you can't call the whole country stupid it's just certain people.

you're stupid. the country isn't stupid, it's the war

AMEN. No offense, OP, but your mother is a pathetic, ignorant woman. How dare she insult the extraordinarily brave men and women who are sacrificing their lives for our country! Sounds like your mother is the dumb one; not the soldiers. Poster #3 is right; we should send your mother over to Iraq.

the government is sending them because they VOLUNTEERED to go. its their fault if they get hurt. violence solves nothing.

@ 169 - So would it still be their fault if the draft was reinstilled? Just because you volunteer to join the military doesn't mean you choose to go to war. More soldiers don't want to go to war, they do because it's part of their orders.

but the draft isnt reinstated...so they still chose to enlist

@ 192 - That doesn't mean they choose to go to war. When you're in the military, you get told what to do. The end. You don't exercise your rights, you fight for someone else's.

yes it would. if a draft ensues and you get a card, burn it. adding to the violence only makes it worse.

Not necessarily... sometimes people's life situations dictate that joining the military is the only escape. It's unfortunate, but there's a reason the vast majority of soldiers come from poorer, less educated backgrounds. Yes, there is no draft, but that does not mean enlisting was completely voluntary.

war isnt the only option, and its dumb to say that it is someones only escape.

Keep in mind that there are still a lot of Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, Guardsmen and Seamen in service who joined the military well before 9/11, before anyone really saw the wars coming...they just saw the military as a source of guaranteed income on top of serving their country...so no, they did not choose to go to war.

If nobody had the balls to VOLUNTEER wed hold a draft, and your name just might be called, failsatlife

and guess what id do. burn my draft card.

and if there was a draft and my name was pulled, id burn my draft card. or letter. or what ever they send that tells me that i must fight. because violence is pointless and immature. and i refuse to take any part in it.

noone saw the war coming? seriously? Was there even a decade where america diddn't bully another country? Let's see.. 00's? nope, 2 wars yet. 90's? Nope, one war. 80's? nope, invasion of panama. 70's? nope, vietnam. 60's? nope, vietnam too, and cuba. 50's? nope, Korea. The last decade america was not waging war was in the 1920's, nearly 100 years ago. But nooo, they couldn't possibly expect war when they joined. They joined the military just for ***** and giggles and were completely dumbfounded when the war started. Yeah sure.

@ 23 - You have the right to freedom of speech because a soldier, at one point in history, fought for that right. It's called respect, learn it.

so, I could be wrong. But I'm pretty sure that there was no 'war on free speech' that soldiers fought for so we can now enjoy saying whatever we feel like saying. Ummm... there's this thing called the First Amendment (to the United States Constitution), and that's why we have freedom of speech. We did not have that right at one point. We went to court. We have it now. I'm not saying soldiers aren't great and all that... I'm just saying that your statement that, "You have the right to freedom of speech because a soldier, at one point in history, fought for that right," is wrong.

Nice!!

Really?! Without soldiers your government would sanction civilians exercising their free speech - you believe this?

Typo - Really?! Without soldiers your government would sanction civilians being shot for exercising free speech - you believe this?

I would assume so, because she said it. Stop being a bitch by attempting to make other people feel stupid through rhetorical questions that only restate precisely what was said. It is true, if there were no soldiers there would be no military, with no military America would be lost to a government that WOULD sanction the execution of outspoken citizens. The poster never said the current government would suddenly start taking on those policies, she warned that a take-over is possible without a military. So, I guess that makes you stupid because, honestly, do you really believe that asking about someone's belief just after they stated what they were makes /them/ sound stupid?

Ofcourse, if America stops wrongfully invading foreign countries the next logical step is that they will invade America. The best defense is a good ofense...These soldiers arent fighting for your freedom of speech, they are attempting to impose freedom of speech on a foreign country...and failing. Freedom comes from within, you cant force it on people. (this doesnt mean you can help when THEY ASK for it)

yeah, actually because if the soldiers went away, we'd be overrun by some communistic or dictated country, and then free speech would be gone.

You need a history lesson. America has not been under threat of occupation since 1812. Enough of this "without soldiers" argument. No one is suggesting that soldiers should not exist, simply that they are not the heroes they make themselves out to be. They are fighting an unpopular and unnecessary war, and if you think that that is going to earn them respect, then you are wrong.