In remembrance of the 4,000 brave men and women who sacrificed everything for us -- and the two men who would continue this great tragedy, despite the cost to our soldiers, our military, and our nation.
Click here to see the full (very large) image.
(Note: Since some photos of fallen U.S. soldiers are unavailable, there are duplicates.)
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http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1669.htm
http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a2540.htm#001
i would bet my son's education $$ on bringing our troops home with just as many good consequences as the current admin would claim to be bad!!
obama '08
Also Obama for truth.
Nice way to use the sacrifice of American troops in the typical nihilist fashion: not out of respect for the fallen, but as another notch in your anti-war belt.
It's difficult for you socialist “democrats†with your post-election trauma and the weekly trips to your therapist, but the rest of America is sick and tired of the imbecilic regurgitations that "Bush lied".
You want lies? Bubba Clinton used the Oval Office as a conduit for high crimes. His Chinese/Indonesian friends Charlie Trie, John Huang, and James Riady bought the 1996 “election†in exchange for classified satellite technology. Bubba’s callous indifference to the terrorist attacks on his watch; Khobar Towers, the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the USS Cole, and the FIRST World trade Center attack in 1993, gave al Qaida a green light. Oh, wait, he did have a response--a wag-the-dog bombing of Kosovo and an aspirin factory in Iraq. Clinton flushed national security down the toilet, and not a peep out of you liberal blockheads.
To defeat the enemy you must strike where they live and breed. The Middle East is a cesspool of the Islamofascism which attacked the United States on 9/11. Terrorists, abetted by every country there, can and do cross borders.
How ‘bout forming pictures of the 3000 9/11 victims into the face of Bin Laden, Hussein, Bubba Clinton, or any one of the number of Islamofascist Middle Eastern states?
That would be fitting.
If you really think the Iraq War is about fighting terrorism, why do you suppose Bush didn't strike the one country that the Joint Congressional Inquiry found funded and directed the 9/11 hijackers through their intelligence services, Saudi Arabia?
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/09/05/911_hijackers_tied_to_saudi_government_graham_says_in_book?mode=PF
Or the country that backed the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan through their security services, who Daniel Pearl used to make contact with his eventual killers, Pakistan?
http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/437E6C69-DFD2-49CF-BC37-BED1C8E96987/
Has it occurred to you that Bush is using the real problem of terrorism as an excuse to pursue the business agenda of his friends, and is doing so in a way that increases not decreases hatred and animosity toward the US that makes it easier for terrorist groups to recruit?
Your "hit them where they breed" comment implies that genocide is the only way to deal with terrorism. Do you advocate killing all muslims, all Arabs, or both? Won't that make those you haven't yet killed more motivated to attack us?
Wouldn't it make more sense to target those who actually attacked us, and figure out ways to reduce sympathy for their cause?
The war against the West was declared by Mohammad in the 7th Century, and modern day Ottoman wannabes are carrying out his wishes.
I don't need no stinking facts! I'm a Nazi sheep! I can't be reasoned with! Red state! Red blood! 'Murkkka first, 'Murka last! 'Murka! 'Murka! 'Murka! Let's use the nuk'lar solution! PNAC! It's the name of my sheep frat at the University of Mindlessness!
What I don't understand is... why like others on this thread who have lost loved ones, he hasn't bothered to mention his brother's name? If he has the courage of his convictions, why did he leave that little detail out? The worst the USMC could do to him is send him home and put him out.
How long did our crazy little rascal carlgt1 have to scour the web to find that I wonder?
It was quite easy to find this Marine as the crossover between HuffPo & DU is quite common.
So you don't believe this Marine; I don't believe the "grieving father" here that coincidentally shows up to support your viewpoint. Anybody could pick the name of some unfortunate SOB killed in these wars and claim it's their brother/father/sister/mother.
These hateful blog cross over to other hateful blogs? Not surprised.
As I said, if he has the courage of his convictions.. why doesn't he resign?
"unfortunate SOB killed in these wars" I'm sure they appreciate your respect.
Inventing that your outraged? Either that... or you've had way too much coffee.
I have quite a bit of time to spend here on this blog because since the early 70s until several years ago, I was sent to visit varied exotic places, on your behalf. I retired and was declared totally disabled by the VA shortly afterwards.
