Gung-ho mood is gone at Camp Pendleton

[UpInArms]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04116/305556.stm

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- A chill is spreading through this military town, and it's
not coming from the breeze blowing in off the beach.

On quiet downtown streets where palm trees are laced with yellow ribbons, in bars and barbershops where televisions flicker with news of more casualties and extended combat tours, the gung-ho mood that many residents were in a year ago is giving way to torment or dismay.

Oceanside, the next-door neighbor of Camp Pendleton, home of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, is reeling from the new wave of violence and chaos unfolding across Iraq. About 14,000 Marines from the base here are taking part in the fierce fighting, and more than two dozen of them have been killed in action this month.

It is a place trying its best to remain resolute. Businesses along the coastal highway are flying red Marine flags or have taped the Marine motto "Semper Fi" to their windows. But even ardent supporters of the war are beginning to express cynicism or confusion about whether its goals will be achieved, and at what cost.

...more...

[0007]

1. A chill is spreading through out the world

It seems the Kerry bashers and the freepers don't see or feel the chill.

[keithyboy]

37. Very sad, but the families of these soldiers remain in denial.

Denial that this war is illegal, unnecessary, based on lies, for all the wrong reasons, and actually makes most of military guilty of war crimes wheter acknowledged or not. The gates of hell are awaiting the Bush regime.

[tabasco]

39. You can't speak for all military families.

There are many military families strongly opposed to Bush and the illegal war. They just don't show them on tv as much as the flag-wavers.

[Just Me]

41. Meanwhile, booklets are being broadly disseminated to pray for Bush!!!

Which totally chaffs my tolerance!!! PRAY FOR BUSH?!?!?!?

YAK ATTACK :puke:

We should be in a campaign to broadly disseminate booklets informing the American people of the PNAC and the insidious historical corruption of administration members. I dream of putting our resources together to fund our campaign against propaganda and deception and abuses by these freon neonazicons.

My dreams sustain me.

My sympathies and compassion go out to the soldiers and the military families.

:cry:

I'm sorry this is happening.

[Gin]

46. My neighbor in the guard...said she "volunteered" to go to Iraq..

I was shocked when she said that.

[TahitiNut]

2. War: Not Just A Video Game Anymore

Nowhere on a military base will you find openly displayed the carnage of war. It should be required. :shrug:

[bemildred]

3. Yeah, but war is bad for morale, you know. nt

[symbolman]

35. Here's something for them..

My latest flash movie called "MURDER BY NUMBERS"

http://www.takebackthemedia.com/murderby.html

let them have a look at that, and pass it around please.

[Just Me]

42. Damned impactful flash!!!

Excellently sums up what is happening.

Thank you!

:hi:

[kalian]

4. Look at some of the comments by some of these morons....

Andy Dillavou expressed similar worries as he puffed a cigar along Oceanside's main street while on a midday break from construction work. He spoke fondly of President Bush, calling him "Ol' GW" at one point, but conceded that he was not impressed by the prime-time news conference that the president held earlier this month.

"He didn't look good," Dillavou said. "And if we don't see more stability in Iraq soon, I think he's going to have a hard time holding on to his job."

Dillavou said he had no doubt last year that going to war was the right thing to do. "It was a necessary evil," he said. "We couldn't keep sitting back and doing nothing."

...snip

"You can't start something, take some casualties, then get out," said Robert Alexander, who owns a military goods store called G.I. Joe's. "We've got to finish the job there."

...more...

These peopleare just plain STUPID! :mad:

[leftchick]

5. IDIOTS!!!

"We've got to finish the job there."
....guess what bobby, you can go right on down to that recruiting office and sign yourself up to finish the job. Or just sit back and wait for aWol* to be reselected and will have a draft.

[saigon68]

31. There is no hope for them LC

They are clueless.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

50. Someone has to define what "finishing the job" means

that's the real problem here.

[Frances]

6. Actually, we are between a rock and a hard place

Bush put us in this position, and he has been totally incompetent. But getting out of the mess he made will not be easy.

[DS1]

15. Exactly, it's Somalia x10

If Bush stays in, he can leapfrog to Iran and Syria, if Kerry gets in he's got a complete clusterfuck waiting for him, and you can bet that the media will really start counting bodies then.

Scorched Presidency policy.

[myomy]

22. Would that be "between Iraq and a hard place"?

.

[Frances]

45. Thanks for the humor

I have been down lately

[9215]

40. Now why do I not give a shit

what happens to somebody as stupid as this?

