A Letter to My Son...a must read

[badMP301]

A LESSON TO MY SON
by A PROUD AMERICAN Irma S. Chambers

The other day, my nine year old son wanted to know why we were at war.
My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and
I were in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve
and defend our country again today. I knew that my husband would give
him a good explanation.

My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand
in our front living room window. He told him:
"Son, stand there and tell me what you see?"

"I see trees and cars and our neighbors houses." he replied.

"OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the
United States of America and you are President Bush."

Our son giggled and said "OK."

"Now son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every
house and yard on this block is a different country." my husband said.

"OK Dad, I'm pretending."

"Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and see that
man come out of his house with his wife and he has her by the hair and
is hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the
face, he throws her on the ground, then he starts to kick her to death.
Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are crying, they
are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and afraid of
their father. You see all of this son....what do you do?"

"Dad?"

"What do you do son?"

"I call the police, Dad."

"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations and they take
your call, listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help. What
do you do then son?!"

"Dad, but the police are supposed to help!" My son starts to whine.

"They don't want to son, because they say that it is not their place
or your place to get involved and that you should stay out of it,"
my husband says.

"But Dad...he killed her!!" my son exclaims.

"I know he did...but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I
want you to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who
you're pretending is Saddam turn around and do the same thing to his
children."

"Daddy...he kills them?"

"Yes son, he does. What do you do?"

"Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next
door neighbor to help me stop him." our son says.

"Son, our next door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get
involved as well. He refuses to open the door and help you stop him," my
husband says.

"But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!!"

"WHAT DO YOU DO SON?"

Our son starts to cry.

"OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask
for help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller
and puffs out his chest. Guess what he does next son?"

"What Daddy?"

"He walks across the street to the old ladies house and breaks down
her door and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on
fire and then...he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in
he window and laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?!!!"

"Daddy..."

"WHAT DO YOU DO?!!!"

Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I close the
blinds,
Daddy."

My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him...
"Why?"

"Because Daddy.....the police are supposed to help...people who
needs it....and they won't help....You always say that neighbors are
supposed to HELP neighbors, but they won't help either...they won't help
me stop him...I'm afraid....I can't do it by myself...Daddy.....I can't
look out my window and just watch him do all these terrible
things and...and.....do nothing...so....I'm just going to close the
blinds....so I can't see what he's doing........and I'm going to pretend
that it is not happening."

I start to cry.

My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the window,
looking
pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husbands questions and he tells
him...."Son"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Open the blinds because that man....he's at your front door..."WHAT DO
YOU DO?!!!!"

My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls
up his tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes,
without hesitation he says: "I DEFEND MY FAMILY DAD!! I'M NOT GONNA LET
HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M
GONNA FIGHT HIM!!!!!"

I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs my son to
his chest and hugs him tight, and cries..."It's too late to fight him,
he's too strong and he's already at YOUR front door son.....you should
have stopped him BEFORE he killed his wife. You have to do what's right,
even if you have to do it alone, before......it's too late." my
husband whispers.

THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq. When good
men stand by and let evil happen is the greatest EVIL of all.
Our President is doing what is right. We, as a free nation, must
understand that this war is a war of humanity. WE must remove this evil
man from power so that we can continue to live in a free world where we
are not afraid to look out our window and see crimes on humanity. So
that my nine year old son won't grow up in a world where he feels
that if he just "closes" that blinds the atrocities in the world won't
affect him.

Today the second day of "WAR on IRAQ" I felt compelled to write this and
pass it along. Hopefully, you will understand the lesson my husband
tried to teach our son.

"YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT! EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO
IT ALONE!" BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! BE PROUD OF OUR PRESIDENT! BE
PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!! SUPPORT THEM!!! SUPPORT AMERICA!! SO THAT IN THE
FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS...."


--------------------

This is very powerful....I just thought I'd share. Later

 

[boostisgood]

A-*******-MEN

 

[BacDoc]

(usa)

 

[kidkorrupt]

quite a good story. Its funny to see that kid getting hit in the face with a ball after such a patriotic sotry, lol.

here is another viewpoint my roomates professor e-mailed to the class:

To my students: "I told you so."


Back in 1999 after looking at the sanctions program against Iraq and the NATO war against Yugoslavia, I made a few predictions to my students which I have reiterated each subsequent year. Those predictions were as follows:

1. The U.S. would invade Iraq.

2. The U.S. would project military power into the Caspian - Central Asia region.

3. The European Union would seek to dissociate itself from U.S. foreign policy and
chart its own course.

Why did I make these predictions and why have they come true?

