What I've asked in the past is whether we regard the people who saw off the Russians during the 1980s in Afghanistan as brave patriots or religious fanatics. Because they're exactly the same people who are fighting back against mile-high bombers and A10 tankbusters at the moment in the same place and they're doing exactly the same today as they were doing in the 1980s. Was Reagan right? Were they brave heroes? Or were the Russians the brave forces trying to bring civilization and justice to a backward tyrannical part of the world?
Why is there a double standard in coming to an answer?
How can anyone volunteer to join a military which is being used by politicians for such unjust ends?I bring forward a reply from reddog:reddog;1150351 wrote: Spot,
I'm new to the forum and dont know what else you have asked in the past. I cant answer why all who volunteer do. I volunteered in the early 60s to keep from being drafted for Viet Nam. I still went to Nam and a few other places. Of Course we haven't had the draft for many years now. This war is being controlled by politicians. They have controlled ALL wars in our history as a country.
First of all, people who are in the Military dont make policy. The politicians that ALL Americans who vote elect these policy making politicians. (Both Democrats and Republicans) The job of the military is to carry out and enforce those policies. We didn't get to select the policies that we wanted to support. We supported All.
I dont know and dont give a tinkers damn what the russians did in Afghanistan. They were carrying out their politicians policy, If I remember correctly, we were in the middle of a "Cold War" with them and they were our enemy. So I guess it would depend on who you are enemies with at the time who the "Good Guys" are.
The people in the military have chosen an honerable profession. God Bless themMy reaction to that post is
- Nobody in today's military volunteered during a time of conscription. Those who did in the past were standing alongside people who had no choice but to serve. That excuse no longer exists.
Everyone currently serving volunteered into an armed service which deploys abroad to fight. Nobody can pretend to be surprised to find themselves either fighting abroad or supporting troops who are fighting abroad.Absolving these volunteers on the basis that they haven't chosen to fight abroad misses the point. The point is that they've made themselves available to the politicians to deploy the armed services abroad to fight. Without that availability it wouldn't be a political option. The responsibility for fighting abroad lies ultimately with each volunteer, not with the politicians. The one defence not allowed any longer is "I was only following orders", that was destroyed by American, French, British and Russian lawyers whom I thank unreservedly.To neither know nor give a tinker's damn what the russians did in Afghanistan, for someone who served during the Vietnam liberation war, is both sickening and enlightening at the same time. And, given the current fighting in Afghanistan, shameful. I asked why there's a double standard and that's a large part of the answer - unforgivable deliberate ignorance.The people in the military haven't chosen an honorable profession in the slightest, they're paid killers who choose to work for criminals for personal benefit. To correct Accountable I don't regard them as evil, merely as morally bankrupt. And no, I've not deleted his post, a forum software upgrade renamed threads, that's why his link's broken. I helped him rebuild the "sha" taglist too though I vehemently deny being anti-American.
