I am so sick of selfish ass people

[ej510]

I have 9 relatives fighting in the Iraq war. One cousin that had fought in the Gulf war who is in the Reserves and has been sent repeatedly to Iraq. While all you Democrat's are fighting over whether or not you will support Obama, my cousin has tried to kill himself because he can't take another tour in Iraq. While we sit in our nice comfy homes people are dying and we are being petty and crying about hurt feelings. You know what, Fuck All Of You who would leave one more person over there to die.


Post-War Suicides May Exceed Combat Deaths, U.S. Says (Update1)

By Avram Goldstein

May 5 (Bloomberg) -- The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care,

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&refer=h...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. It's because I don't want your 9 relatives over in Iraq...

that I'm supporting Obama.

[BlooInBloo]

3. Yup.

[MercutioATC]

2. Perhaps you'd find a more deserving audience for this post here:

www.freerepublic.com

You're preaching to the choir here, brother.

[Seeker30]

4. If no one showed up there would be no war

[TooBigaTent]

9. Exactly. We are the enablers. Everyone in uniform and everyone who supports

any politician who does not call for immediate withdrawal from the ME.

Blaming Bush and his fellow-criminals is necessary, but not sufficient.

[cali]

5. We are all keenly aware of the greivous pain that Iraq is causing

families like yours. I'm so sorry about the pain you're feeling about your cousing and other family members. May they all return home safely and may this wretched war end soon.

[L0oniX]

6. I didn't ask anyone to go over and kill innocent Iraqi women and children.

I am totally against all wars except those in which a nation/country has attacked our country. Policy wars are for suckers.
"Blind obedience to authority is the enemy of the truth." Albert Einstein
"Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy." -- Henry Kissinger

I do wish that we would take care of the vets. It wasn't their fault that they got suckered into an illegal war. They were lied to .

[BOSSHOG]

7. 65 years of military service

between My Dad, My Brother, My Wife and me. We served so we could be free to fight over who we should vote for.

My sympathies to you and your family. I want em home. I didn't want em to go in the first place. I will vote for the Dem nominee, but you would rather I march lockstep in the primaries?

[TommyO]

8. Don't go blaming "all you Democrat's [sic]"

when many of us opposed any and all actions in Iraq long before the first bomb or bullet flew.

[ej510]

15. I never blamed all Dem's

I blame the ones that are willing to not vote or vote Republican because of hurt feelings. Their vote or non-vote has severe consequences.

[The Wielding Truth]

19. Those are not close to the majority here at DU. We want Peace.

We have to fear the truly selfish, who are Republicon deniers. The foolish who fear the thought of a half black man leading this country or the thought those who fear they will maybe lose money in their oil stocks and the afraid stupid 2nd amendment gun toters who will stomp their feet for there hand guns and assault weapons while the rest of the country goes down in flames. We hate what the republicons have done to Our Country and the world.


If you poll us I bet there would be no one here to vote for any Republican esp. McCain.

[reggie the dog]

22. most of the people here saying they will not vote

Will end up voting for the Democratic nominee. Mark my words. Their souls will not let them do otherwise.

[TommyO]

26. That wasn't clear in your original message

I'm with you - anybody here who doesn't vote for the Democratic nominee in November needs to seriously examine their reasons for being here.

[ej510]

10. It's just awful that so many people would waste

a vote that could save lives. How can any American sit back and not vote for the Democratic nominee when peoples lives hinge on their decision. Can people really be that shallow or selfish? When this election cycle is over and Hillary supporters don't vote party lines, what happens to the young men and women over in the Middle East? What happens when they come home? How do you justify having the one vote that sentenced them to a horrible life or no life?

[EFerrari]

11. I don't know what to say to you. I knew there would be a mental health catastrophe

and it's been like watching a horrible, horrible train wreck. Fwiw, I went back to school to get a degree in counseling precisely because of the rotten or no care our people are getting.

:hug:
:grouphug:

[CTLawGuy]

12. stories like yours are why I hate this war so badly

and why the IWR is so important to me. Who could support this nonsense or be so callous as to play political games with war?

[Catherina]

13. :(

:cry:

[RainDog]

14. I am so sorry to hear about your cousin

I know there have been many suicides after tours in Iraq. And the VA has refused to provide in hospital care to those who desperately need it to recover from the trauma.

It doesn't get reported very often b/c it's not "p.c.," but there were also many, many vets who came home from WWII with pstd. I heard stories from relatives and knew a man when I was a kid who had served and came home and could no longer speak without shaking and stuttering. then it was called "shell shock," of course. I just mention this b/c we always hear about the "good war" and the "greatest generation" and never hear about the reality for many of the young soldiers who served. At least back then we had a govt that gave a shit about them and their families.

I agree with you. The numbers make it impossible for Hillary to win. There are FAR more important things to deal with than a candidate who is a sore loser.

If I had my way, everyone who voted for the IWR, everyone who voted for Bush would have to send his or her kid to Iraq and the soldiers there would get some much needed rest. Stop loss would stop immediately.

it is obscene to know what this administration has done to the military.

thank you to your relatives for making the sacrifice to serve this nation, even if Bush lied about this occupation.

