Where are young kids these days getting the idea that they're dieing to protect our freedom?

Question

I have no idea myself, and I'd really love to be able to understand this. I see news clips from soldiers saying they're in iraq to protect the US freedom, I see soldiers dieing for their beliefs.

How exactly was Iraq threatening our freedom? Even if we did go to war under false pretenses (Which I completely agree with), these guys still seem to be brainwashed into thinking they're doing the right thing.

I believe as much as the next guy that Sadam Hussein was an evil, arrogant prick that did not deserve to run a country, but how was he really threatening our way of life here in the US? Does anyone know? Does anyone have an answer other than the mindless crap that comes out of the whitehouse?

Is it just me, or do these guys have it all wrong, and they're simply dieing in order to appease some war monger we have in office that had to finish what his daddy started?

Please explain.

Actually, you snotty nosed stuck up person you, I was not putting down their intellegence or integrity. What I said was they are convinced they are somehow protecting our freedom by fighting in a country 6 or 7K miles from the US that had nothing to do with 911... if you are too blind to see that, not my fault.

I support our troops, I just don't understand how they are so convinced they're fighting for our freedom, when all they are fighting for is so the US doesn't lose one of the biggest oil deposits in the world. Wake up, or grow up. Better yet, try both.

Furthermore, if your precious 16 year old son came home in a coffin, I am sure you'd change your snotty *** attitude in a blink.

I am well aware of the fact that our soldiers are only doing their job, and I commend them for that aspect of it. What I am astounded by is why they are so eagre to join up in the first place... are they convinced ahead of time that what comes out of the whitehouse is fact, and not just made up propaganda to get most americans so riled up that we'd support the war?

How can you guys sit there and act like it's ok when our guys come home in coffins when they're not there in any way, shape or form to protect our freedom? If we were to protect our freedom, we would simply cut off all other countries and go into isolation. I am well aware of the fact that that would not work and would kill our economy, but that would be the true definition of protecting our freedom.

Going off to fight in iraq with absolutely no reasons whatsoever is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of, and these guys simply deal with it because they need the job.

Sad, if you ask me.

Answer 1

Well, I have good news for you, and I have bad news.

The good news is that you aren't the only one who has noticed or had concerns about this. Last year (2005) late on the evening of my birthday, which is in February, I happened to be up late watching TV, and I caught a rerun of one of the big network's evening national news shows from earlier in the day. There was a kid on who I will never forget. He was being interviewed because while his unit was in a forward position and seeing a lot of action, he was at a rear base because his step-brother had just been killed and they had brought him back to tell him about it. He was 18 years old, and from Kentucky. With a very solemn look on his face, and puffy eyes, which I assume were from crying about his brother, he explained that despite the loss his family had already suffered, he was glad to be there doing his part to protect America from the Iraqi threat and to defend the Constitution. I was so upset at that that I began to sob uncontrollably and scream obscenities about our president at the TV at the same time. I woke my husband up with my ruckus, and because he hadn't seen the interview, he said I was surely mistaken. No one could have possibly told those kids that they were out there defending the US from a threat, because only an idiot would believe that.
I made it my mission to find out.

Now here's the bad news. I have since asked three people I know who are in the military and who have actually served in Iraq. One of them (the one I know least well) questioned my patriotism and then told me he didn't want to talk about it. The other two were a lot more forthcoming. One of them explained it to me like this. (And he does not agree with this, by the way, and he would only tell me the truth after he retired after 20 years in the Army.) He did two tours in Iraq, and he said that those kids are indeed being told by their officers that they are defending the US, our freedoms, our way of life, and the Constitution. He said the US military learned its lesson after Vietnam. During that war, the reasons for the war were sometimes completely misunderstood by the grunts on the front lines, which led to a lot of problems and a general lack of morale. The military decided that the best way to handle it is to give those young men something tangible to fight for so that when they see their closest friends blown to bits, they are still willing to fight. What would allow an 18 or 19 year old patriot to continue to face death every day? Well, certainly not talk of oil, or despots, or the idea that Hussein MIGHT have posed a threat if he had WMDs (because they all know by now that's not the case). No, the thing that will keep them fighting and dying is their Mom's apple pie, the white picket fence, and every other idealized image of the US you can muster. So that's what they tell them. They tell them that our American way of life is under serious threat, and that to remove that threat, they have to go over there and fight, and if necessary, die. My friend served two tours, as I said. On one of his deployments, he was at an advanced base for 6 months doing some training, and he said every day while he did his training, he had to stand within hearing distance of the area where they prep patrols before they go out. He told me he heard officers tell all sorts of horror stories to pump the kids up. He heard officers telling units that if they don't succeed over there, one day the Iraqis are going to be in the White House, jumping on the furniture and peeing on the Constitution. He said a favorite motivator was asking about sisters and sweethearts, and then asking soldiers how they are going to feel if we lose this war, and those filthy Iraqi pigs are raping those same beloved little sisters or girlfriends. He said he heard it all--no matter how outrageous, or untrue, he heard it being force fed to impressionable young men. And he said it works wonders. Soldiers who have only been back at base for 24 hours and who were promised 3 days off, but have to go back out because another unit got blown to hell are happy to go out if they think that they are making it so that their Moms can still be Methodists and don't have to wear a burka when they go grocery shopping.

