Oohrah to that guy. Hear hear!

word.

Good for him.

I'd give this guy 100 upvotes if I could.

Good to hear from someone who was there. War for profit - what a proud, "honorable" Bush legacy.

Disgusting.

I hope his message spreads far and wide, and encourages more soldiers to express their views to the public. This is the caliber of video that should have been featured at the YouTube debates.

Edit: Hmm, I'm ignorant of the laws governing public speech for servicemen. Is it not okay to do this while deployed?

Probably the most convincing speech on the subject I've heard in years. God damn.

What would happen if the US just left Iraq?
A horrible civil war would start and would kill MUCH more people that were already killed and might be killed in the future.
Not only that, but all (civilians and US servicemen/women) lives already lost would have been for NOTHING. They would have died for stupidity and NOTHING. Iraq would just fall back to where it was before, or worse.
Not to mention that the reputation of the USA would suffer even more, especially to those people who have faith in the USA to help them create democracy in their country. Those people would be betrayed by the US and you can be sure that their following generations would learn from that betrayal.

No matter what the USA will do, people will bitch about it. If they just leave, they leave a country in chaos and people will criticize that because people will die. If they stay, people will criticize it still because there are people dieing every day.

You know, the majority of the people in Iraq actually appreciate the positive things the US brought to them. Its just the rebels that pull things down so much. And what he talks about "they just want their country back" is bullshit. Those people blowing up THEIR OWN PEOPLE, just want a single thing back: THEIR POWER. They are indoctrinating THEIR people to send em in as cannonfodder, to fight for them to get THEIR power back, so they can oppress their citizens again as it was before.

I would think people learned from history...

Seriously, if you dont want to fight for another countrys freedom, then dont join the military. The USA always fought wars for other countries, especially soldiers should know that. And I as german am extremely grateful for what they did in the past.
I dont understand this "honor" bashing bullshit. Think a bit further and you will clearly see the honor/dishonor...

I was 15 or so when the whole war thing was on the plate and Evan then with my limited knowledge i could see that this situation would happen. whats interesting is that the actual realities haven't been layed out clearly to the public forget honer and patratisum and lets just look at the basic facts.

1) stay in the country ( more amercan troops die probably less savilean death in short term small bombings happen for the next 60-200 ore so years.

2) pull out ( huge death and chaos for 15-50 years) new govement replaces old probably Simula to sadam probably worse more fundamentalist )


i think ether way there will be a good deal of death and terbulance in the country i think the bush government should be imprisoned for the desicoin to go in in the first place and then we Analise the situation and pick the least voilont way to procide

I like reading coolhund's point of view, but I disagree with most of it : ) The civil war has already begun, people will die in large numbers either way, the sevice(wo)men have already died for nothing (unless you count taking down Saddam, which was a double-edged sword) or, if not for nothing, for Americans and Iranians and everyone else to go in and try to make Iraq into whatever they need it to be to fit their goals. It's true people will bitch whatever the US does now. So, we'll have to deal with it. I know there are actually still some people who want the Americans to stay and appreciate what help they've brought, but I don't think they are in the majority any more. As for the rebels, they are not a single group of people and have many differing goals-- some just want power, some want something other than democracy, some just want the Americans out. I seem to recall learning about American colonists killing Whigs and anyone percieved as "Loyalists" back in the American Revolution (I could be wrong; I'm no historian).
Lastly, you don't join the military to "bring freedom and democracy to other countries." While the US military has indeed done that in the past, the purpose of the military is defensive (protect America from enemies foreign and domestic) and offensive (protect friends and allies of America and American interests). Being nice and helping other countries is lofty goal but what America does and when with its military always depends on the civilians in charge-- the government and Commander In Chief (president).
Don't kid yourselves-- while the US did free many countries from tyranny in the past, it wasn't because "that's a good thing." What the US does, both good and bad, is because someone thinks it's in their best interest. Most other countries are the same way.
As a German, if you are grateful be grateful for this: that the Japanese bombed Pearl harbor and got the Americans involved. They may not have otherwise.
All the above is just my opinion.

If you feel concerned about this, may I suggest that you go watch it directly on Youtube, and rate it 5-stars there? It will help getting it promoted on the front page, and reach a larger audience.

Coolhund -

I too appreciate your comments. But I would like to ask, how do you know that casualties would go up if the US pulled out of Iraq? I don't think that anyone actually knows the answer to that question.

Here we have someone who has been there for a tour of duty, spent time with the locals, and has come to the exact opposite conclusion. I am assuming that you haven't been there (neither have I).

I think it can be reasonably argued that casualties would go down if the US were to leave. Much of the violence would seem to be directed at the US military and their supporters. The US occupation (it's not a war) serves as a potent recruitment tool for extremist organizations as well as ready targets for attacks.

Ultimately the situation in Iraq will need to be solved by the people of that country. Frankly, I believe that the "solutions" that may be deemed acceptable to the Iraqis may not be compatible with US aims there.

The argument that we must stay or "things will get much worse" serves quite nicely the original intent and purpose of this entire misadventure in my opinion - that is, a permanent US presence in the Middle East, right on top of a big ol' pool of black gold.

Frankly, the presentation of this position (US gone=chaos) as a foregone conclusion, the complete lack of credibility of the current occupant of the oval office and the expediency of this claim to their purposes (I believe) makes this "truth" highly suspect.

*lies posterchild, good job on calling out the Republican crazies.

Adding video to channels (Lies) - requested by Krupo.

Only cowards need to save face, rather than face mistakes. It's an honor to hear from this guy.

Right on, brother.

