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Pentagon launches $200 million study



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Breaking News – Pentagon launches $200 million study to find out why Iraqis want the US to leave.

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» 711 comments

  1. AC says:

    They’re so angry about this American’s inability to use an apostrophe?

    • Ceefax says:

      I hope these morons can shoot better than they can spell.

      • Ghostwish says:

        Considering the fact nothing is misspelled, and the only error is a minor grammatical one?

        Yah, I hope you realize that more than likely, even if you’re not an american, the only reason you have any freedom at all is because of these ‘morons’.

        Moron.

        • GoodGrief says:

          How is a country halfway across the world a threat to the ‘freedom’ of Americans…? It’s not like they were going to come and invade your country across two giant big-ass oceans either side of you and take away your ‘freedom’. Waging war on another continent is not defending oneself.

          Apart from that it’s still disgusting to make jokes like that about shooting at people.

          • Captain Wow says:

            *cough* Normandy *cough*

            • Hm. Well, I never knew Normandy was in America, and that Iraqi Soldiers landed in Normandy.

              Learn something new every day.

              • Hesse says:

                Captain Wow was pointing out that we invaded Normandy to liberate Europe from fascist Germany.

                Your comment Hellbound, dishonors those who did die defending your freedeom.

                • Danbala says:

                  I find it interesting that many Americans would say that the US were involved in WWII “to liberate Europe from Germany”. You don’t think your leaders at the time actually recognised the Germany-Italy-Japan expanionsism as a threat to the world in general? That the fight was actually for continued American freedoms as well?

                  • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                    I think we fought b/c Japan gave us one helluva black eye. That and we hated Nazis.

                    • Eric-in-STL says:

                      I always thought it was b/c Japan gave us one helluva black eye and we didn’t give a shit about the Nazis until we retaliated against Japan.
                      (We were sending the allies aid before we joined the war, though.)

                      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                        Only refrigerators. Remember the line in Pearl Harbor “We’re making refrigerators while our enemies make bombs.” The sad thing is that prior to 1939 we were also sending Japan a ton of crap (well they were paying for it). Well see we hated the Nazis, but really didn’t care enough to do anything about it. Sort of like Darfur.

                        • Charles says:

                          We were isolationists and thus didn’t care what was going on over there. We joined The war not just because of japan but the general threat to every persons freedoms.
                          We are in Iraq to remedy a situation which we exacerbated back during the Cold War. We helped keep Sadam in power and could not let it stay so, because he had become a threat to our other allies In the area. His human rights violations just prove that what one can do with power and no Checks and balances.
                          Our imperfect system of Government though still an experiment it is the best known to man for it tries To give equality… but can only be as good as the people that participate in it and only exist because there are men and women standing ready to defend it.

                        • Roflsneezia says:

                          this stuuf you all are talking about is too long. ABBREVIATE!

                          hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

                          i can spell lol.

                        • Roflsneezia says:

                          whoops didnt mean to misspell stuff sorry.

                      • Rax says:

                        That belief is from middle school history. You need to read deeper and much further.

                        While you are there, you might want ot read about the Civil War as well.

                        • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                          Rax: Umm please enlighten me. I would love to hear your version of Histroy which is above Middle School History (oh and before you go there I’m well schooled in the history of war)

                        • Eric-in-STL says:

                          I suppose it’s possible. With the number of people jumping to correct me, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I may not have the whole story as my knowledge of history has gone stale over the years.

                        • No, Eric, your knowledge has gotten tastier with age. ;)

                        • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                          **opens Erics skull and sips some brains** Nope not ready yet, needs about another three years for proper fermintation!!

                      • EWAdams says:

                        Close but not quite right. We still wouldn’t have given a shit about the Nazis post-Pearl Harbor, but Germany declared war on us after we declared war on Japan. The sequence was:

                        1. Japan declares war and attacks.
                        2. The US declares war on Japan.
                        3. Germany declares war on the US.
                        4. The US declares war on Germany.

                        To the best of my knowledge, the US has never declared war first on anybody. Unfortunately, the US no longer declares war at all any more — we just invade and kill a lot of innocent Panamanians so we can arrest their dictator without bother to declare war.

                        • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                          Actually you got it somewhat backwards:
                          1. Japan attacks AND then declares war.
                          The rest is correct, but we were about to declare war on Germany. There’s a reason we had a lot of our Atlantic Fleet ready to mobilize. That and our troops were mostly on the East Coast vice the West Coast.
                          UUMMM say what about Panama? I do believe there was declaration of war.

                        • Eric-in-STL says:

                          Okay, you’re right. US history was about 15 years ago for me, so I’m a bit rusty. I skipped it in college. LOL

                        • -Whispers-
                          Are you smarter than an 11th grader? -sings cheerfully-

                        • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                          Tyler: Didn’t you win “Smarter than a 5th Grader”?

                        • paws4thot says:

                          ILPB is right about what actually happened in (1), but IIRC that was a Japanese diplomatic b@lls-up; that was supposed to happen was that the formal declaration of war was supposed to be delivered after the carrier air wings launched wave 1 of the Pearl Harbour assault, but before they actually attacked. However, someone got their time zone calculations wrong.

                        • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                          Paws: It is what they intended, but I intended to mow my front lawn last night, didn’t happen, so yeah the grass (weeds) is (are) still too long, and my wife is still pissed. So intentions are good to a point.

                      • Donald David says:

                        you do not know a lot about history do you.

                        • Eric-in-STL says:

                          Eh, so-so. I haven’t taken US history in about 15 years. I got pretty good grades in it. I did okay on the AP test, not spectacular, got a 4.

                    • seanasaurus says:

                      ESPECIALLY because we hated Nazis…

                • SecularPatriot says:

                  And YOUR comment and this war dishonor servicemen who joined to actually defend the country, but were instead used to grab control of oil interests when Saddam Hussein acted to move from the dollar to the Euro.

                  We SUPPORTED Saddam with weapons of mass destruction (with which he killed his own people and we KNEW that) for 20 years, when he did our bidding. No problem until our oil interests were threatened. Then SUDDENLY we cared about the “freedom” of the Iraqi people. Total horses**t and a waste of the lives of 4000 servicemen and women.

                  You want to “honor” our servicemen? Get them home and only ask them to actually do something that DOES defend someone’s freedom.

              • sally says:

                grow the f*ck up.

                • elizabeth busshaus says:

                  I can’t understand why people spend their time *creating* arguments that can EASILY be proven by typing just a few words in that Google search box in the top right corner of my MacBook screen. Honestly? Why fight about small things like this when people are out there fighting to keep you free?? Who can’t agree with me there? Give respect to the soldiers sacrificing for you now as well as all the soldiers that sacrificed for you many years ago in WWII, WWI, the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, etc. Each of them fought for you. Every one of you is grateful for them: even the most insanely staunch pacifist. Give thanks to God you live in this wealthy, blessed nation. Without them you wouldn’t have this. Without Him, you wouldn’t be here!!

              • Captain Wow says:

                I was merely stating that the US, Canadian, and British troops went to Normandy, fought back German forces in an attempt to stop Hitler/ the Nazis from taking anyone else’s freedom. Because, who knows, if we hadn’t his eyes would have probably gone to America/Canada/Great Britain as his next conquest, which would lead to his taking away our freedom and killing more Jews.

                • stubby says:

                  You mean Hitler might have started attacking Great Britain if we hadn’t intervened? Um, learn your history, Hitler already WAS attacking Great Britain. He had been bombing them for 2 years before we got there.

                  The US was only willing to help after we had been attacked, there was no noble foresight on the part of the American people.

                  • Captain Wow says:

                    He may have been bombing but he hadn’t actually taken it over and occupied it. THAT’S what I’m talking about.

                  • Gunja says:

                    The American people did not want to go to war again. We were pissed about the Great War, and wouldn’t let ourselves go head first into another without being provoked. If I remember right the president won the race the year before US went to war, on a campaign called: “He kept us out of the war.”

                    IRAQ:
                    Is it just me, or has everyone forgot that they wouldn’t let us inspect their arms programs for possible treaty violations. Which was a NATO sanction. They stalled and stalled… Then BOOM target of opportunity. Gulf War Part Deux.

                • beliskner85 says:

                  As much as it pains me to say this, Russia was the true victor in Europe, the US’ and Great Britain’s exploits were minuscule by comparrison. If Normandy didn’t happen, the Soviet Union would have eventually liberated France and turn it communist. Normandy happened to prevent Western Europe from becoming communist.

                  • Baer34 says:

                    Wrong. No. Stop. If Normandy didn’t happen, the Germans would have been able to keep all their focus on the Russians, thus resulting in a much longer and bloodier conflict.

              • Rax says:

                I guess those that fail to learn from history really are doomed to repeat it.

                • jbug says:

                  And those who just fail to learn history are doomed to prattle on about beliefs from middle school.

            • paws4thot says:

              EM, about 2/3 of the allied personnel who landed on D-Day were British or Canadian, and half the Americans who landed were still stuck on the beachhead when we were half-way to Caen!

              • The Steve says:

                Are you saying that it would have been a successful siege without the American troops, vehicles, and equipment?

                If not, exactly what ARE you saying?

                • paws4thot says:

                  I’m saying that it would not have been a successful invasion without British and Canadian forces, and without the use of England as a staging ground.

                  Unless Captain Wow thinks that Mexico or Canada are willing to act as staging grounds for the Iraqiis, Normandy is a Straw Man in this context.

                  I’ll give you that finding a Panzer division on manoevres just behind a beachhead was actually bad luck though.

                  • Rax says:

                    No, but thanks to way to liberal immigration philosophies, the staging ground is from within.

                    And loss of freedom comes in many forms, not just invasion. How many freedoms and invasions of privacy do we have now as a result of 9/11?

                    How many more will we lose after the next?

                    People (and all politicians) keep taking until someone finally stands up and says no.

                    • EWAdams says:

                      “Liberal immigration philosophies” took away our freedoms post 9/11? George W. Bush will be startled to learn that he’s a liberal, or that immigration had anything to do with it. Warrantless wiretapping, the Patriot Acts, indefinite detention without trial, and all the rest of it are the direct result of Bush’s anti-terror policies and the total gutlessness of the Democrats to stand up to him.

                    • Charlie Foxtrot says:

                      Uh, Pres Bush (41) endorsed and pushed for the first “amnesty” policy for illegal immigrants quite possibly encouraging the subsequent massive immigration of later years…well that and the business leaders who wanted to get cheap labor, drive down the amount of money they pay for labor and generally screw over the American Worker.

                    • bad fairie says:

                      do you even recognize:
                      “Give me your tired, your poor,
                      Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
                      The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
                      Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
                      I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
                      or can those of us who were here first, before you white-eyes came uninvited, boot you back to europe?

                      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                        You can try to boot us, but I think that since you lost to the “white-eyes” you’re stuck with us. (See SO tempted since you tried to be duragatory to be duragatory back, but since I love native American culture, I’ll refrain).
                        And I’m all for your tired huddled masses, as long as they go through the proper channels, and stop doing it illegally. That’s just me though, why would I want our law makers to enforce the laws. I must be stupid or something.

                      • Kurt says:

                        Unfortunately people seem to think that that only applies to immigrants who come to our country through Ellis Island.

                        • Anniee451 says:

                          Are you implying it should be applied to illegal aliens too?

                          Or, what ILPB said.

                        • Kurt says:

                          I’m saying there are those out there who don’t beleive we should permit ANYONE to come to our country from Mexico. Legal or otherwise.

                        • froofrou says:

                          …and those people are nut jobs. Why are we referencing them here? I know of no true Conservatives or Liberals who would block the legal immigration of anyone from anywhere.

                        • Anniee451 says:

                          I’ve never met anyone – *anyone* – online or in real life who’s ever said anything like that or who believes it in any way. Where do you find people like that, since you brought it up?

                  • Jane St.Clair says:

                    I don’t think Captain Wow was negating the role of other countries in the Normandy invasion. All I think she was doing was pointing out that Americans have fought on other continents before, which pretty much invalidates GoodGrief’s original post.

              • Falcon63 says:

                That is factually incorrect, by a long shot. There were 4 beaches in operation Overlord, Gold, Juno, Sword, and Omaha. The Americans took 1, the British took 2, and the Canadian took 1. The British landed with similar numbers to the Americans landing on Omaha. However, and your proof, in the Battle for Caen, is actually proof to the contrary. Until American forces advanced the Nazi flank and American armor took up around Caen, the brits couldn’t take the city. Oh yeah, and 2 airborne divisions (American) were launched on D-Day. Way more Americans and American equipment went in on D-Day than any other country.

                • jsips says:

                  Actually you are wrong there were five sectors or beaches as they are now called. GOLD, JUNO, SWORD, OMAHA AND UTAH. The British landed at Gold and Sword. The Canadians landed at Juno. We landed at Omaha and Utah.

                  The Allies landed 83,000 troops that day. 61,000 of them British.
                  The US had 73,000 troops. The above figures include the airborne troops.

                  Sword beach had light casualties and Caen was suppose to be taken on D-Day. Caen was not taken till August the 8th.

                  Juno beach suffered the second highest casualtiy rate that day. Despite the casualties the Canadians advanced the furtherest of all troops landed that day.

                  Gold beach had it share of casualties. ALthough the Brits did not reach their D-Day objectives they came close.

                  Omaha beach was the worse. Intelligence failed to realize that the 352 Infantry division was on the beach. The D-Day objectives were taken on D +3

                  Utah beach had the lightest casualties that day. The reason was the current pushed the landing craft onto the wrong sector. Brig Gen Roosvelt Jr. upon learning the fact said “We will start the war from right here.”