[benddem]

16. Hey I knew this would be a mess

and I never wanted any of them over there. The fallout from this debacle is just beginning to be felt. My heartfelt wishes for the safety and sanity of your family members. Peace!

[cascadiance]

17. Post war suicides have exceeded combat deaths from Vietnam now too...

And we're talking about over 58K suicides. Now granted, it's been a while since the Vietnam War, but in that war we only had three wounded in action for every person killed in action. In this war it's been about a 17-1 ratio of wounded to killed in action. In fact I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the numbers of post-war suicides, double or tripled or were even a higher ratio than that of those killed in action.

And as the movie "In the Valley of Elah" showed, it is a hidden time bomb, that will not only result in suicides, but HOMICIDES too, of family members and others that soldiers with PTSD might know personally.

Folks, we cannot be fooled by the "low death" stats. We also don't hear about what's happening with those KIA and WIA in the mercenery companies either.

[kenny blankenship]

18. Thank you for reminding us that this election is a life and death matter

This election is not a lifestyle issue or an issue of respecting this or that group. It's far more deadly.

McCain, like Bush before him, will kill people-MANY people. He will leave all our military in Iraq and seek to open a new front with Iran. Most of the dead will be foreign civilians, but thousands will be Americans in uniform.
And not to get crass and money-minded, but McCain's obsession with vindicating the Far Right's lost causes-- Reagan's taxcutting voodoo and Bush's Middle East Crusade-- will shatter any chances this country has left of crawling out of its shallow grave and getting on its feet again economically. It's going to be tough for me to care about a lot of stuff people fight over here and on cable news pundit circle jerks if I am surrounded by a society going up in flames because of a collapsed currency and globalized Great Depression. As a gay man I support marriage equality, but if John McCain gets elected I can easily foresee that civil rights equality for gay people will rapidly recede as a main concern for me-and not just because he'd veto any good legislation. A McCain Presidency will create new and bigger problems that will affect everybody swamping out old hopes and prospects of improving my particular lot in life with a generalized catastrophe.

McCain will also appoint at least one and probably two justices to the Supreme Court who will take away women's reproductive rights not just for 4 years but for an entire generation AT LEAST. Women will die because of him, and many more lives will be ruined.

People with hurt feelings need to stop and think about the precarious state of the world right now and ask themselves if they can really afford to sit out this election out of spite and revenge.

[shadowknows69]

20. Amen

[reggie the dog]

21. Get them to smoke cannnabis

No bullshit, the Israeli goverment has done research into the manner in which THC helps keep bad memories locked away. They can get stoned, daydream, and let the bad memories drift away down the memory hole, all the while getting proper counseling of course. No drug in the world can do the work of good therapy sessions.

My father had PTSD after Vietnam, my uncle still has it. I have seen both of them wake up from nightmares in go right into flashbacks, complete with searching for their guns because my dad woke up and heard gunfire in the distance, fireworks (rockets as he heard them, gernades etc), and a river rescue helicopter (4th of july weekend in northern Wisconsin). My dad was yelling to me that charlie was only a couple of "clicks" kilometers off...I had to tell him "bones" that's what they called him in Vietnam, "bones, you are in the world man, you made it back home, its 1987, you are in the world bones, in Wisconsin, you have a son now, a family, you made it...He snapped out of the flashback and started crying. I was only 8 but I remember telling him to rest. I cooked us breakfast and we never talked about the incident again.

We have to do all we can to make these vets feel welcome in the USA again. We must be sure to point out again and again that our opposition is to the politicians that made the war, and made them fight it, and that WE HOLD NOTHING AGAINST INDIVIDUAL SOLDIERS WHO WERE OVER THERE FOLLOWING ORDERS!!!!

Look for your family members to come back and snap when the slightest little thing throws off their mind's version of "order" as they see it. My uncle had this problem until the late 90's but his demons seem to have finally left him in peace. Remember that it is not their fault, they may look unharmed but they are damaged goods inside their heads. War does many many evils besides killing people.

To all returing soldiers.
I hold nothing against you. You signed up to defend your country and that let people like me avoid being drafted because there were enough of you to make up a defence force. I think that your commander in chief abused you to make himself political points and to make money for his war mongering corporate buddies. I do not hold you responsable for the orders you were forced to carry out because I understand that you did not want to risk military prison. I wish you all the best of luck at adjusting to civilian and family life and may you all have the best of luck finding a good job.

[avenger64]

23. The newest round of blackmail ...

... first we were racists if we wouldn't vote for Obama, now we're selfish and causing the death of soldiers.

Give me a break.

[ampad]

24. No it is not black mail

It's fucking reality and I'm so sorry that you cannot comprehend what the OP was saying. If your e-feelings are easily hurt to the point that you have ever threatened to vote for McCain because Hillary didn't win then you are an enabler of this war. The point is simple: Your hurt feelings don't hold a candle to the reality of the situation this country is in. Funny to hear a Hill supporter talk about black mail when all you see on this board is post after post of "be nice to us or we will not vote" or worse yet " Hillary supporters will vote for McCain because of what is said on a fucking message board, that is the point. So sorry you could not understand that.

[RainDog]

25. Are you really so self-absorbed you cannot even muster some sympathy?

apparently so.