Article

2003-11-19 Britain

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Posted by Atrus 2003-11-19 1:02:07 PM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Why are so many thousands on the streets of London

must be a typo. Should read hundreds. snicker.

Posted by B 2003-11-19 1:23:07 PM|| 2003-11-19 1:23:07 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 "when America in exasperation â as it did for most of its history before the European wars â will simply shrug and say: Good luck to you all."

-Exactly. Fine by me. You don't want me and my kind in Kuwait or Djibouti - sounds good. You don't want us in South Korea up in Osan, Suewon, or in Seoul - good to go. You don't want me in Okinawa or mainland Japan - awesome. You don't want us in Stuttgart, Naples, Ramstein, or Rota - outstanding. You don't want us in Roosevelt Roads or Vieques - I couldn't agree more. Get us the f*ck out of all your countries. We'll keep the aid we send as well, because my American brethren here in the states could really use that money instead for education, child care, etc. Thanks folks, it's been real, no hard feelings, good luck. BTW - if someone attacks us, we're still coming in whatever country harbored them and wiping the place out. Sincerely, The Ugly Americans.......

Posted by Jarhead 2003-11-19 1:46:04 PM|| 2003-11-19 1:46:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Not a bad plan, Jarhead, but it's got one downside: If Bush announced that today, the immediate spike in world demand for clean underwear would massively outstrip the capacity of the textile industry, thus setting off a round of global price inflation.

Posted by Matt 2003-11-19 2:01:33 PM|| 2003-11-19 2:01:33 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Exactly. Fine by me. You don't want me and my kind

Damn, Jarhead. You brought a tear to my eye with that. If only we could follow through with it. *sniff*

Posted by Anonymous 2003-11-19 2:26:17 PM|| 2003-11-19 2:26:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 ...and while you're at it, please slap Harold Pinter around severely. Feel free to use the brass knuckles.

Posted by Sgt. Mom 2003-11-19 3:17:29 PM|| [www.sgtstryker.com] 2003-11-19 3:17:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 The scary thing is how appealing jarheads comments were when my instincts tell me pulling back would just mean more soldiers and marines die when we finally have to get involved again. Still, if we kept that foreign aid for the defense department and kept our military far, far superior to all comers the plan just might work...

Posted by Yank 2003-11-19 3:44:13 PM|| 2003-11-19 3:44:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Jarhead:

No can do my friend; we cannot, in clear conscience, disengage from the world because it will never again disengage from us. Those times are past and so the sweet seductive song of isolationism (as sung by former Mayor of Vermont Howard Dean) must go unanswered.

If it makes you feel any better think of it this way: we are the world's parents, in our 30's and in our prime. The Europeans are our half-senile father and mother, bitching about everything we do because it doesn't measure up to how they USED to do it back in the day (Sure, Pops, sure. Here's your medication....) The developing world are our bratty, know-it-all teenage children who have grown to the point that they âre inconvenient to spank. The Arab world are our crappy, noisy neighbors who seem intent on driving the neighborhood's property values down.

Posted by Secret Master 2003-11-19 5:34:47 PM|| [www.budgetwarrior.com] 2003-11-19 5:34:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Secret Master - LMAO about the neighbor analogy. However, thinking about being the parent of some of these third world schmucks and the son of europe only reminds me why I'm not opposed to either euthanasia or abortion.

I know y'all, I'm just a dreamer. However, look at it this way. I'm not saying there would be any sort of decline in our training as Yank raises a good point of. We could rededicate that money to a lot of great defense items and re-fitting our forces. Our training, retention rates, and morale would go through the roof. Think about it, slow down the op tempo for meals on wheels and other b.s. ops = more families happy = more troopies stay in. Re-deploy a lot of our troops to our southern border to augment the Border Patrol guys. Plug that spewing hole of illegal immigration & drain on our tax payers & infrastructure. Let's actually uphold and defend our constitution by protecting our borders - one of the mandates of having a military in the first place. In the meantime, we'll keep training like possessed bastards and let the rest of the world worry about their own shit. Let them miss us for awhile, although trust me, I won't miss any of those places. Matter of fact, let those morons go ape-shit wiping each other out, we'll have a great trade agreement w/the winner! Fortress America baby! Bring back the mystique. I'm getting so motivated just thinking about it veins in my head are poppin' bros! I better stop writing now, I feel the delusions of grandeur starting to set in......

