I cannot stand the mentality that just because I'm against what the US is currently doing that I should get the fk out of YOUR country. You know what, all you imperialistic, media warped sheep should get the fk out of MY country, because you're ruining it.
Hellah and tony, you guys are making great point after great point and you're just being responded to with arrogant posts from people who are absolutely convinced that they're right when all they are doing is assuring the destruction of this great country.
So you think it's terrible that Sadaam is using mustard gas on his own people? Me too. The US would certainly never do anything like that . . .except for that little bit about us committing mass genocide on the Native Americans.
The US stands for freedom, eh? Hell yeah, except for that bit where we enslaved an entire race of people for 150 years. Even now we've got reps in Congress that, openly or not, still advocate segregation.
I have never heard anyone give me a justification on why we are allowed to have WMD but no one else. So, now we're scared that someone else may use WMD on us? Well, finally we're getting a taste of what the rest of the world has felt like for 50 years.
A lot of you talk about "finishing this once and for all". What are you smoking and can I have some? In terrorism, we are fighting an enemy that is infinitely motivated and not afraid to die. How do you fight that? Kill the father, and the son festers an even greater hatred towards America and grows up a terrorist himself. Kill him and he's got a son, and so on and so on and so on. . .Remember when the Berlin wall came down, how we all thought that we were witnessing the dawn of the greatest prosperity in recent history? Now there's this, and it will always be something.
You think we should stop buying oil from the Middle East? Great idea, let's exhaust all of our resources so that when there's nothing left they've really got us by the balls. But that's no problem, we'll just go in there and bully some country into giving us more oil. You want to stop terrorism, cut off their money. You want to do that, develop alternate energy. I liked that Bush talked about devoting 1.2 Billion to hydrogen cars but I don't believe him for a second. Iceland will be going to all hydrogen cars within the next 10 years. It can be done, we're just going to choose not to do it.
And what a great idea it was to send inspectors into Iraq. Let's see, from Sadaam's standpoint he's thinking "I have all these weapons and inspectors are coming, how can I get rid of them quickly"? Where will he find willing buyers with lots of money? Oh that's right, terrorists.
Why is it that when terrorists crash a plane into a skyscraper it's "cowardly", "evil", and "barbaric" but when we accidentally blow up a mosque it's just "an unfortunate side effect of war." Have you people not gotten it through your heads that they will not fight us on our battlefield because they know we'll win? It's like the revolutionary war. The British were used to fighting a war where both sides lined up on a battlefield and took turns shooting. Us Americans said "Screw that. Of course you want to fight that way; YOU ALWAYS WIN!" So we had the minutemen, who hid amongst the trees and picked them off one by one. The British didn't think it was fair. It didn't matter.
There are dozens of scumbag dictators in the world that have WMD and do unspeakable things to their own people, but you don't ever hear anything about them. Why? 'Cause they have no oil.
How long do you think that you can keep countries from possessing WMD? That would be like 200 years ago, trying to keep countries from developing guns. Technology is just making it easier and easier and there's no way you can stop them. But go ahead and try if that's what you think will help.
The US and most of the Middle East just do not understand one another, and basically think that each side is the representative of evil incarnate. We either need to put the guns down and make an honest attempt to understand one another, or pack up, get the hell out of there, and develop alternate energy. Terrorists are attacking us because we support Israel. Sorry Israel, it's time to fend for yourself. That land has been in a state of perpetual chaos for thousands of years but WE'RE going to solve it "once and for all" 'cause we're . . . well we're . . .us!!! It's manifest destiny all over again and it doesn't smell any better this time around then it did the last time.
So let's just keep going after everyone we're scared of, and keep bullying the world. You will never stop terrorism from happening. Over the long haul, the vastness of the terrorist army is only exceeded by their patience and their hatred for us. They will never stop, EVER! Don't you understand that? If it's not Bin Laden it will be someone else. If it's not Hussein, it will be someone else. We are supposedly a Christian country (for the record, I am not); one of the premier tenets of Christianity is to turn the other cheek when someone hurts you. So that's what we tell our kids. But as soon as someone hurts us, what do we do? "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, let's bomb the sh%t out of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I love my country to death, but I am a member of the human race first. I'm only in my mid-20s but I'm already sick to death of all the death and killing, I just want it all to stop! Death only breeds more death. All you so called "patriots" are just begging for your own destruction.
As for the avatar thing, which is I believe how this whole thing got started, mine is the Fighting Illini. I'll have it up this year, when they're in the top 25, and I'll have it up if/when the team is 2-25. Guys like Raymond have had the flag up for a long, long time. So now that we're involved in a conflict, NOW the rest of you are going to choose to be patriotic? You shouldn't love your country any more or any less just because there's a war. That's the patriotic equivalent of a fair weather fan. It currently is "hip" to be patriotic. That's alright with me, me and my buddies have turned it into a drinking game. Every sporting event we watch, we drink whenever anything patriotic comes on. But whatever you guys want to do with your avatars is none of my business. But when you start pressuring others to do it and hint at their questionable patriotism when they don't . . .well . . .that, gentlemen, is horsesh*t.
Sorry for the length. I don't expect to change anybody's mind with this. More, I want people who think like me to know that there are others out there who know that true American patriotism is standing up for what you believe in, even if that means standing up to what your government is doing.
One last thing. While I vehemently disagree with a lot of you on this topic, I love the fact that this thread is 8 pages long. I think that's what truly shows the great passion and patriotism for OUR country.
