systems that we need, money has not been a problem in terms of keeping us from doing that...
We continue to lead the entire world in the development of new weapons & the ability to deliver them....
Again, I repeat....we're spending over $700 billion a year on our military. That's twice as much as the next four highest spending countries spend combined....
One of my greatest concerns is how we treat our veterans. Approximately half of the homeless in this country are veterans....
Also, many of the families of active military personnel are hardly making ends meet... Many military families are eligible for food stamps!
The people who are getting rich due to our "we'll kick your ass mentality" is the corporations who are part of that whole military-industrial complex....
The Republicans will go to any extreme to keep from cutting the military budget, and they consistently use the "duty, honor, and country" thing to get re-elected....
Why is the state of Texas bright "RED" politically? Thank about it for a minute or two & I'm sure you will come up with the correct answer!
Eisenhower was 100% correct! Smedley Butler knew what he was talking about...
PRESIDENT OBAMA is cleaning up the war mess that
George Bush started.
PRESIDENT OBAMA is also fixing the economic mess
that the republican party created.
This is exactly why we DO NOT NEED romney or
ryan for anything.
PRESIDENT OBAMA already has it covered.
The teabaggers taking offense to being called Neocons? And pretending they don't even know what the term means! Priceless.
Romney's admin team is going to be filled with the same Bush Doctrine kooks that want nothing more than perpetual war in the middle east. John Bolton is quite frankly, an insane lunatic whose response to every disagreement is war. Wolfowitz, Rummy, Cheney, McCain. All of these Neocon/NWO/Evangelical Christian crusader clowns are going to be advising or involved in Romney's foreign policy. Complete insanity, half of these guys should be standing trial in The Hague, not possibly directing the US foreign policy again for the next 4-8 years.
<<The last time I checked the only thing that has kept us free to make these posts is the willingness in many cases to fight for our freedom>>
It's one thing to fight for OUR freedom; it's another to fight in a country who doesn't like us and has NOTHING to do with OUR freedom.
<<What disturbs me more is to have a commander in chief who is not willing to fight to win ,and feeds our men and women into situations where their hands are tied,they are at a disadvantage or left unprotected like occurred in Benghazi>>
Fight to win? We are not at war with anyone in Benghazi. Feed our men and women into situations where their hands are tied? When appointed as an ambassdor to a country that we are NOT at war with isn't exactly "feeding" anyone into a dangerous situation. The risks are known when assigned to a country that really doesn't like America.
<<Excuse me, but wasn't it the Obama administration that just sent troops to Jordan?>>
We've always had a military presence in Jordan. It may be small, but it's there. I know a young man who was stationed there with the Air Force. He said the country is very "westernized".
<<The funny thing about Iran is that the Iranian people like us. They like are clothes, music, culture and everything else that goes along with being an American. Nearly everyone else in the Middle East hates our guts. Iran is the country that were talking about going to war with. We are a bunch idiots>>
@zipper: So true, so true. There is a huge connection with the Iranian people and this country. Do you know how many Iranians LIVE in this country and are U.S. Citizens? There are several generations of "Persians from Iran" who live in this country; a lot of them STILL have family back in Iran.