War Protesters

rednekk98 wrote: Also, for those of you opposed to the war, are you still protesting our reasons for invading or our continued occupation? Do you want immediate troop withdrawl? [see below>

Below is my reasoning for protesting. It was my speech on Saturday after we read all 1513 names of the American Soldiers dead.

Hello. My name is Dave Smith. One year ago I was an army Captain ending a successful career. In the year since my discharge I have tried to convince many people of the mistakes we made in this war, and pointing out some of its shadier dealings. I have two messages today, one for the supporters of this war, and one for the protestors. I hope you will find that I am respectful of both, as I believe that everyone is entitled their opinion.

I don’t think that anyone would argue that Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who had a much-deserved date with justice. He should be tried and punished for his crimes. But I ask anyone who agrees with this war to listen as 1500 names of dead soldiers are read aloud, and ask themselves if we really reserved war as the last option. I spoke last month with my best friend from the army, whom I served with as Lieutenants in Bosnia in 1996. He was a company commander in Iraq and just came home this past year. He told me that of his group of seven buddies from Virginia Military Institute, three are gone. Three of his six closest classmates are all dead. Ask him if we exhausted every political avenue, or if we rushed to war on patriotism and nationalistic zeal. I think that anyone’s answer to that question is a matter of perspective from how close you are to the tragedy.

Every single one of those names read aloud today is symbolic of one irreversibly shattered family. Some of them were true heroes who died in valor. Some were patriots like Pat Tillman who gave up his NFL contract to do his duty for his county. Most only wanted the best college tuition benefits available to them. All of them are symbols of tragedy.

I hope that most of you here today have had more success than I have in changing people’s views of the war. Mine has been limited. I do not know at what point that this war outrages the majority of the public, whether it is 10,000 dead, 10 years, or $500 billion. Hopefully it will be successful and we will not be here next year. Either way, I believe that to leave Iraq without trying to stabilize it and repair the damage we have inflicted would be a grievous harm. However, I believe that the worst thing the American public can do to our soldiers and the Iraqi people is to idly stand by and not hold our government accountable to end this war as quickly as possible. While yellow ribbons are nice, supporting the troops means writing letters, marching, and protesting if necessary. One of the most effective lies in this country is that protesting the war means protesting the soldiers or the military. It is up to us to show our families and our coworkers that the difference between these two concepts is akin to the difference between protesting the death penalty and protesting justice.

In closing, I hope that this time next year we don’t need to protest because the war is over. But until that day comes, let us tirelessly continue to march as the vanguard of truth and democracy.

MT. Vigilante wrote: goodsmitty wrote: MT. Vigilante wrote: goodsmitty wrote: MT. Vigilante wrote: The thing that none of you so called “Anti-War” people realize, is that we “Pro-War” people (as you call us) as well as everyone in the military, are all anti – war, do you think that we want war! Do you think that we want our fathers, sons, and daughters to go over there and fight and die! No, we don’t! The difference between us and you is the fact that we know that it does not take two men to start a war, only one. And we know that sometimes you have to go and fight and die so that others may live in a free country. My family knows this all to well, we have had at least one family member from every generation fight for this country in every war this country has been in, from the Revolutionary war on up to the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq, and my father is over there right now fighting so you people can call him a baby killer and his superiors Nazis. You all take this for granite, and you need to be more appreciative of the freedoms that you have and more thankful to those who have given them to you. So before you go and call someone a Nazi, think about all those Marines, Soldiers, Seamen, and Airmen who have died to give you the right to say that. Who do you want me to thank-myself or my brother badsmitty? First of all, I would like to thank you and your brother for serving your country, you have done what few people in this country are willing to do. Next, I would like to clarify that my comment above was not directed towards you or anyone like you because since you are in the service you are probably not going to call U.S. troops “Nazis” or “baby killers”, also, my comments were not directed towards people who are against the war, only towards people who hate U.S. troops, I believe that regardless of what your political views are towards the war you should always support our troops. Sorry for the misunderstanding, and once again, thank you for serving your country. Thank you for the clarification. But in all seriousness, wouldn't you agree that the overwhelming majority of protesters are against the war, but support the military? I haven't seen or heard of a single incident of troops being spat upon. Yes I agree that most do support the troops, however, there is a large group of protesters that do hate the troops ( they are certainly not the majority though), I have even encountered some here in Montana, but of course they are not from this state originally, and I think that you will agree with me that they do not deserve to live in this country for the reason that since they hate our troops they are no better than those we are fighting.

That is interesting. I live in Ohio (red state) so the support is overwhelmingly for the soldiers. I was curious though, whether the more liberal blue states acted differently. Montana doesn't strike me as being a liberal state.

goodsmitty wrote: MT. Vigilante wrote: goodsmitty wrote: MT. Vigilante wrote: goodsmitty wrote: MT. Vigilante wrote: The thing that none of you so called “Anti-War” people realize, is that we “Pro-War” people (as you call us) as well as everyone in the military, are all anti – war, do you think that we want war! Do you think that we want our fathers, sons, and daughters to go over there and fight and die! No, we don’t! The difference between us and you is the fact that we know that it does not take two men to start a war, only one. And we know that sometimes you have to go and fight and die so that others may live in a free country. My family knows this all to well, we have had at least one family member from every generation fight for this country in every war this country has been in, from the Revolutionary war on up to the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq, and my father is over there right now fighting so you people can call him a baby killer and his superiors Nazis. You all take this for granite, and you need to be more appreciative of the freedoms that you have and more thankful to those who have given them to you. So before you go and call someone a Nazi, think about all those Marines, Soldiers, Seamen, and Airmen who have died to give you the right to say that. Who do you want me to thank-myself or my brother badsmitty? First of all, I would like to thank you and your brother for serving your country, you have done what few people in this country are willing to do. Next, I would like to clarify that my comment above was not directed towards you or anyone like you because since you are in the service you are probably not going to call U.S. troops “Nazis” or “baby killers”, also, my comments were not directed towards people who are against the war, only towards people who hate U.S. troops, I believe that regardless of what your political views are towards the war you should always support our troops. Sorry for the misunderstanding, and once again, thank you for serving your country. Thank you for the clarification. But in all seriousness, wouldn't you agree that the overwhelming majority of protesters are against the war, but support the military? I haven't seen or heard of a single incident of troops being spat upon. Yes I agree that most do support the troops, however, there is a large group of protesters that do hate the troops ( they are certainly not the majority though), I have even encountered some here in Montana, but of course they are not from this state originally, and I think that you will agree with me that they do not deserve to live in this country for the reason that since they hate our troops they are no better than those we are fighting. That is interesting. I live in Ohio (red state) so the support is overwhelmingly for the soldiers. I was curious though, whether the more liberal blue states acted differently. Montana doesn't strike me as being a liberal state.

Montana is very conservative, as am I, all those people who hate the troops ( which is a very small minority here in Montana) are not from Montana, most of them are from California.

Also, although Montana is very conservative, Montanans are much more Independent in there thinking than many people outside the state think. Basically, we don’t care about political parties, only what the person who is running for office is like, what his or her stand is on certain issues. In short, we don’t blindly follow the Republican party, for example; Bush won in Montana because we think he is doing a good job, but Brian Swietzer, a Democrat, won our Gubernatorial race. Also, the vast majority of Montanans support the war, but that same group of people does not like Bush’s Social Security plan.

             Sorry for the little Government lesson, I just find Montana politics very interesting and I thought you might to.