          • I Like Peanut Butter says:

            GoodGrief: Sit down, chat with me as I let you in on a few secrets. I believe Ghostwish was talking about American Soldiers in general. So if we were to look back into history let’s look at the freedoms American Soldiers have died for.
            1) This pesky little thing called freedom for America started in 1775, when some Militia stood up to the Red Coats at little towns called Lexington and Concord. About 25,000 dead, another 25,000 wounded or missing. Which lead to this insy binsy little document that really hasn’t effected the history of the world much, I think it’s called something like the United States Constitution or something.
            2) Next in 1861 this little tussle called the Ammerican Civl War started. Now some people claim it wasn’t about Slavery, but States Rights, well the “Right” the South was fighting for was slavery. Let’s see about 364,000 Union deaths in that scuffle, and what came of that war… hmmm Emancipation Proclamation or the freeing of the slaves… hmmm NO freedoms there, unh?
            3) We’ll fast forward a but to this really tiny war. These three really bad guys, let’s call them Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito decided they wanted to rule the world together and created this little treay called the Axis powers. Now these guys weren’t really nice to the countries they conquered. Let’s say they might have done little think called genocide. Well we get pulled into this little skirmish, and help free these conquered people. It only cost us around 405,000 American deaths.
            4) No let’s go to this Asian penisula, we’ll call it, I don’t know Korea. Now the Northern part of the country is run by an oppressive government bent on say taking over the Souther country. So as the largest contingent of this worldwide group known as the UN, we stepped in. I think there were about 36,000 soldiers who perished in that endeavor.
            5) Another Asian penisula. North and South again. To our surprise the North were agressing upon the South. Now we didn’t quite succeed in securing freedoms for the South, however we tried and it only cost us 58,000 brave souls.
            6) Then there was the middle east. This really swell guy decided he wanted to control most of the world’s oil. So he just took over a small country, we’ll call it Kuwait. Now he didn’t just take over, he decided to execute civilians, imprison whoever he wanted, and frankly just be an ass. Well America led an internation coalition, and it cost us 300 American soldiers to FREE the Kuwaiti people and world oil.
            7) Then we went to Africa. We decided to work with that UN again. Warlords were starving millions, so why not bring them aid. Well the warlords didn’t like that. We tried to get the warlord so that it’d be easier and less risky to get the food to those starving. This was a small toll, only 43 young Americans perished to bring food to those who are hungry.
            8) Then there was some more genocide going on in some Balkan states. We decided to entervene and 32 total Americans perished to bring the FREEDOM to live.
            9) Let’s look at Afghanastan. Al Queda training camps, Taliban in cohoots with Al Queda. Al Queda also attackes European countries. Taliban whips women for showing ankels, and shoots men who don’t believe in their version of Islam. So we try and free that country of the Taliban, not only to help rid world of Al Queda, but free the Afghan people. Oh wait didn’t Al Queda attack America, I’m not sure. That has cost us so far 677 brave American men and women.
            10) Now let’s look into Iraq. We have a leader who has shown no remorse or restraint on using WMDs. (I think some Kurds and Iranians could attest to that). Not following the conditions of his surrender from the 1st Gulf War. On one hand alluding to the fact he has WMDs (oh and preaches Deth to America), and then on the other claiming he doesn’t. So do we trust a dictator who has shown a nack to say nerve gas entire villages, or do we ensure he doesn’t have such weapons? Oh and let’s not forget about those Iraqis who have helped American troops. When I talk to some soldiers who have come back, they’re quite, what’s the word oh yeah PISSED at the media for not showing the good things going on in Iraq. Instead the news want’s to dirve home Bush bad for Iraq. Also aren’t soldiers now fighting Al Queda in Iraq? Didn’t Al Queda attack us HERE on our soil twice, two embassies, and one naval vessel? Who cares if they weren’t there to begin with, they are there now, and they are our enemy. Oh those brave souls that have dies is up to 4,300.
            FINALLY: Any time a soldier enlists into the military they take an oath. Please see below:
            “I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God. ”
            And since the Constitution entitles me to my freedoms I LOVE today, I would say EVERY soldier risks their life for me and my freedoms EVERYDAY, regardless of where they are. So in short poo poo on you.

            • Lilith says:

              In the course of your oh-so-informative history lesson, don’t forget that the US used to send money not only to Sadam Hussein, but also to the Taliban, before they took control. Clearly, that has not made American soldiers or civilians any safer

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                Let’s see: History update for Lilith:
                1) Not money to Sadam but weapons to fight Iran, who at that time was trying to take over the Middle East and oil. Best thing to do, No, however seemed right at the time.
                2) Not money to the Taliban, but the Afghan freedom fighters. The Taliban happened to get their hands on such weaponry and money. The Taliban really didn’t become big until after the Soviets left Afghanastan, and the warlords took over. I could go on more, but Eric’s eyes might glave more.

                • EWAdams says:

                  The Taliban ARE the “Afghan freedom fighters.” One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. The United States simply found it convenient to ignore the mujaheddin’s shortcomings as long as they were fighting the Commies. Ditto Saddam and the Iranians. None of this has anything to do with “freedom;” it’s about geopolitical leverage.

                  • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                    EWAdams: History lesson # Gabillion. The Taliban and Al Queda were only small parts of the Afghan Freedom Fighting movement. The largest part of it were the Mujahideen. And to further my point this was all during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanastan.

                    • joysgirl says:

                      I LOVE I Like Peanut Butter! We need you out in the mainstream to explain the fundamentals to those who just don’t get it, or are too stubborn to listen.

                    • paws4thot says:

                      YOu know history too; when would you say the last time an industrialised nation successfully invaded Afghanistan was? I’d say “never” (for values of success that require going in with clear goals, and achieving them).

                      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                        I’d honestly say trying to bring democracy to the Middle East is like trying a land invasion of Russia. The people that want it don’t have the coordination and leverage to get it and maintain it, and those that don’t want it have the bigger guns and where-with-all to kill whomever they want to keep their power. But I would say prior to WWI the Brits had a pretty good handle on Afghanastan, but after WWI the Brits lost most of their gumption and ability to maintain the Empire.

                    • segaphile says:

                      You sir, are awesome.

            • Eric-in-STL says:

              Wall of text…making eyes…glaze over…
              :stares blankly:

            • paws4thot says:

              (5) Your knowledge of history and geography seem about equally dodgy. What the Vietnamese were fighting for before you got involved was freedom from French colonialism. And Vietnam isn’t a peninsula, or is that why the 2 most bombed countries during the Vietnam War were Laos and Cambodia?

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                Ho Chi Minh trail. And no the VC and Commie North were fighting against French Colonization, the South Vietnamnese were fighting to keep Communism away.

                • paws4thot says:

                  Part-truth.

                  The truth is still that you were bombing 2 non-combatant nations, and that some of the S Vietnamese were fighting against Communism; the others were fighting against French colonialism and later American aggression. Or does “Freedom” only apply if you want the freedom to have a Capitalist democratic government? If so, why do you support the Israelii Kibutz movement, which is the most successful example of Communism (not State Capitalism) in the World?

                  • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                    The VC were the South fighting for Communism, hence why I called them the VC. It wasn’t American agression when you’re preventing a rebellion. Besides we needed to halt the spread of Communism. Remember communism = bad. That whole lack of freedoms in most communist regimes. Not to say dictatorships are any better. Only form of government with “true” freedom is democracy (well sort of stupid taxes). I support the Israli’s ability to KICK ASS!!!, but never said I supported the Kibbutz movement, have I?

                    • paws4thot says:

                      Serious question; have you ever read Giap’s biography? His belief was that most Vietnamese were fighting for Vietnam to have the right to determine its own destiny free from all foreign influence. Their turn to Communism was at least initially because it was the easiest and cheapest way to get the weapons they needed to get rid of the French.

                      Can you try and get it through your head that Soviet Union et al= State Capitalism, not Communism? There is a very fundamental difference between the 2! Oh and Kibbutzim proves that true Communism not only works, but works in a true democracy. I totally agree with the Israelii’s ability to kick ass big time though!

                      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                        No I haven’t. But gee that plan backfired. Get rid of French pull in worse dictatorship.

                        I’m sorry, but when the ocuntry refers to itself as communist, I’ll call them as such. If they aren’t a true Communist state, it’s what they strived for. Just like America isn’t really a free market society, but we like to think we are (I wish we were). Kibbutzism shows that a small population (which is ever shrinking) can make this system work. But as a whole, this system will never work, b/c people will always want more. Israel isn’t really a true democracy either, since their democracy is like ours. Popular vote doesn’t always win elections.

                        • Busta says:

                          So you call the German Democratic Republic democratic too?

                        • J Michels says:

                          Sorry, but the leaders of the Soviet Union did not strive to be a ‘true communist state.’ For the same reason that our leaders do not want us to live in a true democracy, these people had no intention of making themselves equal with the peasants. We live in a class society where the top 0.001% have fashioned us into cogs of their tyrannical system. If you doubt this, or are interested in learning more then read John Perkins’ incredible book, The Secret History of the American Empire. And for further proof that Perkins is telling the truth, check out The Global Class War, by Jeff Faux. We’ve all been spoon fed their propaganda since we were born (and I don’t care if you’re 100, it doesn’t matter.) You can’t trust the history you were taught in school or most of what’s written in books. Trust your gut instead, and always question the facts–because they are very pliable, especially when you control the printing presses…

                  • The Steve says:

                    Bombing Laos was an @sshole move. I have no idea who encouraged our planes to drop the remainder of their payload on Laos but they didn’t deserve it. They’re still cleaning up the mess we left and people die and lose limbs to this day from ordinance that failed to explode for 30 some years.

                    • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                      Well why did Ho Chi Minh use Laos as a staging ground? Don’t we blame terrorists for using human shields? Why not blame the Minh for using Laos as a shield? What were we to do?

                      • The Steve says:

                        I didn’t say we had a choice, I’m sure we had to do it or we wouldn’t have done it.

                        That doesn’t change the fact that it’s still ruining innocent peoples lives to this day, and that’s a tragedy.

                        • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                          War is tragic. That what sucks about it. People are still dying in Vietnam from land mines, in Kuwait, helk people are still getting hurt from non exploded ordinance from WWI in Europe. I really really wish the innocent didn’t have to get hurt in war. But unfortunatley a lot of people’s way of combatting a better equipped enemy is to use civilians as shields or at least partially as sheilds.

                        • I was ranting last year about how it seems like we’ve got a responsibility as a country to offer Laos more assistance in cleaning that crap up. We could at least loan/give them some technology to help out; their mine/UEO removal system is basically a couple of guys with a metal detector and a shovel.

                          Whether we were right or wrong to bomb them, I think we’ve got some responsibility to clean up our mess. Kids today shouldn’t be losing limbs over a war that happened 40 years ago.

                        • paws4thot says:

                          ILPB; true, but at least some of the Belgians who’re blowing themselves up are doing it trying to strip copper drive bands off 90YO artillery shells!

                        • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                          Or just trying to uncover history in Archelogical Digs so we can further understand the horrors of Trench Warfare and chemical weapons (so we don’t use them anymore).

                    • PortlandMark says:

                      “I have no idea who encouraged our planes to drop the remainder of their payload on Laos but they didn’t deserve it.”

                      I believe that was Henry Kissinger.

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                Oh and Vietnam is on an Asian Penisula. Look at a map.

                • paws4thot says:

                  No need; Vietnam is ~1/3 of the width of the peninsula.

                  • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                    I know, but I said let’s go to another asian penisula. Which is what it was. So I’m trying to figure out why you said what you said.

                    • paws4thot says:

                      So now you know I know 2, which takes us back to the question of why you felt it necessary to carpet bomb 2 non-combatant nations (which probably led to the rise of Pol Pot, and to the Killing Fields, which strike me as a fairly basic removal of freedom that you felt no need to take action about).

                      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                        AS I said the Ho Chi Minh trail. If the VC and North Vietnamnese hadn’t used those countries to move equipment and hide equipment, then we wouldn’t have needed to bomb them. What would be more effective?
                        a) Bombing a jungle with nothing in it? (OMG the Green house gases and lose of rain forest would devistate the world’s eco system)
                        or:
                        b) Bombing where the enemy has their weapons, bombs, and troops?

                        • paws4thot says:

                          (B), but that requires you to actually bomb supply dumps, not hundreds of square miles of jungle.

                        • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                          Thats what they were doing. They realized bombing the jungles that looked like ammo dumbs in the North didn’t create secondary explosions, hence diversions. But man when they bombed the “trail” things lit up like a Christmas Tree.

                        • paws4thot says:

                          Ok, now explain the 1000s of tons of unexploded M-117s and Mk82 slicks. They weren’t hitting supply dumps that often!

                        • WTF says:

                          Ho Chi Min knew whiners like you would be upset if we bombed Laos and Cambodia, so he deliberately set up his camps, supply dumps, etc there specifically. Our troops were told they could not bomb or enter those countries even if in hot pursuit of the enemy. So Nixon said “Too bad” and allowed our troops to go after the enemy regardless. And it’s sad that 40 years later, people like you still believe the lie.
                          Been there, saw it, still have the scars.

                        • paws4thot says:

                          Try and rationalise all you like; most of the weaponry that was being moved on the trail was personal weapons, mines and plastique. Not things that generate secondary explosions like bombs and shells for all the aircraft and artillery the VC didn’t have.

                        • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                          RPG rounds, C4 and mines do make beautiful secondary explosions. So does a truck full of ammo.

                        • WTF says:

                          Paws4thot-
                          And you were there when?

            • dropping in says:

              I have only one thought to add here- and I know ti will not be a popular one. But it is one from a neutral-ish third party to SH’s original “invasion” of Kuwait in the 1990s. Kuwait started it according to every person I know that was living in Kuwait that was not a native in 1990—about 25 pp that i have met over the years in school, at conferences, etc. Some Indian nationals, a couple South Africans, some Chinese–you get the picture. Kuwait arbitrarily took possession of Iraq’s most productive oil fields that bordered on Kuwait. We never hear about this- and I am NO WAY defending SH- he was a horrible person—too bad we are responsible for putting him in charge in the first place….All I am saying is that our hands are not always clean—and these things are rarely black and white. Vietnam is hardly as clear as you present it herein—my dad was a special ops advisor prior to the official involvement- it was about oil, and one reason we ended up in the mess at all is because (as was our habit in the cold war) may have actually prevented democracy from being allowed. Our hypocrisy got us into a LOT of trouble over the years— we are still the good guys- and I am proud to see Obama restoring that perception- but were are not snow white. Jsut a few thoughts to add to your post- which I agree with in principle—just think gray area should be acknowledged.

              Discalimer: this post was written online and thus was not grammer or spell checked…deal with issues not minutia (wait nevermind- do whatever you want—it is just the internet.)

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                Dropping in: Won’t bash grammar, mine is horrid.

                About Kuwait: If it was about those Oil Fields, why didn’t Saddam just stop at those fields? I understand you weren’t defending him, but it was def he saw an openeing and made it much Larger.

                About Vietnam: You said it was about oil? How so? SOOOO LOST! I applaud your father for being an adviser, but still the war was manily about curbing Communism (or to Paws State Capitalism).

                Hey I know there was some medling that got us screwed, but I was just pointing out to Mr. Grief when he tried to make the point soliders don’t die protecting freedoms, that there were Thousands that have. That’s all.

                Oh and OBama IS NOT making us look like the good guys. He’s making us look like the school yard sissy.

