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General discussion

An Open Letter to GIs in Iraq...

Nov 18, 2003 1:20PM PST

Full Version: Hold On to Your Humanity

<Snippit>
"So here is my message to you. You will do what you have to do to survive, however you define survival, while we do what we have to do to stop this thing. But don't surrender your humanity. Not to fit in. Not to prove yourself. Not for an adrenaline rush. Not to lash out when you are angry and frustrated. Not for some ticket-punching ******* military careerist to make his bones on. Especially not for the Bush-Cheney Gas & Oil Consortium.

The big bosses are trying to gain control of the world's energy supplies to twist the arms of future economic competitors. That's what's going on, and you need to understand it, then do what you need to do to hold on to your humanity. The system does that; tells you you are some kind of hero action figures, but uses you as gunmen. They chump you.

Your so-called civilian leadership sees you as an expendable commodity. They don't care about your nightmares, about the DU that you are breathing, about the lonliness, the doubts, the pain, or about how you humanity is stripped away a piece at a time. They will cut your benefits, deny your illnesses, and hide your wounded and dead from the public. They already are.

They don't care. So you have to. And to preserve your own humanity, you must recognize the humanity of the people whose nation you now occupy and know that both you and they are victims of the filthy rich ******** who are calling the shots.

They are your enemies--The Suits--and they are the enemies of peace, and the enemies of your families, especially if they are Black families, or immigrant families, or poor families. They are thieves and bullies who take and never give, and they say they will "never run" in Iraq, but you and I know that they will never have to run, because they ******* aren't there. You are

They'll skin and grin while they are getting what they want from you, and throw you away like a used condom when they are done. Ask the vets who are having their benefits slashed out from under them now. Bushfeld and their cronies are parasites, and they are the sole beneficiaries of the chaos you are learning to live in. They get the money. You get the prosthetic devices, the nightmares, and the mysterious illnesses.

So if your rage needs a target, there they are, responsible for your being there, and responsible for keeping you there. I can't tell you to disobey. That would probably run me afoul of the law. That will be a decision you will have to take when and if the circumstances and your own conscience dictate. But it perfectly legal for you to refuse illegal orders, and orders to abuse or attack civilians are illegal. Ordering you to keep silent about these crimes is also illegal.

I can tell you, without fear of legal consequence, that you are never under any obligation to hate Iraqis, you are never under any obligation to give yourself over to racism and nihilism and the thirst to kill for the sake of killing, and you are never under any obligation to let them drive out the last vestiges of your capacity to see and tell the truth to yourself and to the world. You do not owe them your souls.

Come home safe, and come home sane. The people who love you and who have loved you all your lives are waiting here, and we want you to come back and be able to look us in the face. Don't leave your souls in the dust there like another corpse.

Hold on to your humanity.

Stan Goff
US Army (Ret.)
"
</Snippit>

Full Version: Hold On to Your Humanity

Discussion is locked

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"To thine own self be true". (NT)
Nov 18, 2003 9:30PM PST

.

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NT if that's a ''snippet'' thank god you don't do circumcisions
Nov 18, 2003 10:09PM PST

.

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Re:NT if that's a ''snippet'' thank god you don't do circumcisions
Nov 19, 2003 9:28PM PST
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hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!
Nov 19, 2003 11:18PM PST
HappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappyHappy
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aid and comfort to the enemy...
Nov 18, 2003 10:42PM PST

saw several men die as a direct result of such crap 30+ years ago.

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That reminded me of something...
Nov 18, 2003 10:43PM PST

As I read, it reminded me of something more and more, not only in the standard arguments, but more in a style that I felt I had seen somewhere before. This hit me especially in the standard the government sent you over here for oil routine.
Finally at the end, I saw, "Come home safe, and come home sane. The people who love you and who have loved you all your lives are waiting here, and we want you to come back and be able to look us in the face. Don't leave your souls in the dust there like another corpse." and the style and arguments hit me in a flash. That last sentence rang the bell. Tokyo Rose. Think about those old WWII broadcasts, and compare styles.