Posted by Jarhead 2003-11-19 6:29:43 PM|| 2003-11-19 6:29:43 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Jarhead, I think 95% of America (Minus Berkley) agree with that course of action. However Secret Master is right. We had your attitude prior to WWII. "Let them work it out" "It's not our war" "Tojo hasn't hurt us" These were common statements and in the end is cost us many more lives. A historical point could have been made when Hitler invaded the Sudetland and the world did nothing in return. Guess what happened? Well Saddam invaded Kuwait and we sent him packing. He didn't learn the lesson, so now he is out of power FOREVER! If the LLL don't like it, they can go to the far corner of the world and create 'Saddam land' and elect him leader. Just don't call us when he shoves your kids into a shreadder.

Posted by Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2003-11-19 6:33:36 PM|| 2003-11-19 6:33:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 The US of A - the world's plumber. No, no, go back to the party. Billy just tried to flush a whole potato down the can. Have some more chips. Close the door and turn up the music so we don't have to listen to him work. He'll be gone soon. Pour me another glass.

Posted by Super Hose 2003-11-19 6:48:23 PM|| 2003-11-19 6:48:23 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 100% isolationism will never happen, I know this to be true. None the less, I believe in bringing back as many of our troops from foreign bases as possible. Been there, done that, still remember the hangover, as a lot of you have. I believe in absolute vigilance. I understand the WWII analogy all too well from having Grandfather's fight in both theaters, and I agree, Chamberlain & the French should've acted sooner. Their militaries were quite formidable at the beginning of the war. We (the U.S.) were not in any position at the time to do much. If you all recall, our military was in a dismal state just prior to WWII, the same can be said of us just prior to WWI. Things are different now, the Wot will still be fought, but I believe we can greatly diminish our presence in other parts of the world while definitely not diminishing any of our technical, tactical, or military superiority in all facets of the game.

Posted by Jarhead 2003-11-19 7:55:52 PM|| 2003-11-19 7:55:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 From what I understand jarhead you will get half of your demands. Rummy wants a few bases out there, prefering mobility, and carrier based operations. I would be surprised if the US forces in Okinawa, South Korea and western Europe are still around by the end of the Bush second term, if they are there they will be much, much smaller.

Of course we will still have troops in Iraq and Syria, nearer to the action.

Hopefully by the time the War On Terror is over the nitwits of the world will understand that if you kill Americans you die. Leave the US alone and you probably won't be noticed (Zimbabwae) but draw attention to yourself and you are history (Iraq) A lesson that was forgotten over the past few decades.

Posted by Yank 2003-11-19 9:42:46 PM|| 2003-11-19 9:42:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Let's pray your right Yank (about a second Bush term as well).

Posted by Jarhead 2003-11-19 10:00:28 PM|| 2003-11-19 10:00:28 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 I believe we need foreign bases. Yes, I've been "over there" too, and I loved every minute of it - in most places, most of the time. That's not why we need them there, though. We need the ability to rapidly respond to ANYTHING, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME - not just a military response, but also humanitarian response and support for legitimate national leaders and the rights of free men and women. That means keeping a few bases in both Western and Eastern Europe. That means keeping basing options in Iraq, possibly in Qatar and Bahrain. That means working with the Aussies and trying to expand our basing options in Southeast Asia after having withdrawn from the Philippines (Guam is just too %^$&%%^*!%$ small!). We need to stay in either Japan or Korea, but not both, and wherever we stay, we need enough room not only to base a division, but to EXERCISE it, with and (but not "or") without our local partners. It would be nice to have agreements that would let us station a divisional response team in South America, Southern Africa, and India, and to exercise with local military leaders until they have both the confidence and the experience to work with us in keeping the peace locally. To do that, we'd need a much bigger army - something on the order of sixteen fully manned, fully augmented, divisions, plus the air power, sea power, and intelligence to keep them operating wherever they may be.

The world respects the strong, capable man. The same goes for nations. For too long, the world has perceived the United States as militarily powerful, but spineless and without character. We're under attack because of those perceptions. We should never give anyone the opportunity to make those mistakes again.

Posted by Old Patriot 2003-11-19 11:53:10 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2003-11-19 11:53:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 "about a second Bush term as well"
As Frank Zappa once said so eloquently, that is 'the crux of the biscuit' - the key to our future as Free people. The man "gets it" in spades.

Kudos, jarhead, to you and your fellows. You make me so damned proud and grateful! Kick ass and live forever, bro!

Rummy's listening, as Rantburgers well know, so you, SecretMaster, and Yank will all (probably) be happy (within reason!) with coming changes, I'd wager. The man's got his shit wired tight - and takes none from the ankle-biters and whining leeches. He and Mondo Condo are the only other people I'd consider voting for in our present circumstances.

Posted by absentee ballot 2003-11-20 12:01:24 AM|| 2003-11-20 12:01:24 AM|| Front Page Top

10:54 Aris Katsaris
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