Why are my peers dying for the Iraqi people?

Question

The soldiers in Iraq are people you and I went to school with, family members. Why is Bush planning to send 21,500 more of them into that country? For people, it seems, who do not want us there, and should be doing this for themselves.
And please, don't give me that BULL about supporting America. Not everything our leaders do is right.

I'm not asking why people enlist, I know why, I come from a military family, and to say I do not support our soldiers could not be farther from the truth.
I am asking the reason for them being there. No one seems to be able to tell me that.

Eric M, you did not answer my question, but instead choose to dissect it, literally.
A patriot should ALWAYS question their leaders' motives and decisions. Not every American is for America.
As for the people being slaughtered, well, that happens everyday in many countries, everywhere.
Please stop telling me to 'think'. I am a philosophy major, so you must realize what that means...

Answer 1

Unfortunately because they don't know any better. They have been fed the same rubbish they sell on Fox News and they are not aware of their history. Is it their fault? I say, yes and no. My brother served in the military and started to put 2+2 together at some point. The more he studied, the more he learned about what the US is really about. He legally left the military before his time was up, he could no longer serve a gov't that was so horribly corrupt. Before this he was a "patriot" like any other, but he read his history and current events and came to his conclusions on his own. Not everyone is like my brother though. These peers of ours go by what they hear others say, don't have the time to research, refuse to believe our country could be so corrupt, pure ignorance, or stubborness, or whatever their reasons may be. They really believe they are "protecting our freedom from terrorists", that's what thier leader tells them. What they don't realize is what they are really doing, fighting a war for people who don't care about them and want more money/power. This war is about oil and power, we need it because we went all in on it instead of developing other ideas, now we're in deep. Other countries are preparing to compete for this oil as well, so we have to be quick, and it's not working the way our leaders and corporations quite hoped. Look up Iraqi Oil on Google. Shell, Exxon, and BP are trying for 30 year contracts in Iraq and they'll get them. But these other countries such as China are needing oil too, what would be better than them having to buy it from us? Can we keep them under our thumb to do such a thing? Who knows? Can we blame our leaders for having this forsight to realize what the deal is? We could, but we are shying away from where the real blame should be placed, on all of ourselves. We need our big companies now because we refused to do things on our own, yeah, we could turn things around, but I don't believe we will, the American Empire is going to continue to crush itself. What are any of you going to do to stop it, do you care enough? Will you read up on your history and educate yourself a little? Will you make sacrifices like quit shopping at Wal Mart and watching mindlessness like MTV? You see, I doubt it. I bet this would be too much for most of you already. This would be nothing compared to the other sacrifices you'd have to make. Nobody gets it, but it all falls into the plan. You want to stop it, you know where to start? Get involved in your community, find out why most of them are falling apart at the seams. Get things localized, the way they should be. This idea of globalization is nothing but trouble, we need to leave everyone else alone. Now's the time to act, not next month or next year, it's getting worse every day, either fix it or you only have yourselves to blame whem it all goes down. Good luck, and thank you.

Answer 2

The short answer is to try and finish what we started. We seemed to have dug ourselves into a hole and are trying to salvage what we can. There were alot of reasons we went, some of them were reasonable, some were blown out of proportion, some could not be confirmed (i.e. WMD's, doesn't mean they weren't there). The troop surge could help to bring more soldiers home sooner, than fewer soldier over the course of the next few years, because either way it is going to take a while to completely pull out, while we may be the fastest deploying military, re-deployment is a bit slower, especially out of areas that are still considered hostile. On another note, the only reason the general public even knows how many are dying (soldiers) is because of embedded media, in the 3+ years we have been at this, less people have lost their lives than in the first few hours of D-day in WWII. The death rate in Iraq, at least for Americans, is comparative to Los Angeles or Washington D.C. As far as what the President is now suggesting, is not all his own idea, far from it. All the boards and study groups, republicans, and democrats have all suggested everything in his plan at some point in time. His staff and a ton of advisers came up with the plan, why do people assume its all his just because he came on tv and told us all. It is just purely idiotic to think that way, but that seems to be what happens ALL the time. I have been to Iraq 2 times, and all the locals that I met were glad for us to be there. Alot of good has been done, but good things don't get ratings, so you don't hear about them in the media. I have come to the point that it so hard to decipher the truth from the bull in the media that I have quit watching the news, especially CNN. But they are in no way the only ones. Back to the main question, I believe the troop surge will help us from this truely becoming another Vietnam, and the surge will probably not last all year. Hopefully with the troop surge, we CAN pull out starting at the end of the year without a problem.

Answer 3

They are fighting for the Iraqi people, true. You don't want the Iraqi people to be murdered by the terrorists, do you? Because if we run away, the carnage is REALLY gonna start. Just like when we ran away from Vietnam. Read history.

They are also fighting for the whole world, because toppling dictatorships is how you end international terrorism. Dictatorships warp their society so much that people think murder and suicide are good things. Free and secure societies don't do that.

"people, it seems, who do not want us there" ... why do you believe that? It makes no sense. Perhaps Iraqis are afraid to say they want us there, because the terrorists would kill them for saying it. At least that makes sense.

"should be doing this for themselves" ... and if they can't, yet, they should be left to be slaughtered? Think!

