Allen West on Marines Incident: 'Shut Your Mouth, War Is Hell'

[ABikerSailor]

She is wrong, just like you are. When you were in the Navy how many people came up to you and told you how a sailor or Marine helped their family at some point? How many came up told you a bad memory?

Depends on the country I was visiting and what their view of America was. In places where there were lots of Brits around, I generally never paid for drinks, because they were happy about what we'd done in WWII for them, and really liked Yanks.

However..........in other places like Italy or Greece or places in the ME, I wouldn't hear so much about the things that the military did right, I'd get asked by locals why our country was doing the things it was doing. Matter of fact, under Reagan and Bush Sr. I was a bit nervous walking around, because under Reagan USO's were getting bombed, and under Bush Sr., not many people overseas liked him.

Yeah..........the bad things about the country generally reflect back on us a LOT faster than the good that we've done, and this incident will reverberate for a while, even after the people here in the US have let it pass by.

There is a difference between not liking politics and respecting the American military. The people bombing USOs wouldn't like you if you went in and saved their entire family from a rampaging mob. Trying to appease them will only make things worse.

You might think that, but you're incorrect. People overseas don't have a way to make their feelings known, but when they see American military, the way they treat them is pretty much reflected in the politics of this and their country.

And...........fwiw............good acts like many that have been shown over and over tend to not leave much of a lasting impact. Anyone remember a CNN story back around 2006 where they were interviewing Marines over in Iraq? One of 'em was talking about handing out small amounts of cash to help get the people to trust them, he called the money "paper bullets" because it was helping to get the locals to stop supporting Taliban.

Unfortunately, according to that Marine in that interview, it's something that took 6 months to a year to do and could be wiped out by a stray bomb hitting the village.

Might wanna re-think your position on the US Military being respected world wide, it's just simply not true, because local politics DOES enter into it.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Depends on the country I was visiting and what their view of America was. In places where there were lots of Brits around, I generally never paid for drinks, because they were happy about what we'd done in WWII for them, and really liked Yanks.

However..........in other places like Italy or Greece or places in the ME, I wouldn't hear so much about the things that the military did right, I'd get asked by locals why our country was doing the things it was doing. Matter of fact, under Reagan and Bush Sr. I was a bit nervous walking around, because under Reagan USO's were getting bombed, and under Bush Sr., not many people overseas liked him.

Yeah..........the bad things about the country generally reflect back on us a LOT faster than the good that we've done, and this incident will reverberate for a while, even after the people here in the US have let it pass by.

There is a difference between not liking politics and respecting the American military. The people bombing USOs wouldn't like you if you went in and saved their entire family from a rampaging mob. Trying to appease them will only make things worse.

You might think that, but you're incorrect. People overseas don't have a way to make their feelings known, but when they see American military, the way they treat them is pretty much reflected in the politics of this and their country.

And...........fwiw............good acts like many that have been shown over and over tend to not leave much of a lasting impact. Anyone remember a CNN story back around 2006 where they were interviewing Marines over in Iraq? One of 'em was talking about handing out small amounts of cash to help get the people to trust them, he called the money "paper bullets" because it was helping to get the locals to stop supporting Taliban.

Unfortunately, according to that Marine in that interview, it's something that took 6 months to a year to do and could be wiped out by a stray bomb hitting the village.

Might wanna re-think your position on the US Military being respected world wide, it's just simply not true, because local politics DOES enter into it.

Even when I was in a country that supposedly hated the US I got treated with respect. That might be because I actually respected them, unlike most sailors, but I never had a problem. If you had one you might want to look in a mirror and see if you can find the problem.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Yet Germans that I talked to told me stories about how American GI's (Amies) gave them chocolate bars. Even my Daughter in laws Grandmother who was forced to walk through Dachau concentration camp to see what her Government had done, only had the best things to say about the Amies.....

 

[eots]

Yet Germans that I talked to told me stories about how American GI's (Amies) gave them chocolate bars. Even my Daughter in laws Grandmother who was forced to walk through Dachau concentration camp to see what her Government had done, only had the best things to say about the Amies.....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C_7F5QK1Wk&skipcontrinter=1]The Last Days of the Big Lie - YouTube[/ame]

 

[ABikerSailor]

There is a difference between not liking politics and respecting the American military. The people bombing USOs wouldn't like you if you went in and saved their entire family from a rampaging mob. Trying to appease them will only make things worse.

