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Poposwife_Retiredarmywife Ensign
Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 68
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 5:33 am Post subject: Tears I will never forget. |
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I didn't know when I clicked the link that it would be the full video. I was reading the Swiftboat veterans forum.
I sat and watched it, the whole thing....
A little background, I am an EMT...my husband a Police Officer and retired Army E-8, 22 years. We've seen our fair share of things in this lifetime.
He called me tonight, he tends to do that. Knowing just when I need him. The video had just gotten done playing, and I was in tears beside myself. I told him about it, about his rocking...his screams. The blood.
As I sit here and type this, there are tears on my face. I'm angry, helpless, in agony in my heart. I am grieving for a man I do not know, but could call him brother, father, husband or friend.
But I am not afraid.
If I could say one thing to these monsters it would be this. You misjudge America. You underestimate us. You think to fear us into capitulation. You forget that we fought for every last inch of soil, for every freedom we possess. That no matter what state our politics are in, we are still in essence AMERICA.
My 14 year old son heard me crying, and came downstairs. He asked me what was wrong. I told him, without trying to hide what I was feeling...what I had watched. I told him that what he sees on the news is sugar coated because they feel they can decide what we should and should not know. Should or should not handle. How we should or should not choose for ourselves.
I told him I was angry, that I felt helpless. I told him that I was sad beyond words. I told him this is what we fight against, what we fight to prevent. What we fight to end. Looking at him I saw the same thing in his eyes...but with it I was so proud because there wasn't one ounce of fear on his face.
My son was stronger than I was, perhaps it was because I wouldn't let him see the video....perhaps not. I just know that my sweet child looked at me with steel in him and told me that if he ever got the chance, he would never stand by and allow that to happen. That he would die to keep people free. My son, my oldest baby....talked to me like a man.
As I was typing this out, my husband came home to hug me. He wanted to see the video, his partner also wanted to see it. I told them both that there was nothing quick, or clean about it. That it was ugly, in every way. Warned, they watched it anyway.
His partner is young, all of 23 years old. At one point he said that he didn't know if he could watch the whole thing....he was worried about how he would react to it.
I told him "We have to, we have to watch this. We have to watch it over and over again, we have to get angry...and we have to never ever forget." I told him, as I sat there weeping, that this is what the media hides from us.
I tasted my tears tonight, because I wouldn't wipe them away. These tears are my respect for a man who died, with no reason to die...in a way that no person should have to suffer.
I cried for our second father, son, brother and husband. Who I hope and pray did not suffer like the first, although I know in my heart it was just as sadistic.
Grief, pain, sympathy, anger....I reached out and touched my screen when I watched it with my husband and his partner...just before they cut him saying "He's so afraid"
He was afraid, with every reason to be. This is their weapon, their tool, their way of life. For him, and all others that suffer like him...we cannot now or ever afford to be. Otherwise their deaths would have been for nothing.
They were no soldiers, they were contractors. Their names were Eugene Armstrong, and Jack Hensley.
They were for rebuilding, for peace...for hope in a country that had no reason to hope for a very long time.
These are tears I will never forget,
God Bless You
Lorelei |
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Scott Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 24 May 2004 Posts: 1603 Location: Massachusetts
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 5:37 am Post subject: |
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Lorelei,
I wish I could say this as eloquently as you did. But I can't.
Thank you.
Scott. _________________ Bye bye, Boston Straggler! |
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ThaLeena Ensign
Joined: 01 Sep 2004 Posts: 68 Location: Fort Huachuca
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 5:52 am Post subject: |
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I can't watch it. I'm still hearing Nick Berg's screams in my head. |
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Arty Guy Seaman
Joined: 20 Aug 2004 Posts: 190
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 6:29 am Post subject: |
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I presently do not have the courage to watch these things. My oldest son is in Baghdad working for one of the companies engaged to rebuild Iraq. While I could deal with his death in the line of duty so to speak, I cannot deal with this kind of gratuitous suffering. These people are worse than animals. They have betrayed the best of their own civilization in their conduct. We need to put them out of business forever and soon. |
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jataylor11 Vice Admiral
Joined: 10 Aug 2004 Posts: 856 Location: Woodbridge, Virginia
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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The Armstrong murder video is worse than the Berg or Johnson videos. I watch them so I understand evil. I strongly caution others to not watch them.
Today I am working with some kid who said he was worried about the world not liking America. He just finish college. I told him he just spent four years being indoctrinated so had an excuse for being brainless.
I am sure I will tell him to watch this video if he mentions his concern about America's popularity again. |
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SangRun Hunter PO1
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 462 Location: Zinzinnati
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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I said in another post that we should watch these videos (at leat one)
It's horrible and undignified, but it gives us a chance to see what kind of animals we up against.
My prayers are with them and their families. _________________ Mad as Hell! |
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Guest
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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SangRun Hunter wrote: | I said in another post that we should watch these videos (at leat one)
It's horrible and undignified, but it gives us a chance to see what kind of animals we up against.
