F@%k you, Abdul.

F%*k your god, too.

from JoeUser Forums

I'm watching 'Alive Day Memories: From Iraq'.  James Gandolfini is interviewing men and women who were injured whilst serving in Iraq - some of them suffered traumatic amputations, some lost their sight, some had head trauma.....all of them have what they call an 'Alive Day'.  It's the day when they almost lost their lives. 

Part of the program is video showing American military vehicles being blown up by IED's, recorded by insurgents.  It's making me angry - not mad, ANGRY.  ANGRY.  Angry enough to want to go to Iraq and slit some insurgent's throat - and before he lost conciousness, I'd bend down and whisper in his ear "Fuck you, Abdul, and fuck your Allah too".

I'm so angry, but I'm sad too.   Angry that these men and women are coming home missing arms, legs, eyes, ears, parts of their brain...they're coming home broken, and they're going to have to live with these injuries for the rest of their lives.  I'm not going to get into WHY the war is going on, that's not what this article is about.  This article is about how we hear about soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines killed and injured in Iraq every day but how that number sometimes doesn't mean anything to us.  We become numb; immune to the fact that every one of those numbers is a human being who has a life...they're someone's son or daughter, brother or sister or nephew or niece or friend or husband or lover.  They're all people who have LIVES. 

This show has really affected me.  It's angered me, but it's also made me incredibly sad.  One part brought me to tears: a little ffive year old girl who's daddy had his leg blown off by an IED drew a picture of him in uniform, standing next to a humvee with a cartoon-esque stick of dynamite underneath him.  It was such a sweet picture, it was really well drawn and was beautifully colored and detailed.  Very accurately detailed.

She drew him with only one leg. 

If you get a chance, you should see this show.

 

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4,142 views 2 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top

The show you mention is a very well done show and everyone should see if possible.  I really wish it wasn't on HBO and instead was a PBS show where more people would have a chance to catch it, but then again if it were on PBS or network TV their would be much more censorship of what is said and shown and I'd rather not have that be the case.

I've said before that I think our moral values have crippled us in our fight against the terrorists and trouble makers in Iraq and I still think that is the case.  As a comparison listen to some of what the people that fought in World War II say about the things they did and had to do to survive back then.  If you want to know where to hear that stuff, try checking out Ken Burns' The War airing currently on PBS and reairing over the next several months (or on DVD next week).  Once you hear some of those vets talk about the things they had to do to survive you realize that war is hell and no one that fights in a war fights fair, despite what we keep insisting our troops must do now.

I still really wish we'd take the restrictions off and make it entirely too clear that we are in Iraq to kick butt and take names and won't take crap from anyone.  We should be the baddest of the bad asses and by setting the examples and making that clear, we'd be sending the message not to F with us.  Instead we keep getting the signals out of the Democrats that want us out long ago, and we keep getting reminded that we won't allow for inhumane treatment, etc.

Nothing about war is humane and our troops in Iraq (and Afghanistan, that forgotten war) are still fighting a real war where they are being expected to treat the opponent with far more respect than they themselve are shown.  I wish we'd give back that disrespect about 10 times over just to make it clear that we won't take crap and will give back much more than is given to us when you mess with us.

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
It's available on DVD now... I'm watching it now since NetFlix sent it out as soon as it was available (but I didn't get a chance to see it yesterday).
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