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NT you hit the nail on the head J.....TR all the way....
Nov 18, 2003 11:04PM PST

.

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Yep but I was thinking...
Nov 19, 2003 12:32AM PST

Trinh "Hanoi Hannah" Thi Ngo who I listened to many times.

There really was no Tokyo Rose (although Iva Toguri d?Aquino was tried for treason as being her) any more than there was a Kilroy. Tokyo Rose was actually a composit of several Japanese women broadcasting on Radio Tokyo such as Foumy "Madame Tojo" Saisho and Myrtle "Little Margie" Lipton, as well as Iva "Orphan Ann" Toguri d?Aquino.

This might interest you - http://americanhistory.about.com/library/prm/blcalledhertraitor1.htm

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no Kilroy????? *so who was here?*
Nov 19, 2003 12:40AM PST

actually there is a very good short film about that.... (possibly a Spielberg TV movie?) Kilroy was in fact a time traveller....

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Movie? really
Nov 19, 2003 5:08AM PST

I know there was an old scifi short story with that very idea.

Now that you mention it, there is a vague memory, but I'm thinking more like a Outer Limits or Twilight Zone or something like that episode?

Anyway, probably multiple instances of such fiction.

roge

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(NT) There was a Styx album title 'Kilroy was here'
Nov 19, 2003 5:17AM PST

.

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That should get a few of our troops killed.
Nov 18, 2003 10:47PM PST

Can you imagine what this might do to morale? This is called propaganda, and its meant to undermine the morale of the troops so that can be killed or otherwise neutralized. This is someone taking the enemy's side with deliberate lies and distortions.

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Promoting Haliburton...
Nov 19, 2003 5:01PM PST
Can you imagine what this might do to morale? This is called propaganda, and its meant to undermine the morale of the troops so that can be killed or otherwise neutralized. - Kiddpeat

Sadly, the moral of many of our troops is poor and is deteriorating quickly. Many are beginning to realize that they have been used as pawns by GW and his neo-con hawks to pursue an agenda that was hatched as far back as 1992. To many, it is becoming clear that they are not fighting to protect Americans. They are fighting to promote the bottom line of companies like Haliburton...

I find it ironic that many say that they support our troops. But if one of our current or former soldiers posts a dissenting view to the GW imperial line, they are labeled as Tokyo Rose. I view those who only support the soldiers who agree with their views to be insincere at best...
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Looking at other statements, Blake....
Nov 19, 2003 7:04PM PST

Looking at other statements by him, I found, "This is the lad who will hear from someone that George W. Bush, dressed in a suit with a belly full of rich food, just hurled a manly taunt from a 72-degree studio at the 'non-existent' Iraqi resistance.".
After seeing that, I find the style and wording resemblance to be even stronger.

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Re:Looking at other statements, Blake....
Nov 19, 2003 8:50PM PST

Hi, J.

I'm confused -- other statements by whom?
-- Dave K.
Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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i thought mods didn't fall asleep on the job
Nov 19, 2003 11:28PM PST
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I thought that was obvious, Dave
Nov 20, 2003 8:42AM PST

Dave, I would have thought that was obvious.
Stan Goff, US Army (Ret.), the author of that propaganda piece that he found at commondreams and used for a cut and paste for the original post. You did read that, didn't you? It was signed at the bottom.

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when i saw the header ''Looking at other statements, Blake'' i thought that for one small moment in time
Nov 19, 2003 11:34PM PST

someone was going to refer blake to his "US War Dead in Iraq Exceeds Early Vietnam Years" post...

as you didn't, i will.......... BLAKE!!!!!!

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Happily your remarks are false...
Nov 20, 2003 12:06AM PST

In general troop morale is high despite the negative stories reported by the mainstream far left media.

One should NOT listen to the media but to the troops themselves. Those troops tend to ignore the media and to attempt to hide from it as they are too often misquoted or qouted totally out of context.