                • Eric-in-STL says:

                  Only to warmongers. I for one am glad to see our president do something besides threaten other countries. Look, if Iran & N. Korea want to fvck with us, then by all means I hope Obama puts a boot in their asses. And I think he would. But that should be the last resort, not something we jump to because we’re wary of those countries.

                  • Agreed. I don’t think we should keep fighting everyone’s battles for them- The more allies we lose due to over aggressiveness or enemies we make because of it, the more problems we will have in the future. And we can’t fight all that many places at once.

                  • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                    But do you want to wait for another 3000 Civilians to die before he acts? I figured that we would have learned that appeasement does not work against mad men. I’m for trying peaceful ways with people who respect peace, but unfortunately it doesn’t always work. We deal peacefully with China all the time, b/c they at least understand Peace. N. Korea and especially Iran define their societies by their ability ot make war, keep the populace in a state of fear from America (Israel also for Iran) or western states that would come in and detroy their lives.

                    • Eric-in-STL says:

                      We deal peacefully with China because we owe them money, they make everything for us, and if properly motivated they could stomp us. It’s not like there’s some deep love and respect between the two countries. Kim is crazy, sure, but how many countries are going to rally to our side if we just talk about blowing the crap out of them?

                      • froofrou says:

                        I wasn’t aware that China was controlled by a power-hungry dictator with a shakey grip on sanity and a nuke, but I might have missed that memo.

            • Duncan says:

              Wow. Unfortunately so much of what you say is simply untrue, historically.

              Leave aside World War II, most people will grant that that was a “good war.” You should at least have mentioned the role of Freedom-loving Uncle Joe Stalin in that one, though. As someone else pointed out, the Soviet Union did play a big role in the defeat of Hitler. And you neglected to mention that, once we defeated the Axis, we preferred to keep it and its collaborators in power. Especially in Asia.

              Which brings me to those Asian peninsulas. (Peninsulae?) Korea was not divided into North and South until the US decided it should be, because the actual Korean freedom fighters were supported by the USSR. We preferred to support Koreans who’d collaborated with the Japanese during their brutal 35-year rule of that peninsula. True, the North was ruled by a dictator, but so was the South, with our blessing and support. (It was necessary to put down numerous rebellions in the South by Koreans who didn’t want to be occupied by the US any more than they wanted to be occupied by the Japanese.) It isn’t really true to say that the North “aggressed against the South,” because both North and South viewed themselves as one country and wanted reunification. The US did not. Both North and South wanted to “aggress against” the other, and did so. After the Korean War, the South was ruled by dictators, with lots of torture and murder of dissidents, until the South Korean people overturned the dictatorship in 1987. Yet when I was growing up, the South was considered a “free” country.

              Then Vietnam. The Vietnamese fought against the Japanese and declared their independence after the Japanese defeat in 1945. The US wasn’t having any. We preferred that they should be returned to the French, who’d controlled Indochina until the Japanese took it away from them. So the Vietnamese went on fighting, finally driving out the French in 1954; by that time the US was basically paying for the French war anyway. An international conference provided for Vietnamese elections in 1956; a truce line was drawn at the 19th parallel. The US promptly began undermining those plans, set up a new Vietnamese dictator called Diem in the South. The elections were never held, Diem imprisoned and tortured his opponents with lots of US support. There was an insurrection in the South, not just by Communists (is that surprising?), but the North was not involved until much later. The US began by bombing and terrorizing the South; bombing the North came later. The North didn’t “aggress against” the South; again, the issue was reuniting a country that had been divided by outside powers. When Diem decided he was ready to negotiate with the southern rebels, the US decided to remove him, which unfortunately led to his assassination.

              And so on. The rest of your history is just as inaccurate. The US has not fought in defense of freedom in my lifetime (I was born in 1951). The US war in Iraq was aggression against a country that had not attacked us, though we had attacked it repeatedly. That Saddam was a tyrant never bothered the US, which supported him for much of his career, especially when he was “killing his own people.” Sure, he had WMDs (made with our help) in the 80s, but not after the 90s; the claim that he did was a propaganda lie to justify Bush’s war. It’s not surprising that the Iraqis want us out, and have wanted us out all along; not only opinion polls but the elections have shown that. Whatever the good intentions and fine oaths of the American forces in Iraq, they are not there for anyone’s freedom, ours or the Iraqis’.

              We haven’t freed the Afghan people; we just installed the Northern Alliance warlords, who are not quite as repressive as the Taliban, but it’s worth remembering that the Taliban were also welcomed as liberators when they first took power, so vicious were the warlords. Karzai’s government barely controls Kabul. And let’s not forget that Carter started the whole mess in Afghanistan by funding mujahideen to make trouble, which led to the Soviet invasion.

              • Charlie Foxtrot says:

                Another interesting summary, also one-sided, but once again…

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                Duncan:
                A) I was talking about US troops in response to Good Grief, so you weren’t paying attention. **Snaps on wrist with ruler**
                B) Umm wrong on Korea. It was the United Nations NOT America that split the country after WWII. Sort of like how Germany was split. And the North passed the 38th Parallel to impse the Communist will upon the South. Hence the UN’s involvement.
                C) Back to Vietnam. My history teacher told me something similar. Then when I asked who supported the uprisings in the South and funded them, she mumbles something about the Soviet Union. Then when I pressed on more asking how those elections that never happened being run. She mumbled again something about the communists using the elections as some sort of coup (ie rigging it). Yes there was a dumbass dictator in charge, but I’ll get into difference between dictator and communism (State Capitalism for Paws) later on.
                D) **SIGH** 1951 hmmmm, were you one of the few lucky enough not to be drafted (flat feet), in college a long time, run to Canada, or actually sign up and go? From your posting I make be making a bad assumption, but I feel you probably weren’t in Veitnam.
                E) Once again I get tired of repeating myself, again and again. So when we freed Kuwait there was no Freedom involved? When we help tostop the genocide in the Balkans (No FReedom there). Or how about Somalia? Not trying to feed starving people. Hmm Grenada? (I forgot that one). The rest of that paragraph I just can’t fathom. Still not as bad as Auora below but not wuite there. Have you ever asked a returning solider what they feel they’re fighting for? Have you ever shook the hand of a returning soldier (in a wheel chair I might add)? Also didn’t he keep the UN inspectors at bay, and kept hinting at the fact he had WMDs. As I said earlier (which you ignored) would you trust the word of a dictator?
                F) WHAT? The Soviets Invaded to try and get more control of the Middle East. The were making there way to vital pipelines and oil fields. The Soviets invaded for Oil. Pure and simple, not to cease hostilities. As I said earlier, Democracy in Afghanastan won’t work, but at least women can go to school now (or did you miss that CNN special). Sure they arne’t 100% there, but the people of Afghanastan have more freedoms today than with the Taliban, and to me that’s the US dyig for freedoms (which you say we haven’t… sorry but that saying is just retarded)

                • hmmm says:

                  So point E, lying about not having wmd is more bad than lying about a country that are supposed to have them but its false because you just want to finish your daddy job. Cool. My point is : that’s the wrong thing. Both aren’t angels. One killed his own people to maintain the grasp on all the diversity Iran have (and well..it was working, a sad way, regrettable, but it was working) and then you got bush jr that want a war and go and send his own people to get killed in a invasion revealed to be based on lies. Only one thing positive there: saddam is dead. How many soliders, childrens and innocents from boths sides and even others countries (like the journalists, helpers ect) are dead ..for one person? And freedom? how many freedom they have now? There is more people dying everyday cause of this invasion than when saddam was alive and in power…If the Us gov would want to help, it would ban first those “taunts” like in the picture above, and get more humanitarian job done. ( i dont blame the good soldiers that somehow believe they are trully helping iran populace. At some points they do make a wall behind the groups that want to take power with bombs and the innocents.)

                  SH was probably only daring the usa to attack his country, as an attempt to get the others islamic countries allies with him… It did work for a time..but the other islamic countries didn’t like him much, even after his conversion to islam.

            • Charlie Foxtrot says:

              Interesting summary, a tad one-sided, but interesting nonetheless.

            • Anniee451 says:

              That was beautiful, ILPB. I know a group of people whom I met online, the best people ever, who all remind one another regularly that their oath, taken in greatest faith and solemnity, is binding for life and applies against all enemies, foreign and domestic, etc. The Rottweiler is like the best place online for decent people :)

            • Fawlkes says:

              I notice that you didn’t mention the war of 1812 or the First World War in your speech, or were they meaningless?

            • lolcake says:

              I C EROR!
              The casualties of the Battle of/at Lexington Concord were roughly 370.
              The Declaration of Independence was made before the constitution, in 1776. The United States Constitution was made in 1787.
              The Civil war was about slavery for the South, yes, but not the North. For the North, it was about preserving the union.

              Meh… few other errors…. too lazy/tired to point out…

          • Rax says:

            So we thought about someone who is living in a cave.

          • Ghostwish says:

            GoodGrief, a fitting name, because I can’t fathom how you forget 9/11 so easily.

          • segaphile says:

            Yep, Hitler wasn’t a threat to America because he was halfway across the world. That big water stuff protects us! And Japan, they weren’t a threat either!

            I’m not saying I agree with the War in Iraq, but your comparison is probably the stupidest thing I’ve heard this week.

          • Charlie Foxtrot says:

            Why?

          • commenter says:

            first of all you dont have the facts, they attacked US and we a retalliating against the al-kaida, not the country

        • Ceefax says:

          Really? These two morons specifically? Sorry, is it a thought crime to call soldiers morons when they’re being morons? Is it not possible to consider a soldier a moron without also slandering, say, non-moron soldiers who fought in WW2?

          Stop being such a cry baby. They’re big boys and they don’t need your skirt to hide behind to save them from hurtful words, especially when you’re insultingly invoking soldiers which have nothing to do with the picture to do so.

          • Ceefax says:

            You might as well say that if someone calls the President a moron that they should shut their mouth because “morons” like George Washington gave them their freedom.

          • Zecrow says:

            No Ceefax. You are a moron. Ghostwish, I Like Peanut Butter, Hesse….these guys are stating something that they believe because they are proud of their country and don’t want to dishonor the sacrifices that so many of our soldiers have given. Relating the situation of soldiers today with things soldiers did in wars like WW2 or Korea is not an ignorant thought. The soldiers in this picture who wrote that on the gun…you’re really going to call them morons for putting that on there?…When YOU CANNOT possibly understand what they have been through or think about seeing what they’ve seen. I imagine if everyday you have psychos shooting at you because they believe that you are the scum of the earth because you are the “western devil” outside of the nation of Islam, you’d become pretty callous as well. I come from a family of military and my cousin is there right now. He has repeatedly told me that people just don’t get it. When he sees idiots like you saying that soldiers are morons for being hardened with their attitude towards these monsters…it kills him. They may be big boys…but they still get incredibly hurt when people in their own country have gone beyond not agreeing with them and to the point of insulting them. Liberal “morons” like you will use the most skewed logic to make a point even if it is moot. Go find something better to do. And Ghostwish, I Like Peanut Butter, Hesse…good for you for saying something with some respect for country and military…especially on a board that so often is filled with idiotic comments that do exactly the opposite.

            • Ceefax says:

              A moron in a uniform is still a moron. Don’t insult the brave people from many countries who died in WW2 by comparing them to these meatheads.

              • Ceefax says:

                Just to confirm, no soldiers, in any army, anywhere can be morons?

                • Ceefax says:

                  Are people allowed to call John Kerry a moron? I seem to recall during the last election quite a lot of people insulting someone who’d served as an American soldier. That and implying American soliders get medals for nothing and that purple hearts are dished out like candy to soldiers who get a splinter. Oh, wait “Thaaaat’s diiiiiiferent”

            • Eric-in-STL says:

              Oh get off your damn soapbox. The guys who put that on a gun are idiots. Ceefax NEVER tried to imply all soldiers were morons. Just these guys. You can’t excuse everything soldiers do just because they’re at war. That’s ridiculous. Trying to turn this into a debate about respect for soldiers is nothing but a strawman, and not a very good one at that. You can still have respect for our men and women in uniform while thinking these guys are a couple of tools. Let it go, geez.

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                But these guys are funny.

                • Eric-in-STL says:

                  Aren’t we supposed to be protecting the Iraqis? I don’t see why this is funny.

                  • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                    Aren’t alot of the insurgents IRaqis. Plus unless I’ve been there I can’t judge these guys. If these guys want to blow off steam this way, so be it. Yes it would be better to say “Insurgient” but a) It wouldn’t fit, and b) They might not be able to spell it.

                    • Eric-in-STL says:

                      There are better ways to blow off steam.

                      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                        But Eric, have you been there. Do you understand the stress they are under? I loved the video of the guy at an Iraqi check point asking the driver if he knew of insurgents, and to have them come and attack b/c he’s bored.

                      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                        Eric: just thought of something. This could read 1 of 2 ways:
                        Photos OF Iraqis here
                        Or
                        Iraqi Photos (the way we take photos in Iraq). So really if it’s the second not as “tasteless”.

                      • Deep Thought says:

                        It’s gallows humor, Eric. Cops and health-care workers have it too. It’s a Freudian thing: Sigmund Freud in his 1927 essay Humour (Der Humor) puts forth the following theory of the gallows humor: “The ego refuses to be distressed by the provocations of reality, to let itself be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure”.

                        Sometimes it’s the only way to cope with what’s happening.

                        • WTF says:

                          Plus, who says it’s Americans? There are a lot of coalition troops there- Canadian, British, etc… would may have done this.
                          Ceefax- “Blame America first!”

                        • Deep Thought says:

                          Look at the lettering — it looks Greek to me… ;)

                        • paws4thot says:

                          I’m not sure who’s it is, but I’m fairly sure it’s not a gunshield on a piece of British armour.

                        • Ceefax says:

                          Huh? Where have I said they’re Americans and what does that matter? Again, have the people bitching and whining and saying you should never be allowed to call a moron a moron if they’ve been in the army ever said anything bad about John Kerry? Hmmmm?

                        • sprent2922 says:

                          I can attest they are American soldiers. I saw that HMMWV on FOB Rusty when I was there. I laughed at it then too.

                        • sprent2922 says:

                          oh and Canada is not in Iraq.

                        • froofrou says:

                          John Kerry is to Purple Hearts as Frank Burns is to a shell in the eye.
                          -
                          And people denigrated John McCain’s service too. DOesn’t make it right, but it happens.