Foretelling a U.S. war against Iraq was fairly easy to do. The explanation is that the U.S. backed sanctions program was designed to destroy the country economically and militarily; in effect, it was a form of siege warfare designed to degrade the target (Iraq) making it much easier to conquer. Added to the sanctions program was the imposition of northern and southern "no-fly" zones which not only effectively denied to the Iraqi military the airspace over the country's northern and southern perimeters but also allowed the U.S. and UK air forces to bomb northern and southern Iraq to pieces on a regular basis. The U.S. thus softened up the invasion routes for the conquest of Iraq. In short, the coming war represents a continuation of the ongoing war against Iraq. It will be Phase III. Phase I was Desert Storm - kicking Iraq out of Kuwait. Not knowing how the Iraqi Army would perform on its home soil and not having a suitable replacement for Saddam Hussein, the U.S. began Phase II - siege warfare plus bombing to reduce Iraqi defenses while a replacement could be found for Hussein. This low intensity warfare has finally accomplished its task and now the "necessary" reasons for invasion have been trotted out to justify the war and occupation.

"But why invade Iraq?", the students asked. Answer: The Baath regime (which the U.S. helped come to power in 1963 by assisting its coup against a previous Iraqi government) no longer served as the compliant vassal of U.S. political economic interests in the region. The Baath's eventual leader, Saddam Hussein - like other U.S. protgs before him (Ngo Dinh Diem in Viet Nam, Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Manuel Noreiga in Panama) developed illusions of autonomy and began to pursue policies inimical to the visions of Washington. In seeking to expand his role as a grand Arab leader free of U.S. constraints, Hussein "crossed the line". His crimes which heretofore had been ignored were given wide airplay to shift public opinion against him. (When he was seen as an agent of U.S. policy, those crimes were conveniently ignored. One of my favorite pictures on my desk is the 1983 photo of Ronald Reagan's special Middle East envoy, Donald Rumsfeld - yes, that Rumsfeld! - shaking hands with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad; soon thereafter, the U.S. began supplying biochem weapons to Iraq.)
The occupation of Iraq will allow the U.S. to reassert control of the oil fields which had been contracted out to foreign competitors (France, Russia, and China) and also to position itself militarily on the western flank of Iran (the other part of the "axis of evil"). With this move, the U.S. will have Iran almost surrounded: American troops are on Iran's eastern flank in Afghanistan, southern flank with the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf, and western border in Iraq. With the Iraq "threat" erased after the removal of Hussein, watch the White House and media develop the new "threat": Iran.

This extension of U.S. military might throughout the Middle East/Persian Gulf region into Central Asia (the 'stans) is a process that extends back to the fall of the old American ally, the Shah of Iran, and the subsequent loss of Persian oilfields to U.S. control. Since 1980 the U.S. has built up its airlift and sealift capabilities in the region and developed new bases to preposition itself for war. In 1997 the Army dropped 500 paratroopers into Kazakhstan to test its airlift capabilities for war in Central Asia and in 1999 took Central Asia out of the Pacific Command and put it into the Central Command which oversees the oil rich Middle East. This put the Central Asian countries (which abut the Caspian Sea and Iran) into the sphere of plans for Mideast warfare.



New predictions:

1. The Iraqi oilfields will not be put in the hands of the Iraqi people; they will
be privatized and awarded to appropriate corporate investors.

2. The French, Russians, and Chinese will lose their existing contracts to
develop the Iraqi oilfields and Exxon Mobil, Chevron Texaco, and British
Petroleum will become the major players in Iraq. The rebuilding of the
damaged oilfields will go to Vice-President Dick Cheney's old company,
Halliburton.

3. None of the foregoing will constitute "proof" that the war was for oil profits.
It will simply be "coincidence".

4. Democracy will NOT come to Iraq. What will happen is that some very rich
exiled Iraqi who has made it clear in the past several months to the State
Department and CIA that he is and will be forever and ever in complete
agreement with what ever the Americans want in Iraq shall become the new
ruler. He will be labeled by the U.S. press as a democratic wonder and indeed
may have the trappings of "elections" (just as Hussein had "elections").
But the people of Iraq will be no more "free" than the people of Kuwait are
today (even though we "liberated" them 12 years ago).

5. Iraq will not be rebuilt into an affluent middle class nation. Oil profits will
flow to a small upper class and the mass of people will be forgotten by the
prowar crowd and the government that waged the war to save the Iraqi people
from Hussein. Eventually the misery of the Iraqi people will be blamed on the
Iraqis themselves.

6. The Kurdish problem will not go away because the Turks (the "allies" Bush
tried to buy for 26 billion dollars) will not accept a Kurdish nation.

7. Bush will not solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; on the contrary, it's not
unlikely that the Sharon government might use this war for some "population
transfer" under the rationale of fighting terrorism.

