Posted in: Disaster aid puts new face on U.S. military in Japan See in context
Britling: The US does not occupy Japan. Japan is a soverign nation and only relies on the US for supplemental military protection. The US does not enforce the will and agenda of its foreign policy thru our military presence. I assure you Japan is a sovereign nation. Otherwise there would be no need to compromise with the Japanese on anything. We would not be moving troops out of Okinawa if we were not sensative and to some degree have to answer to the Japanese government on our military involvement in their country. By the way, the Japanese government saves a TON of money by not having to build a large military to fend off its neighbors (China, Korea, Russia). The deterent of US military protection alone allows them to have a small but well trained and equipped military. The Japanese people may not always like our presence here, but they understand why it is needed. I know as a US military member I do not ask for any credit at all for helping the Japanese. Any more than a neighbor would demand a favor if you had helped them in the time of need. It's not a favor, its something we do because we are humans, and we understand there are other humans that need our help.
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Posted in: Life slowly returns to Japan's disaster zone See in context
I am heading out with some co-workers on wednessday to help with some cleanup efforts about 2 hours from the base (Misawa ABS). I hope the little I can do to help bring back normalcy to the stricken people of japan is enough to let them know that I appreciate what they are going through right now.
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Posted in: Woman killed in hit-and-run in Gunma See in context
Where is the outrage, if this were a US soldier people would be gathering by the hundreds of thousands to protest because only US soldiers hit people and run.
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Posted in: Iraq gov't gets control of Green Zone See in context
Your right, there is no proof of them starting a nuke program, which would also mean they were not capeable of building one at the time. There is evidence they were trying to obtain the technology. Take a look at the IAEA reports when the inspectors first arrived. There is plenty of evidence that the had researched it. Asking why we are not in every other country is a cop out. The reason we are not in every other country is because we want diplomatic solutions first. Iraq was something we felt we needed to address because of its location in the middle east. Again, like i said... 7 other nuclear armed countries.
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Posted in: Iraq gov't gets control of Green Zone See in context
I can agree, the war was fought badly. Many American's died because of the flawed plan. However, many americans are also responsible for the delayed reaction of our government. They resisted a buildup of troops and funding that was necessary to hold territory in Iraq. I also blame the media and politicians of the opposing party for the propaganda that caused this delay. The propaganda works, that is for sure.
Moderator: Readers, no dwelling on the past please.
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Posted in: Father, daughter, 5, thrown out of car after accident on Kyushu expressway; girl dies See in context
Wow, tragic indeed. I think a lesson has been learned here, however it is to late. :(
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Posted in: Iraq gov't gets control of Green Zone See in context
I love it when people drum up the argument "we should have never been there in the first place". Well guess what, we are there! And guess what else, we have a moral obligation to leave Iraq better off than it was when we went in. Would you go to someone's house, set everything on fire to get rid of some termites and then just leave it in ashes? We went to Iraq, blew it to hell, deposed the government and its army. 4,000 soldiers is nothing compared to the millions of Iraqi's who have been killed and could be killed in the future if we allow another sectarian, genocidal government to take control of the country. American's are so selfish its unreal, and im saying this as an american. They are basically saying that an american life has a higher value than an Iraqi's life. To me, there is something wrong with that. A lot of us will never see eye to eye on Iraq. Personally I believe in the operation in Iraq. I think a stable and successful Iraq could put the Middle East on the road to peace. However, it will not happen over night. It will take decades of struggling to heal what the Iraqi's have gone thru. However, there is a lot of potential. Just look at South Korea and Japan. Went from a small 3rd world country to an economic powerhouse. With Iraq's natural resources, they could easily florish into a prosperous country.
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Posted in: Mrs Bush, Rice: Bush presidency not a failure See in context
Why don't you take off the media perscription bush hate sunglasses off for a second. It is well known that the decisions a president makes will not start to effect a country sometimes until well after his term is up. If you believe that you can judge the bush presidency based on what is happening now then you are an idiot. Many of the problems we are having are due to previous administration's. The financial crisis is a direct result of decades of loose loan practices.