                        • Eric-in-STL says:

                          Fine, whatever. I’ll concede that I don’t know what it’s like over there, so I don’t know if this is a necessary way of letting off steam or not. I still think it’s tasteless and makes them look bad to a lot of people. I guess if you’re getting shot at, PR isn’t your number one priority though. *shrug*

                    • Stormy says:

                      No, actually most of them have been trucked in from other countries. Same with the 9/11 hijackers that Dubya kept insisting were from Iraq when only a tiny fraction of them were. Most, in fact, were Saudis, but Iraq was more convenient to bomb.

              • Zecrow says:

                Why don’t you let it go dude. If he can have his soapbox, so can I. Like I said before…you don’t know these soldiers…you all make claims about them because of what they wrote in tape and a freaking gun. And again, if I was in the situation that they were in, I would probably be just as pissed and terrified as they are. I don’t blindly respect soldiers for their personal character when I have no idea what that is….I respect soldiers because they are the ones that took an oath and they are the ones that are in the middle of war.

              • Tanker says:

                You don’t think soldiers through out history from all nations have had to harden themselves agaist those they fight and use gallows humor just to get through the day? What do you think the nick names soldiers give their enemies are? Red Coats, Jhonny Reb and Yanky, Kraut, Charlie, Lobster backs, Japs, Hadji, ect, ect. Those are just the ones I remember from American history. I read an article once about the names the Prussians and the French gave each other during the Nepoleonic Wars.

                How about the jokes soldiers have put on vehicles and signs for as long as writing has existed For example the Bridge at Ramagen A joke at the expense of a German Failure (look it up). The simple fact of it is soldiers need to be able to laugh at themselves, their situation, and yes the enemy just to stay sane. These are young men with youthfull senses of humor and until you have traveled one single mile in their boots who are you to judge what they find funny.

                I can almost imagine if this was from an old war or one unrelated to America at all you would probably laugh, but since the war seems to be a sore subject for you all you seem to want to do is judge those you have no basis to be able to judge

        • Swashbuckler says:

          It’s not a grammatical error, it’s a punctuational error!

          “Grammar” has quickly become a buzzword meaning ‘any written error’, but the word does not mean that! Grammar pertains to how phrases are constructed and also includes spoken language.

          Everyone, please, stop using the word “grammar” in this (incorrect) fashion. The word you’re looking for is “orthography”:

          Orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a writing system to write the language. It includes spelling, punctuation, grammar, capitalization, hyphenation, word breaks etc.

          The soldier in the photo demonstrated poor orthography because of his punctuational mistake.

        • Glass says:

          I am Swiss, and I do not owe my freedom to these guys at all. I owe it to the American soldiers who fought during WWII. Yes, same country, same military, but different people.

          I’m grateful the USA kicked the Nazi’s asses, and I have respect for U.S. soldiers and Marines in general, but I do not owe my freedom to those of today. Not yet at least.

          As for the soldiers who wrote this, I have little respect for them. This is very insulting to Iraqis and helps to make them fear U.S. soldiers (as if they had not enough to fear already). I find this thing funny, but I think it’s mean and stupid to do this if Iraqi civilians can see it.

          Iraqi civilians are not the same as the insurgents and the terrorists. I thought all USA citizens would know this by now… Especially those shooting them in person over there. Makes me wonder what the USA as a country have learned in this war…

          By the way, you guys get very upset when Europeans criticize all Americans for what Bush did. Yet you can’t tell civilian Iraqis from insurgent Iraqis.
          You think wars are still fought like in the middle ages, when soldiers killed not only enemy soldiers but also any civilians they found and burned any villages they came across.
          I’m glad not everyone in the USA is uneducated though. At least there is still hope.

          And thanks for the help during WWII. Those of you who did help. As I said, I only have a problem with those who are like the morons who wrote this in the picture. Everyone else is fine to me.

          • sprent2922 says:

            no one can tell insurgent’s from civilian Iraqi’s. They don’t have a uniform. That’s why we’ll never defeat the Iraqi insurgents. They can sit right next to a convoy and trigger an ied from a device in their pocket. And since coalition forces can’t just go around shooting people that look suspect we’re doomed to lose more lives until we finally withdraw. Also if we still fought “Like in the middle ages.” We would of just launched an icbm from a submarine and not lost a single Coalition life. I’m sorry you think we fight that way. But I’ve worked with Iraqi soldiers and police and when you don’t know who your enemy is that’s saying something. to put your trust in someone who could kill you. FYI: one of the Iraqi police we worked with was found dead after messing up an IED emplacement.

            • I Like Peanut Butter says:

              Sprent thanks for going over there, and doing what had to be done for our Country and your fellow soldiers.

          • Tanker says:

            To add to what sprent2922 said they also tae a family hostage and force the father at pain of death of his family to go fight or emplace a bomb. While these men are technicly combatant, if unwilling, they are often recorded and reported as “innocent civillian” which in one sense they are but when I was shot at in Iraq I could NOT make these distictions both becase all fighters dress as civillians or hide in groups of them, but because it’s impossible to know.

            When given a choice to die or kill I will always kill them.

            I NEVER shot at anyone who was not actively trying to kill me or other soldiers I NEVER killed a civilian or shot at one. (With the rare exception of warning shots. Which did just that warned them of the deathly result of their continued action and made the stop.)

            • I Like Peanut Butter says:

              Tanker thanks for going over there, and doing what had to be done for our Country and your fellow soldiers.

          • Stormy says:

            To be honest, not even Americans owe their freedom to the soldiers of today, technically. If they hadn’t been deployed to Iraq, we’d still have freedoms in this country. Not even the ones deployed in Afghanistan. It isn’t for freedom, it’s for retaliation. Which, if directed at the right country (and Afghanistan is…Iraq not so much), isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not for freedom.

            Honestly the only vets who fought for *our* freedom were vets of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Until some other country invades the US and tries to destroy our government, soldiers won’t be fighting for our freedom per se.

          • jsips says:

            Thanks for your comments on the WW II veterans. With that out of the way since you are Swiss your country was never attacked during WW II. You were neutral the whole time. Maybe in the future if Germany had gotten it’s way your country’s freedom would have come under attack.

            • Danbala says:

              I think that is why s/he is saying that “I do not owe my freedom to these guys at all. I owe it to the American soldiers who fought during WWII”. (I am willing to bet teh monies that Glass is aware of his/her country’s status during WWII.)

        • monique says:

          Thank you. I am not personally one of those “morons” but I am in the service.

        • philip says:

          Well, actually THOSE morons are off radicalising Muslims to a point where they want to blow themselves up (with you near them, preferably) in order to have those morons leave.

          If the only purpose of America’s military was protecting America, it wouldn’t need to recieve as much funding as all the rest of the world’s military combined. Those morons could be fired for not understanding why they’re doing it. (to help the people they’re trying to injure).

          You’re a moron!
          (no, you’re a moron)
          (no, you’re a moron)
          etc.

    • sally says:

      Classic .
      If they were really smart, ya think they’d be out there?

      • Captain Wow says:

        I think Dwight Eisenhower, Colin Powell, William Carney,and George Patton would all disagree with that statement, not to mention countless others.

        • Captain Wow says:

          And before I get flamed again (THEY WEREN’T IN IRAQ, WAH WAH) I’m merely pointing out that going to war doesn’t make one stupid.

          • I Like Peanut Butter says:

            Sure it does. Don’t you know if you hug your enemy and the guy wanting to kill you/ take over your freedoms, then all will be forgiven? Give Peas a chance, specifically with garlic and onions.

      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

        As I’ve skimmed this post, it finally dawned on me…. If you’re implying what I think you are, then you’re a total a$$!!!!

        Are you implying that all the men and women (and dogs) that serve in our military are stupid? So to serve in the military you’re dumb? HMMMM wow that is one of the most elitist things on here. Let me guess you don’t celebrate Veterans Day or Memorial Day do you? Or how about 4th of July? (I am assuming you’re American, if you ain’t substitute like wise holidays for your country). B/C you get to celebrates those dates due to “stupid” soldiers.

    • MS says:

      freaking jenius! thats so funny

  2. Sqwirk says:

    I like those nazi style letter ‘S’

  3. IGuessItIsMeAgain says:

    Win.

  4. Squiggly says:

    I bet the outcome of the study will be shocking.

  5. I Like Peanut Butter says:

    Picture WIN!!! Caption FAIL!!!
    You realise that this type of thing happens quite a bit. Soliders put lettering or phrases on bombs or tanks.

    • Sqwirk says:

      Why is defacing public property ok when soldiers do it but not when gangs do it?

      • The Steve says:

        I wouldn’t call electrical tape “defacing”. It will peel right off of that CARC (Chip# 686 Tan) paint with no problem at all. I’m actually surprised it stuck long enough for them to take the picture.

        As for writing messages on bombs, I don’t think defacing a bomb is really possible. They’re just going to blow it up anyway. Besides, if the humor lets them rationalize or trivialize the horrible things they’ve seen or been asked to do then I can hardly blame them.

        Give them a break. I don’t agree with THIS war, but any soldier that is willing to lay down his life for my freedom is ok in my book.

        • Ceefax says:

          Does that extend to soldiers of other countries as well, even if you don’t agree with the war they’re fighting?

          • Edocsil says:

            Hey said a “soldier that is willing to lay down his life for my freedom”. Meaning, if that soldier was fighting for his [The Steve's] freedom is OK in his book. I think it goes without saying that he would be ok with a soldier from another country fighting a war that ensures he keeps his freedom.

            I think you were trying to make a clever statement, but it just sorta didn’t work.

          • The Steve says:

            Any man or woman who’s willing to lay their life down for me is a hero in my eyes. These soldiers don’t know me, and although THIS war may not be a direct threat to me, they have no control over that.

            The bottom line is that they signed a piece of paper and took an oath to die to protect me, my family, and my country if it ever became necessary, and they don’t even know me.

            Moron or not, they’re a hero in my eyes. And yes, that goes for British /Canadian/French and whatever other nations troops stand up to defend the innocent from those who would do harm.

            • Jojo says:

              Just because Saddam hadn’t sent any missiles our way yet didn’t mean he wasn’t a threat to us.

              That’s such a complacent attitude. “If they’re not blowing up shit in our borders then they’re not a threat.”

              Is N. Korea not a threat because their missiles haven’t landed on our soil yet?

              This war is very justified in that Iraq was a huge threat to us, if just a potential threat.

              See I’m the kind of guy that likes to take care of problems before we have 2800 American Civilian casualties.

              • The Steve says:

                I would be very surprised to learn that Saddam was targeting rural Wisconsin with the WMD’s that he never had….

                not a direct threat to ME =/= not a threat

            • froofrou says:

              France has an army? That fights?
              -
              /trolling.

        • LafinJack says:

          So if I were to go down the street, whip out a roll or three of electrical tape, and start writing stuff on the wall of the Kwik-E-Mart, and a cop saw me, he wouldn’t have any problem with me at all?

          • the_original_shortright says:

            you’d probably tell you to remove it and move on. now if you were using duct tape or spray paint or some other less “remove-able” product… you just might land your ass in court.

          • Scythelord says:

            There’s a difference. Don’t be a jackass. It does not matter what is written on the paint of a vehicle. It’s not like military vehicles keep the same paint job for 20 years. It’s hardly public property anyway.

            • LafinJack says:

              It’s exactly public property.

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                So when an RPG or IED blows the vehcile up can we cite the Terrorists for destruction of property?

                • froofrou says:

                  Yes. Yes we can. And should.

                  • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                    Police Officer: Excuse me Akmed do you know why I pulled you over?
                    Akmed (the Dead Terrorist): B/c I was speeding (raises eye brows).
                    Police Officer: No, b/c when you blew yourself up, you put a scratch on that Humvee and destroyed American public property.
                    Akmed: SILENCE!! I keeeeeeeaaaaaallllll you!!!

                    • D says:

                      It’s spelled Akhmed. And it’s also one of the most disgusting examples of cultural hatred I’ve ever seen.

                      Oh, hey look! It’s a dead terrorist! And how is the idea that he’s a terrorist communicated? Well, he has a ‘towel’ on his head (he does actually refer to it as such in one skit), he has a black beard and speaks in a middle-eastern accent! He says stuff about Allah and being Muslim. Ha-ha-ha.

                      I bet you think it’s a pretty hilarious thing to watch. I wonder if you’d think the same if it was an Iraqi comedian with a skeleton dressed as an American?

                      To be clear: my hatred for the ‘act’ is because it equates Muslims with terrorists. If it left out all the imagery and references to Muslim culture itself I’d be fine with it. Although if it didn’t look Muslim, a lot of us Western folk might think “well that’s not a terrorist… he dun’ have a towel on his head”. /sigh

                      • froofrou says:

                        Care troll cares more than us.

                        • D says:

                          aaaand proud of it ;)

                        • froofrou says:

                          Honestly, I can see where you’d be pissed, but Ahkmed is a satire. It’s no more offensive than that. It’s using humor to point out the (sometimes) obvious.

                      • Danbala says:

                        They shoulda just made him appear Irish instead.

                        • Lol…Yeah. :-P

                          I’m guessing maybe the point D is trying to get at is that if you made a Venn diagram with “Muslims” and “Terrorists”, the Muslim circle would be a lot bigger than the Terrorist circle, and the Terrorist circle wouldn’t be entirely Muslim? Which is undeniably true.

                        • Danbala says:

                          Oh certainly. I agree totally with that point too, and … Well, my views on religion aren’t secret – it’s all nutcaseness squared, but I wish people would at least get it right. ;p

                      • sprent2922 says:

                        if that was Jeff Dunham’s only dummy yeah. But he satires everyone. Just look at his bubba j. puppet, or his sweet cylde I believe it was? and not to mention the stereotypical mexican attitude of Jose Jalapeno (on a sick). I applaud Jeff Dunham for walking out in that stage and going through with his act when 3/4 of the rest of the world was still frightened from the danish newspaper bombing. At least he didn’t cower down.

                      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                        Actually I do think it’s hysterical. I’m sorry but a lot of the terrorists in the world today are Muslims. Too bad, so sad. If they want us to stop equating terrorist with Muslim one simple thing “STOP bombing shit!” (YAAFM, funny stuff.. zipperfish.com) Hey I know there were Irish terrorists, home grown American dumb ass terrorists (Tim McVeigh), Latin American terrorists (Columbian drug lords), etc… yeah yeah yeah… but in the course of the last ten years, who has killed more civilians? So I’m sorry but that’s how it goes. Oh and BTW the Muslim world does do stuff like this. Let me guess you also didn’t like “Team America: World Police” “derka derka derka, Mohammed jihad!!!”

                        • D says:

                          I didn’t mind it anywhere near as much because I felt like it made fun of all involved.