8. The U.S. war against Iraq will further the efforts of the EU, Russia, and China
to develop the political and military strength to check the U.S. This will be a
longterm process but they will either do it or become vassals. Their main fear is
not that ExxonMobil gets Iraqi oil profits but that the U.S. will have effective
military control over the bulk of their oil supplies from Saudi Arabia though Iraq
to the new fields of the Caspian. Such control will give the U.S. unprecedented
leverage over these nations because the U.S. will dominate a region containing
70% of the world's energy reserves.

9. Watch the White House and the media begin to increase the demonization of
Iran. Pressure will be put on Tehran to submit to U.S. demands. If the leadership
in Iran fails to comply with U.S. demands, then America will be "forced" to stand
up to another threat to world peace.


That's enough for now. March 18, 2003
Chuck OConnell/UCI

 

[badMP301]

quite a good story. Its funny to see that kid getting hit in the face with a ball after such a patriotic sotry, lol.

 

[jaman]

Hmmm... did the dad forget to tell his son that when he didn't like the neighbour's wife he gave her husband guns to kill her, or the fact that he did this with several of his neighbours.

Come on guys, we all know the US is doing this to serve themselves not liberate the iraqis.

I hope this war ends soon so lives can be spared, icluding the US troops.

Please remember that violence never brings peace.

 

[JAC]

What does he do?: He saves his family and the "neighborhood" by using a rocket launcher to kill the man but he also kills the man's inocent children while he's at it, way to go Captain America .

Like jaman said: "Come on guys, we all know the US is doing this to serve themselves not liberate the iraqis."
Stop making it sound like the US is doing it to save the world from evil or some s*** like that, I'm not either in favor or against this war btw, I just hope that it ends soon.

my .02$

 

[yashooa]

Middle

Yes we are going to make money and yes the Iraqis will be more free than they are now and from where I stand that aint too damn bad.
Nothing is 100%. Every country with any amount of power has to protect its interests both economic and otherwise. So to play the high and mighty liberal Prof or the over simplified Patriot is just a way to rally support on either side. I was infantry at one time and almost went back to the fight this time round. I do support the war, our President, the Iraqi people and most of all our troops.
There is no black or white in the real world just shades of grey.
The world is and (with continued diligence on the part of America and it forces) always shall be jealous of our freedom, our power and our wealth.

 

[chuyler1]

anyone notice how bad the economy is? or are we all too busy watching reality TV? opps I mean CNN.

 

[nmaino]

Violence never brings peace? Did you completley forget about the American revolution? American's are very peaceful, but we can we war-like when needed, that does not make us a bad nor a violent people.

 

[chuyler1]

Americans are peacefull? thats a good one. where do you live?

 

[BlackMSP]

Hey its ok becuase the bush administration is doing the right thing by going to get rid of saddam common guys this is good for the US who cares about our economy and our rights or anyone else outside of the US for that matter and if you havent noticed we are slowly setting up "democractic" sattilite governments in place all over the middle east to do what we want! I love imperialism! This rules! We are like taking over the world secretly and with "justified reasons" like getting rid of all the "weapons of mass destruction" ect. ect. funny how we havent found a single shred of crucial evidence, but its ok becuase we arent losing any soldiers in this war due to enemy fire becuase we just say they were killed by friendly fire so we dont have to look stupid. We are playing a brilliant chess game and so far we have a great offensive going. I just hope the other countries of the world dont catch on and start ganging up on us for a counter-offensive and bringing this "war" to our soil.... I cant wait untill I can vote this idiot out of office... *GOD BLESS AMERICA* becuase GOD is on our side right? Common people think for crying out loud!! What would jesus do? I DONT THINK HE WOULD DO WHAT WE ARE DOING RIGHT NOW!

 

[BlackMSP]

Violence never brings peace? Did you completley forget about the American revolution? American's are very peaceful, but we can we war-like when needed, that does not make us a bad nor a violent people.

Im not even going to start.

 

[unwrittenLaw]

originally posted by yashooa

Yes we are going to make money and yes the Iraqis will be more free than they are now and from where I stand that aint too damn bad.
Nothing is 100%. Every country with any amount of power has to protect its interests both economic and otherwise. So to play the high and mighty liberal Prof or the over simplified Patriot is just a way to rally support on either side. I was infantry at one time and almost went back to the fight this time round. I do support the war, our President, the Iraqi people and most of all our troops.
There is no black or white in the real world just shades of grey.
The world is and (with continued diligence on the part of America and it forces) always shall be jealous of our freedom, our power and our wealth.

exactly...

 

[scott42]

Without war we'd all be speaking German...especially the French...

