Posted by: John Cash at 11/28/07 Every other nation on earth spends far less on their military, and get a lot more bang for the buck. The numbers tell all. The high level use of contractors used to perform support services for the military is sucking the life blood from the military. It costs 3 to 10 times as much in some instances, to have private contractors provide support services that the military used to do themselves. The result is that there are less US troops to do the job, because there is no money left to actually pay for combat troops. The money went to the contractors and the equipment we continually get ripped off on. Can we criticize the military? Hell yes! They have their own audit system, they are sworn to uphold a constitution, not a president or a party. And law provides whistle blowers protection from retaliation. But when honest citizens who dedicate their careers to the US Government, and sacrifice no less then a combat trooper, find massive government fraud and report it, they get the shaft. Shafted by the military and the administration that both profess to uphold the law and do whatever it takes to support the military, but fail to do so when it really matters. Every time I hear that 125,000 troops are kinda enough to hold the fort in Iraq, I think of my service in Desert Shield and Storm, and ask - Um, we had 500,000 troops in the desert then, where did they all go? Then I remember, oh contractors. Never mind. You can criticize the military for their complacency and cowardice in not sticking up for themselves, against an administration and previous republican Congress that are hooked on the contractors and corporations who supply services to the military, and pay those in government a kick-back through campaign contributions. The system is corrupt, the top military brass know it, but when its time for them to put up or shut up about it, they take their pensions and go home, leaving us with the bill. No thanks for that service, we can do and would be better off without it, without a large military, and without the corruption corporate suppliers bring to it. Flag Abuse

Posted by: Taxes for what? at 11/19/07 You accused me of sitting in an office building in the States forming opinions as if I were some neocon pointing at a map marked "ours" and "theirs." I explained my circumstance - just as you did - and you accuse me of bragging. The problem is that you obviously feel you have some kind of a monopoly on the truth and that anybody else with a contrary opinion is, not just wrong, but somehow mentally deficient. You’re going to find that democracy, a system in which you have to work and compromise with people of opposing viewpoints, is difficult if you treat everyone else as if they were stupid. There are plenty of intelligent, creative thinkers in the military, people with good schooling and honest intentions. Assuming that they are stupid and aimless just because they chose a different path than you did is pretty arrogant. At the risk of again being accused of being a braggart, I do speak Arabic and I talk to Iraqis every day. I guess you don’t know how the military works. You seem to think there was a signup roster outside the commander’s office. “Those who want to invade Iraq sign here. Those who agree to rape and murder underage girls will get a special bonus.” I don’t know what you do for a living or what you plan to do. If you get anything like a regular job, you’ll find out that in a lot of respects it isn’t all that different from the military. You have to show up for work on time. You have to do what you’re told to do by a boss. You can offer a reasoned opinion on something but the final decision is probably made by someone else. The higher up you go in management the more decisions you get to make. After some time you become the boss. Yes, the Middle East (and Africa, too) is largely a creation of my parents, well, grandparents and great-grandparents, actually, but why quibble over details? You seem to forget, however, that it is also a creation of yours, too. Flag Abuse

Posted by: More useless ranting at 11/18/07 Just to clarify, getting a graduate degree isn't what I was talking about when I mentioned my selfless service. It is just that the things I dedicate myself to aren't fodder for bragging on a discussion board. Instead, the goals I have set for myself that will benefit others are personal and need not be commended by ignorant militaristic fools. If you were really where you say you are, then you would have heard what I have heard, too. Unless you don't speak Hebrew and Arabic. Do you? If you did, then you'd probably already know what I'm talking about. I do think that Americans would take the time and effort to allocate their tax dollars appropriately in order to avoid wasting money on the things we spend our money on now. The icing on the cake in that perspective is that lazy people would find the things that they agree with quickly, such as education (or maybe even military spending) and simply check the box. Or maybe, there could be an option for the government to choose allocation. Easy solution, no problems. Flag Abuse

