Why, in New York City, would any sane person carry flag-draped coffins down the streets in protest? I know, I know… they want to highlight the deaths of 1000 American military men and women. But if they had a single brain cell more than those required for motor function, they would understand not only the crass nature of their ploy, but its absolute illogic.
In the last three years, some 1000 of our sons and daughters have died in the effort to eliminate those who threaten us all. These young people offered themselves as tools to make that a reality, but not one of them wanted to die. 300 per year, on average. More than that are murdered or killed in accidents each year in NYC alone.
Three years ago nineteen men from the enemy’s side gave themselves up to kill 3000 Americans. They, on the other hand, did want to die. And they killed more than 2000 not far from where these idiots marched. 3000 in one day.
These marchers are, in reality, protesting in honor of nineteen men who wanted to die while killing 3000 Americans, while using the deaths of 1000 Americans as their foil. Were I a family member of someone killed on 9/11, I’d be more than a little upset. I have to wonder how some of the cops herding these folks feel.
As Don King always says, Only in America.
Have you even ever been to NYC? Where were you on 9/11? I live here. I work here. I raised my family here. I watched the towers fall.
It makes me angry that you speak of thing here in the city that you have connection to…Texas was not attacked, New York was. You don’t know what it is like here after the attacks.
My family and I marched on Sunday and we are proud of it. Hundred of thousands of other people were there too, marching against the policies of the Bush administration. None of your ranting and vitrol will tarnish that.
Watch the election returns from NYC on November 2nd. You are going to see how much New Yorkers like your party.
Comment by curveball — September 1, 2004 @ 1:30 pm
Dear Curveball,
I grew up in NYC. I have friends and family there. They were there on 9/11. I watched the planes crash into the towers then watched them fall on TV in my livingroom thinking that my best friend was in one of them. She escaped the carnage. More than 80 of her friends and co-workers did not. My sister still comments on how unaturally bright it seemed after the dust settled around ground zero. My cousin was part of the search and resue effort. He had nightmares about what he found down there. When I went to visit family and friends just ten days after the attack every single fire house and police station we passed had a sidewalk memorial for those they had lost. EVERY SINGLE ONE! And the only borough we didn’t hit on that trip was Staten Island.
I say all of this only because you seem to think that this kind of experience and familiarity with NYC is required to credably comment on 9/11 and the current protests. I agree with Bunker that carrying flag-draped coffins down the streets of NYC in protest of the war was crass. I couldn’t believe the audacity and insensitivity of the protesters when I saw it. The dead they are supposed to be representing gave their lives so that we wouldn’t have to suffer another 9/11.
This isn’t about parties or politics. The lunitics didn’t care what parties people belonged to when they took over those planes and crashed them. And they won’t care which party is in control after the election either. This is about common sense and respect for those who died in NYC on 9/11 and those who survived.
Comment by Samantha — September 1, 2004 @ 2:52 pm
Do you have any clue as to what I wrote. The issue was carrying caskets representing soldiers who died in an area where civilians died.
Yes, Texas was attacked. And California. And North Dakota. It makes me angry that people like you believe that if we are nice to everyone and give them enough money, there would be no need for a military. Those folks don’t care whether we are nice or not. They want us to all be Muslim and obey their laws.
Actually, it’s not my Party. I don’t have one. I support Dubya, but that doesn’t make me a Republican any more than Ed Koch or Zell Miller.
Thank you, Samantha. You and I apparently posted a comment at about the same time, so I responded before seeing yours.
Comment by Bunker — September 1, 2004 @ 2:54 pm
Niether of you knows anything about what those people were marching for…And that is sad. But not totally unexpected.
I don’t think you had to be here on 9/11 or lose someone directly to have some credibility on 9/11, but on the protests…Yes, I do.
You can twist the imagery all you want and skew the issue all you want. The simple fact is that most of those people died in an unjustifiable war in Iraq and Bin Laden is still in Pakistan. And most people here know the difference…We get mad when the Republicans try to use us as a backdrop for their circus, hence the protest.
Most people do not share your views.
Comment by curveball — September 1, 2004 @ 4:59 pm
Most people (you know) do not share our views.
I have no issue with protest. I have issue with the lack of class shown by the use of caskets. For you, the war wasn’t justified. I would be sincerely interested in what justification you would need.
Comment by Bunker — September 1, 2004 @ 5:39 pm
I ask again, how do you justify after being attacked by entity “A” in country “A”, waging a war against entity “B” in country “B”? Strategy my ass, try “avenging poppy” and that is why we are in Iraq, and not concentrating on Afghanistan, and Pakistan. All the rest is BULLSHIT and you should know that having served for 20 years. I also suppose you were in favor of involving our armed forces in what was essentially a 20 year old civil war in southeast Asia? Yet another country that had never attacked us??
Comment by Bubba Bo Bob Brain — September 1, 2004 @ 7:57 pm
Entity “A” is more than al Queda, and isn’t just in Country “B”. It is a philosophy, a dogma, which threatens virtually everyone in the world, as France and Russia are seeing now.
I spent many of thse 20 years in special ops, and have listened and learned about terrorism from long before most Americans ever even considered it. It won’t simply go away. Resolve is the only tool to eliminate it. We never had that resolve in Vietnam. And like most Americans, I didn’t understand at the time why we were there. Johnson never made a case for the war. He could have, but chose not to.
Comment by Bunker — September 2, 2004 @ 5:27 am
curveball, what werfe you marching for? the other day, Fox News asked that question to about ten protesters and none of them knew what they were protesting. There are a lot of us here at Fort Bragg that wanted to go and pull security for the convention. The only reason we did not go was because in the news (mainly the Clinton News Network – CNN) would be talking about how 10 Paratroopers were arrested for beating 100’s of protester, instead of NYPD attesting 100’s of protesters who are just ignorant. And let me tell you how the protest with coffins would have gone over with us. It would have been the “Times Square Masacre”. I lost some good friends in the conflicts that I have been in to protect your freedom, and yes we ARE protecting your freedom, it is just that your are to ignorant to realize it. I have friends who had family members killed that day, one was FDNY, and the other worked in the north tower. Let me tell you how pissed they were when they saw their fellow New Yorkers protesting.
Comment by Birdie — September 2, 2004 @ 1:38 pm
I reiterate Iraq was not the problem area though, at least not one severe enough to warrant nearly one thousand deaths. Afghanistan, Indonesia, The Philippines are all worse breeding grounds for terror than Iraq was. Not to mention Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, our alleged allies. I do agree that resolve is what is needed, and I fear too many Americans no longer have the resolve. The national case of attention deficit disorder has made keeping our resolve too damned difficult.
Comment by Bubba Bo Bob Brain — September 2, 2004 @ 9:22 pm
I think you misread strategy. Being in Iraq has many advantages for further operations, and also allows us to pressure folks like the Saudis because we no longer need their territory for basing. Both Syria and Iran are on notice, and odds are pretty good that things would have begun moving had they not seen dissention in the US.
Despots always have time on their side, and are plenty happy to use it to advantage.
Comment by Bunker — September 4, 2004 @ 6:30 pm