And here's the kicker. He said that while that's the main method of motivating soldiers, and while every officer he's ever met uses it, it isn't supposed to be discussed. One of his friends was threatened with Court Martial for explaining to a group of young men about the First Gulf War, and about how we probably should have just take Hussein out of power then. He told me that despite the fact that there is no proof of the mysterious WMDs that were one of the premises for the invasion, most teenagers out there in uniform will tell you apocryphal stories about the existence of those weapons. Everyone knows someone whose friend's brother's neighbor was there when they found a cache of those weapons, and he wasn't supposed to tell, but he let it slip. And everyone believes it to be true.

I won't argue that Hussein is a bad man. You only have to look at the photos of the Kurds after he used chemical weapons on them, or the photos of the mass graves which have been uncovered, to know that he's better off in court than in office. But the fact is, I don't think he was a threat to us. And honestly, the war in Iraq has forced the US to take its eyes off the really big, really dangerous target over there, Bin Laden. If anyone has disturbed the American way of life, or threatened our peace, he's the one, not Saddam Hussein. And he's where our efforts should be going. Instead, we are embroiled in a huge mess with no end in sight and a president who balks at even giving the Iraqis an idea of a date when we will begin pulling our troops out.

I am grateful to the young men and women who are serving in uniform. They are making huge sacrifices. But I am disgusted that they are not being told the truth. I would prefer to hear someone say, "my country is at war, so I volunteer, because my country needs me," rather than to hear some silly drivel about people dying to protect our freedoms. It seems to me that if you have to lie to your troops to get the job done, or at the very minimum keep the truth from them, you probably need to re-evaluate why you are fighting in the first place.

What a freakin' mess...

Answer 2

The reason I was fighting over there when I went initially was because of the weapons of mass destruction. That was bad intel, but even people within the Iraqi military believed Saddam had WMD, so despite this gross intelligence failure, it was no worse than the intelligence inside the Iraqi military either.

That has nothing to do with why I have been fighting there now. Now I am fighting to prove that democracy can work for all people, can stand up to terror and violence, and can overcome intolerance.

And while there are deaths, and they are unfortunate, unlike what you would believe on the news, the numbers of my men and our brothers dying are militarily insignificant. This "game" isn't about Saddam anymore, and it hasn't been for a while. It is about the establishment and empowerment of democracy in a country that has been surrounded with its absence for a long time. We messed up going in, but I don't want to mess up coming out. I honestly believe that losing to terror in Iraq will endager the democratic freedoms we allow those back home to enjoy. It is not for the White House. It is not to find the WMD. It is for Democracy. That is why I am fighting.

Answer 3

When we were told that America was under attack, thousands of young people offered their lives to fight the danger. This was a noble, brave and honorable decision on their part. When we were told that Saddam had WMDs even more signed up.

Once they were in boot camp, the real brainwashing began. Fewer than 20% of the American public believes Saddam was responsible for 9/11. But over 70 percent of our soldiers believe he was. This reveals just a little of the lies they've been told.

I hate what we have done and are doing in Iraq. But I don't blame the soldiers.

An untrained doberman is one of the most sensitive breeds of dog. They are beautiful and gentle. A doberman that's been trained to kill is not responsible for the training they've received.

Among the more heinous crimes of the Bush regime is what has been done to our own young people to further the greed and arrogance of a handful of politicians. This is not to even mention what's been done to innocent Iraqi civilians, to America's place in the international community, and to America's constitution.

Bush is just the figurehead for a group of the vilest and most power mad political whores in the history of this country. May the American people find the understanding and courage to regain own liberty once again.

Answer 4

Saddam was clearly no threat to us or our liberties (although Bush The Lesser is clearly a threat to our Constitution).

Iraq never attacked us and, of course, never had the WMDs Dubya lied about.

My heart goes out to those serving and to their families. I'm sure that most of them joined out of a sense of duty to our country. I'm truly sorry that Bush manipulated so many Americans into believing things that are categorically untrue.

May all of our soldiers return safely and real soon. In the case of Iraq, "staying the course" is exactly the same as continuing to drive the wrong way down a one-way street. Only the longer Bush keeps driving, the more people die unnecessarily in an unjust war based on a tissue of lies.