So who are you going to blame for the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in mistakes during WW2, WW1, Vietnam war, Korean war, Civil war......... Wait, can you really say that there has ever been a perfectly fought war where every casualty could be accounted for by good decision making? You can not judge a war looking back on it, it is just not fair to do so.
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Posted in: Mrs Bush, Rice: Bush presidency not a failure See in context
First of all, much of the blame for the Katrina response has to lay on the state government, not on Bush. While the Federal Government and FEMA were slow acting, the state government was poorly prepared for the situation. I was there before, during and after Katrina. The state government and its agencies are the first responders and they failed. You can not possibly blame bush for decaying infrastructure. It did not just decay over the last 8 years. Civil liberties? Oh, your talking about wire tapping im assuming? There has not been one case of an innocent civilian not involved in anything against the law being unjustly wiretapped. The economic situation was in full swing well before Bush took office. Bush and McCain tried stopping the situation. The loose regulation over bank lending started well before Bush took office. Everyone also seems to want to blame the government for their irresponsibility as well, that is quite convinient for them. They are also the first one's looking for handouts from the very government they blame for it as well. Abu Gharib has little to do with Bush, it has a lot to do with a few immature and mentally instable individuals. I don't see how you can possibly blame bush for the actions of these individuals. It's almost as if there is a fad going on here. Blame just about everything negative that happens on the president, rather than putting the blame on the actual source because that is the convinient thing to do and easier than actually investigating the facts. Life would be a lot less stressfull if I could blame all my mistakes on someone else as well. Again, you are judging in hindesight with the middle east. It is really easy to judge a war in hindsight. If you want to mull on the past we will never get anywhere. The fact is that we now have a winning stategy in Iraq. I don't see anyone praising Bush for that. I suspect that Obama will be the one that takes credit for work started before he took office, and little credit given where it is due.
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Posted in: Israel demands monitors as part of a Gaza truce See in context
Then they should revolt against Hamas. If they really want peace, all they have to do is stop their aggressiveness twords Israel.
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Posted in: Israel demands monitors as part of a Gaza truce See in context
Are you serious?? You think Hamas is right for firing rockets blindly into civilian towns? Israel has listened to everyone in the past and has stopped their defensive attacks against palestine only to find that Hamas used that time to re-arm and fire rockets into Israel. So how can you blame them for being fed up with it?
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Posted in: Israel demands monitors as part of a Gaza truce See in context
I can't believe someone is calling a suicide bomber a hero. How screwd up and twisted has the world become?
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Posted in: U.S. military deaths down in Iraq in 2008, up in Afghanistan See in context
For many, the war will never be won in their eyes. If we meet all our objectives and Iraq becomes a sucessfull democracy, it will have costed to much. That will be the last argument left for the anti-war to hang on to. It is slowly approaching and im already predicting it.
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Posted in: Suspected U.S. missile strike kills 3 in Pakistan See in context
We could always revert to WWII carpet bombing if you would like.
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Posted in: Mrs Bush, Rice: Bush presidency not a failure See in context
Many of those who have already called the presidency a failure are obviously politically biased. I think much of it has come from the constant barrage of negative media coverage over the past 8 years. It only makes sense that after hearing the negative propaganda of the opposing party and of the militant propaganda machine, the bush presidency is being looked at the way it is. If people are judging the presidency purely on the war in Iraq then they are judging to quickly. God forbid, a country can come out of dictatorship and become a democracy in less than 6 years! If Iraq were to become a sucesfull democracy, setting an example for the rest of the middle east, it could be the greatest accomplishment this century. Peace in the middle east where atleast 7 nuclear armed countries exist or surround it would be a GREAT accomplishment.
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Posted in: Arab proposal for Gaza in works, but Jordan can't take more Palestinians, minister says
Posted in: Pope Francis, 88, hospitalised with bronchitis
Posted in: U.S. Space Force to beef up Japan unit amid growing threat in region
Posted in: Why so many marriages in Japan are sexless – and what you can do about it