                          And, @sprent2922: You know what, fair enough. I have not seen the other puppets and maybe I should. A friend showed me Akhmed and I was really revolted by it so I didn’t exactly go looking for more by the same guy.

                        • sprent2922 says:

                          D check out clips with peanut and Jose. They are awesome. Although not really too pc.

                • ubr says:

                  i think citing them for attempted murder and shooting the terrorists makes more sense…

              • Dhoti says:

                Ugh. Go back to LiveJournal, son…

              • sprent2922 says:

                you’re right it’s pubic property. That means you have every right to go drive one. Try going onto a base and see how that works for you.

          • The Steve says:

            If the Kwik-E-Mart was painted with CARC(Chemical Agent Resistant Coating) paint you wouldn’t do any damage with tape. It’s extremely porous and that tape would barely stick. You could easily peel it off again.

            The paint is however very soft and scratches/chips very easily. They have touch up spray available at the repair depots.

            Worst case scenario, those guys cost the gov about $5 for a can of touch up paint. Most likely the depot laughed about it and left it on the vehicle. It will probably stay there until the gunner shield needs to be replaced entirely.

          • Jojo says:

            You don’t use the mini-mart in your daily routine. The mini-mart isn’t a machine that you have been training with for possibly years. The dynamic is entirely different.

            The mini-mart is just a building that has no relation to your life. The .50 cal machine gun is something that soldier has been using for a very long time. He’s spent a long time behind that gunshield and probably feels a bit of ownership over it. Sure it is government property but so were the airplanes that had pinup models painted on the sides, or marks indicating total kills.

            Your example was terrible, btw.

        • TermVelo says:

          I certainly don’t think anyone needs to “rationalize or trivialize” killing people. This is precisely why there is so much death and destruction in the world both during war or not. Being a realist, I understand that sometimes war is inevitable. However, it should only be used as a means of defense or self-preservation. “Pre-emptive” strikes against countries that pose no immediate threat to our security are criminal in my opinion. And, I hate this attitude that a lot of people have on here concerning people in the military. Just because someone serves in the military to protect our nation, does not excuse him or her from immoral or reprehensible behavior such as the comment in the picture. And, before someone goes ballistic on me, I served on active duty in the military for several years including in combat situations. Military personal should always be aware of the human cost of war. Unfortunately, sometimes survival means killing someone else. But, we should always be aware of the tragic nature of this paradox. Trivializing it to assuage your guilt about it is unhealthy. Eventually, it’s going to catch up to you and cause you a lot of mental anguish. Take responsibility for what you are doing, and recognize that you are killing someone’s father, brother, son, grandfather, uncle, etc. If more people considered the human factor in wars, maybe we wouldn’t be so eager to enter into them.

    • Jonathan says:

      Because writing jokes about shooting civilians is a great way of endearing yourself to a hostile country.

      • Ceefax says:

        Lighten up! I’m sure their non-moron comrades will see the funny side of some knuckleheads undoing the hard work they’ve done on the ground and putting troops in danger.

        • Lilith says:

          To say nothing of putting the brave Iraqis that try to help the US–*EPIC SOB*–EVERY DAY in further danger.

      • wow... says:

        get over yourself, its a funny joke…its called dark humor, anyone who’s been in combat knows what that is, and you obviously do not have the balls to do what they do…

        • Jonathan says:

          Yep but I also have the brains not to do what they’ve done.

          Stop worshiping these guys. reading a few first hand accounts of the war reveal just how many douches there are among the Jar Heads.

          • I Like Peanut Butter says:

            And Jonathan what have you don ein you life that has been completely unappreciated by a good 40% of your country? Like say risk your life for the country? Or perhaps get shot at, mortared, or have a chance for an IED every-damn-day.
            Funny how “a few first hand accounts” equates to “just how many douches”. So if I were to analyze your sentecnes, then there are a few douches among Jar Heads? Since you only had a few first hand accounts. Sorry thought you were being a tool.

            • Peanut Butter Ftw says:

              ILPB, Truly Epic.
              Because people are under stress, they must be douches…
              Wow Jonathan has this all figured out

          • segaphile says:

            There are unsavory people in every walk of life. Is this a reason to hate all soldiers? Do we hate all Germans because of the Nazi’s? Do we hate the Japanese for Pearl Harbor? Do we hate every French person because of the invention of Escargot?

            These men risk their lives on a DAILY BASIS, and sometimes gallows humor that is in very poor taste is the only thing that gets you through the day.

            So how about you stop being so sensitive?

    • PortlandMark says:

      Yeah, it’s in poor taste, but hardly shocking. I think when you ask young men (in this case) to risk their lives to do a poorly paid job, you have to expect some dark humor.

      If this photo was taken after April of 2003, though, then it *does* show an unfortunate mind set. “Iraqis are our enemy” is exactly the wrong attitude if one is trying to help them rebuild their country.

  6. dawg says:

    I agree, gay caption ruins awesome pic.

    • sally says:

      dumbass.

    • I Like Peanut Butter says:

      JoJo: Seriously. You’re kidding right? Soemtimes I wish there was a disease that only effected people who thought they were patriots, but instead hypocritical dick seepage!!!

      If you truely believed in freedom you wouldn’t realize we need the liberals, just like they need conservatives. People with only one viewpoint in histroy tend to not do great things.

      • Stormy says:

        Well, we already know YOU won’t do great things. Not from your mother’s basement.

        Call of Duty is no replacement for real soldiering. Remember that.

        And tuck that e-peen back in your pants.

        • Completely irrelevant and only consists of insults?
          You’re making yourself look like an idiot who can’t formulate a competent thought. Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t, but grow the f*ck up.

    • Jane St.Clair says:

      So then you’d like this mythical disease to kill the liberal members of our Armed Forces? There are quite a few, in case you didn’t know.

      Also, wanting to kill people who don’t agree with you… you forgot to take you meds today, didn’t you?

    • Peanut Butter Ftw says:

      People with only one view point…
      You mean like a dictatorship right?
      **Claps thats a Patriotic winner right there.

    • Eric-in-STL says:

      Angry troll is angry, very angry!!!

  7. YeeK says:

    Errr… This is not common for “soldiers”, but more specifically for “american soldiers”, imho. I don’t remember pictures like this outside US Army since WWII.

    • paws4thot says:

      You’ll have missed the Korean War, Vietnam War (both sides in both cases), Gulf War (certainly main allied participants; I saw very few photos of Iraqii hardware), I think the Falklands War (mostly the Argentinians IIRC) then?

    • The Steve says:

      It’s been tradition since the very first airplanes went into combat for the pilots of the aircraft to paint a custom logo or other identification on the nose of the plane.

      I’m sure it happened even before that, but that’s the earliest example I can think of.

      • paws4thot says:

        I’d swear to personalising identification on guns, vehicles and planes since WW1 as well; possibly since the invention of the gunshield and about the 8″ shell (as opposed to round shot) so maybe the ACW?

      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

        Union soldiers put Rebel Pounders and such on their cannons. I believe that a few cannon balls being fired in to Yorktown had some cath phrases on them. It’s a tradition, it’s a way to get frustrations out. For once Steve and I agree almost 100%.

        • paws4thot says:

          I think I just agreed with both of you!!!

          • I Like Peanut Butter says:

            Sh*t!! Damn it!!!! Where’s the Birth certificate?

            • paws4thot says:

              Who’s!? I’m worried now, because I just might be old enough at 47 to be the father of one or both of you! ;)

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                The standard “neo-con” saying. Asking for Obama’s birth certificate. We were agreeing had to kill it.

                So you got knocked up at age 15? Dang they start young over there.

                • paws4thot says:

                  Seriously, the age of heterosexual consent here is 16. But if you’re saying what I think you are then I can’t be your father!

                  • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                    I’m 32. That’s what I’m saying. And sorry meant to say you knocked up someone else at such an age.

                  • Jonathan says:

                    Giving a tank a name or writing “Have a nice day” on a bullet is completely different to driving through an occupied city with offensive slurs clearly written on your vehicle.

                    Especially a nation that is so unstable even before your involvement that anything could incite a whole new sh*t storm.

    • fiendishrabbit says:

      That would be because no liberal nation has really been at war since WWII, except the US?

      When soldiers are at war psychological trauma tends to be expressed as Gallows humor or Dark Comedy.
      If the US army is in anyway unique it’s because they’re don’t suppress the visual expression of such dark comedy as viciously as many other militaries.
      While other nations might not paint/tape such messages on their uniforms/vehicles (because the officers would be hard on their asses if they did, even more so than most US army/marine officers) the same sentiments are expressed in verbal form.

      Another explanation would be officer mentality in relation to their soldiers. My experience with US officers is limited, but a brittish officer would afaik go out of his way to explain to his “boys” why this is “detrimental to the overall war effort”, putting any blame on why it happened on himself (because they’re his boys. If they failed, it’s his failure as a role model and guide).
      A US officer, at least from what I seen of them, are more likely to go a bit more roughshod over his soldiers and primarily blaming them.

      • WTF says:

        No- we laughed at it. Tanks called “Iron Ass” or ” Bad attitude” were just as funny as helicopters called ” Incontinent Duck” or ” Bad to the Bone”.

        • sprent2922 says:

          I saw a hmmwv gunner turret with man in a box ala alice in chains. That was pretty neat. I’ve also seen a chinook with the purple teletubby painted on the bottom at Ft. Bragg. That made me do a double take.

  8. wow... says:

    whoever put this one together is a complete douche bag…i mean seriously, come on! those guys are over there in a hell hole, and the fact that they can have some humor? how is that wrong? these guys see some crazy shit go down, and you’re going to mock them for trying to cope with what they see…an epic grade ‘A’ douchebagy caption for the pic, but epic win for the guy who put that on the .50 cal mount…and besides, have you been living under a rock? we pulled the f*ck outta the main cities…just hanging around the countryside in Iraq…

  9. Danbala says:

    Same motif, different angle.

    Brought to you by Useless Link Of The Day*

    *) A Danbala enterprise

  10. Rax says:

    Maybe that $200 million would be better spent trying to figure out why our troops don’t want to continue ‘vacationing’ with a group of people determined to kill each other.

  11. SGmage says:

    I thinks it’s friggin’ hysterical. Kudos to these guys for bringing some humor to a grim situation.

  12. Hawken says:

    I’m fairly confident that if the soldiers in the picture wanted to be in Iraq, they wouldn’t have felt the urge to put a message on their equipment.

    They want to come home just as bad as some of you guys want them to come home. Give ‘em a break, even though every single one of them volunteered for duty – knowing full well what that may mean – that doesn’t make them evil, gun-toting instruments against humanity.

  13. Grim says:

    Strawman arguments and logical fallacies aside, the joke isn’t really that funny. If you’re going to use gallows humour it should at least be worth the terrible feelings it engenders. If you’re going to go all gooey at the knees for soldiers do it when they display something worthwhile like discipline, honour or dignity. This is diplays none of those.

    • mad says:

      there is no honor in war and there is not any glory either and there is nothing dignified about crawling around on your belly and diving for cover if a shot is fired i have live around people who have been in the military and who are in the military they do not have much dignity but what they do have is kindness and generosity and the only thing you have right is the discipline

      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

        mad: Excuse me, but WHAT?!?! There’s no honor in war? I believe someone willing to sacrafice so I can live free is VERY honorable. And where do you get off saying our troops don’t have dignity. I don’t see them coming home with their head down low, but held high. What is you definition of dignity? Certainly seems different than mine.

        • Aurora says:

          The soldiers in Iraq are not sacrificing so that you can “live free”, that’s a lie. The soldiers are there to satisfy corporate interests and the thievery of oil – at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives. US soldiers tortured people to death, raped little children. There’s nothing honorable about that, there’s no dignity to be found in participating in that.

          • I Like Peanut Butter says:

            UMMM Eric/ Tyler/ Jane/ Eddie requesting permission to open can of intelligent whip a$$ on Auroa in a very Trollish/ mean way.

            • Stormy says:

              There’s one thing Aurora said that was correct, though.

              Soldiers in Iraq are not fighting so we can live free. Soldiers haven’t done that since the War of 1812 when England tried to take their colonies back (okay, so it was more than that, but that was what they really wanted).

              Ever since, we’ve fought so *other* people could live free. Or out of revenge. Or both. But not so Americans can live free, as there’s no way we’d stop being free if we, say, didn’t go into Iraq.

          • Tyler says:

            “raped little children.”

            Okay, what the f*ck, troll? Is all you can do melodrama or can you formulate a coherent sentence after you stop watching rape fantasy kiddie porn?

            • D says:

              Tyler I think I like you, but I gotta say: It has happened, you can Google it.
              No, the vast majority are not out there raping children but it has happened.

              • Point is, though, even if it HAS, it’s no reason to make the blanket statement that “US soldiers raped children” as if it were a common practice. You take any large enough group, accountants, say, and there’s going to be a certain percentage of them that (sadly) have raped children. That doesn’t mean it’s correct to go around yelling about how accountants rape children, does it?

                • D says:

                  Oh, I agree. I was just sayin’. :)

                • Jane St.Clair says:

                  Since “kiddie rapist” generally isn’t a marketable job skill they usually have to go out and work in other industries. So you have rapists who happen to be soldiers in the same way that you have rapists who happen to be priests, or teachers, or ice cream truck drivers, or that old guy down the street living on social security, or Aurora’s grandfather (who she’s only ever told her therapist about). She might just as well have said US soldiers have asthma. It’s be just about as effective of a statement. *rolls eyes*

            • Aurora says:

              You obviously weren’t paying attention. It was reported that children had been sodomized in Abu Gharib and in other prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and in many other places across the globe. It was reported that Congress witnessed some evidence of little boys being raped, but the evidence was kept confidential, for “national security”.

              http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/tort-m29.shtml
              http://www.prisonplanet.com/media-ignores-real-controversy-behind-torture-photos-they-show-prison-guards-raping-children.html

              • sprent2922 says:

                You want to try that with a credible news source? I mean seriously the world socialist website and prison planet? how much more one sided could you get. Look I’ve been to abu gharib. There were never kids there. As far as torturing prisoners. Yes what the soldiers at abu gharib did was wrong. Every soldier I knew thought it was wrong when we heard about it. Keep in mind this is after people trying to kill us on a daily basis. but some of those pictures are also out of context. Any wounded Iraqi is always filmed for medical reasons. Hell I have pics of prisoners beat up because the Iraqi police did it. And remember one thing while what the soldiers did was degrading it did not cause them pain. Check out a documentary called voices of iraq. It’s just Iraqi’s with video cameras. There is a group who were imprisoned by saddam who said they’d be happy to go to jail and have their privates

                • sprent2922 says:

                  that was weird it auto entered. Continuing
                  played with by an american girl. There are renegade groups in every aspect of life. Soldiers like that are the reason the military police corps exist. So if all the soldiers are bad then why did a fellow soldier in their unit turn them in? also link tinfoil hat new sources will not give you any validity. Try using the associated press as a source. It’s rather unbiased and will let you come to your own conclusions.

