Geez these f'ers are crazy.

[VictorCharlie]

CFH I think maybe you misunderstood my original statement. I'm not a very PC person so you will have to forgive me if I come off a little rough around the edges. I meant that as long radical islamists are volunteering and funding international terrorist orginizations my government will send me to defeat them. So I will continue to find myself on the other side of a firefight against muslims.

I have mixed feelings on whether the current type of government in Iraq can work. I was impressed with the Sunnis I worked with. They were typically well educated, hardworking, more open to western culture and government and well organized. The Shia due to 70+ years of having a boot on their neck are quite often poor and uneducated. But more importantly they are not organized. They spend just as much time with infighting as anything else. With the Sunnis now having a bigger role politcally we will just have to wait and see if the two can get along. The Kurds are really the biggest obstacle to a united Iraq. If they cannot be appeased and afforded some semblance of autonomy they will declare independence. With large swaths of both Turkey and Iran having Kurdish majorities this would instantly bring about tension and possibily military action. A resurgence of sectarian violence between Sunnia and Shia would pit a Iranian supported Shia majority against a Gulf State funded Sunni minority. We can blaim the cultural differences in Iraq and Afghanistan on the Brits though they drew the lines Anyhow I digress...regardless of why or how we ended up in Iraq, the potential for disaster with a too speedy withdrawal compared with the possibilty of a democratic non fundamentalist nation smack dab in the middle of an area that is still coming to grips with the western world seems a no brainer to me

[CFH]

CFH I think maybe you misunderstood my original statement. I'm not a very PC person so you will have to forgive me if I come off a little rough around the edges. I meant that as long radical islamists are volunteering and funding international terrorist orginizations my government will send me to defeat them. So I will continue to find myself on the other side of a firefight against muslims.

I have mixed feelings on whether the current type of government in Iraq can work. I was impressed with the Sunnis I worked with. They were typically well educated, hardworking, more open to western culture and government and well organized. The Shia due to 70+ years of having a boot on their neck are quite often poor and uneducated. But more importantly they are not organized. They spend just as much time with infighting as anything else. With the Sunnis now having a bigger role politcally we will just have to wait and see if the two can get along. The Kurds are really the biggest obstacle to a united Iraq. If they cannot be appeased and afforded some semblance of autonomy they will declare independence. With large swaths of both Turkey and Iran having Kurdish majorities this would instantly bring about tension and possibily military action. A resurgence of sectarian violence between Sunnia and Shia would pit a Iranian supported Shia majority against a Gulf State funded Sunni minority. We can blaim the cultural differences in Iraq and Afghanistan on the Brits though they drew the lines Anyhow I digress...regardless of why or how we ended up in Iraq, the potential for disaster with a too speedy withdrawal compared with the possibilty of a democratic non fundamentalist nation smack dab in the middle of an area that is still coming to grips with the western world seems a no brainer to me

Hey Van,

I just want to take the opportunity to apologize again. My beef is not with you on any personal level, and it really has nothing to do with you. I am very critical of the governments of both our countries, and our "western/northern" way of life in general, and I guess for whatever reason I transferred my feelings about them to you after I read your comment. That is both juvenile and unfair for me to do. After reading your clarification, I did misunderstand what you were saying as well, but that is really no excuse for my behavior. I know my views are not mainstream, and sometimes I can be quite provocative and belligerent about them when I get heated, which is why I normally avoid these types of threads. You have as much right to your views as I do to mine, and for me to act otherwise is absurd.

I'm going to try and avoid discussing the politics etc. of the situation because we have quite different views and arguing about them over the internet serves little to no purpose. I do believe we both wish to see the same thing at the end of the day.

Anyways, all the best to you and I hope you come back to your family safely at the end of the day. Good luck.

[VictorCharlie]

No worries brother

[Kev]

I watched a great film yesterday Van Childs called the Hurt Locker, detailing the lives of a three man bomb disposal squad in Baghdad during their last 30 or so days until the next rotation.

It was a really good film I thought and showed exactly how scary and intimidating it must be to be an American soldier stationed in enemy territory.

Really good film I thought, not an action film but a gripping and tense film nonetheless.

I definitely appreciate the bravery it takes to live the life of a soldier....