Insurgent or Patriot? You decide.

[JaneEyrez]

If our country had been invaded by a foreign force without justification and you took up arms against that force and did all you could to drive it from your country, would you consider yourself to be an insurgent or a patriot?

[liberal N proud]

1. The insurgents are the US troops who invaded Iraq

without provocation.

[alexisfree]

2. sad

we can't express our feelings anymore...in this forums.

[bryant69]

5. Is this meant to be ironic?

Just out of curiosity.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[HuskerDem]

8. I don't think 99.5% of DU'er can share your kind of warped glee or

would even THINK of joining you in calling the poor kids sent over to execute this monstrosity of a war "murderous invaders from zob-land".

What the hell is wrong with you? Your post disgusts me almost as much as this ugly war.

[Minstrel Boy]

3. Trick question, because Murika isn't just any ol' country.

Murika operates by a whole different set of rules.

[JaneEyrez]

4. It was a hypothetical...

designed to get people to think about whether it's correct to call those people insurgents just because the MSM and Chief Warmonger say so.

[Minstrel Boy]

7. I hear you. Unfortunately there's a lot of cognitive dissonance

in America when it comes to empathizing with the plight of other nations, particularly when the plight is the result of American policy.

[The Wielding Truth]

6. I think they are just fighting for their lives. Like they did against

the first Crusaders.How could we have let this happen? First rule of combat "know your enemy". We don't even know our friends. What a bunch of fools our leaders are. Sorry, It all seems so stupid to me.
It's been handled like Kids in a playground. US against them. Even if they are EVIL DOERS. Don't we wheel and deal with them everyday? What does he really want? What do we really want? We can't let him kill anymore but there has to be a better smarter way to render him harmless. They can squelch our Dem Leaders with out much trouble why can't they know the mid-east well enough to handle this. What a bunch of numskulls. Well that's out of my system for the day. Any anyone else disappointed that we are lead by such misdirected dummies??

[WoodrowFan]

9. depends on WHO invades and why..

North Korea (suspend disbelief for a sec) to make us a colony, then I'd be an insurgant, NATO to free us from High Mulla Delay's Theocratic Dictatorship, then I'd be a patriot!

[JaneEyrez]

10. Hey, thanks...

for a very interesting take on the question. Kudos!

[WoodrowFan]

11. yw, welcome to DU. (NT)

[firebee]

12. This is a trick question..

An insurgent is somebody who revolts against a sovereign power. A patriot is somebody who fights for "FREEDOM", not their nation. People keep getting that mixed up. The patriots didn't fight for their nation, they fought for their "FREEDOM". So... An insurgent and a patriot can go hand in hand sometimes, but what if the insurgent isn't fighting for "FREEDOM". What if the insurgent's fighting for their nation, but not fighting for the government of their nation? Well, then that person's a "REVOLUTIONARY" or somebody who believes they're fighting in the best interest of their nation, even though he's fighting his nation's government.. albeit interim or established. Well.. this could just go on and on.

Rumsfeld got me hooked on semantics. Too bad he couldn't get Bush hooked on phonics.

[HuskerDem]

13. Anybody who takes up arms on behalf of their country is a patriot

You are right. It's all about the language in which the war and it's participants are framed. I've long had a problem with the word "insurgents". The vast majority of Iraqis fighting against against the invading "coalition" are patriots who have taken up arms to defend their land, life and families. They want Iraqi's to determine the future of Iraq and find foreign armies on their soil insulting.

The vast majority of our soldiers are there doing the best they can, trying to stay alive and make the best of a truly nightmarish situation in a war their countries leaders never should have put them in. Many of them are there because they had little employment prospects and perhaps a family to feed, or needed money to pay for college. Nearly all are patriots who believe deeply in duty, honor and country.

Only a FOOL would believe that either side is populated solely by those of valor and virtue. Both sides harbor monsters. Both sides are often being manipulated by those above them whose motives are frequently much more nefarious than the intentions and the heart of the soldier on the ground.