I'm just wondering what you do to feed your habit son. Apparently you haven't been to work for two or three days. Where do you get the time to sit around with the blinds closed, typing these angry screeds nearly 18 hours a day? Do you contribute to this society in any way? Besides criticism and anger.
As a career soldier, I'm amazed that you are able on the one hand to claim to have the utmost respect and sympathy and on the other call me a host of rediculous names for expressing my dislike of it. It makes me and every other soldier or vet of any party seriously question the sincerity of your regret and degree of your respect.
The Marine you've mentioned is entitled to his opinion. The difference between you and I... I disagree but still respect him .
Now, if this is interpreted by you as some sort of vitriol or drivel, then you are just a zealot, completely incapable of self examination and the ability to adjust fire. If you think that being a progressive means losing my freakin mind every time I think of Bush or Republicans or the war then you need meds. If you want me to write a dissertation on why I don't like the war, then we need to go to another blog. That isn't the topic here. It's the picture, what it means and how it effects others. I've told you how it affects a soldier. You've told me you don't give a shit and that I'm an ass.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5248211
On the other hand, if you enlarge the image enough, the faces of Bush and McCain disappear, and only the faces of soldiers remain. And, the picture is in a high enough resolution that you can clearly make out the faces of the soldiers. So, I just spent an hour or so looking at each face individually. 4000 thousand faces, people that I don't know but who went thousands of miles away to die in the sand defending our somewhat flawed dream of a country.
The argument over whether or not this image is exploitative and mean-spirited or just a powerful expression of protest is a valid argument. All I know is, because of this image, I was moved to look at all of the 4000 dead individually. And, after viewing the faces of those 4000 individuals, I am able to view the picture with pride and respect. (At least, as long as I keep the image enlarged.)
But still, I think what is making you feel sick here is--to an extent--a fabrication or approximation on the part of the artist. If a piece of art depicted Bush pointing and laughing hysterically at Abu Graib pictures that would make me sick. I would find it revolting. But that scene itself has never actually happened; we might accept the interpretation and be angered by it because we view Bush as an immoral and reckless person, but that actual scene of him pointing and laughing never happened.
The same is true of this piece; it never happened. Bush and McCain do not smile and laugh when they hear of the 4,000 killed, and that's what this piece intimates.
True, Bush has made horribly innappropriate jokes at certain dinner events, and should never have started this terrible war, and he has kept us in it for 5 years too many, and he is--in my book--an immoral soul. But he has made his case that he believes he is doing the right thing. I disagree emphatically, but his motives are not malicious. They are misguided.
This piece, for better or worse, is a caracature of that misguided soul. It is not accurate and it does not illuminate anything we don't already know, it simply exploits what we already think.
I take it back . So, what you're saying is that these people on this thread vigorously defending this picture as profound art, including you... are republicans then? This was a republican message to America? You are actually a vehement conservative republican, is that it? You think I love Ann Coulter and Bush because I think this picture is in bad taste and disrespectful. You figure a retired, disabled career soldier must be a fraud because he's offended to see his comrades debased? Are you just a twisted little freak or are you actually a typical representative of today's progressive party? Please let me know because if you are, then I'm keeping bad company.
Send them to re-education camps so they can study American history, the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Don't let them out until they truly understand what it means to be an American citizen.
And I pretty much have to agree with ManBearPigisAlive's sentiment.
This thread is overloaded with the sanctimonious drivel of "redrover" who cannot see that these otherwise anonymous heroes must be made real...that their 4,000 images collectively express the scope of the calamity. They did not die privately, they were sent by Our Government. Mine and redrovers. To their deaths. By the men depicted as a whole.
That is what distinguishes their tragic 4,000 sacrifices, and why this collage is art. You don't have to like it. Nor understand it. But expressing your disapproval over and over and over here does not make you more right. Just more obnoxious.
Peace is not obscene. Art is not insulting. War is both.
:
I'm sorry if the few voices on this thread who disagree with you disturb the your belief that surely you must be correct.
OH WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE HAS NOT BEEN TO ONE SOLDIERS FUNERAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HMMMMMMMMMM
"“Because which funeral do you go to? In my judgment, I think if I go to one I should go to all. How do you honor one person but not another?â€