There's a country western song that I really like by Darryl Worley called "Have You Forgotten?". It was written a few months after 9/11, when this country was trying to figure out who to go to war with. Here are the lyrics:
I hear people saying we don't need this war
But I say there's some things worth fighting for.
What about our freedom? And this piece of ground?
We didn't get to keep 'em by backin' down.
They say we don't realize the mess we're gettin' in.
Before you start your preaching let me ask you this my friend:
Have you forgotten how it felt that day
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away?
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbours still inside going through a living hell.
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden.
Have you forgotten?
They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it's too disturbin' for you and me.
"It'll just breed anger," that's what the experts say.
If it was up to me I'd show it every day.
Some say this country's just out lookin' for a fight.
After 9/11, man, I'd have to say that's right.
Have you forgotten how it felt that day
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away?
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbours still inside going through a living hell.
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden.
Have you forgotten?
I've been there with the soldiers
Who've gone away to war.
And you can bet that they remember
Just what they're fighting for.
Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Yeah some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field.
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon
All the loved ones that we lost, and those left to carry on.
Don't you tell me not to worry 'bout bin Laden.
Have you forgotten?
Have you forgotten?
Have you forgotten?
I haven't forgotten, but I think America in general has. We've gotten so wrapped up in other issues that we've forgotten why we even went into the Middle East at all.
There are those who say that there is a "conspiracy theory", which includes the idea that President Bush knew about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but did nothing so that we could go into the Middle East and get all the oil (because we all know that America doesn't care about anything but herself and her oil). There are people who say we wasted time in Iraq because we went looking for Weapons of Mass Destruction, and didn't find any, so it was obviously a ruse to get us into Iraq so we could take the oil. I have a few things to say about that:
First of all, after the Persian Gulf Wars in the '90's, the French gave Iraq Level 3 Biohazard equipment, to be used for developing vaccines. (For those of you who don't know, Level 4 is anthrax, bot tox, etc., and Level 3 is smallpox, etc.) Unfortunately, that same equipment that can be used to make the vaccines can also be used to create the viruses.
When people think "WMD", they usually think about bombs, nukes, or something along those lines. The idea of bioterrorism seems to have escaped some people. Of course, we're in America. Only four wars have ever been fought on American soil, and none were in the past century. We're in America; we're untouchable. We seem to have forgotten that we CAN be hurt in America, we CAN die from terrorist events in our own nation. "But with all our 'terror alerts', we can't be touched now," some people argue. WRONG!!!! No one can detect some viruses before they attack. Get a good virus that spreads quickly, and you can wipe out half of the population of a state the size of Texas before anyone figures out that there's even BEEN an act of terrorism, much less HOW it happened. We don't know what happened to that equipment, but we DO know that they're there somewhere. And THAT, my friends, is a serious WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION. So, the WMD's are/were there.
Secondly, the majority of the American people supported the war. Now they want to back out and say that it's all Bush's fault. That is not just unfair, it is WRONG. Take RESPONSIBILITY for your choices people, and stop looking for a SCAPEGOAT! If you're upset about this war, think about America's choices, not Bush's.
If you don't like the idea of the war, at least don't let this turn into another Vietnam. Support your troops! Regardless of what you feel about why we're over there, understand that we ARE over there, American blood is being spilt to help someone else. Get out of your egocentric lives and applaud someone's efforts to make selfless sacrifices for others. Stop bashing our soldiers that are fighting over there, trying to bring stability into the lives of innocent bystanders.
*Yeah, sorry about that, I sorta got on my soap box. I'm off now lol. Your turn. What do you think about the war in Iraq, WMD, etc.?
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That's my biggest thing, support the troops, but not the war. Honestly, who are we to say that the men and women who are fighting are wrong. They're following orders. Look at the woman who went AWOL a couple years back. Thrown in jail and all she was trying to do was get back to her family. Support the troops, not the war or the government. But, even if you don't support the government, respect it. It's earned it's respect from the world and the world gives it (don't argue this with me saying the world hates us...no it doesn't. we're on the UN council, we're one of the Big 5 on it. It takes a lot of respect to get that seat), we should too.
"Even after all this time, the Sun never says to the Earth 'you owe me!' Look what happens with a love like that, it lights up the whole sky."
-Hafiz
You do realize that the US sold Iraq raw materials for chemical and biological weapons in the 1980s?
You do realize we invaded a country whose government was explicitly secular and therefore, in both principle and practice diametrically opposed to al-Qaeda?
And that the country of birth of 15 out of the 19 hijackers was Saudi Arabia, our buddy?
And that we've allowed Israel to build stockpiles of WMD, including 100--200 nuclear bombs, without a murmur of protest?
And that the effect of spreading democracy to majority-Shia Iraq has been to create an uninterrupted crescent of Iranian influence?
Darryl Worley is an abysmally ignorant, dishonest hick. He makes Toby Keith look like a Rhodes scholar. Anything that cites him as an authority is not going to be taken very seriously by anyone.