          • I Like Peanut Butter says:

            With Tyler’s response I believe that’s a Green light. Troll beat down in 3… 2.. 1.
            Alright Fvck NUT!!!!! Listen up and listen up good, b/c I want to make sure you understand what I’m saying.
            If you truely think that those men and women who are in harms way over in Iraq are not fighting for your freedoms, then you better wake and smell the coffee $hit for brains. I posted it before so I won’t post it again. When military personnel take the Oath of Militray Service they promise to defend the Constitution of the United States from enemies foreign and domestic. So everytime one of those soldiers dies, whether it’s in Iraq, Afghanastan, training exercise, THEY are sacraficing and dying for OUR freedoms, b/c they died protecting the Constitution (you know that document that gives you the freedoms you love to day, that allow you to bash those soldiers dying for you).
            To your other points, PLEASE show me a shipping bill or ship manifest that shows Iraqi oil coming to the United States. If you can not, then this was not about oil, so STFU!!!!
            Next: Name one person who died being tortured by our troops. Name one rape case being brought before the courts. Please cite, and stop being a POS 1960’s-70’s hippy who spat on troops and called them baby killers when they came home.
            YOU are the type of liberal that makes me disrepect liberals at times (then I remember Eric, Jane, Tyler, sometimes The Steve, Paws). You REALLY need to grow up, and figure out that your little fantasy world isn’t real.

            • WTF says:

              ” Pacifists- Freedom’s parasites”
              a bumper sticker I saw at an Army base this spring

              • Eric-in-STL says:

                There’s nothing wrong with pacifism. Pacifists can still respect the sacrifices made by soldiers and even admit there are times when military force is sadly necessary. As a LAST RESORT. Is that okay with you?

                • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                  I love Pacifists, much easier to get the lunch money from.

                  • paws4thot says:

                    And they taste good with hot sauce, right!!!

                    • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                      EW No, pacifists are usually the chubby sort, too much fat. :-)

                      • I’m not exactly a pacifist, but I wouldn’t hand over my lunch money- I doubt many of them would, either- the idea isn’t to avoid conflict, it’s not to use violence. If someone’s hitting/annoying/taunting me? I can take that just fine. Punches and kicks I can take, catch and block like no tomorrow. It’s when someone goes after someone unfairly/ unnecessarily violently/ for a bad reason that I’m going to start hitting. ;) Maybe not a pacifist, but I try and avoid violence as often as possible, and you AREN’T getting any lunch money from me. :P Kick and hit in the back as much as you wish, but if I’m going to deal with you passively I’d just pick you up and carry you wherever I need to go. Stop the hitting till I spend my money, then you’ll have no reason to bother anyway, eh? (Sorry for the rambling, I just felt like talking to ILPB for a bit.)

                • Anniee451 says:

                  I myself dabbled in pacifism…not in ‘Nam of course…anyway the point is, pacifism is not something to hide behind. Dude.

            • D says:

              And ILPB, I like you more than I used to. I don’t agree with Aurora because I believe that the soldiers themselves are there for the American people.

              I do think oil was part of the decision to invade, I do think people have died as a result of torture by the American military and I do think at least one American solider has raped an Iraqi civilian.

              Yeah, there may be a lack of physical evidence for these things, but hey, there’s a lack of evidence for God but a lot of people still believe in him. ^_^

              Aurora’s implications and accusations are …unfounded and incredibly disrespectful. It’s a “they’re all 100% evil” argument. But, yours is a “they’re all 100% good” argument and I just wanted to comment that we should all probably leave a little room for reality to be something other than smack-bang on the 100% point of either side.

              None of us are omniscient, after all.

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                D: No I don’t have the 100% Good aspect. If you read some of my posts I have admitted wrong doing. I just HATE the 60’s-70’s hippy montra, and when I see it the gloves come off. I would have to disagree with you on the torture and rape, b/c in today’s media if it happened it would be all over the Washingotn Post or New York Times. With the amount of embedded journalists we have these days, not much can be covered up. I distrouts me that you think that our soliders have tortured Iraqis (possibly the CIA or Area 51, or Seciton 9) and raped someone without any proof. That’s a sad look at our humanity.
                And your God comment, some people would say the physical evidence God exists is the Earth your standing on, oh and the fact you’re here. Other’s would call that evolution, and that the Earth was created out of nothing due to a Big Bang (b/c matter can neithe be created nor destroyed)

                • D says:

                  Yes but that isn’t proof. The Earth existing isn’t proof one way or another of what created it. But people still believe what they believe.

                  “b/c in today’s media if it happened it would be all over the Washington Post or New York Times.”
                  I disagree with that so strongly I can’t even find the words for it. But, alright.
                  As I said, with none of us being omniscient it’s all just opinions and yours and mine are equally ‘right’. It’s like Schrodinger’s cat… until there’s proof either way we’re both simultaneously ‘wrong’ and ‘right’. :P

                  “…our soldiers have tortured Iraqis”
                  I assume you mean ‘to death’, because otherwise there’s some proof to the contrary out there for you.

                  “…raped someone without any proof”
                  Um? You mean those Abu Gharib photos that your government has refused to release? Yeah, they’re clearly being open and honest about what’s going on when they say “um, we’re going to hide these for a while…”
                  And if you’re going to say “there’s no proof that rape was going on in the photos they’re hiding” then are you saying you don’t believe U.S. Major General Antonio Taguba:

                  “The images are among photographs included in a 2004 report into prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison conducted by U.S. Major General Antonio Taguba.
                  Taguba included allegations of rape and sexual abuse in his report, and on Wednesday he confirmed to the Daily Telegraph that images supporting those allegations were also in the file….

                  The newspaper said at least one picture showed an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee.
                  Others are said to depict sexual assaults with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.”

                  I mean, I haven’t seen the photos. I don’t know for sure what went on. But if you’re going to argue that media corporations would have let you know by now, you should look at examples where they have. And at all the things the government and media are openly refusing to disclose. There are whistle-blowers all over the place but it’s not being splashed on the front page of the Washington Post.

                  I believe these things have happened, because if there was nothing to hide, there wouldn’t be so much being hidden. ^_-

                  • sprent2922 says:

                    It’s weird but human beings in general seem to always assume the worst until evidence is given. If you see a group of men standing around a naked woman most people automatically assume a gang rape is about to happen. It’s only when you come back 10 min later to find they pulled out their easels and are in a painting class. The human imagination is a warped and scary place and that’s why I try to hold off any assumptions until I see the facts. You know what they say about assume.

                  • Anniee451 says:

                    The perpetrators in the Abu Ghraib abuses went to prison for their crimes. The point is, the US and the US military do not endorse or condone such abuses. And of course these crimes, which were punished, are not to be confused with the legal activities that went on in a completely different place – Gitmo. Had anyone at Gitmo tortured people the way the guards at the prison in Ghraib had, they too would have been punished. Two entirely different stories going on there of course. The US doesn’t endorse or allow torture. Which is a good thing. Though after the beheadings, I sure as hell wanted blood.

                • PB, just on the Big Bang and the criticism of matter being “created”, that’s not the concept- The idea is that, for some reason, all the matter in the universe was packed into an unbelievably dense, small space, which was super-hot because of everything packed in there, and for some reason the matter exploded outwards, and that caused the spread of space the way we have it today. (with the exception of gravitational pulls.)
                  See, the Big Bang criticism you’re making here is technically invalid because no matter would actually be created or destroyed (hence it would follow the laws of science), just would’ve become unstable and spread out at an exponential rate. I’m not going to say whether it’s right or wrong, because really I don’t know and wasn’t around when the Universe formed, but I’m just trying to correct the criticism you’ve made there, because it isn’t what the theory states.

                  • Anniee451 says:

                    In the beginning there was singularity, and the singularity was without form and void…

                  • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                    But how did that matter come to be? What or who, or it, created that matter? When sceince can answer me that question I will stop believeing in a diety. Of course mine has his own name… Chuck Norris.

            • Jane St.Clair says:

              Thanks buddy! ;)

          • sprent2922 says:

            Wow Just….Wow Really? What’s it like in your fantasy world? it must be a dark and violent place.

      • Tyler says:

        And what you don’t have is punctuation soitsallarunonsentencethatsoundslikethis!

      • Eric-in-STL says:

        steve? Is that you?

    • paws4thot says:

      How about esprit de corps and morale? Aren’t those worth displaying, or even fostering?

      Certainly they’re 2 of the reasons why ILPB and I were agreeing about the Israelii military above!

    • Peanut Butter Ftw says:

      Theres no such thing as Honour or Dignity in war.
      Theres you dieing or the other guy dieing. No middle ground there
      When you get to the point where the enemy is anyone and anywhere, Yes a good joke now and then no matter what humor is needed. Everyone needs a little moral boast now and then.

      In Gentleman’s War It Was An Objective To Die For Thy Own Nation.
      In Modern Warfare Its making the other bastard die for his

      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

        PB FTW: A) Only one Peanut Butter allowed and THAT’s ME!!!
        B) So you’re telling me that the troops coming home should feel no honor? That the men who died, did not die honorably? HMMMM any Vets of FW wanna chime in here?

        • Semperfidd says:

          PB FTW: Without war evil would rule the day/world. Are you saying that there is no honor in fighting for and defending good?

          • Danbala says:

            “Without war evil would rule the day/world.”

            Cite please. No, but seriously – are you absolutely certain?

            • Anniee451 says:

              War has never solved anything except…(link to T-shirt – read the back.)

              • Danbala says:

                Too bad it said “naziism”.

                I know that war has had its points, I am not certain things would be shot to hell without it. I mean – I believe more in people than that, I guess.

                • Anniee451 says:

                  Well I can’t argue with that. Sometimes it’s necessary is about as far as I’d go.

                • Semperfidd says:

                  “I believe more in people than that, I guess.” I too believe in the good in people and believe that there is more “good” out there than bad, but the fact remains there are bad/evil people out there and because of this there will always be some sort of conflict be it war, protest etc.

                  • Danbala says:

                    Yes. I also think that war equally often cause all those things that we usually refer to as evil. I also believe that some sort of conflict will always be present. I also very, very much hope that we can move away from thinking the war form is as effecient as we seem to think today. It is a last minute, short term solution to problems at best, I believe.

                    And, yes, no matter how you turn it around, it causes a hell of a lot of death and suffering. :/

                    • Semperfidd says:

                      I’m not sure if I would agree with it always being a short term solution but I do agree that there is alot of death and suffering that accompany war.

                      • Danbala says:

                        Thinking about it more, I would say that it is not necessarily short-term always, but often enough for me to feel that we (humanity) have a tendency to take to war a bit too easily.

                        The short-termedness I am thinking of is mostly because I find it so sad that it’s a fairly common notion that you can bomb a country into becoming a democracy – bomb people into “thinking right”. I think war is often more “medicating the symptoms” rather than dealing with the actual disease. (And it’s a medication with some nasty side effects. :/ )

                        So yeah. I am totally against war, but pragmatic enough to realise that there’d be chaos if all “sensible and good” nations would stop all warfare today.

                        … and now I’m just rambling. :p

            • Semperfidd says:

              “Cite please. No, but seriously – are you absolutely certain?” Source would be me. That is my personal opinion. It doesn’t have to be from someone famous to be true does it?

              “are you absolutely certain?” No. I don’t think that there is much, if anything in life that is absolute certainty…even in death some people belive that you come back in another form, body..whatever.

              • No, but you can’t state it as fact if it’s your opinion.

                • Semperfidd says:

                  I will be sure to preface all my futher comments with “this is my opinion” lol.

                  • Nah, just the ones containing your opinion.
                    Just don’t state it as fact- that’s where you’ll REALLY get in trouble. If it’s an opinion, I’d recommend “What I think is-” or “In my opinion”, maybe an “As far as I can see” if it fits the situation. ;)

              • Deep Thought says:

                Famous, no. Intelligent and educated? YES!

                • Semperfidd says:

                  “Famous, no. Intelligent and educated? YES!” If I take this to be derogitory then my reply is:

                  So if I post an “opionion” that you do not agree with I am not intelligent or educated?

                  If you are inferring that I am intelligent and educated….then I thank you very much :o )

                  • Deep’s usually pretty neutral, Semper. If he posts something that I take as derogatory, I usually get the reference later and think I’m an idiot. :/ Anyway, what I think he’s saying is that to be correct you needn’t be a celebrity- just intelligent and educated about the issue.
                    By the way… Is there a reason your name is Semper Fi double-D? ;)

              • Danbala says:

                I thought the “no, but seriously” gave away that I didn’t actually mean that you’d need to give sources. However, it was stated as a fact, which I will remain doubtful to it being, which caused that particular jocular remark.

  14. I Like Peanut Butter says:

    Though this is dumb: At least it ain’t Palin.

  15. someonewho says:

    Post here if u think this thread is stupid.

  16. JohnO says:

    This picture got a lot of comments sharpish…

  17. Jojo says:

    God bless our troops and their sick sense of humor. Well the only Iraqis that want us gone are the ones that want to take control of the country in less-than-democratic means.

    Ask a soldier or a Marine. They know that we’re needed and wanted there. It’s only the pussy liberals and the insurgents that don’t want us there.

    • Tyler says:

      “Pussy liberal”
      You, my friend, and your moronic posts, are going down in my notebook as how NOT to win an argument.

    • Sash says:

      A soldier weighed in upthread, and you called him a pussy.

      • Danbala says:

        He wasn’t the right sort of soldier for Jojo. Jojo wants them bloodthirsty and rugged. Jojo longs for the Real Men. Poor Jojo. :(

        • Well, he thought he was a loner, but he knew it wouldn’t last.

        • Sash says:

          Nice. Seriously, though, I see this attitude all the time and it drives me nuts. People are all, “WAH!!! SOLDIERS ARE TEH HEROES!!!” and jump all over anyone who suggests they ever do or say anything wrong, but as soon as a soldier disagrees with them about something, said soldier is a liberal pussy. It’s one of the more self-absorbed attitudes I can think of. There’s supporting the troops, and there’s exploiting the troops. If your deference boils down to agreeing with what *you* think, then you’re not being grateful or patriotic, you’re just being a douche.