Posted by: Taxes for what? at 11/17/07 Congratulations on your escape from the Ivory Tower. Thank God you've left academia behind as you ... pursue graduate studies. In one sense you’re correct, I made the erroneous assumption that you were still in Blacksburg. You made a similar assumption, however. If you are still in Israel then the only pond between us is Lake Tharthar. My office is a converted garage with corrugated metal walls and roof and an intermittent internet connection in Baghdad. The pavement outside of my luxury office building is scarred by a gash left by a 155 mm rocket impact with took the leg of off one of my fellow soldiers. So, yes, I do think I know so much about what’s going on in Iraq. What trash over here are you talking about that is never reported in America? Pretty much every misstep, perceived or actual, makes it on TV or in print. I am not so naïve that I don’t recognize that people play politics when they get into office and I understand the lobbyists blah blah blah. The proposed federal budget is nearly 3 trillion dollars – do you really think that the average American has the time or inclination to sit down and figure out which parts he is willing to fund and which he is not? I agree whole heartedly that the military’s recruiting policies are geared more toward numbers at the moment. I wonder, however, how many service members you actually know. Your characterization that most in the military are “kill-happy, camo-wearing weaklings” is tripe worthy of George Clooney, Rosy O’Donnell, Sean Penn or other internationally-acclaimed geopolitical experts. Every military endeavor the US has ever engaged in? Would that be the Revolutionary War? Or perhaps the American Civil War, the one that freed the slaves? Or perhaps World War I, which helped liberate Europe? Or maybe you are referring to World War II? You know, the war that ended the slaughter of 9 million people. Maybe you should ask the South Koreans if they’d rather that we didn’t show up thereYou are being obtuse about my point with regard to Mr. Shapiro’s original article. I agree that “any perspective that exists deserves to be observed.” That was my whole point. Just because my opinions are different than yours doesn’t mean that I am only regurgitating something someone else told me. I have never once defended the war. I think it has been a disaster. An awful lot of soldiers do. How exactly you can say it is “uneducated, regurgitated garbage” is beyond me. I see it and live it every day. I think about it every day in a way that most Americans don’t. I form my opinions based on what I see every day, not what I read on the internet or see on the news. I am quite positive that my opinions are my own, and I have no ignorant faith in government. I have no faith in government at all. You, however, seem to have an inordinate amount of faith in it or you wouldn’t want the government to run “public education (including universities), health and institutional care, roads, and energy conservation methods” as per your original posting. Your condescension is astonishing, and what is most insulting is that you are bound and determined to paint the entire military as monstrous based on … no real facts. You denigrate an entire profession. Who else is beneath you? It sounds like pretty much everyone in your opinion. Pursuing a graduate degree abroad is not exactly the selfless service I was talking about. My fervent hope is that one day I can be as smart as you and think as you do. Gosh, that would be awesome. The only thing about it I’m dreading is the sharp blow to the back of my head that would be required. Flag Abuse

Posted by: Taxes for what? at 11/17/07 Having each citizen decide where his tax dollars would be completely unworkable. There are thousands of programs you (or I) have never heard of that depend on taxes. How in the world would the government make a budget? My point about criticism was not that you can't criticize the military or can't speak intelligently about Iraq if you haven't been. My point was that the same people who are hammering Mr. Shapiro for criticizing a movie from a third-person perspective feel perfectly OK criticizing the military and the war from a third person perspective. They’re saying he can’t have an opinion based on newspaper accounts of the film but they can have an opinion on the military and the war based on news accounts. You're in America and can criticize anything you want – I’m not saying you can’t. I was just pointing out the hypocrisy of their argument. I agree that education is important, but once you have to climb down out of your ivory tower and have to live in the real world you'll find out that there are other things to worry about. I just did an informal poll of all of the people in my office here in Iraq and not a single one of them (including privates to officers, soldier, sailors and airmen) came to Iraq for the hazard pay. And not one of them has committed rape, murder or torture. BTW, you're right that Iraqis don't have the same tight to bear arms that Americans do. Iraqis are allowed to have one AK-47 fully automatic rifle per military age male. And tons of Americans are dying – perhaps you missed that while you were busy googling “American soldiers are rapists.” I don’t see where you get off accusing me of defending “invasion, rape, murder, torture, lack of accountability.” I agree that those who engage in unlawful behavior should be imprisoned, and they are. I don’t understand the venom you feel toward the military. Maybe you haven’t found something you believe in enough to sacrifice your own personal comfort and safety. I chose to take the education I received at Virginia Tech and use it for something bigger than myself long before the Iraq war. As you pontificate from your all-knowing perch in Blacksburg, take a good look at the Tech crest. It says “ut prosim.” Google that. Flag Abuse

Posted by: Taxes for what? at 11/16/07 Not surprised. How ironic that one of their biggest attacks on Mr. Shapiro is that he hasn't seen the film, the implication being either that he has no right to protest it or that he doesn't know what he's talking about. That being the case, if you haven't been in the military then you can't criticize it and if you haven't been to Iraq then you can't speak intelligently about that, either. Oh, but that's completely different... Flag Abuse

Posted by: Taxes for what? at 11/15/07 To say that the military isn't accountable couldn't be further from the truth. The military holds its people accountable more than society at large, I would guess. I completely agree that we should be outraged when soldiers wearing the American flag on their uniforms rape and murder. The fact that the author encloses small minority in quotation marks to convey sarcasm suggests that he believes the idea that it is a small minority is untrue or even silly. Where, by the way, did you run across an incident when 3000 innocents were slaughtered by a slight miscalculation? The low regard some of you have for the military is as sad as it is contemptible. Sadder still because, with the VTCC, Tech has a larger percentage of alumni serving in the armed forces than most academic communities. Flag Abuse

Posted by: Taxes for what? at 11/15/07 First, it's not an either / or proposition. Second, Americans DO have a right to decide where the tax dollars go. Vote for the Representative / Senator you feel has the same spending priorities that you do. If you mean you should get to pick and choose to what programs you want your tax dollars to go, that's untenable. Third, a strong military is an obligatory part of being the world's sole remaining superpower. Europe is incapable and unwilling to defend itself. It was only, for example, after the US stepped in that anything was done in the Balkans. You know, that place with lots of Muslims and no oil? Not everything we do is for money. Flag Abuse

Posted by: Taxes for what? at 11/15/07 The military DOES benefit you, and the troops ARE behaving responsibly. Those few who are not are in or are being sent to prison. Flag Abuse