It really sucks. I cannot imagine what it is like to feel as it has not happened to me yet. My sympathies go out to those who knew him, and out to you.

It is tricky business waging war. This is what can happen when you put your unwavering faith in a leader, fall behind your nation and flag, and carry out an invasion on questionable pretenses. You question purpose. And I am sure the thousands of Germans who died in WWII were faithfully "risking their lives to serve their country". But still.

And I will leave it at that.

I hate to say this, but were they forced to join the military?

If you're honest, prepare to take some heat.

~Dan

PS My most recent blog is stemming from this, if anybody wants to read it.

Sorry about your loss., Tangled Wishes.

Those who weep in silence are the most heard by whomever only cares and understands..........God knows .....charlie poore

I am sorry for your loss. The people in Iraq dont wont any help from Europe or USA .

Thanks for being sympathetic everyone.
I don't really care about taking heat. I honestly don't care what anyone says about anything right now, say what u want, say what u don't want, I don't fucking care.

He volunteered to be in the Marines, he and a bunch of guys from my school always wanted to be in the marines because they thought it would be cool to carry around guns. Guess not huh?

He was shot in the head, not in combat, and they found his body in a church. He was eighteen. His birthday isn't until May.

I think Bush is a fuck.

~Anne

Shit I better add that I didn't "insult" or assault or whatever it was that Dan said a major group of people. I fucking said it's stupid for fucking kids to be over in a country fighting for something that seems pointless, and that I didn't fucking vote for Bush because A) I'm a democrat and i wasn't old enough to vote at the time. Can you read anything I write and not think anything "between the lines" because there WASN'T anything between them.

I don't like the government here, and I'm preparing to not worry about it because as soon as I finish college I'm moving away from this fucking country.

What the whole damn blog SAID, in my OWN summary, because I WROTE it and I would know what I was getting at is "Fuck Bush's decision to send troops to a place that would kill our soldiers when they aren't even fighting at the time, and fuck the people who think it's a good decision to send troops to the aforementioned place that the soldiers are being killed when they aren't fighting." I don't need a response to anything besides that, and if you think that there IS a reason for people being sent there, then fine, go ahead, I disagree. But I honestly don't care if you disagree because what matters to me is someone I cared about was murdered. For a reason, obviously, and not because HE was a bad person, but because someone in that country obviously doesn't want us over there.

And I don't think human lives are expendable. It's not worth dying over.

So there. And whatever you want to disagree, fine, that's great, but I don't really care to hear it.

Matt's dead, and that's that.

So which country would you move to? Canada? The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Sadly, Americans have died all over the world over the years often doing things that were quite nebulous. Bringing democracy to Iraq will, in the long term, bring peace and prosperity to those people and make us a lot safer. We are a lot safer having Saddam removed than leaving him there for the inevitable day when sanctions were lifted and either he or his psychopathic sons were in charge to do who knows what.

As wars go, this one was unusually justified.

Here's a list of the wars the US has been in:

War of 1812: Declared because a handful of US merchants were impressed into the British Navy. Thousands of Americans died and the most of Washington DC was burned to the ground by the British. Our President, James Madison, wrote most of the constitution.

Mexican/American War: We wanted Mexican territory so we seized it.

War of 1898: A US ship in Havana Harbor blows up likely due to a failure on the ship. The US declares war on Spain and seizes Cuba and the Philipines.

World War I: Germany declares unrestricted submarine warfare around the British Isles. So we declared war on them.

World War II: Japan attacks Pear Harbor, Germany and Japan both declare war on us.

Korean War: North Korea invades South Korea. US troops sent to defend South Korea.

Vietnam War: North Vietnam aims to unite all of Vietnam into a Communist country. US defends South Vietnam. Ultimately ends in a stalemate with the US leaving. North Vietnam ultimately violates the agreement and conquers South Vietnam anyway. US doesn't respond.

Gulf War I: Iraq invades Kuwait. US and UN give Saddam an ultimatium to leave Kuwait or be forced to leave. US and Coalition forces liberate Kuwait but stop short of removing Saddam (since that wasn't part of the UN mandate). A cease fire is called in which Iraq agrees to UN inspections, a no-fly zone over the norther and southern part of the country to protect the Kurd and Shites respectively, and reparations to Kuwait.

Afghanistan: After 3 hijacked airliners crash into the WTC and Pentagon (a 4th was retaken by the passengers and crashed into the ground), the US determines that a worldwide terrorist network, Al Qaeda, was responsible and is mainly based in Afghanistan. After demanding that the Afghan Taliban government hand them over being refused, US forces work with "the northern alliance" to eliminate the Taliban government and eject most of Al Qaeda from that country.

Gulf War II: Iraq, having thrown out the inspectors, not paid reparations, and regularly firing on US/UK planes patrolling the no-fly zone is given an ultimatum in the unanimously passed resolution 1441: Abide by the previous agreements or suffer "serious consequences". He is given 90 days to do so. By February, it's clear Saddam is playing the same old games. Coalition forces remove Saddam from power.

Now, if you look at this together, it's pretty clear that as wars go, this one had more thought and justification to it than most efforts the US has been involved in (the war of 1898, the war of 1812, and the Mexican-American war are all 3 wars that are pretty hard to justify IMO).

I tend to think that most people just don't know much on these wars. IN the Mexican-American war, the US army actually conquered Mexico. Not just some piece of it. US forces conquered Mexico City. If they had had mass communications back then, there's a pretty good chance that most of Mexico would have been incporated into the United States.  Similarly, the war of 1812 was incredibly foolish and had virtually no justification that I can find. And as for the Spanish-American war, imagine the reaction today of US troops fighting and dying in the Philipines because some old US ship blew up for unknown reasons 90 miles south of Florida.