          • I Like Peanut Butter says:

            Sash: I think you mean SOME people. Not all people. If the guys been there, then so be it, I’ll respect his opinion. I also know that there are differing opinions within the Military. To the contray of what some liberals do think, Military men are not robots, but taught to think. Therefore **GASP** they won’t tought the party line.
            Just like you and I may disagree about how to deal with a stressful day at work. Me: I like to either go blow up stuff on a computer game, go for a run, yell at the idiots in fron of me on the highway, or just make my daughter laugh. You might want to do something else and think me shooting people in a video game is teaching me violence, or yelling at stupid people on the highway is counter productive, or making my duaghter laugh isn’t teaching her discipline or something. But it’s my way of dealing with things. I think I’ve rambled enough.

            • Sash says:

              I think we’re on the same page. I did mean some people, and what I really object to is the blanket “he put his life on the line for your freedom, don’t you say he’s wrong” attitude that mysteriously disappears *in certain people* when it comes to Kerry/McCain/insert-person-*those certain people*-want-to-say-is-wrong-here.

              As for me, I don’t think soldiers are infallible, and I don’t think they should be treated as such. But you can extend a *lot* of well-deserved understanding and benefit of the doubt without overdoing it (case in point: this lol is obviously way out of context, so I’m not even going to judge). It’s a fuzzy line, and I’m cool with people not drawing it where I do, as long as they’re consistent about it.

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                But honestly Kerry wasn’t a solider, was he? I kid I kid I kid.

                I understand what you’re saying. I think I’d give soldiers more lee-way, just like cops and firefighters. I couldn’t do what they do (I’d probably need to wear depends if I was on the front line), and I respect that whole heartidly. I do however think that at times people are quick to crucify sodiers for “wrong-doing”, rather than see what the truth of the case is. This picture though is pretty funny, still not as funny as the You Tube video of the solider asking the IRaqi taxi driver to ask insurgents to come out and play.

            • Semperfidd says:

              Thanks for standing up for vetrans ILPB

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                I know without them I’d be saying Lift instead of Elevator, Aboot instead of about, or worse Schnell instead of Fast.
                Now maybe Obama can “Bail out” the VA Hospitals.

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                PS no thanks needed. Thank them (and you if you’re one) for helping make my life that much safer.

            • Danbala says:

              “To the contray of what some liberals do think, Military men are not robots, but taught to think. ”

              This is exactly why I won’t buy the wholesale “respect for all and any military personnel no matter how asshattery they behave“. The military situation, especially when in some sort of combat/conflict situation surely is terribly bad and stressful, and the situation itself is probably much more to blame for any bad behaviour of individual personnel than their personalities or own wills are. Despite this, it is hard for me to let go of the notion that every individual military (wo)man still somehow, somewhere should still be in possession of a brain and able to tell right from wrong. And yeah, I know that isn’t really the case. (Wossface experiment in the 70s… Stanford Prison Experiment.)

              So. Yeah. They are taught to think, and should be able to do so, but not really, and …

              Anyway. I have respect for all people serving in the military. I have respect for all people. I don’t respect all peoples’ actions, not all soldiers’ actions either. I don’t buy into any form of blanket statement worship-style “respect” for the military, nor the, to me, rather sickening sentimentality about anything war-related.

        • Jojo says:

          I like soldiers and Marines that are bloodthirsty and rugged. They’re the only kind that can survive in combat. The panzy bitch ones that would be like the liberals on this thread, wouldn’t survive more than a few seconds out there. They would be complaining that they’re getting sand in their sunblock.

          • Eric-in-STL says:

            You’re wasting oxygen that could be better used by other more worthwhile members of society, including liberals and “panzy bitch [sic]” soldiers. Please hold your breath until further notice.

            • Jojo says:

              Worthwhile? Like a lying president or his sheep followers? No… Not in the slightest.

              You should realize how much of a waste of human you are and just kill yourself.

              • I disagree, and think you should take your own goddamned advice. At least Eric makes people laugh, while you’re just an asshole.

              • Eric-in-STL says:

                “just kill yourself.”
                Is that the best you can do? I’m not amused by such worthless insults, much less offended. And as for the lying president and his sheep followers: baaaaaaah, mother fvcker.

                • “I’m insulted FOR you, Eric. You deserve higher-quality insults. Like “cock-swatting fly-torching hypocrite douche who probably f*cks his granddad in the ass twice a day and carries around an acoustic guitar and strums but can’t actually play.”
                  Now THAT is insulting. :D
                  Sorry, I just felt that I should release some of this creative energy in insults that you could use on trolls later. :P

          • Ceefax says:

            The knucklehead “bloodthirsty” rambo wanabees you have such a man-crush on are usually the first to get themselves and their comrades shot.

          • sprent2922 says:

            I voted for obama and did to tours in Iraq. Including living out of an Iraqi police station in Adhamayia in 2007. I’ve been shot at blown up by a few IEDs and had motars land in my room. (Destroyed my roommates laundry with shrapnel, He had two t-shirts for a week. Beliefs don’t make a soldier. They’re training, instincts and willingness to act and defend their comrades do. If you’re so hard core I’ll just assume your typing your post from Iraq or Afghanistan so I’ll probably not see a reply. I know the guys over there are busy so no worries.

    • Eric-in-STL says:

      I’m a pussy liberal with anger management issues. Let’s see how much posting you wanna do with a hockey stick shoved up your ass.
      Oh wait, this is the Internet. We’ll never meet, so it’s okay for you to act like a big shot online and call people pussies. What a retard.

  18. Kelly says:

    dey puts un apostraffe in de werd “photos”… feil

    • the_original_shortright says:

      we use english ’round these parts. keep up the cheeseburger speak if you want to see a REAL fail.

  19. sprent2922 says:

    OK to all the people who have only experienced Iraq through CNN and believe this would spark a rot in the streets. Let me explain something. Iraqi has had an awful education system. Many Iraqis can not read their own language above a third grade level. Classes are just now being brought up to better standards. The odds of anyone seeing this and understanding it are about 1 in 7,000. It could happen but it’s not likely. Just like I doubt many of you here can read arabic. Should they have put this on their truck? No. Not because it’s not PC. I mean I could care less about a joke when the mosques have real messages telling people to “kill the Americans” blasting over 6 city blocks. They shouldn’t have done it because it makes their movements and arrival and departure time easier to follow by setting themselves apart from the other HMMWVs on patrol.

  20. Dave says:

    There is no apostrophe in plurals you morons. So no wonder the rest of the world hates us, we only send idiots overseas.

    • Tyler says:

      Yayyyy for unbased assumptions that insult the troops based on a grammatical error and one jackass making a stupid sign!
      Oh, wait, I forgot, I’m not a crazy idiot who likes to judge people based on a picture.

    • sprent2922 says:

      yup that’s why N. Korea is so pissed as us. Damn that awful grammar. It’s going to get us all killed!

    • Charlie Foxtrot says:

      Quick, who can spell bullet before it hits you!

    • Jane St.Clair says:

      Because the rest of the world obviously reads English and knows the difference between plural and possessive in our language? Apparently we don’t send all our idiots overseas. I mean, unless you are in Iraq as well.

  21. zazzi says:

    … because US uses too much photoshop?

  22. Lllll. says:

    …UPDATE…

  23. fenrisilver says:

    I love how they don’t state which to wait for: a camera flash or a muzzle flash.

    • Danbala says:

      What? I don’t get it. What do you mean?

      • fenrisilver says:

        The words are written on the armor plating of a mounted machine gun. Given people from Iraq can understand the sign, what do you think the person operating the gun’s going to do while those people are standing still for a photo?

        • Danbala says:

          Sorry. I was being some sort of unfunny sarcastic. I thought the whole point of the joke was what you pointed out in your first post, and therefore called a “Captain Obvious” in that manner.

          Really not very necessary. I was in a foul mood from reading through quite a few other posts in this thread, and apologise.

          • fenrisilver says:

            Oh. Its ok really, I couldn’t tell you were being sarcastic. I’m new to the site, and that first post was my first post ever. Sorry If it wasn’t funny. I’m beginning to think it was a bad idea, this thread appears to be a bit controversial.

            • I always thought the word was “Fenrisulfr”? I mean, Fenrir’s full name- Feel free to correct me if that’s not what you’re referring to or if I’m wrong about it :)

              • fenrisilver says:

                Yes you’re right. I liked his name, and I wanted to change it in some way so I could use it, so I replaced ’sulfr’ with ’silver’, as they’re similar. I know its not the most original name, but I like it, and I’ve never met single other fenrisilver on the internet, so I’m content with it :)

            • Danbala says:

              Oh! Don’t worry! You’re right, this thread is among the less laid back, but then again all lols here tend to get some heated debate (not always at all related to the lol). Keep posting and please don’t let one stupid, tired, angry person (me at that time) make it feel unfunny!

  24. AngryCat says:

    Aww, man, there were way better LOL’s made with this pic than this one…

  25. monique says:

    I look at these comments and the ones that feel they have to degrade the US military are just ass holes. Other countries, if u were in this war and went through what we go though you would do the same thing. The people in the Army are gone for up to a yr or more. They miss out on the birth of a child, a birthday, a family death. You name it we miss out. If some people decided to take over 3 planes and crash it into one of your important buildings killing hundreds of innocent civilians you’d be upset also. These people dont fight fair. We wear a uniform, u know us when u see us. They dont. They wear plain clothes. They FREAKIN USE CHILDREN to kill people. We have laws of war that we must obey. They dont. If we violate one of those laws it is punishible under the UCMJ. We can be put to jail forever. You know, I give up my rights for the American people, are do thousands of other Americans, and this is the thanks we get. People over there need noe moral to get through the day. Walk a day in their shoes. U know what, if u have a problem, email me moniquewebb@rocketmail.com

  26. Cowlifornia says:

    ignoring the dribble, whats written on the gun is a good lol :P

    • Anniee451 says:

      Yep, requires no caption, really. Though I did caption it mentioning our boys have a sense of humor despite their conditions. I like it. (Not the caption used here, in case that wasn’t clear – the picture.)

  27. Anniee451 says:

    The people who get so upset by this picture have this image that on the other side of that military man is a quaint little village with little children carrying water from a well, and women with babies on their hips trying to get to the grocery, and this guy is just randomly shooting at these civilians. When obviously that isn’t the case; it’s that infantile view of war where we just go into towns and shoot the place and people up, when that isn’t even remotely what we do. If we could just get a 180 on this to see what he’s really looking at, no one would bat an eye about the funny caption on his shield, FFS.

    • Danbala says:

      “The people who get so upset by this picture have this image that on the other side of that military man is a quaint little village with little children carrying water from a well, and women with babies on their hips trying to get to the grocery, and this guy is just randomly shooting at these civilians.”

      No.

    • Tyler says:

      Anniee, I imagine some people still would because he’s making a joke about shooting people, although I don’t mind the dark humor in it, I’m sure plenty of people do. :/

  28. heyimrandom says:

    WoW… no wonder why..

  29. thedarkwolf25 says:

    That is just hilarious! it shows that even in the face of possible death or dismemberment they can have a sense of humor.

  30. burningbush says:

    I lived in NY before the Iraq War started and I could not find a single person who supported it.

    I lived in NY after the war had started, and I couldn’t find anyone who opposed it.

    “Support Your Troops” is the biggest scam in modern history… a poor justification, and an obvious repercussion from the anti-war Vietnam days.

    It’s a shame what happened to the U.S.. It used to be a great country, and friendly and full of hope. Now it is aggressive and arrogant and very childish.

    I took part in a protest in NY once, was arrested, and had a cop say to me that “This is a free country, so why don’t you shut the f**k up!”…

    I’ve left the States since, burned my greencard, and life is so much better in Europe, so much better unlike anything any of you will know in the States…

    • I Like Peanut Butter says:

      Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!!!

      • paws4thot says:

        How about making that “Don’t let the door spank you on your brain on the way out BB”?

        • burningbush says:

          The sad thing is… you’re all just proving my point….

          • paws4thot says:

            How does a Briton agreeing with an American that you’re acting like an idiot prove your point?

            • I Like Peanut Butter says:

              Wait! We agree….. again…. this is becoming a habit. I think we need to stop. ;-)

            • I Like Peanut Butter says:

              Paws: I think burningcrotch was trying to get at the fact that we were ok with him leaving America as arrogant and childish. However what I don’t think he/she understands is that by expecting us to accept his/her view that America is arrogant mean children or something (and Apologize for it), he/she is being kind of arrogant. Since we didn’t say “Burningcrotch, we’re sorry your time in America wass so aweful, and we’re sorry for what we’ve become and treated you, please not all Americans are like that, please give us a second chance” that we were being childish. You know Onfirebetweenthelegs’ presence in America graced the American people, and we should have been honored he/she was here. Sorry, if you don’t appreciate America for what she is, See ya wouldn’t wanna be ya.

    • Squiggly says:

      The problem with that is there is a BIG HUGE MASSIVE difference between supporting the troops and supporting the war. You can be against the war and still show plenty of support for the brave men and women who become soldiers.
      I was not in favor of the war and still am not, but I fully support the soldiers because I realize they aren’t just mindless machines we send into battle. Those soldiers are people. Each of them has a family, each of them has a face and a name, each of them has a life I’m sure they would love to come back to and so many of them won’t get to. That’s why even though I am against the war, I fully support the men and women over there fighting it.
      And as for the U.S. being arrogant, aggressive and childish, every country has people in it like that. Those faults are NOT exclusive to the U.S. so please don’t act like they. You cannot judge an entire country based on a poor experience you had. It would be the same thing as if an American went to another country, say France or England, and had a bad time then came back saying “Oh all English people are stuck-up” or “The French are so rude.” It’s simple wrong to generalize an entire country that way.

      • I Like Peanut Butter says:

        Squiggly: All English people have bad teeth!!!!! And all French like wine!!!! :-) I kid I kid.
        Good points, however I still prefer my response better. :-)

        • Squiggly says:

          Ah, well I suppose yours being a short-but-not-so-sweet response would be preferred by many over my wordy one.
          Frankly, I’m fairly certain mine will get the “skim” treatment and thus someone not reading carefully will call me a hypocrite/idiot/unpatriotic traitor. :\ Que sera sera.
          Side note: I thought everyone enjoyed wine every now and again…

          • I Like Peanut Butter says:

            Words suck!!! only a$$holes write long entries here. ***looks above at his 10 page entry*** DAMN IT!!!!

        • paws4thot says:

          How about “All Americans are obcessed with having unnaturally white and even teeth” (seriously, strong teeth are naturally ivory coloured; white ones are weak or bleached)?