BTW, "Bronwen" really nailed it. Brilliant.

Answer 5

Well they don't give the young people any hope for a future w/o and education, and jobs don't pay enough here to live off of, and so they have families, and times get hard so they are forced to go. They provide all the family needs to survive from housing to medical care. They tell them they can have this and that, and play with guns, and so on. Which sounds great when you cannot get any work, or anything to support your family outside of the military.
Others want to be heroes. They are heroes, but they are out there for the wrong cause. They don't deserve to die.

The government is so wrong..

Answer 6

I'm so sick of hearing and seeing this "the troops are brainwashed" crap. NOBODY in the military is brainwashed. They joined because they wanted to. They joined because they believe in their jobs. That doesn't make them brainwashed by any means. All of them are very smart, free thinking Americans. Just because you don't agree with their job or have any concept of what it's like to be in the military doesn't mean they're brainwashed. Everytime someone makes a comment like that, it just proves their total ignorance. Only people that have never served would make such a stupid comment.

Since when hasn't the military protected the freedoms and rights of America?? It always has been and always will be. Just because you don't agree with this war, doesn't mean that they're not protecting our freedoms and rights. There hasn't been another attack on American soil since we went into Iraq. Have you thought about that?? I'm sure not. I'm sure you watch the news and pay attention to biased propaganda. You should be paying attention to the military and real facts. There were WMD's and we found some of them. No, not as many as we thought, but we did find some. Suddam knew we were coming and too much opportunity to move them. There's also been ties to Al Qaeda in Iraq for years. There's well documented proof of this in Clinton's papers. The only reason it's mindless is because you haven't researched it. It's there. People post proof all over this site to actual documents. Of course, it doesn't agree with your thinking, so it can't possibly be true.

It has nothing to do with finishing what dad Bush did. It has nothing to do with oil. The men and women in the military aren't wrong. They know the side of the story you'll never see on the news. And by no means does doing what you believe in make you wrong. The military has and always will defend the freedoms and rights of America, no matter how much the general public agrees or disagrees with it.

Answer 7

You hit the nail right on the head.

Though I'm not sure I would go so far as to say he was finishing what his father started. I *would* say that Bush is an idiot being advised by idiots, though. With bin Laden still out there and countries like Iran and North Korea rattling cages, Iraq should have been way down at the bottom of the laundry list. The war in Iraq has only created a quagmire - a situation that America can neither abandon nor afford to stay involved in. Not to mention, it has caused a rift in American culture and politics, with antagonist emotional idiots like Carla piping up.

Answer 8

Would you rather fight in america? sure it's hot and sandy, but do you want to let them take over the region? You should know that after the Iraqi region is under terrorist control, that europe is next... and once europe is down, russia is next... and there's plenty of room to hide in Russia... by that time, they should stretch too thin and fall apart... but would you rather the rest of the world suffer? I hear people preach about Immigration and how it's so bad... so why not make the rest of the world a better place to live? I know i'm kinda rambling now, but the idea stands... but i do think that the rest of the world would help out a little more. Guess that's our way of paying the national deficit... oh well...

Answer 9

No easy explanation, Rumsfield and Cheney have wanted to overthrow that government and control the region for years. The amount of money generated in the area is tremendous. Cheney's buddies at Halliburton are raking it in and have been paying him millions since he left and made himself the VP. Look into the movie "Iraq for sale", it looks like it's gonna be the best movie that noone will see.

I personally just got out of the Navy 4 monthes ago. I never had any disillusions about why we were in the Gulf, but you have to realize who the recruiters are after. Not to sound insulting, but recently the people willing to join the forces after all the media coverage either have no other option our are looking for blood.

Answer 10

Brainwashing if you will is a part of Military training, and if they joined up for the benefits or the ideals that they are out there to protect freedom if you will, then they are going to be worked up into a emotional fever like the way a Coach does before he sends the team out onto the field. Many of our Military members are a sincere group that mean well, and it is heartbreaking to see them caught up in such a horrible nightmare of a situation.

Most every Military service member you will see on the TV news talking about the war and who is on Active Duty knows better than to badmouth the Chain Of Command, in part for respect, in part because of fear of retailation, and in some cases they have their own ideals, however naively they may seem to be, that they are indeed making a difference for freedom and the American way of life.

I respect them for their choices and ideals and sacrifice, no matter how wretched, immoral, horrible, incompentent and essentially souless a Commander In Chief and Defense Secretary that they are burdened with, or how skewed the so called logic is behind this wasteful conflict.

Answer 11

They arent really fighting for freedom, but they're fighting for United States and the Constitution which states that we follow the order of our government...

George W. Bush moblized our troops for Iraq and we go to fight US war...

Dont blame the troops or anything they're just doing their job and fighting for US but tar and feather George W Bush..