Another, Someone Did Someone Wrong While At War Song!

Blah, blah, blah. Men with arms; against men with arms is called war. War is hell. No matter how it comes to pass, whether it is in the jungles, mountains or in the streets of your own home town. All the crying and finger pointing, after or during, won't change a thing. Another thing to consider as well is the fact that whether or not anyone gets "punished" for whatever "crime" someone comes up with regarding the battles of war will not change a thing when the next "war" comes around. Someone will get tortured and someone will die. These are the facts of war. The only difference that may be brought about by the punishing of some "scapegoat", is that the "facts" of the next war will be hidden much better from the view of a public that feels that it has the need/ right to know and judge every aspect, of every action and act, of everyone who is involved, in any way, in or with, the war and it’s battles in the future. This country seriously suffers from a very bad case of the armchair quarterback club syndrome. Does there need to be oversight? In a word, yes. But that oversight is already in place. We have the elected officials that we the public put in place by our votes to do that job. If you don’t trust them to do their jobs then don’t put them there in the first place.
It is ridiculous the way our media sniffs out something that they feel could be perceived as a wrong, and then they latch on to it like a pit bull dog and turn it into a media circus. I used to think that we should load all of the lawyers in this country onto a sinking ship at sea to feed them to the sharks. Now I feel that I have found an even more irritating class of people, the reporters of the American News Media. Maybe it isn’t the reporters themselves as much as the various media networks that are to blame. Just because a reporter thinks that they have sniffed out a story doesn’t mean that it should be, or that it needs to be, published. However, we would then be on another subject, that of “Responsible Journalism”, which we know is a fairy tale in our country.
I just don’t understand this innate desire to try to find something to “cry” about and start pointing fingers of accusation at someone once the battles really start and we begin getting our noses a little bloody. All of a sudden it is time to start with the second guessing and questioning, “What business is it of ours? What are we doing all the way over there anyway? It’s not our job to be the Police of the world!” A personal opinion of mine here is that we have only the media to blame with this regard as well. They fuel most of the negative publicity fires with gasoline that they can find and then channel them into our homes via every media vehicle imaginable. They dig for any and all subjects that they can find to stir the public emotion to promote their own viewer or readership numbers and ratings. Unfortunately, the most volatile thing in a drawn out campaign of war, is to fixate on the negative aspects of battle. They prey on the public's desire to jump into battle and achieve victory a couple days later, then jump back out, without any casualties mind you! War doesn’t work that way. Sorry. We, the public then further hamstring our troops by demanding to know what their plans and strategies are for handling the war on a daily basis with up to the hour reports on progress. I guess whoever we are battling doesn’t watch the news. We want to experience the battles so up close and personal that we put reporters right up there with the troops while they engage the enemy. Anyone remember what happened with Geraldo Rivera while he was accompanying the 101st Airborne Division while in Iraq? But as we know, the public has the right and need to know so it is the journalist’s job to get us this information. Otherwise how could we judge, cry or point the finger of accusation?
Now, regarding this torturing of prisoners of war and their “rights” thing. Are you kidding me? Alright, I know the two wrongs don’t make a right thing, and “We shouldn’t lower the level of our standards down to theirs” mantra; but maybe you should ask some of our own American POW’s about how much their “rights” were honored while they were held captive. Ask them if their “rights” were considered and upheld while they were being tortured. I wonder if they felt comforted there in their pen knowing that we as a nation over here; were worrying about whether or not we were looking out for the rights of our prisoners of war and making sure that they were served three squares a day and such. Yep, I’m sure that knowing those facts kept them cozy, warm and “smug” at night. Let’s put the POW’s that we hold through a court proceeding all nice and clean and swear them to “tell the truth” as per their “rights” and expect them to do so. I am sure that a terrorist is going to do just that. Oh, and as to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba being closed regarding the housing of prisoners of war, well how about we just move all those people over here and house them in your back yard. That way you can keep a much closer eye on how they are being treated; and if they look like they might be getting thirsty or something you can bring them a nice cool glass of water.
I have one more personal opinion to state here before I end this trip to my soap box. I believe that our country would benefit greatly if the “Military Draft” were not voluntary. Yes! I mean that I feel that all citizens of the United States should be required to serve a tour in the armed forces. I believe that if all the citizens of this country were to do so that you would see a complete shift in what “Patriotism” meant to the public at large. I believe that you would also find a drastic shift in what would be viewed as “Responsible Journalism” as well. I think that the media might suffer a bit with a requirement of this nature though. I believe that the public at large might not be quite as supportive of the media’s current reporting practices then, and because of this, instead of directing their anger, caused by something that the media has reported on, towards the US Government and its Armed Forces; they might instead direct it at the media networks themselves. What a wonderful thought.
I believe in and support all the Amendments and the Constitution of these United States whole heartedly. I do however feel that these are at times abused, and quite a bit so here lately. We as a country I believe have become much too liberal in our ways and apathetic in our security. What happened to being prepared and ever vigilant? We sit back on our laurels not feeling the need to keep and maintain a ready and fully capable military force. Why, because we are arrogant and think that there isn’t anyone out there that would dare to attack the mighty US of A. So here we sit, a prime target waiting to get caught with our pants down. We have become much too gullible and allowed ourselves to be lead around by our noses by the world media networks. If they report it then it must be gospel! Not only that but also we allow the media to do our thinking for us and allow them to spoon feed us our opinions and to make our decisions for us. Which way shall I vote when I go to the polls to cast my vote on this bill? Well, let me see what the FOX News Network says I should do. This is of course assuming that they go out to vote at all! And we all know what happens when one “assumes”, right?
So how about it America, get up off your asses, grow a pair, open your eyes, engage your brains and get away from the media’s death grip and see things for yourself and make your own decisions about things. Take the media’s spoon fed opinions out of your mouth. You might just discover that their opinions have left a shitty taste in your mouth!