Provide for the Common Defense: The U.S. Military 10 Years After 9/11

[Imakeplanesboom]

LETS HEAR THE TRUTH ABOUT 9/11!!

[Kracix]

God bless America Forever.

[Soulja4islam]

I'm going to let you know what Muslims think when they hear the word "American Soldier". They think of soldiers who invade other countries and try to spread imperialism. They think of soldiers who go to foreign soil to rape and kill innocent civilians. The representation of the U.S Military has been scarred due to the actions of soldiers. Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq is a prime example. Another example the soldier, Calvin Gibbs, who just got convicted of murdering civilians for fun in Afghanistan.

[heyitsshega]

God bless all our troops but seriously our presence abroad does not make this country safer. Maybe we wouldn't have so many people who want to kill us if we would stop bombing the shit out of the Middle East. Does anyone actually believe that terrorists are motivated to kill us because, "they hate our freedom!" Open your eyes! I am not anti-American, I am anti-government and anti-war. Love your country, fight your government.

[expllo55]

@bigassbuzz  Why are you saying "We spend more on war......." when you said that you USED to live in this country?

[expllo55]

@jwinter228 Those "kids" you say volunteer. 

[Axion3812]

Hooah.

[MrRagingbovine]

whats the difference batween 9 11 and a cow?

you cant milk a cow for ten years

[striker2454]

The vast amount of dollars wouldn't change if troops came home - it still costs to maintain our forces. But when you look at the Trillions of dollars the government has spent - and truly looked for places to save Billions ... there are far more important and just as lucrative ‘cash cow programs’ that could be cut that the "Democrats" have in place - that could save our country and not cut our defense (which would only be about a 1/4 of the dollars you claim are wasted each year ....)

[striker2454]

You have all the answers and mind-blowing insight to type about all the money spent - that Walmart, or some politicians, or some "BIG" company/businessmen - war profiteers in the U.S. who could CARE LESS about our own troops are somehow milking us out of. You make claims that "$700 billion a year to fight a couple dozen countries simultaneously" - then, the greatest part ... It's all the GOP's fault !!!! You lactose intolerant pansy - you haven't a clue!

[SeeMoreGlass89]

Ask this guy and his republican friends if they'd send their own kids over to fight in the military. Ask this guy and his pals how many defense contractors donated to their re-election campaign. Ask these guys how much stock they have in companies that benefit from when America's at war. Then they can use 9/11 to their advantage...especially after voting against healthcare for 9/11 workers. Shame on them. SHAME!

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 Actually, you ask if this guy and his Republican friends would send their own kids over to fight in the military. The answer: Yes. Our military is just a little over 82% conservatives. Which, is no surprise at all, since we have an all volunteer military. We don't "send" them.. they join. And since liberals are, for the most part, against fighting for this country.. very few liberals JOIN the military. So.. again.. YES.. we ALLOW our sons and daughters to join.

[SeeMoreGlass89]

@Daukk Tell me how many times Cheney dodged the draft? Where did Bush serve again? Yeah, that's right...he didn't. I was not questioning thee political affiliations of the military (although I doubt your statistic)...I was questioning the chickenhawks that vote for war, who never fought in one, and do not have children who serve in the military. Perhaps they would think twice before starting a war for oil if it were their own children fighting rather than middle-class kids.

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 Ok.. to be clear.. Cheney never "dodged" the draft.. although he did avoid it by filing for and receiving deferments.. As for Bush.. he served 4 yrs in the Air National Guard and reach rank of Lieutenant. While he was in the Air National Guard he did request combat duty twice but was denied because he did not have the 500 hrs of flight time required.

As far as fighting in Iraq or anywhere else being about oil?? If we wanted the damn oil.. it would be ours.

[SeeMoreGlass89]

@Daukk Keep on parroting the Republican talking points! Why were we in Iraq to begin with? Why did President Bush ask about Iraq in the aftermath of 9/11? Why didn't Bush listen to intelligence the summer of 2001, warning of terrorist attack by Bin Laden? Why did Bush never catch bin Laden, why did he say "he didn't care" where bin Laden was? Read Richard Clarke's book and it's clear that Bush neglected his duty. Clarke served under both Repub and Dem president...I take him at his word!