This person and others like him deserve what they get. There is no excuse for this stupidity. NONE!

Just don't ask me to pick up the bill for it all.

[Christ was Socialist]

7. reminds me of nazi germany

They were pretty gung ho to. No matter who or what the enemy was. Ivading innocent countries mean nothing to nationalists. And the rampan anti-intellectualism that prevades in small town america and milltary bases is sad.

[Wright Patman]

8. Small town America

like New York City, I guess.

From day one, the denizens of Manhattan have been the most bloodthirsty lot among all Americans.

[SOS]

10. How are Manhattan residents

the "most bloodthirsty lot among all Americans"? What does that mean?
Bush only got 15% of the Manhattan vote in 2000.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Wright Patman]

14. You made my point

with your incendiary rhetoric. I do not deny that small town folk are in favor of the war, but small town folk do not have the power to commit our military to perpetual warfare.

Folk in boardrooms in Manhattan do.

[SOS]

19. Your point is not made

1. The decision to attack Iraq was made by George Bush in Washington DC. ONLY the commander in chief can make that decision. The war is 100% on his shoulders and no-one else.

2. The war profit companies are not headquartered in NYC.
Boeing, General Dynamics, Bechtel, Halliburton, Lockheed, Raytheon....none are headquartered in Manhattan.

3. Perpetual warfare will be a fact if the people of cities and small towns decide to vote for Bush in November. It's still up to the American people (hopefully).

4. Incendiary rhetoric. Maybe being falsely called the most "bloodthirsty" people in America gets people upset. You changed from "denizens" to "folk in boardrooms". Which is accurate?

[rfkrocks]

23. Folks in boardrooms in manhattan? How about in Crawford fucking texas

This is the war of the Bush states = they wanted it and planned it from jump-Its the Toby Keith wetdream of america that gets an erection everytime an arab dies-the morons run the country

[nodehopper]

29. oh, right, and the 0.001% of the rich of Manhattan

are Mnahattan/New York en masse.

[nodehopper]

13. what the fuck are you talking about?

Almost no one voted for Bush here in the first place. And despite the fact that we got hit the hardest on 9/11, we had the largest anti-war rallies and demonstrations in the US.

[DS1]

16. Where did you get that info?

Interesting to see a Texan calling New Yorkers bloodthirsty *scoff*

[Wright Patman]

18. After 9-11

New Yorkers, the PTB above all PTBs, wanted to nuke the entire world. I was watching them on television. It was very scary. And, live from the self-proclaimed "capital of the world," the "war on terror" kicked off in earnest.

Not all Texans are warmongers. Had you known who Alex Jones of Austin, Texas, was, and had listened to his radio programs, you would have known two months in advance that 9-11 was a gigantic LIHOP and probably MIHOP fraud being perpetrated on you.

[DS1]

20. So Alex Jones knew 2 months in advance?

And sure, the people making the most noise got the most time on camera, you claim to be enlightened by listening to the radio, yet you believe what you see on tv?

[Wright Patman]

24. I hardly ever watch TV

but since there had been this earth-shattering event in NYC, I did watch some of the networks' coverage that day and in subsequent days.

Yes, Alex Jones predicted it in advance and told people as early as July 2001 to call their representatives in D.C. to make them "call off the terror attack" as he put it. He specifically said there was about to be a big terror attack blamed on bin Laden to launch a perpetual war. You might go to the archives of www.infowars.com and still find it.

Nowadays my TV is off again. I didn't watch it last year during the "shock and awe" as it was too disgusting. I felt ashamed to be a citizen of this country. And so I shall until all the war criminals are withdrawn from the Middle East and those peoples are allowed some measure of self-determination.

[SOS]

21. Absurd comment

"New Yorkers wanted to nuke the entire world"

You saw "them" on the TV. Who in New York City advocated nuking the entire world? Can you identify one person by name who suggested this?

And what is a PTB?

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[newyorican]

28. Geez...

I am always amazed at how stupid some can be...

[NYC]

48. Bullshit.

[Mari333]

9. small town america where I live

I am a thorn in the side of the people here. They hate me, I remind them of the war. They would prefer it if I said out loud "Oh Im so proud of my stepson in Baghdad, hes doing such a great job rah rah rah"..
I wont. When people say "how are you" I tell them "I feel like shit, our kid is in Baghdad, he could die any day, and he saw 22 people killed the other day and 92 wounded how about you?"
If they cant handle it tough shit.
Of course, the responses I get are "How do you know this?"
because they dont have anyone there, they dont fucking give a shit and dont want to think about it, they change the channel.
and go about their daily lives being dumb as a box of rocks.
Cant upset their applecart, comfortable cowards.