Can somebody explain to me why the conventional wisdom is suddenly "the surge is working?" I've heard that several times lately, but I just don't get it. Working how exactly? Nobody every follows up on that other than maybe to say something like "casualties are down." If it's true, that's good of course, but to jump from there to "the surge is working" is to commit the most basic of logical fallacies--correlation does not necessarily imply causation. Since the goal remains undefined, I suppose you could point to any subsequent statistic as evidence that the surge is somehow "working," but the statement is shallow and meaningless; basically it's an example of magical thinking. Of all the various ways those same resources could have been used, was "the surge" really the best way forward at the time? Is it now? These questions remain totally unaddressed by a statement such as "it's working."

This NEEDS to go to #1 and stay there for a while.

...

What would happen if the US just left Iraq? A horrible civil war would start...

Not only that, but all (civilians and US servicemen/women) lives already lost would have been for NOTHING.

No matter what the USA will do, people will bitch about it. If they just leave, they leave a country in chaos and people will criticize that because people will die. If they stay, people will criticize it still because there are people dieing every day.

Seriously, if you dont want to fight for another countrys freedom, then dont join the military. The USA always fought wars for other countries, especially soldiers should know that. And I as german am extremely grateful for what they did in the past.

I guess I see this differently than most. We've created a volatile situation for Iraq. What would happen if we just walked away from it? Just because it was a mistake to start the war doesn't mean it's a mistake to do the right thing at the end.

Let's assume it was a mistake to go to Iraq (not a big stretch for most). Who's paying for that mistake? If it's us then let's pay the piper, learn from it, and not do it again. If it's the Iraqi's then we need to make it right to them. How to best do that is up to you to decide but I don't think saying to Iraq, "wow, sucks to be you. We shouldn't have done that. Hope it works out for you in the end, but you're on your own." is going to make that happen.

I'd say that less troops and more reconstruction/humanitarianism is a good start, but if there are still attacks then removing troops doesn't work and I'm sure we can all agree there is something very wrong with the contractors who are currently there. I think (from what I've seen) that we're making (slow) progress there and that having an immediate troop evac would throw that away.

As far as the soldier suggesting McCain misrepresented the feelings of soldiers, he stands just as much chance of misrepresenting them. I am a Californian, but that doesn't mean I have a better idea of what Californians think that someone who isn't from California. It is possible the outside source has a less biased view, a wider sample audience, etc. I'm sure you can find every point of view among the soldiers and the one you feel in the majority can change based on who you talk to.

I understand that he's upset to fight a war he doesn't believe in, but someone should have told him that was part of the armed forces. Don't like it: don't sign up. That's one of the reasons I didn't.

This video is very *dead.

Invocations (dead) cannot be called by Fred_Chopin because Fred_Chopin is not privileged - sorry.

*dead

This published video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by twiddles.

shame this is dead. it's a pretty good bet there won't be a mirror.

Someone should haved ripped a copy. Who was the user name? Perhaps someone could make an appeal to him.

I'm saving a copy to make sure we don't lose it in case the mirror disappears.

Same old typical do-nothing politics. Say a bunch of flowery, pretty, nonsense words like "Honor" for the sake of favorable crowd-momentum response. "United states of America, not the Divided states of America." Oooh, that even rhymed, sorta. Gold star for you!

You can actually read his apprehensions at delivering such bullshit, and his relief at the reception:

"We should not lose our honor [empty word] and that is more important [emotionally charged statement] than the Republican party." [pause, sweat] [listen to crowd] [they liked it?] [relax].

I don't know what's worse, that one of the candidates looking to run the country is touting so much of yesterday's outdated trash, or that the morons in the audience are applauding him.

"If we screw up, we screw up as a nation!"

DIE FUCKING MORON.

On the more positive side, it's nice to hear soldiers thinking about the issues at hand instead of blindly following orders, and speaking up about it.

I can't wait for the day when all of those in the world charged with fighting - starting or ending wars, defending or attacking countries, and the like - all collectively lay down their weapons and say to their leaders, "I've had enough, I'm not going to fight this stranger. If you want to die for [insert pointless cause], do it yourself."

The people hold all the cards, if they'd only realize it and stand up. When only one in a million does it, the effort usually lacks the strength necessary to change things.

It stopped at 9:30... Where's part 2?

There's no part 2.

Sad thing is its not like soldiers opinions matter to anyone, I know that sounds harsh but think about it, do the American people ever bother to ask or listen to them? No and that is why Huckabee is leading right now and Ron Paul struggles to get a foot note in no matter how genius his words are. Paul gets all the money from the soldiers but in the public eye that does nothing for his credibility in some sick twisted logic. "He must not know what he's talking about". So I guess the soldiers dont either is that it? It depresses me to say it but with all the "Support the Troops" shit going around it seems to me the majority of people dont. They still see them as tools, mindless tools that need to get the job done. No I dont agree with that, I'm just commenting on what I observe around me. If we truly supported the troops we would treat them right and listen to them and we do neither and I honestly think we never will. So settle in for another bad presidency

Thank you, I wish every american watches this before casting their vote.

I'm going to risk the flames here for a minute. Why do we care what soldiers think? Most Americans hate their jobs, so why are the armed forces any different? Soldiers should understand before they enlist that they may be asked to do things they don't want to do. If I work as a dairy farmer and decide I dislike my job does that mean eating dairy products is wrong? I realize it's not the best analogy, but I don't get why it matters what soldiers think. The purpose of going to war is not to make soldiers happy.

On the other hand, if they are trying to tell us "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is not bring us Iraqi freedom then their point of view is valid. Otherwise, it seems to be as useful as asking Hollywood....

i suggest *nsfw for the "bullsh*t" statement

Invocations (nsfw) cannot be called by doogle because doogle is not privileged - sorry.

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messenger has fixed this video's dead embed code - no Power Points awarded because messenger's points are already fully charged.