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 Wow.. Talk about parroting talking points! Let's begin one point at a time

Why were we in Iraq to begin with? I won't rehash the WMD arguments that both the U.S. and Great Britain both independently arrived at the same belief that WMD's were being developed. No WMD's were found. Saddam Hussein killed over 1 million of his own people. I find it shameful that the pussies in the U.S. Congress are such cowards that they would not have opposed Hussein unless he had WMDs.

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 When Saddam Hussein was found and captured, he was turned over to the Iraqi people for prosecution. The Iraqi people sitting on the jury, found him guilty, sentenced him to death and he was hanged by Iraqi's. Why? Because he killed over 1 million Iraqi citizens. Was it about the oil in Iraq? Oh dear, God! How imbecilic is that argument?

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 After Hussein was deposed we did not get ONE barrel of oil from Iraq that was not at the current market value. If we wanted the oil... we would have taken and KEPT those oil wells. As a soldier who was there, you insult everyone of them when you attempt to make the argument that we fought and killed people for their OIL. You watch way too much CNN and MSNBC.

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 Why did Bush never catch Bin Laden? Actually, the intelligence that lead to the death of Bin Laden was a carry over from Bush. Barrack Hussein Obama had absolutely nothing to do with finding Bin Laden. Those gears had been turning for years. The most critical piece of intelligence that gave up Bin Laden was from the waterboarding of Khalid Sheik Mohammed under President Bush

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 When the counter-terrorist operatives found the compound where Bin Laden was living, they trained for nearly a year to make the raid on the compound.  An exact duplicate of the compound, inside and out was built, right down to the boulders and trees around the buildings. Obama didn't find Bin Laden.. all he did.. was NOT give the order to NOT kill him. He just "OK'd" continuing the plan that was already in motion and letting the SEALS finish it.

[SeeMoreGlass89]

@Daukk And yeah, all those rich boys got deferments. I found it amusing they tore John Kerry, a man who actually went to war, apart for his service. Bush and Cheney are guilty of war crimes and should have been impeached for lying to this country about Iraq. Bush dug us into a hole and now all Americans are suffering...except the top 1% of course!

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 I would have to ask you, why Bill Clinton did not take Bin Laden when he was actually offered to the U.S.

Sudan offered up the terrorist and data on his network. Clinton and his advisors didn't respond.

President Clinton and his national security team ignored several opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden and his terrorist associates,

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89

I would have to ask you why Clinton didn't take Bin Laden when he was handed the opportunity on a silver platter.

Mansoor Ijaz, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations:

President Clinton and his national security team ignored several opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden and his terrorist associates, including one as late as last year.

I know because I negotiated more than one of the opportunities.

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 Why did Bush say he didn't care where Bin Laden was? Again, here you go with the koolaide drinking liberal press edited soundbytes. If you listen to all of what Bush said.. He said.. he didn't care WHERE Bin Laden was hiding.. Meaning... He would be found and executed. We would not care if he was in France, Germany, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and we would not ASK permission to come in and kill him. Politics would NOT play a part in killing this man.

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 Why was John Kerry criticized during his presidential campaign for his "service" to the country? Wake up. John Kerry was a coward. He awarded himself not one.. not two.. but THREE purple hearts. One of his "wounds" one a burn from a spent casing while firing the mounted machine gun on his PT boat. The doctor who "treated" his wound testified as to the degree of his burns.

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 Immediately after he gave himself the three purple hearts and returned home, he dishonored all of those soldiers still in Vietnam by his protesting them at home. He was in the forefront at forming and organizing the VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against the War). He teamed up with the likes of Jane Fonda and Ramsey Clarke.

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 In one staged protest he led members of VVAW in a protest during which they threw their medals and ribbons over a fence in front of the U.S. Capitol. Kerry later admitted the medals he threw were not his. To this day they hang on the wall of his office.

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 23, 1971, Kerry claimed that U.S. soldiers had “raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam.”

Talk to the men in his unit.

