They'd rather kill them off by peaceful means

[itrytobeamused.livejournal.com]

Mixed feelings on the subject myself (my brother is going to Afghanistan next month), but still funny and true.

Comments

Tom Lehrer is certainly of considerable stature.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

[xforge.livejournal.com]

"'Til somebody we like can be elected" Man, not only was the guy a prophet but things just never change.

Also: I know things weren't all that great in the early 60s, but frankly I'd kill to live in a time like that when television was actually entertaining - in spite of the screen being 11" diagonally and in black and white.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

my brother is going to Afghanistan next month

Wow, that's rough. I wonder whose brother he'll be fighting over there? Not someone who would ever come here and fight, I'm betting.

[itrytobeamused.livejournal.com]

I posted this song, whose point of view I'm assuming you agree with. And since I posted it, and said I have mixed feelings, we can conclude that I somewhat share your opinion as well. So it's not as though I've never taken the things you're saying into consideration. I'm sorry for not being able to see this as clearly in black and white as you are. You're right, my brother is a terrible person, suddenly it's all so clear.

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear that your brother is about to be deployed to Afghanistan. While I consider myself a patriotic American, and I respect and appreciate our armed services, I sometimes have doubts about the old fat men who send our kids out to fight and their reasons for doing so. I opposed (and still do,) the invasion of Iraq, for example.

But I'm torn over Afghanistan. There was a great open letter written to President Obama by William R. Polk:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091019/polk

I don't want to see Pakistan's nuclear weapons fall into the hands of terrorists, but I doubt that will happen no matter what we do. I think Professor Polk's ideas have a lot of merit, especially since he knows the history of the region and has experience with foreign wars.

But I wish your brother, (and his squad,) well. I hope they all come back to us unharmed from what can only be described as the most dangerous job on the planet.

BTW - I'm also a huge fan of Ton Lehrer.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

He could refuse.

[itrytobeamused.livejournal.com]

But then he wouldn't get to rape all those women and kill all those kids!

Since clearly one must have a deeply-held hatred for the Afghani people to be over there, he couldn't possibly have any respect and admiration for them

Listen, I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a very pro-military person, but you're talking about a specific situation that you really know nothing about and you're being an asshole to someone completely unconnected to it; even if I shared your opinion 100%, what exactly is being snide to me going to do about it?

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

But then he wouldn't get to rape all those women and kill all those kids!

Yes, those thing do happen in war. Plus killing.


Since clearly one must have a deeply-held hatred for the Afghani people to be over there

Well, that not impossible, but unlikely anyone would admit to it until well after their service. Some vets would would agree with you though, especially in retrospect.


going to do about it?

Most people who successfully refuse to deploy get emotional support from their families to do so. They have to put up with all kinds of vile stuff being spewed at them and such, but if the family supports the decision, its more likely to stick.