50,000 Americans died defending Korea. What was the justification for that? It was a rural nation on the other side of the world with no national interest to us. I certainly grieve for every one of the hundreds of Americans who have died in Iraq, their sacrifice will ultimately help a great many people in the long run.

Most defeated enemies of the United States have benefited in some way. If Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and California had remained part of Mexico, does anyone think the citizens there today would be better off? Does anyone think that Japan and Germany aren't better off today than they would have been otherwise? France, which regularly whines about US "unilateralism" only exists today because the same gang liberated them from the Germans (and was it not French unilateralism that aided the US revolution? The French justification for helping us was basically to piss off the British). 

The point is, what we're doing in Iraq is almost certainly going to benefit everyone on all sides (well, not the terrorists probably).  We won't have to worry that some dictator is using his billions in oil wealth to plot some horrible revenge on the United States or its friends.  Iraqi's won't have to worry about having their children taken from them and tortured, killed and imprisoned simply as a way to "teach the parents a lesson". Iraq's neighbors don't have to worry about becoming a "province" of "Greater Iraq".

In other words, the benefit being gained from the war in Iraq is great and our sacrifice has been relatively low. But not absolute zero. When people worry about the details of justifying the war they ignore the bigger picture. Most wars in history have had little or no justification. The US is no exception to this. But what is exceptional is the long term results - US actions do tend to benefit other peoples. There is no denying this.  People who carp about the UN not agreeing with this or that ignore the obvious - the UN was created by the United States. It wasn't a team effort. It was wholy a US idea with British backing that the US then talked others into being involved with. And the UN was an action that resulted from World War II.

Wars are hell. But they do bring change both good and ill. But based on history and based on a broader look at the situation, the war in Iraq is likely to benefit everyone in the long run.

Over the last half day, the only thing I've been able to think is "Fuck Iraq."

SO I SAY FUCK IRAQ and FUCK you supporters.

And you can't even give yourself a good fucking reason.

for the good of fucking freedom.

So fuck you. And Fuck Iraq.

I think Bush is a fuck.

I don't fucking care.

I fucking said it's stupid for fucking kids to be over in a country fighting for something that seems pointless, and that I didn't fucking vote ..

Fuck Bush's decision to send troops to a place that would kill our soldiers when they aren't even fighting at the time, and fuck the people who think it's a good decision to send troops to the aforementioned place that the soldiers are being killed when they aren't fighting."

I've heard from reliable sources that the more you swear the more intelligent you appear.

I'm just kidding.

At first, it was a matter of grief- but I'm afraid that if you think your grief is a weekend pass for as much immaturity you can muster, you'd better think twice because I'm not a pansy who will back down at the first sight of an accusation of insensetivity, I'm an intelligent teenager with opinions that I will share until Brad personally tells me to shut up. Which I don't think he will do.

And speaking of Brad, he has a very good (and well-researched) point. I'm glad he did the research, because heaven know I don't have that kind of time on my hands.

I don't hate you or even dislike you. I don't have a qualifying statement to add to that, I just wanted you to know.

~Dan

My use of the F word is all my anger summed into one... Not mature, not anything, I guess I don't care what I am... I don't feel that you, Dan, hate or dislike me.
I don't really understand the grief as a weekend pass thing.

None of this is about immaturity, I just feel like I'm going to physically blow up, and all of this swearing and writing makes it cool off a little bit.

That's all it ever was.

Brad, wars are hell. LIFE is hell. I know the grass isn't greener. I just look forward to moving somewhere that I can't vote and be held responsible for the stupid things in the government. And maybe smoke weed.

But Jesus. I guess I am tired of the negativity. I don't want to argue. I don't want to have to support my statements at this time.

Dan I think you're very mature and intelligent for sticking up for yourself and your belief/s. Sorry if I offended you.

Take care.

Anne

Dan I think you're very mature and intelligent for sticking up for yourself and your belief/s. Sorry if I offended you.

Thank you Anne, and I admire you for being the one to bury the hatchet when I couldn't.

May Matt rest in peace.

~Dan

Out of all this, no one picked up Sheyre's comment about the total waste of Haiti. I feel Tangled has the right to feel anger--though without the F expressions--and dread for a war that came about by pretense of imminent threat. I also love the juxtaposition of LaVoix and Brad comments.

Knowing how the various wars in US history started didn't require any research today. Just knowing history over the years.

I agree with her right to be pissed off about the situation though. If roles were reversed, I'd be ticked off too.

War has 3 rules.

1. Young men die.
2. You can not change rule number 1.
3. Someone has to walk the point.

Study history all you want and you will not be able to deny these 3 simple rules.

Now, "Do we belong there?"

I am a vereran of the 'first' Gulf War, which if you check with the VA, this is the same Gulf War that started in 1991. This war has continued through every possibility of diplomacy and restraint that was available. The UN failed to do anything about the atrosities of Saddam. The UN was fat, dumb and happy. The train of thought that thinks that if you simply ingnore a threat that it goes away, that it isn't dangerous, that it just works itself out, is kind of like hiding under the hay until it's set on fire. Thank God for President Bush. The USA turned our cheek until we had two black eyes...........stand for something or fall for anything.....
Freedom is not free.....

1. Young men die.

That's not just a rule of war.

~Dan