[dand]

12. You are not alone Mari333,

I live near a huge Naval air station, full of Navy and marine "top guns", these people think * walks on water, there is no debate about the divine right of * to commit all the war crimes he deems necessary. Liberals are a very rare breed here. Its like they all stopped evolving in elementary school.

[Mari333]

30. Its good to know Im not alone it really is

I called a woman here who I know, and basically asked her if she would invite me to breakfast LOL...shes the only woman in town I know who is like me, she works as an activist. I have in the past, but Im always tired, worrying about Michael in Baghdad.
I called her today, and she said "come on to breakfast next sunday, about 4-5 of the women in town meet and discuss politics"
GOD do I need that!
I guess women are social creatures, and I need to know SOMEone here if I have to live in this goddawful town.
I would rather move to France.
But I guess this year we are staying put, because with Michael in Baghdad and :not knowing: what will happen, the uncertainty is too much to bear and we are sort of stuck not moving yet.
I sure cant just up and leave for any vacation, nor can my husband, we are stuck 24 hrs 7 days a week in case something happens to Michael.
Its like being in prison or something.
I am calling a counselor tomorrow too, I need some kind of help in coping. Sitting around and wondering whats next is not good for the soul, I cant sit around and worry 24 hours a day or Ill go nuts.
seriously!
A man came up to one of the women I know in town, a republican man, and said
"Dont discuss politics in public...I work for the Bush campaign, and people like you should be annihilated"
If anyone said that to me, I would call the police in a split second!

[saigon68]

32. "people like you should be annihilated"--Probably was the police

They love the "flag" and they would like to take a real crack at a few long hairs and kick the shit out of them.

[rfkrocks]

27. keep the faith-the ignorance can't last

truth always comes out even if it takes a while-I think your point about people not wanting to "think" about it is the best-war happens over there and there is a dangerous disconnect from what we do to another country-hand in there we are with you

[progressivebydesign]

33. Mari, what state are you in? Don't we have any DUers close by?

I know there must be some friendly faces, feeling the way you feel, but unable to come out with their feelings. Wish I lived close to you.. I'd invite you to our house for breakfast. I'm a stepmom too, but unless they ressurect the draft, no one in this family will go into the military. I do have 23 and 25 year old stepsons.. so we do think of the draft, a lot.

[Mari333]

43. Michigan. I spoke with one DUer on the phone

he was nice enough to call once, hes in Kalamazoo
I might have to start going to Kalamazoo and start meeting with some people there for my sanity =)
Im a mom of 3 boys, 26 24 21, and a stepmom of a 21 yr old in Baghdad.
I worry about them all, I know you do too...Bush wants to take our kids and kill them for his wars
that lowlife bastard!

[hippywife]

34. More of us than you know

are hanging in there with you and praying for a resolution to this mess, Mari.

[Mari333]

44. (((hugs)))

I know, and Im always mad and tired. Being mad all the time eats up vitamins I noticed. I cant remember a day since 2000 stolen election I havent been mad! and I dont mean just mad, I mean so mad I almost took a ballpeen hammer and smashed my TV in when Bush was on TV
thats mad
I punched a window with my fist , broke it, dont care. Needed to do it, that mad.
Im so mad I dont think theres a nice word for how mad I am.
Crazy, frigging insanely mad. The kind of anger that no GOPer ever ever wants to meet from me head on.

[Barkley]

49. Mari, you're a thorn in their side and the light in their eyes!

I love your factual and to the point the response to 'how are you doing'?

It can't be disputed!

And they won't forget it although they may try or pretend to forget or ignor you. What you said went in.

I've never seen one person dead; seeing 22 people killed and 92 wounded
in on day ... incredible and sad.

Your postings and experience also remind me of the war but I don't hate you. You're helping me and other DUers understand the enormous cost that this war is having on families ...

I regularly pray for the safety of you, Michael and all of your family.
I believe its having an impact.

I'm glad to be your friend.

BRING THE TROOPS HOME ASAP!

[newyorican]

26. GOP Koolaid has a bitter aftertaste...

told you so.

[Jacobin]

36. Not so much fun when they shoot back, is it?

[saigon68]

38. shoot back ?

They shoot back every now and then

[scarface2004]

47. thats what you get....

when there s a cretin in the white house!!