Click DitsyChick picture for her latest song!!  ;>)

Thanks for the fantastic work by the Diggers!!!

The United States can count on us, and when

- hopefully never -

a day will come when Poland

will need to count on her allies,

we will then be able to count on the United States.

-- Daniel Passent, Polityka foreign affairs writer

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This is Bill (can't use his last name, or it would be Mister then his name) and Ricc, his son.

He is a member of 130th TAG out of Charleston WV, and currently in "the sand".

I was fortunate to meet him at my friend Rebecca's wedding.

(Ricc is the drummer in Scarlet Threshold and a computer genius, NOT a "tough guy") 

This is Bill's office.

What a difference an Administration makes:

Then...

And Now...

4 posted on 04/09/2003 3:18 PM PDT by dfwgator

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." --Declaration of Independence 1776

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It Sure Is Quiet Out There

The silence is deafening.  The silence in Hollywood, in France, in Germany, and the U.N. They’re either in mourning over the possible passing of their hero, Saddam Hussein, or they’re sad about their failure to affect the mood of the free world in acting to take out the Fascist regime of their hero in Iraq . Or perhaps they’re sad about the Iraqi children who are now free from prison, where they have been kept (some for as much as five years) for not joining Saddam’s Hitler-Youth-modeled movement. Perhaps they’re consoling Janine Garafalo because it’s time for her to honor her bet with Bill O’Riley and crawl up to the White House on crushed glass to apologize to President Bush in person.

Yes, the silence is deafening. And still, silence is golden. When it comes to Hollywood and their unqualified, uneducated input on military action and world affairs, silence is always golden.  Children in prison. Sarin and other banned chemicals in the Euphrates River.  Chemical warheads on operational surface-to-surface missiles. Torture chambers in jails and hospitals. Now, that’s hard to defend.  

Saddam is the guy who has been in charge of Iraq for about 25 years.  His Baath party has been in charge for about 35 years.  And Hollywood said President Bush was the new Hitler.  Charged that the U.S. was waging war against the Iraqi people.  The same people who are now saying,  “Thank God for Mr. Bush”  

If you were against the liberation of Iraq,  you were for Saddam Hussein.  You can try and talk around that fact, but that fact still remains. If you support someone, you’re condoning what that person does.  You can try and talk around that fact too, but that fact still remains.  

And for those of you who said,  “Not in our name”, the rest of us are all right with that.  We’ll let the children released from jail know that they were not freed in your name.  We’ll let the Kurds in northern Iraq know that we didn’t get rid of Chemical Ali in your name either.  We’ll let the people in southern Baghdad who showed our soldiers and reporters the torture chambers at the “White Lion” that we didn’t free them in your name.  

One would think that with all of the movies made on Hitler and the Holocaust that Hollywood would recognize a real Hitler type when they saw one.  Apparently not.  Apparently, a man who stands by his convictions and morals is now what a Hitler is to them.  A man who wants to free an entire country from religious persecution and murder is an imperialist.  A man who tortures and kills his own people is someone to defend. A man who invades neighboring countries is someone who represents a ‘sovereign state’.  

And how about a regime who’s information minister and defense minister stand in front of news cameras denying any U.S. presence in Iraq, while U.S. planes and tanks pass by in the background.  These guys have been telling the truth until now, right?  

Perhaps Hollywood just hates conservatism and all conservatives.  Conservatives don’t stand for the same things Hollywood stands for. Hollywood wants to make movies where the hero drinks, smokes, has sex with anyone he wants, and then shoots first and asks questions later.  Then Hollywood wants to complain that America is evil and that’s why the Arab world hates us.  When most of what the Arab world sees of America is in the movies.  Ironic, huh?  

Today I listened to Ann Curry of NBC News interview a female pilot in Kuwait about to leave for another mission into Iraq.  She asked how different it was for a woman to go to war and to fly dangerous missions into enemy territory.  The pilot answered that it was no different than for a man, because they both left behind families in America and sacrificed the same for their country and for freedom.  

She also said that she and her male counterparts were fighting  for their families, and to defend American freedom.  Ms. Curry seemed shocked and asked incredulously, “You believe you’re fighting to defend America?”  The young female pilot replied,  “Yes, absolutely. 9-11 2001 changed everything. And every day we’re getting some of that back.”   Every day I’m more and more impressed by the courage and integrity of our men and women in uniform.  

And when these men and women come back home, don’t be surprised if a few Viet Nam leftovers call them ‘baby killers’.  I hope these same leftovers aren’t surprised when real Americans smack them upside the head for saying so.  I’ll be one of the smackers.  

Because I’ll remember hearing a BBC reporter tell his account of his time imbedded with American Marines in Iraq:  When finally getting his satellite phone to work, he offered to allow 3 or 4 Marines to call home and tell their families they were all right.  The Marines first allowed their commanding officer to make the first call to talk to his family.  They then asked if instead of calling their own families, could they call the family of their buddy killed in action the day before.  He said fine, and they proceeded to call this young man’s family and take turns telling his parents that they should be very proud of him, and that he fought and died bravely for his country.  

Eventually Hollywood and all the other Saddam apologists will begin speaking again.  They will come up with their excuses, and even start shifting blame.  The same people who last week said that we were losing the war, that it was going to take much longer than we expected, and that we had underestimated the resolve of the Iraqi forces will say that Saddam was an inept General.  The reporters who were so impressed by the ‘elite’ Iraqi Republican Guard will say we used too much force to remove them.  

Jacques Chiraq wanted France to profit from their multi-billion dollar contracts as part of the so-called “Oil for Food” program set up by the U.N.  The Iraqi people have been starving in the slums of Baghdad while Saddam built more palaces.  We conservatives were wrong when we said the war was not about oil. For France, it was always about oil.  Only for them, removing Saddam Hussein would end their profit from oil out of Iraq.  Now Jacques Chiraq wants France to profit from the rebuilding of a free Iraq which he opposed freeing.   I don’t think so.   No blood, for oil.  

They will say that Saddam Hussein was more moral than George W. Bush because he ‘chose’ not to use his weapons of mass destruction against0 U.S. forces, even though they (and he) maintained that he never had them in the first place.  They won’t believe our Special Forces prevented Saddam from using these weapons.  They may even try their best to take credit for backing the military action all along. The American people will know better.    

And when a stray bullet from a British marine wounded a young Iraqi man running to escape from Republican Guard soldiers yesterday, his friend and another British marine helped him reach medics to treat his wounds. His friend said, “Don’t worry, I know it’s not your fault, you’re fighting for my people”. So you see, the Iraqi people know better, too.

Charlie Pennington

April 9, 2003

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Click on the Iraqi Flag For Some Recent Quotes

48 posted on 04/09/2003 7:02 PM CDT by Spruce

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   Unless we want this for President, we BETTER get to work!!!!  

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