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 Now, Richard Clarke. You are no doubt referring to his "theory" that the CIA and the FBI attempted a cover-up of information that may have prevented the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

[Daukk]

@SeeMoreGlass89 "Clarke speculates—and readily admits he cannot prove—that the CIA withheld the information because the agency had been trying to recruit the terrorists, while they were living in Southern California under their own names, to work as CIA agents inside Al Qaeda. After the recruitment effort went sour, senior CIA officers continued to withhold the information from the White House for fear they would be accused of “malfeasance and misfeasance,” Clarke suggests."

[superlucci]

@Daukk I know your conversation is over a month old, but I just had to say thanks for serving, and I enjoyed reading your posts

[rayandbarb23]

shameless - this bozo wraps himself in the flag and spouts pure nonsense

[jwinter228]

bring the troops home! we're just making more enemies overseas by occupying their countries. if china was over here doing that to us, we would be outraged. the defense budget is *not * defense, it's enriching billionaires and throwing 18 year-old kids into needless wars to die in while our "leaders" carelessly send them over there while they fine dine w/ defense contractors.

if you really care about the troops, bring them home. let them live their lives w/ their families and spend money *here*

[31TheMoose]

@jwinter228 I couldn't agree any more with you! Well said.

There are so many war profiteers in the U.S. who could CARE LESS about our own troops; same goes for our politicians - they'll lie and do whatever it takes to stay in office. I'm fed up!

[31TheMoose]

As a Republican myself, this is just a bunch of BS from the establishment. The U.S. is falling apart at the seams and now we need to spend more on our defense? It's absurd. Let's focus on our domestic problems before we act as the policeman for the world. Too many of our men and women have died and we spend hundreds of millions (if not, billions) every DAY. The GOP is simply war hungry; America NEEDS to worry more about itself rather than the problems of other nations. We are simply broke.

[Pops53]

"Tell me what missions we've done in the last ten years that we're not going to be asked to do in the next ten or 20?"

Damn straight!

[bv141a]

Gordon Liddy was on the radio morn of 911,he proposed nuking who ever attacked us,I agree,would of sent the right message.Blown the Bin Laden to Atoms.Instead,2 wars,trillions of dollars,good men and woman broken and dead.The land of the free shakes down children and old lady's at airports,the Taliban is pleased

[bv141a]

@Halo4Lyf 11 CVN's,making the worlds oceans safe for Wallmart.America has problems at home.Pax America [ruling the world]is a cost the US taxpayer can not afford.We're fighting ants with sledge hammers,box cutters vs cruise missles.Only the military contractors come out ahead,and the politicians who line there pockets.One dead American isn't worth freedom in Afgan,Iraq or anyother Sht hole in the middle east,or the oil under the Saudi desert.

[Halo4Lyf]

@bv141a America has problems at home indeed. Like the entitlement programs that consume twice as much of the Federal budget as DOD. Considering that Pax Americana costs less than $1 Trillion per year, and the USA takes in about $2.2 Trillion per year, than yes, we can indeed fucking afford it.

You Ron Paul supporters are getting fucking tiresome.

[bv141a]

@Halo4Lyf 700 billion dollar defense budget to protect us from boxcutters?Who is our enemie that we need 11 CVN's?Must America rule the world,don't we have enough problems at home?

[Halo4Lyf]

@bv141a America must indeed "rule the world," because believe me, you don't want to see what a truly multi-polar world would look like. I'll take Pax Americana any day, thanks.

[paulhmull]

Just no.

[aCAPatriot]

All the little specious false choices ("box cutters vs $700B" "FEMA vs. other countries" "spending more on war bluh bluh bluh" all fall apart when you watch once again the WTC fall on 9/11.

Do you think you can make the bogey man go away by putting your head under the covers?

The one single legitimate role of gov't is to prosecute force or fraud from within or without.

Study history. Odds are the next Hirohito, the next Hitler, are already on the world stage and will wreak havoc in our life.

[jytt1234]

While republicans are trying to get rid of FEMA and let private charities to handle disaster area in OUR OWN country, why do we need to use OUR military force to help OTHER countries' disaster area? Why can't that be left to the private charities?

[bv141a]

Our enemie attacked us with box cutters,we spend 700 billion a year to protect us from boxcutters?

[bigassbuzz]

I USED to live in a COUNTRY. Now it's called a HOMELAND!? This NAZIFICATION of my once great nation needs to be corrected.

We spend more on WAR than the rest of the PLANET combined.