"Not everything our leaders do is right" ... Why would you say such a thing? I dare you to find ANYBODY who thinks that. Ridiculous. Unreal.

"to say I do not support our soldiers" ... If you support our soldiers, you must support their mission. Think! You want them to run away? You want them to not be soldiers? Some support!

"No one seems to be able to tell me" ... President Bush has told you numerous times. You just don't listen. Seek multiple news sources. Including talk radio. Inform yourself.

I'm glad you're asking, tho. Learning is good. Every time I seek a news source, I'm sort of asking questions too. Everybody needs to learn some more.

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ADDITIONAL DETAILS

Thanks for your challenge.

“you did not answer my question” … No, I answered the first one. As to why more troops, you should read Bush’s speech from the other night. There’s your answer.

“A patriot should ALWAYS question their leaders’ motives and decisions.” No. A patriot could sometimes question their leaders. What’s your definition of a patriot??

“Not every American is for America.” Well, some Americans are traitors, so, yes. But I don’t know why you made that statement.

“I am a philosophy major, so you must realize what that means.” Well, you claim to be, but it could mean you’re very intelligent and think very clearly and very well, or it could mean you’re a teenager hiding from the real world in college. Who knows?

Answer 4

hi, it's the music snob! I am also from a military family, so I *may* share the same understanding you have for one's personal choice to enlist. I do not agree with the Bush Admin. and it's decisions. My opinion is that Bushie is in Iraq to try to do what Daddy didn't years before. I support the troops, because let's face it, even thought this is their job, their choice, it doesn't mean that it is easy to do. I have no idea why the U.S. maintains it's presence there ( I hesitate to say "we") other than the fact that now they're in too deep and have a HUGE mess to clean up before pondering coming home. I have yet to find an answer.

Answer 5

I spent eight years in the Marines, I have two years in combat, I've been burned, hit with shrapnel and stabbed. All for this country, true not everything our leaders do is right but to hold them to a standard no human on earth can maintain is ridiculous, nobodies perfect. the population as a whole doesn't have the info to make a completely informed decision, and as a military person we have alittle more but only what we need to work in our AO (area of operation). Form your own decisions about the war and protest if you want I'll be proud to fight and die for your right to do so but I ask two favors, 1--educate yourself on what your protesting (both sides of the argument not just the one that suits your opinions at the time) and 2--remember that your fellow countrymen (classmates) overseas see you on there TVs too and it can get pretty upsetting seeing our own country protesting against what we're doing over there.

you want to see why we fight click this link, read the caption bellow the picture and ask the question, "why we haven't seen this in the news?"

Answer 6

I stand with information out of your argument that shahar peer ought to not were granted UAE visa before each and everything get mutually. each and every u . s . a . has precise to guard their visa norms. conserving in recommendations the present incident the position UAE’s hospitality changed into abused with information from Israeli masterminds, dubai taking this variety of step less than pressure from WTA is amazingly unlucky. Public sentiments stay intense in center East and in relax of peace loving countries after Israel’s unlawful invasion of Gaza. A small get mutually of that's at the same time as taking section in in a tournament in Auckland, New Zealand in January, Peer had to cope with a noisy protest over the same mission. pondering the above and protection of the participant it’s intense time that immigration authorities re-evaluate their decision of granting visa to sahar peer.

Answer 7

Mr.Wise- the situation in Iraq was created by the US. The personnel dying there are dying because of Bush's ego and Haliburton's greed. Saddam was sick , I agree, but he was sick when the US put him in power to offset Russia's influence. Now , when the US finally withdraws, the Nation will fall into a Rwanda style civil war. The Shites want and will have their revenge against the Sunnis. The "democratically elected" Prime Minister has made it very clear they want the US out.
"LET THE GAMES BEGIN"

Answer 8

I don't wholly agree with the way you have phrased the question. I don't think our troops are dying for the Iraqi people, but rather they are dying to enrich that portion of corporate America which stands to gain from a constant state of war. The service companies, the private security firms, the armament and weapons manufacturers, and of course the oil companies.

Every time I see a yellow ribbon magnet exhorting me to "Support our Troops", I want to yell, "HOW ABOUT SUPPORTING RATIONAL, REASONABLE LEADERSHIP?"

Check out Nicolas Cage in 'Lord of War'. He plays an arms merchant who states, "There are enough guns on the planet for 1 out of every 11 people on the planet. My job is to find a way to get guns into the hands of the other 10."

Answer 9

apparently the military personel signed themselves up for this job, and they are happy to go in there and do it. I personally do not like to see our young men and women put their lives on the line for this cause- I have family and friends in the military who are over there right now. I dont think our leaders are necessarily correct in sending more troops, but then again, I dont know all the details in the decision either. Lets pray that the war ends soon, and our country's leaders start looking into more peaceful ways to solve conflict. Thats all we can do really....right now anyway. Nice sarcastic answer nite hawk. Why even respond?

Answer 10

When Bush gives us an honest answer, we will be able to give you one. The only thing I can see us in this war for is oil. Every thing points directly to that. We did not agree to this war and we are still disagreeing. Bush seems to be doing this one on his own. It doesn't matter what the american people say, they have given that man too much power and now no one can stop him. Way to go dumb a.s.s.e.s.