This is right on.
"Yes we are going to make money and yes the Iraqis will be more free than they are now and from where I stand that aint too damn bad.
Nothing is 100%. Every country with any amount of power has to protect its interests both economic and otherwise. So to play the high and mighty liberal Prof or the over simplified Patriot is just a way to rally support on either side. I was infantry at one time and almost went back to the fight this time round. I do support the war, our President, the Iraqi people and most of all our troops.
There is no black or white in the real world just shades of grey.
The world is and (with continued diligence on the part of America and it forces) always shall be jealous of our freedom, our power and our wealth."

 

[Familia323]

that was a great story and all, but I love how you used a child to help justify your reasoning for going to war. I mean come on... there is a fine line between clarification and propaganda... Don't dictators use things like this to get their contries rallied up to fight for a single cause?? I think it is pretty immoral to use such intense emotion creating tactics to get at the hearts of people just to side with you. Instead you should have just given evidence of why it is important to relieve sadaam (and his followers) of his reign. People have a hard enough time thinking logically. They don't need pangs of emotion clouding their judgments. Also, if we keep going on these escapades of "liberation" without the consent of other countries then the world is going to hate American's even more than they already do. I think it is about time that the American people realize that just because other countries don't embrace our forms of government or religious beliefs, doesn't make them inferior to us. Im tired of the self-righteous attitude that many Americans take towards the rest of the world. I only bring this up, because in times of war it is more prevalent. It only makes sense. .. Now Im sure plenty of people are pissed off at my opinions by now, but let me clarify something. I am not against the PURPOSE of the war. I do believe that Sadaam NEEDS to be taken out of power along with his men. I just dont agree with the tactics in which we use to achieve this goal. I also dont agree that we defy a majority of the world to do this either. Then when it is all said and done, we feel like heros, after we just got done anihilating a country and its people. For being the smartest animal on the planet, we sure don't act like it.

 

[perfworks]

i hate to mix politics with pleasure so i will only say one thing that is most important to me

i dont exactly know if i would do what those soldiers do every day by waking up and doing the job they do.
i commend them for bieng brave enough and WANTING to join the military knowing that war or any conflict might be on the horizon.
i hope for them to return home as soon as possible and know that WE ALL support them while they are out there away from their families.

 

[saided18]

ok for the second story by the prof you can tell he is 100% anti Bush with his statement

"...forgotten by the prowar crowd and the government ..."

to the person that said war never brings peace? i don't know about you but it brought peace to Europe that has lasted about 50 years.

In the end the people that are against this war are the people that HATE Pres Bush. so any thing he does they hate.

Where were all the protests and anti-war rallies when President Clinton went to war in Kosovo? What was the reason he gave? to liberate the people of Kosovo. And every one went long with it. No one was protesting. every one went long with the President at that time. But now b/c Pres Bush is doing the "Liberating of people" he is a prowar coward! sounds funny to me.

All you anti-war people are a bunch of uninformed people or your a Democrate and sometimes both.

It's funny how all the people in the USA protesting are

ALL Liberals!!!

and any well informed person that knew about the last 60 years of world history would not be agianst this war.

thats my .02 if you don't like. TO BAD!

 

[Familia323]

All you anti-war people are a bunch of uninformed people or your a Democrate and sometimes both....and any well informed person that knew about the last 60 years of world history would not be agianst this war.

interesting claim.. Just because someone is against war doesn't mean that they hate Bush. It could mean that they hate war.... you said it yourself... ANTI-war. No one said anything about ANTI-Bush. That's cool that you think what people did 60 years ago actually has any relevancy and is a good idea to do today. Just because it worked then doesn't mean it will work now.. So would you say that slavery was a good idea? Or hey, why dont we Nuke Iraq? Bombing Japan didn't seem to have a big enough effect on the world as it is.

 

[saided18]

oh man here we go. what i was saying that looking the other way and covering your eyes and hoping a problem will ago by it self will not work. It didn't work with Hitler, it didn't work with Milosivic(sp?) (Pres of Yugoslavia) and it hasn't work with Saddam. We have waited 12 years for Saddam to dissarm and it hasn't. People like Saddam only know force. Words have no meaning to them.


And another point i had was that back in 1999-2000 when Clinton went to war to "Liberate" the people of Kosovo, where were all of you "anti-war" people?? i didn't hear to much protesting. why not? i seem to think b/c all the protesters are left wing tree hugging hippies. and if youy don't believe me just all at the group protesting.

and i find it very funny that a Womens right's group is protesting on behalf of a person that beats, raps and kills women on a daily basis (Saddam).

and like i said. any INFORMED person would not be aginst the war. an most people in the US are not really informed.