I am glad to hear that. Please do stay safe. But.
Getting back to the original point of the thread, waterboarding anyone 83 times is inexcusable. On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 9:41 PM, Bruce Sorge <[email protected]> wrote: > > Look, it is not like we go around terrorizing these people. We do our > best to be nice to the general population. We know that not everyone > here is trying to kill us, but when the insurgents look and act like the > general population, you cannot handle everyone with kids gloves. The > area we are operating in right now is the main area where the insurgents > live. We are in the most dangerous part of the most dangerous city in > Iraq right now and for us, it is a matter of survival. These people do > not fight fair in any way at all. They employ very sneaky tactics to get > us. And the fact that the area I am in is no bigger than 900 meters from > North to South, and 700 meters from East to West, with a population of > over 100,000, it is hard to believe that if someone throws a grenade at > us, or an IED goes off near us, that not one single person knows > anything about it. That is bullshit. So this is what we have to deal > with on a daily basis here. Life was much nicer when we were in Kirkuk > where nothing happened, where all we did was drive around to the > villages and ask what we can do for them to make their lives easier. Now > we are in an operation where we are to clear the area of insurgents. > This is the third operation of this sort in a little over two years. It > is becoming an exercise in futility. But still we believe that we can > make a difference so we go in with that attitude, that what we are doing > is for the best for the people of Mosul who are not trying to kill us. > Hopefully when we are done we have accomplished just that, making their > lives better. We know that they want us out of here but until we rid the > area of insurgents, we are here for the long haul. > We know what is right and what is wrong. We never justify doing the > wrong thing. If someone does do the wrong thing, that event is throughly > investigated and if the soldier did in fact willingly do the wrong > thing, he is rightly punished. If he did the right thing then of course > the investigation is over, and we review our escalation of force > procedures and either make changes or do refresher training to ensure > that everyone out here is always doing the right thing. > So yeah, I am in a fucked up frame of mind right now, but I do not allow > that to cloud my judgment. I know that in about two months I am going to > go home to my family and I am going to be in my happy place again. While > I was on leave, I had no issues at all with my anger. I thought very > little of what has happened to us here and I was genuinely happy. When > my fiancee and I were together, those were the happiest days of my life, > and I know that when I return and I am married in September, I will be > even more happy and full of life again. This place does change you. Not > one person leaves this country exactly the same as when they arrived. > None of us do. How we deal with it defines who we are. So do not take my > previous comments as I am turning into some sort of monster with no > moral values. Trust me, my morality is in check and is fine. And > although I do not have any love for any of these people here, I still do > my best to treat them with respect and dignity, whether I want to or > not. They are after all still fellow human beings, whether I think so or > not. And what I think does not matter. How I act does, and I always act > in the right way, again, whether I want to or not. No one here is worth > jeopardizing my career over, not a single one. Especially since I am > only about seven years away from retirement. So I focus on that, on the > fact that I will retire in seven years, and Rona (my fiancee) and I will > move to her home in the Philippines and live a long and happy life > together, and I can forget all about this mess. > > Bruce > > Jerry Barnes wrote: >> "(1.) You need to understand right vs wrong and that what's wrong should >> NEVER be justified as right or you are simply evil." >> Whose standard for right and wrong are you using. Whose standard for good >> and evil? Is there an absolute standard? >> >> In the age of moral relativism, this seems to be a hard question to answer. >> >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:297469 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