Yes, some few are unhappy but that has been true with EVERY deployment of troops whether in peacetime or time of conflict and whether to a hostile fire zone or to a cushy berth at the Pentagon.

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I think I'ld let the troops speak for themselves
Nov 20, 2003 1:19AM PST

I don't know what your statements are based on, but they sure look highly biased to me. In fact, they look quite similar to the propaganda BS that was being discussed, and would likely have the same effect. I've heard news reports of a few disgruntled troops, but I've also heard many reports that the troops are saying that conditions much different than what the media portrays. That progress is being made, and conditions are improving.

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Greetings from beautiful downtown Baghdad (part1)
Nov 20, 2003 8:57AM PST

From: E. E.[abbreviated], TAC-Baghdad [email address deleted]
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 7:57 AM
To: [deleted]
Subject: Update from Beautiful Downtown Baghdad

Am guessing all you see on the news media is the same hype we are seeing here. They talk about some single violent act and run film of the last five violent acts. It's not as bad as it looks. So thought I'd share this with you this morning.

Last night as I was preparing to head for the barn, the bad guys threw three rockets our way, all three impacting inside the Green Zone. No one injured that we know of. You'll hear MSNBC's Dr. Bob Arnot call them three mortar rounds, but he's wrong as usual.

One of them went off as an air burst near the main parking lot about 1,000 yards from the Presidential Palace. There were about 100 vehicles in the lot at that time of night, 20 vehicles were damaged, and no gas tanks exploded. Obviously, they are just pointing the rockets in the general direction and hoping they'll hit something. That's typical of the gang that can't shoot straight.


Earlier yesterday a small car engaged one of our Bradley Fighting Vehicles in small arms fire, one of three Bradleys on the road. When the Bradley fired back, they abandoned the car and jumped on a truck that came down a side road. Apparently it was someone's screwy idea of a three truck ambush, because two other trucks appeared and drove at the Bradleys at a high rate of speed. Now, the Bradley is a highly armored, tracked vehicle that can spew grenades off all four corners at once, and automated 25mm bullets, including HE (high explosive) rounds. The trucks are, well, trucks. Result of that encounter, three destroyed trucks, 5 bad guys killed, 5 wounded. An amazing sidelight was that an Army Captain was shot square in the head, but he was wearing his helmet, so he has a great souvenir.

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Greetings from beautiful downtown Baghdad (part 2)
Nov 20, 2003 8:58AM PST

Anyway, the numbers of attrition are wildly in our favor, regardless of what the news media implies. They are trying really hard to put a political spin on absolutely everything over here. To us here, they couldn't look more ridiculous sometimes with their posturing and postulating.

Instead of sitting back in defensive positions, our forces here are now on the offensive, so you can expect to see more violent confrontations. But in every one of them, the bad guys are losing men and equipment they really can't afford to lose. And the Iraqi people more and more are turning them in. So we wish the news media would report that, too. The Iraqi people want us here, and they wish the Iranians, Syrians and Jordanians would stay out of here.

Business is really picking up in the city, they are cleaning the streets, rebuilding the shops, and free enterprise is beginning to catch on, but slowly. For most of their lives, someone has told them what to do, how much they can charge, what they can grow, build, and do. There are hundreds of great stories out here, if I were just working for a news agency that would run them.

By the way, a couple of Iraqi lads learned about Apache helicopters yesterday. They had set off an explosion spotted by two Apaches running north above the highway out of Baghdad yesterday. And right behind the explosion they saw these two lads on two motorcycles moving at top speed away from it. The cyclists split up, and so did the Apaches. But one of the lads dumped his cycle in his front yard and ran in the house. The Apache then made his cycle disappear in a puff of smoke and waited on station for the ground troops and local police to arrive. After all, he wasn't going anywhere, this time. Ahhhh, those trigger happy Apache pilots. Bet they are the envy of any police helicopter pilot in any U.S. metropolitan city. Can't you just see that happening in New York City?