          Squiggly was part right about the French though; it’s “all Parisian French are rude to anyone who doesn’t speak fluent Parisian French”.

          • I Like Peanut Butter says:

            Paws: So wait you didn’t mention the even part!!!! How is having straight teeth so BAD!!! :-)

            Hey it’s not just the Parisians that feel that way. I was in La Havre (great little town except for the locals), and asked for Vino de Rogue and the lady luaghed at me. As an Ameircan at least I was trying. But my god was it good, and the fresh bread YUMMY!!!

            • paws4thot says:

              I didn’t say having straight teeth was bad; I said that having unnaturally straight teeth was. I’ll admit I’m guessing a bit, but I reckon something like 90% of the World population do not have perfect teeth.

              And I don’t get the French attitude either; I tend to avoid France and go holiday in Southern Germany or Austria, where I’m a great guy because I know about 1_000 useful words of German, mostly with a Scottish accent!

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                Wait don’t the French speak with German accents?!?!?!

                Ein bier bier bitte!!!

                I remember when I was in Germany (drunk off my ars in Bremerhaven GREAT CITY) I kept trying to talk to people in Spanish (b/c that’s the only other language I knew)….. ahh God drunken American sailors, gotta love us…

      • Danbala says:

        And as for the U.S. being arrogant, aggressive and childish, every country has people in it like that.

        Now you’re doing the same thing as with the supporting troops/war. The US comes agcross as arrogant, aggressive and childish. Not the poeple in it.

        • Squiggly says:

          I have a hard time separating it when people say certain countries are (insert possibly insulting adjective here) because quite often they are referring to the people in it.
          Or at least they have in my experience. :\
          But hey, thanks for pointing that out. I’ll try to be more careful about that kind of thing.

          • Danbala says:

            Yeah, I know what you mean. That is often what people are after in my experience too.

            Regarding this particular matter; the way I perceive the US right now is that the former administration had an attitude that came across as just that; childish, aggressive and arrogant. With the thereupon following propaganda and general wishing to be patriotic I experienced that at least a few of my American acquaintances suddenly came across as a bit more childish, aggressive and arrogant too. :/

            • Squiggly says:

              That’s quite a shame. :( I certainly hope I haven’t come across as any of those things. I’m American if you hadn’t already guessed.
              What country are you from? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.

              • I Like Peanut Butter says:

                You arrogant pig!!! Oh sorry, knee jerk reaction… :-)

              • Danbala says:

                It is a shame. People I thought were relatively broadminded and generally life-clever (like street smart but more global ;p) suddenly were going “Mwahaha france are chicken and have never won a war and they’re chicken mwahaha chicken”, when as far as I saw it going “Non!” in the face of the Bush administration’s “either you’re with us or you’re against us” was actually a rather assertive stance. Oh, well.

                I am born in, and live in Sweden. The wonderful land of “let’s budge out of the entire WWII by letting the nazis use our railways as long as they don’t do us any harm. My entire family is Finnish, so I’m one of those who grew up with grandparents who were actually fighting an unpleasant war (as if there was any other kind) to protect their homes, very literally.

                And, to get back to my gripe with the US: I think you have the potential to be the world leaders. Calling the POTUS “leader of the free world” could one day actually be true, but over the last decades, the US has been trying to be the biggest and the baddestest through bullying (I paint with a broad brush here), which is so frigging unnecessary and counterproductive.

                You can make any country a plinking* parking lot, which gives you all the more reason to be gracious and I’d love to see the US trying to be leaders through setting a good example. I think Obama is doing a good job stabilizing things just through being less in-your-face, and … yeah things look better than they have in a while, from where I see it.

                *) The sound glass** makes as it cools down
                **) Formerly sand

                • Less in your faceness?
                  THAT WILL NEVER HAPPENNN!!!
                  Just kidding, I’d like to see a more passive approach to the world from the US too. The way we project ourselves as a huge superpower, seems to me to just be *ASKING* for trouble from any number of people.
                  However, I’m French-Canadian and live in America and we’ve been doing the whole france is chicken bit since my dad was my age. I don’t actually mean it, but it’s just funny to me :P

                  • Danbala says:

                    “…and we’ve been doing the whole france is chicken bit since my dad was my age. I don’t actually mean it, but it’s just funny to me”

                    Heh… I was just amazed when the “freedom fries”-thing came up. Turning a refusal to play along with the world’s only superpower into “being cowards” was, to me, a beautiful (in a morbid way) feat of propaganda. Or media bias … Eh, yeah, that’s right – that can be called “propaganda”. :p

                    I am not sure I would say the US needs to be much more passive. I think the world in general should be a bit more clever in picking its fights, and if the US would be to the UN what it could be to the UN instead of going off on John Wayne-style shoot-em-ups while saying the UN is useless (which it is atm), I strongly believe we could accomplish the same, or better, end results without killing as many people.

                    So, the US should be in everyone’s face, but in a more stylish way. I guess. ;p

    • Eric-in-STL says:

      Yes, we are arrogant, aggressive, and childish. And I’m still quite happy to live here. So GFY. USA! USA! USA!

  31. Casa says:

    Feck, I lol’ed. Looks like something we’d do, then get in trouble for later… because it messed up a paint job.

  32. Jake says:

    The China Syndrome…. US and UK will kick their ass if they try to start anything.

  33. collegekitteh says:

    Evidently the guy in the tank is a smart-ass.
    LMFAO

  34. F_K says:

    photo’s? Wow I’d put this on Engrish Funny too.

  35. mitch says:

    wake up people…become an info warrior…spread the truth…www.infowars.com this just brings us closer to a New World Order. wait until those us soldiers and tanks are firing upon you…the American people…like they practice in drills taking out American militia groups so we can’t perform our constitutional duties of destroying a government that becomes to corrupt. and they label the american citizens as terrorists…because we own guns and exercise other constitutional rights. grow some hair on your balls and stand up to this tyranny…they have us believe we spread democracy when it only brings everything into tyranny. the US is no democracy…it was founded as a republic…Also…audit the PRIVATE NON FEDERAL federal reserve bank. RON PAUL!!!!

    • Ceefax says:

      Hahahaha, infowars. Do you find BacoFoil is the only choice when making your hat or does storeband work just as well?

      • Eric-in-STL says:

        Nah, you gotta get the heavy duty Reynold’s Wrap. BacoFoil is what they TRICK you into buying for your foil hat. It’s actually created by the government but THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT!!!

    • Danbala says:

      This post is an excellent example of how missing capitalization at the start of sentences, combined with bad puntuation in general, makes stuff illegible.

      (Re: the discussion about the_original_shortright’s lazy shift key… :) )

      • Danbala says:

        … and I suppose my post will have to be an example of how the occasional missed letter does not make things completely illegible. :p

        I mean “punctuation”, ofc.

  36. The Pirate King says:

    This is probably photo-shopped. The military is so PC nowadays that there is no way you could get away with that. All additions to equipment have to go up the chain of command and be approved. We have so many briefings to go to on this subject that no officer would sign off on something like what was “written” on that guys turret.

  37. I just got this off the “Random” button.
    Proof that I’ve been pressing it too much? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every LOL they’ve posted on the site.

  38. KidKennimer says:

    It is interesting to me that comments on things like this photo jump from war to war throughout our history. It also seems like everyone forgets the Vietnam Conflict, Korea, Gulf “War” Conflict, The War in Afghanistan, Our own countries Fight for Independence from Britian,
    Many of you along with others here mention that we go fight Wars in others countries to protect our Freedoms. People from other countries have come here to our own American soil and threatened us. The Civil War was fought right here among ourselves. Because two sets of Beliefs. The World Trade Center was bombed twice if you recall. The second time they brought it down. We didn’t do that ourselves and it wasn’t even Home grown Terrorists. They came here from another country because they blamed Americans. They shouldn’t have had a second chance. Some of you should check the history books and read newspapers, not the front page but look deeper for the truth. Ask relatives who lived through the history. Ask someone who survived the Great Depression, I mean someone who actually lived it and they will tell you that the War is what saved us from the Depression. It created jobs where there weren’t any, it gave Americans something to unite together for and support our young men and woman. Who gave lives to protect our rights and freedoms. Think about the sacrifices others have made so you can go to bed at night and sleep not wondering if someone will park a car loaded with explosives outside you front door just be cause you believe something other than your neighbor. So you can dress as you please, work as you please, pray if you want to, to whomever or whatever you please. None of this Freedom was “Free”. It has been costing our families since the beginning time. I do believe in Freedom and the right to choose. Remember the young men and woman you are calling Morons, because they were trying to get through yet another 130 degree day sitting in the broiling sun protecting your Freedoms and your country would probably rather be home with their families and wives and children and friends sitting around enjoying life.

  39. KidKennimer says:

    Ceefax,

    You just proved my point. You don’t read.

    • Ceefax says:

      It’s not that I didn’t read it, or that I didn’t understand it, it’s that I disagree. I don’t think coalition forces attacking Iraq has made them any safer in terms of terrorist attack, in fact quite the opposite – I think it’s squandered a lot of good will and directed sources away from where the war should be being fought, on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. I also don’t think that “The economy’s bad, war will make jobs!” is a good reason for attacking a country. Do you think that would be a valid reason for countries experiencing financial problems at home to declare war on the US?

  40. I hate you all says:

    I’d just like to say, I happy you all feel the way you do about my friends who have fought and died for something you have no clue about. Have you been to iraq? Have u seen the looks on the faces of the ppl who live there, or do you just listen to the propiganda spoon feed to you by the ppl who have bigger ego’s the the sun has gravity? I have seen it, heard it, heard the cries of friends and the those of a frighten ppl, Who are THANKFUL that we are there to help them. Ppl like me fight and die, and we do it because we know why we are there, when we look into the eyes of the children, and the smiles of the faces of those we stay. The reason they hate is us, is because The for the few, Ppl who are stuck in the mind set, that americans are the best. And the ppl who cant respect others, The soldiers who shoot villagers sheep, or rape thier women, thats is why they hate us. No because of the this supposed war. Dont blame a country, blame the individuals who commit those attrocities. Those same ppl treat americans the same way.

    • Danbala says:

      …but if you read the comments here, _most_ are actually objecting to this particular form of humour so blatantly on display, from what I understand seeing in it some of that behaviour like the atrocities of which you speak, although on a different scale.

      Really. Most of us here, no matter what we think of the war seem to have respect for what you are doing. Much like with arseholes in the military being the most noticeable, arseholes on internet forums are too. :p

    • I’m glad you hate me and everyone here.
      So, because your name is “I hate you all” you don’t happen to have the “For the few”/I’ll get my own mindset you talk so lowly of, do you? And not everyone agrees with the arguments you’ve tried to trash, thanks, but you still insulted EVERYONE here instead of insulting the individuals.
      Do you not see the hypocrisy in that?

  41. johnnysnow says:

    You want me to look up to and respect someone who paints such a message on a tank? C’mon.

    All this about American Soldiers protecting our freedom is total and complete bullshit. You only meddle where it’s good for your interests. Where were the US Troops when the military dictactorships rose around South America? I’ll tell you where, in Carriers around the coasts to support said dictators. What the US are doing down Iraq, what they tried to do down ‘Nam is no different from dictatorship. Heck, stop negotiating with Cuba only because they were still communist was inhuman.

    WWII? Yeah, it was all about the russians, whatever your distorted sense of patriotism might say. No, wait! You actually contributed a lot in the Japan scenario, I’ll give you that. Thanks! Oh, but wait once more, the war was pretty much won when you decided to Atomic Bomb the heck outta of the japanese just to showcase power and test a new weapon. Really, that’s just as monstrous as the very governments you criticize every now and then.

    Nothing against the US itself or its citizens, but when it comes to wars you guys (actually, your troops and rulers) really know how to be total douchebags.

    • burningbush says:

      Nice! I hope you are American, because it might restore what little faith I have left in the people there…

    • I Like Peanut Butter says:

      I’ll just talk about the Nuke. You are a complete moron. We dropped the bomb to save lives. The war was far from won. You obivoulsy do not understand the Japanese mentality during WWII. Of the 100,000 some odd soldiers defending Okinawa we took about 7,000 prisoners. That’s 7% surrendered, the rest commited suicide, died in battle, or were killed by their officers for failure. 1/5th of the civilian population died as well. If you want I could expand those numbers and compare to the fatalities from the A-Bombs. Bottom line we saved not only American lives by Japanese lives. So really before you open your stupid trap about WWII and Japan, learn you’re history.

      I would talk to the rest of your post, but I’m sure there’s a few million Kuwaitis who would argue about Americans fighting for their freedom. Or possibly a few hundred thousand Kruds. That could be me though…. dumb ass..

      • Erik says:

        Bullshit.. They dropped bombs to show them what happens when you attack the US. Personally, I don’t think that’s a reason to nuke the civil population. They were already beaten when the bombs fell.

        And Nazi-germany was already on it’s way to defeat by Sovjet. That’s another reason for US to get involved. They had a lot of money invested in Europe, and they didn’t want Sovjet to get it. So, it’s ridicoulous to say that the US saved Europe. They saved their own investments… that’s all.

        Nothing will ever change. Different empires (and corporations/organisations) that’s destroying the lives of others will always be around.

        I can’t believe that there’s still retarded FOX-wathcers who believe that it’s about freedom…

  42. Phishy Gutz says:

    WOWY I WAN’T A PHOTO TOO!!!!!

  43. ungh says:

    anyone that doesn’t chuckle at that needs to get a stickectomy to remove the stick from their ass

  44. Name says:

    This is disgusting. War and killing are things no one should chuckle at…least of all those fighting the war and doing the killing. I’d hate for this to be the last thing I saw.

  45. elizabeth busshaus says:

    hey can you delete my comments please? My “my comments” page on my blog is like totally overflowing from this page. Please!!!!!

  46. Ryaven says:

    ARGH! WHY THE F*CK CAN’T AMERICANS SPELL?!?!?!!??! It’s not Photo’s. You have no need for an apostrophe!

    Also, you have no need to be so flagrantly rude in another country. This is not funny.

    *ashamed to be American*

  47. 77nathan777 says:

    It’s not a spelling error you foreigner asshole…it’s called a grammatical error. But i wouldn’t expect you to understand any of that. What with your countries most likely low literacy level and all.

  48. Cameron says:

    Military Intelligence in action… a contradiction in terms
    only kidding, support the troops even if you don’t support the war
    just because someone throws a bomb at a soldier doesnt mean the whole country was happier being mustard gassed by Hussein


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