Terminus: 5 days…
I’ve spent the past two days held up in my room playing Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. In between 5 hour play blocks, I ate @ Panda Express (twice!), discovered a new use for Pringle’s cans, helped an elderly woman call her daughter using 1-800-Collect (the daughter left her at the mall, in Foley's!), got a bunch of free cookies from Great American Cooke Co. (ate them while driving), turned and (accidentally) drove into oncoming traffic, finished off a six pack of wine coolers (REAL men love them!), was called a “muff burger”, and threw a GIGANTIC pleasure toy into some kid’s empty swimming pool. Undoubtedly, the most USELESS 48 hours of my life.
However, I write this post with a purpose. Everyone needs to play MGS 3: Snake Eater. Yes, I know it’s just a videogame, but it definitely has a moral to the story. For a work of fiction, it’s a very real truth about war and a soldier’s loyalty to his/her country. I’ll touch back on this underneath the LJ-cut, where it’s safe to talk about “controversial” topics that might accidently lift the veil of ignorance. But for now…
GOOD JOB, RICHARD GERE!!! http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=638&ncid=638&e=3&u=/nm/20050106/en_nm/people_gere_dc
Pfft…elections are so overrated.
America needs to recognize US military service personnel as people who have willingly chosen to take up arms in defense of our country (and NEVER, quote me “NEVER!”, for the grandeur of a demagogue). A soldier understands the obvious risks of such tasks, but they also understand the pride of wearing the uniform that very few get to experience. It just pains me to know that the same Constitution they have sworn to protect and uphold while fighting on foreign soil is being desecrated by criminals at the highest levels of this bureaucracy who have exploited the military using the pre-text of “The War on Terror”.
I’m more afraid of the President’s cabinet than anyone else. You’ve got a grody she-male acting as the face of the United States to the rest of the world (http://www.leadingbrand.org/images/condi_rice.jpg). Saddam’s bagman from the 1980s (http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/). And a guy who will soon be in charge of castrating the Bill of Rights http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=716&e=16&u=/washpost/20050107/ts_washpost/a54607_2005jan6.
Then, there’s still the issue of armor for our troops. I know that the media stopped reporting on it, but that doesn’t mean the problem has been alleviated. Tommy Franks, our most esteemed ex-CENTCOM commander, must have prepared to meet his troops need for armor prior and during the initial stages of operations in Iraq…and General Abizaid must have followed through with when he took over on July 7, 2003. Keep in mind, any problems that needed to be addressed would eventually flow up the Chain of Command until someone had the power to fix it -- and that goes for everything that would aid ground level military in conducting operations more efficiently. I’d assume, with respect to the military, that the armor issue was fixed before they reached General Abizaid (who would have undoubtedly given support to his troops). But evidently, it wasn’t fixed. And yet, our President honors Tommy Franks for his inability to establish an effective command chain, Master Puppeteer Bremer for his outstanding hindsight of a post-war Iraq, and Tenet’s disappearing intelligence memos with the “medal of freedom”. Way to go guys, great job! NOOOOT!
And for anyone out there upset that I’m a whiny liberal talking shit about America’s Patriots, I’ll be the first to say I’m a stick up the ass conservative. Always have been, and probably always will. America’s REAL patriots never make it into newspapers or television, and if they do, it’s because they’ve given their lives because they were loyal to the end…loyal to the mission. Patriots don’t judge whether their mission is right or wrong, they understand the relativity of global conflicts. Our enemies change with the times, and even our greatest allies will one day risk becoming our greatest enemies. All the while, the civilian population is merely fed cover stories…
That is what makes this “War on Terror” so frightening. Who is making sure that regular Americans, people like you and me, are not designated enemy combatants? We say that information must be extracted from terror suspects at any cost, but what happens when you become the suspect for refusing a house or vehicle search without a warrant? Next thing you know you’ll be under suspicion, courts will grant a warrant, detain you while the search is being conducted, and interrogate you without anyone ever knowing. Don't think it's not possible.
And I’d also like to publicly apologize to Mr. Connors for arguing in favor of the War in Iraq. He’ll never read this, but someday I’d like to tell him personally. Perhaps upon my return…