April 19, 2008

• Burgers With Smeagol the Iraqi Lizard

  Most of the family was busy tonight, but Lisa was nice enough to bring the boys to meet me at Fuddruckers after work.  I got there a little early and struck up a conversation with a young marine named Frank.  He was there with his wife and step-daughter and his pet iguana, Smeagol.  Since you don’t see an iguana on a leash every day, I asked him if I could take a couple of photos.  He graciously obliged, and gave me his email address to send them to him.  Later, we all talked as he played video games with the kids.  At only 20 years old, he was really just a kid himself, and had already completed one tour of duty in Iraq, and was about to leave on his second tour; leaving his wife, step-daughter, and presumably Smeagol, behind.  (I doubt he got the iguana in Iraq, I embellished that part, to make the title of this post more dramatic.  LOL)  He was limping, and I asked him if he had been injured while serving, but he told me it was a skateboard accident.    “No fucking hadji is going to hurt me.”, was his response, which was remarkably similar to how the kids in the movie Stop Loss spoke.  Nearly verbatim in fact.  (I asked him if he’d seen it, he hadn’t.)  I’m troubled by the hate of other cultures we’re breeding in our military.  It’s probably nothing new though.  Nonetheless, he was a charming young man, who like James and Jimmy, I’m glad to have on our side.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  From www.lewrockwell.com:

  There are basically
  two types of soldiers in most units. There are the career guys who
  have more than a decade invested and have seen so many commanders
  like this they believe them to be the norm rather than the exception.
  Then, there are the young soldiers who have fallen for the line
  about killing as many of these “rag heads” as possible
  because of 9/11 and protecting “the folks back home.”
  Soldiers, who see this war for what it is and voice those thoughts,
  are reported up the line as malcontents and enemy sympathizers.
  The vast majority of soldiers would rather live through the lies
  and atrocities than be labeled a traitor and the ramifications of
  that label once they return home. So, many just hope to survive
  and get the hell out of the military and away from the madmen who
  lead them.

  This
  nation, its political leadership and the vast majority of its religious
  leaders, have thrown away their moral compass and replaced it with
  a rabid nationalism unseen on the world stage since Germany in the
  1930s. Torture and murder of hundreds of thousands are readily accepted,
  as long as it is done for the graven image called the State. Eventually,
  unless we take a different path, the number of those tortured and
  murdered will include those in this country who refuse to submit
  to the State as it pursues its “mission
  from God.” The venom readily spews forth from the shills
  for the State now, building a hate and resentment in the masses
  for any who would challenge the official position of perpetual war
  for peace.

  Since
  our nation and its civilian leaders have lost their ability to judge
  right from wrong, why should we expect anything different from our
  military?

  On a side note, my crazy neighbor, who I blogged about a while back, finally moved out.  But not before leaving this note, on my other neighbor’s door!  (Not mine, thank goodness.)  I would love to know what it said.  LOL.

  

  • 12:37 am
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