Parents: "We were planning to see these sucker's grandchildren."

[Bluebear]

Ryan Baumann, 24


Tom Gaden, 24


Marcus Tynes, 19


Shawn Eades, Dustin Wasden, Sapper Stock


Michael Laski, 21


Sarah Bryant, 24


Greg Sher, 30

Military casualties in Operation "Enduring Freedom"...1530...
Civilian casualties, who knows?...

I have been called a crazy "Leftist Pacifist". Still, it's not so easy when you look into their young eyes which shine no more...

[enigmatic]

1. I'll stand w/ you on this

If seeing the pointlessness and destructiveness of this idiotic war makes me a "Crazy Leftist Pacifist", then it's a badge I'll wear with as much pride and honor as anything I've ever done.

[Warpy]

3. War is a waste on all accounts and nobody gets out alive, not really,

unless they were sociopaths when they went into it. It destroys the treasury and our young people. It fouls the economy for decades after it is finally over. It brutalizes our government and allows the most paranoid the most power. It is to be done only as the absolute last resort, only when refusing to fight would cause us to cease to be.

I lived through the Vietnam years and saw acquaintances go there whole and come back shattered. I worked in a VA hospital with the shattered remains of that war and WWII and Korea. I have ample reason to despise war and by extension, the men who love to send other people's children to fight it.

If this country doesn't get over its addiction to constant war, it will follow the path of other senescent empires to total ruin.

Sadly, that might be the only way we can escape it.

[Bluebear]

5. I was just called a "radical left-wing liberal" here.

So be it.

Those that didn't live through the Vietnam era are about to get a taste of what it was like.

[barbtries]

9. did you thank the person

who "called" you that? the word liberal being used as a dirty word on DU? when asked i always identify myself as a left wing bleeding heart liberal. radical, maybe, depends on the definition i suppose. take it as a compliment. :)

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. Where? Who? When?

Point me at 'em...I will share a piece of my mind.
Since when is anti war a radical left wing idea????
Jeez, have we fallen that low since Viet Nam?

Name calling, indeed!!!

[Bluebear]

20. I can't per rules...but search "radical left wing" :)

[noiretextatique]

13. war = waste

waste of lives and resources. war is insanity.

[anonymous171]

21. Not if it is just. nt

[noiretextatique]

23. there is nothing just about iraq or afghanistan

iraq was about using public funds to enrich private corporations, and little else. we destablized and destroyed a country for the enrichment of halliburton and oil companies. and...it's so much worse for the people of iraq now, especially women and gays. likewise in afghanistan.

[anonymous171]

25. Of course it is not just, but not because gays and women are suffering

Life was much worse for the german people after WWII, but that does not make WWII any less just. That is because it was fought in self-defense and was a war of last resort. Our two current wars are not being waged in self-defense, nor were they anywhere near our last resort when they were started.

[noiretextatique]

26. agreed

and i am sure the devastation and destruction affects everyone, not just women and gays. however, i do find it interesting that once again, we are supporting a much more repressive regime and the one we replaced. liberation for american coporations...to hell with the people.
have a great thanksgiving.

[anonymous171]

34. Yes that is quite ironic.

It's like Malalai Joya says. The warlords that we support are just as bad as the Taliban. This war is not about women or equality. It's about power, plain and simple. Power over oil, power over drugs, power over the region, etc. Afghans are not really even taken into account by the ptb. They are only a means to an end, like us.

Happy Thanksgiving to you too! :hi:

[roguevalley]

32. reminds me of viet nam and the rest of them. Young faces, forever

frozen in time staring out of old frames on the wall. I am a RABID leftie because of the ordeal of living with the body count and all the like on the boob tube when reporters were reporters and we knew what the hell was going on both in Korea and Viet Nam. Not like now, when people are such woosies they have to be held away from the carnage they supported.

[eleny]

2. Thanks, Bluebear - K&R

[WeDidIt]

4. War is a reality in this world

and will continue to be a reality for at least another century and a half.

Better get used to it. Homo sapiens is a violent species.

[athenasatanjesus]

7. war is a reality because of people that believe it's a reality nt

[truedelphi]

29. And sadly the people who believe it is a reality

Think that the Foundation of our Future Peace rests on War.

Absurd indeed.

[barbtries]

11. i refuse

to get used to it. we can be better than that.

[Blue_In_AK]

16. It seems like we could come up with a better form

of population control.

[anonymous171]

18. War is fine. But only if it is in self-defense.

Pre-emptive imperialistic wars are evil and should not be waged or supported.

[Zix]

27. You know what? People like you just make me sick.

[RC]

31. "War is a reality in this world" because the United States has their fingers

in almost any conflict anywhere.

[Brooklyns_Finest]

6. When did the young not die in war?

Pacifism only works if all sides are on the same page. That will never be the case in my lifetime. Until then, America will continue to be vigilant against people or nations who threaten us.

[noiretextatique]

10. like iraq?

which posed no threat the the USA?

[Arctic Dave]

17. And the rest of the world will be vigilant against the US.

We seem to kill a lot of people too.

[anonymous171]

19. Afghanistan does not threaten us. Afghanistan never even attacked us.

We should not be there.

[Bluebear]

22. How does the nation of Afghanistan threaten us?

[Brooklyns_Finest]

24. I'm not sure

But I am worried about what would happen to the region if we do leave Afghanistan. I don't have any answers for our problems in southwest Asia, but just packing up and leaving does not seem like a sane foriegn policy solution.

[Zix]

28. You don't know much and that's a fact.

[barbtries]

8. so much loss

they'll never be back. :cry:

thank you for posting, they should never be forgotten.

[kestrel91316]

12. The violent imposition of our will on others is doomed to failure when

we are the ones who hit first. The people of Iraq and Afghanistan did NOTHING to us to deserve what we have done to them.

Bring the troops home, Mr. President.

[juno jones]

14. Proud to be a peace freak.

Get them home now.

[WCGreen]

30. And still we fight on...

K&R

[lonestarnot]

33. Making someone rich w/o a care in the world for their lives.

:cry:

[Bluebear]

35. --

:hug: