Next Show: ...loading...

How Do You Tell an American GI He/She Fought for Nothing?

June 4, 2007

VIDEO of show / Audio Archive
It’s not just hundreds of billions of dollars. It’s hundreds of thousands of American men and women, millions of family members, tens of thousands of critically injured, and thousands of dead.
In a special Memorial Day tribute to our troops, Mark interviews Iraqi War Veteran John Bruhns, who served his country in Iraq and is now working to bring them home on the War, the various Congressional bills to end it or sustain it, and morale in the US military.
And Mark asks the ultimate question: how do the emotions of the war keep it going? When no one wants to die for a mistake, do you send more people to die just so you don’t have to admit you made a mistake? And doesn’t that compound the mistake?
Iraq had no WMDs, no Al Qaeda, and no “greeting as liberators”. Now it has hundreds of thousands of Iraqi dead, millions of Iraqi exiles, plenty of Al Qaeda, and no end in sight.
How do you tell people fighting for their lives–brave young men and women who are literally dying for their country–that their courageous sacrifice was a complete, ugly waste? And that the only ones who profitted were Dick Cheney, the oil companies, and the other CEOs and managers of Halliburton, KBR, and other military contractors.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

  • John Bruhns June 6, 2007 3:37 pm

    Copyright 2007 Fox News Network, LLC.
    Fox News Network
    SHOW: FOX NEWS SUNDAY 9:00 AM EST
    June 3, 2007 Sunday
    060302cb.250
    NEWS; International
    1548 words
    Interview With Ryan Crocker (U.S. Ambassador to Iraq)
    Chris Wallace
    Ryan Crocker
    WALLACE: Iraqi President Talabani says that U.S. troops, officials, are trying to reach out to insurgents to get them to lay down their arms.
    Do you really think that some of these groups are now finally ready to stop fighting?
    CROCKER: What we’ve seen out in Anbar province to the west clearly demonstrates that tribes and others that at one point sided with, or at least were sympathetic to, Al Qaida very definitely have changed their position and are now supporting Iraqi and coalition efforts against Al Qaida .
    So yes, it is happening. It has happened on a fairly significant scale. And obviously, it’s in our interest and Iraq’s interest to do everything we can to encourage more of that kind of thing.
    WALLACE: Now, President Talabani says the Iraqis are prepared to give amnesty to some of these groups. Would the U.S. support amnesty for groups that had attacked American forces?
    CROCKER: Again, as part of a political reconciliation process, amnesty can be very important.
    It can also be important in this particular context as we seek to draw as many elements as we can away from the fight with us against us and into the fight against a common enemy, Al Qaida.
    Now, in terms of individual cases involving people who have American blood on their hands, that is something we have to consider very carefully.
    My thoughts on this:
    For Crocker to say that we are “carefully considering” amnesty to those who have killed American troops is ridiculous. I don’t trust Al-Qaida sympathizers to join with us to take on Al-Qaida , Crocker is speaking about amnesty for Al-Qaida affiliates who have attacked Americans while Bush says we have to stay there to fight Al-Qaida — it makes no sense. This a real two-faced move by the Bush Administration — tell the troops we are there to fight Al-Qaida, and at the same time assist the Iraqi Government in recruiting former Al-Qaida affiliates to help the coalition defeat Al-Qaida — WOW
    As an Iraq veteran I find this appalling !!
    I wonder how many Bushies think it’s ok to reconcile with former Al-Qaida affiliates who have attacked our troops (who they hide behind at every opportunity) , we should slam them on this hypocrisy.
    If the we/Democrats advocated for this the Republicans would read us the riot act for eternity
    Could you imagine Bush and company — their response to Kerry , Edwards, Obama, Fiengold, Kucinich or any other Democrat calling for amnesty for insurgents or Al-Qaida ????
    This should get blasted to every single veterans group in the country

  • Skip June 6, 2007 2:39 pm

    You tell a GI they fought for nothing but coporate profit margins when President Cheney shoves Blackwater mercinaries in his face that earn 1000% more than he does.

  • John Bruhns June 5, 2007 5:16 pm

    Arkansas GOP head: We need more ‘attacks on American soil’ so people
    appreciate Bush
    Raw Story
    In his first interview as the chairman of the Arkansas Republican
    Party, Dennis Milligan told a reporter that America needs to be
    attacked by terrorists so that people will appreciate the work that
    President Bush has done to protect the country.
    “At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the
    right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil
    like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001],” Milligan said to the Arkansas
    Democrat-Gazette, “and the naysayers will come around very quickly to
    appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the
    sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this
    country.”
    Milligan, who was elected as the new chair of the Arkansas Republican
    Party just two weeks ago, also told the newspaper that he is “150
    percent” behind Bush in the war in Iraq.
    In his acceptance speech on May 19th, Milligan told his fellow
    Republicans that it was “time for a rediscovery of our values and our
    common sense.”
    The owner of a water treatment company, Milligan was a relative
    unknown in Arkansas politics until last week’s vote. He had previously
    served as the party’s treasurer and the Saline County Republican
    chair.
    http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/191942

  • GI Joe June 5, 2007 9:00 am

    Oh–you can say empty platitudes like, “Thank you for your service”–that always works to make you feel better–while the GI always knows better (Give the GI a twenty to tell him or her that the platitude is worth something)

  • Dubya June 4, 2007 2:12 pm

    We must support our dead troups by cutting the VA budget!!! It’s eating into Haliburton’s profit margin and our dead troups don’t need it.