You might think that, but you're incorrect. People overseas don't have a way to make their feelings known, but when they see American military, the way they treat them is pretty much reflected in the politics of this and their country.

And...........fwiw............good acts like many that have been shown over and over tend to not leave much of a lasting impact. Anyone remember a CNN story back around 2006 where they were interviewing Marines over in Iraq? One of 'em was talking about handing out small amounts of cash to help get the people to trust them, he called the money "paper bullets" because it was helping to get the locals to stop supporting Taliban.

Unfortunately, according to that Marine in that interview, it's something that took 6 months to a year to do and could be wiped out by a stray bomb hitting the village.

Might wanna re-think your position on the US Military being respected world wide, it's just simply not true, because local politics DOES enter into it.

Even when I was in a country that supposedly hated the US I got treated with respect. That might be because I actually respected them, unlike most sailors, but I never had a problem. If you had one you might want to look in a mirror and see if you can find the problem.

Actually, I wouldn't allow myself off the ship until I'd learned to say hello, thank you and please, and "where is" in the local language. Also never left the boat without a phrase book in the local language. Interesting factoid that I learned from that, was that 80 percent of the people in the Med spoke English. If you walked up and asked "do you speak English", most of them would reply no.

If you walked up to them with a phrase book in your hand, trying to pronounce a correct question, most would let you muddle through for a little bit (never went over 2 min by the way), and then they would tell me that they spoke English.

Additionally, anyone that went on liberty with me was required to do the same. Know what that got us once? We pulled into Thessaloniki Greece and I was talking to a shop owner (looking for rollerblades), and after about 30 sec. of fumbling, she told me that she spoke English. Because we were polite, she kept her shop open for around a half hour for me while I got the blades I was looking for. She also gave us a business card of hers, wrote something on the back in Greek and told us to find a bar in the center of town called the Libido, and give the card to a dude named Antonio. Well..........the cover charge to get in the place was around 10 bucks, but for the week that we were there, myself and my friends NEVER paid a cover and got quite a few free drinks.

You're right. If you treat people properly, they will treat you properly, but I really doubt that shop owner nor Antonio remember us.

However.........what these guys did will be remembered quite a while.

 

[Ravi]

Yet Germans that I talked to told me stories about how American GI's (Amies) gave them chocolate bars. Even my Daughter in laws Grandmother who was forced to walk through Dachau concentration camp to see what her Government had done, only had the best things to say about the Amies.....

Let's keep it that way, shall we?

Fuck the ones that spoil that vision.

 

[9thIDdoc]

Geneva Conventions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They still apply, even if the Taliban didn't sign them. Read the bolded part.
__________________

Nope. You need to read what you posted:

"The Conventions apply to all cases of armed conflict between two or more signatory nations, even in the absence of a declaration of war."

"The Conventions apply to a signatory nation even if the opposing nation is not a signatory, but only if the opposing nation "accepts and applies the provisions" of the Conventions"

Thanks for refuting yourself and saving me the trouble.
You might also want to note that the Taliban is NOT a nation and it's combatants do not wear uniforms so that even if the Conventions did apply they would fall into the category of terrorists, spies, and sabatures who can be run by a military tribunal and promptly executed.

 

[bodecea]

Yet Germans that I talked to told me stories about how American GI's (Amies) gave them chocolate bars. Even my Daughter in laws Grandmother who was forced to walk through Dachau concentration camp to see what her Government had done, only had the best things to say about the Amies.....

Marshall Plan and saving them from the Russians helped in that regard.

 

[AquaAthena]

Go Allen West. Love you!!! ***Salute**

 

[konradv]

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), a former Army lieutenant colonel, sends THE WEEKLY STANDARD an email commenting on the Marines' video, and has given us permission to publish it.

“I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

Allen West on the Marines Incident: 'Shut Your Mouth, War Is Hell' | The Weekly Standard

We're supposed to care what someone with such a poor memory thinks? I can recall all sorts of condemnation and outrage when those events occurred. I guess it doesn't jibe with his meme, so a little editting of the truth is in order, right?