Proud to be an American

I'm ranting because I'm procrastinating, you see, the fine educational institution that Southern Connecticut State University is, has deemed that we don't need tomorrow, the National Holiday of Columbus Day, off, like the rest of the goddam planet. So I now have homework to do. Plus, I'm sick, and my nose is leaking like a fucking sieve. At any rate, he's my post.

I read Calliander's post this afternoon, and if left me puzzled. It was as if he was using our friend James as a justification for his more than liberal views on the war. I'd like to clarify a few things, if I may.

When James signed up to join the army, he did so to get money for school, like thousands of other in his position. Instead of taking a menial and brain numbing job, he decided on the noble task of defending the country. When he did that, he knew that there was a possibility that he was going to be called to arms to do his job as part of the military. So just because one of your friends is now involved with the war, you can't call the whole thing off because of it. James knew the risks. Deal with it. He is.

We Americans, especially our generation, have become rather lazy in the patriotism department, and we take many of our freedoms for granted, because they have never been challenged. And it's because of people like James that will most likely remain so. We can't sit back and dismantle our military because we're America, and no one would dare challenge us. We need to be aware that there are many other countries on this planet, who live very different lifestyles than we do. You get an evil person like Usama bin Laden, and this is what happens. We educated him at Harvard, and he then educated his own people in the terrorist training camps. Using religion, he got his followers to commit these acts. If he was a real believer in what he preaches, he would have been on one of those planes. He's a fraud. By bastardizing Islam, he tells his followers that making the ultimate sacrifice, the act of martyrdom, by damaging the people that want to end their religion, they will have earned themselves a spot in the afterlife, their heaven. Religion is not his agenda. He is protected by the Taliban, the reigning rebel group in Afghanistan, who the Afghan people fear. The majority of the Taliban's income comes from the taxation of drugs, mainly opium. Heroin and cocaine as well, who they sell to who? The United States. Not only is he killing innocent people in our country on our soil, but he is also associated with a rebel group, who also kill hundreds of innocent Afghans, that supply our country with drugs.

The war is a necsessity. It was coming. We sat on our hands when the WTC was first hit in 1993, we did nothing when the USS Kohl was hit this summer. What did we expect to happen? We played the diplomacy game. It didn't work. More of our citizens died than ever should have. You can't reason with people who tell their citizens that they can't sing or listen to music, who send their wives and children to look for mines, and who tell their women that they cannot go out unless completely covered. They beat to death an old woman who fell and accidentally exposed her ankles. The time for talking has ceased.

It should be noted that we are not attacking the country of Afghanistan, we are attacking targets inside of Afghanistan, namely terrorist training camps and air defense outfits. When the missile attacks end tonight, when the sun begins to come up there, we will begin to drop food, medecine and other supplies to the Afgan refugees. And when Usama bin Laden has been taken care of, we will move on other terrorist hotspots, such as Iraq.

I don't want to hear any more whining about this. It's not Vietnam, a place we had no business being in the first place. We were attacked on our home soil. It defands a retaliation. This is part of existing among other countries. Sometimes, others will want to topple you. And you have to defend yourself, just to keep on existing. If you have something intelligent to say against the war, then fine. I'd love to hear a well thought argument on why we shouldn't be there. Give me some options. What else can we do? Too many people say that we shouldn't be at war, but can't give another solution. It takes all kinds to make the world go around, and it takes a special kind to keep the world going around.