My prayers are with them and their families. |
I watched the Berg beheading and I could not bear to watch the others. Seeing once the evil attrocity that was committed will be forever be embedded into my mind and heart. My sympathy goes out to these men and their families. |
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JCBoston Seaman
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 185
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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I also had grave reservations about watching these videos. I too came to the conclusion that it was our duty as citizens to make ourselves watch them no matter the consequences. Our men and women are over there in the direct line of fire. It is the least we can do to look upon the true nature of the enemy we have asked them to fight.
The first one I made myself watch was actually not an American. It was the Nepalese worker that was butchered a few weeks ago. It made me realize that these are not crimes against America, they are crimes against all of mankind.
I have since done as much as I can to research Islam in the time that I have available. I have come to the conclusion that Islam is evil. I know that is such a controversial statement in this day and age. All I can say is that I am not now nor have I ever been a bigoted hateful person. Nor am I a right wing religious nut. I am an Agnostic with heavily Atheist tendencies. This religion is not a religion of peace and acceptance. That is a huge lie. The "this is not the real Islam" line is also a huge lie. By the teachings of the Quran these monsters are faithful Muslims. That is why the Muslim community is not policing themselves, nor will they ever.
They publicly denounce this behavior because according to their teaching you and I are not real people, and it is acceptable to lie to us about anything. But they have not and will not approve of bringing these monsters to justice because to them they have not committed any crime because "infidel" lives do not count.
I have never in my life felt revulsion against and entire people before, I was not raised that way. Now I do for the first time.
This will probably get deleted, as ironically it is considered hate speech, yet it is mild compared to how they speak of us.
Like it or not (and just about all of us don't like it) we are going to have to change our thinking. They insist on a bloodbath until the last man, and we will need to decide who that last man will be. Them or us. |
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Navy_Navy_Navy Admin
Joined: 07 May 2004 Posts: 5777
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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I don't see it as hate speech. I guess I've been reading too much Ergun Caner, Steven Emerson, Irshad Manji and the Koran itself.
_________________ ~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother |
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Poposwife_Retiredarmywife Ensign
Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 68
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 8:56 pm Post subject: .... |
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Evil -- ·vil ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vl)
adj. e·vil·er, e·vil·est
Morally bad or wrong; wicked
Causing ruin, injury, or pain; harmful
Characterized by or indicating future misfortune
Bad or blameworthy by report; infamous
Characterized by anger or spite; malicious
Hate --
hate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (ht)
v. hat·ed, hat·ing, hates
v. tr.
To feel hostility or animosity toward.
To detest.
To feel dislike or distaste for
To use these two definitions....
I "Hate" what is being done to human beings in an area of our world filled with "Evil"
I don't think what you typed out was hate speech, you were expressing your opinion and frustration I think we all feel in the times we have now.
Lorelei |
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jataylor11 Vice Admiral
Joined: 10 Aug 2004 Posts: 856 Location: Woodbridge, Virginia
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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JCBoston wrote: | ....The first one I made myself watch was actually not an American. It was the Nepalese worker that was butchered a few weeks ago. It made me realize that these are not crimes against America, they are crimes against all of mankind.
I have since done as much as I can to research Islam in the time that I have available. I have come to the conclusion that Islam is evil. I know that is such a controversial statement in this day and age. All I can say is that I am not now nor have I ever been a bigoted hateful person. Nor am I a right wing religious nut. I am an Agnostic with heavily Atheist tendencies. This religion is not a religion of peace and acceptance. That is a huge lie. The "this is not the real Islam" line is also a huge lie. By the teachings of the Quran these monsters are faithful Muslims. That is why the Muslim community is not policing themselves, nor will they ever.
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I guess I would qualify as a right wing religious nut. I am a born again Christian. I say born again because after a swing through just about every religious belief there is I have returned to God as I experience him through my Lord and Saviour Jesus. Christianity is available to anyone. There are not hidden mysteries, no levels of attainment. Jesus is savoir to one and all. Okay this is just an intro to my real point
One religion I avoided as always being totally bogus was Islam. If one wants to really understand why Islam is bogus -- read the History of God by Karen Armstrong. She is a former num who has now converted to Judism. You may need a dictionary when you read this book because the woman has a vocabulary unlike any I have ever known. It is also not an easy book to read -- but the insights are amazing.
However, my real point is
Mohammad -- the inventor of Islam was
a rapist
a thief
a murder
a pervert
performed no miracles (except he claims writing the Koran is a miracle)
Jesus --- did not invent Christianity, but rather Christianity was developed from the teachings of Christ
The followers of Islam are still God's children, Christ died to bring them closer to God, the same as us all.
Mohammad said it was okay and necessary to kill your enemies
Christ said you should love them. Being a Christian isn't easy, but now that I know the difference the peace that comes from having a relationship with God is essential.
Last edited by jataylor11 on Thu Sep 30, 2004 10:16 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Detective Seaman
Joined: 10 Aug 2004 Posts: 151 Location: On the water in Newport Beach, Calif USA
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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My analysis of Islam argues that mainstream Islam is essentially akin to the most extreme form of Biblical fundamentalism.
...appeasement is so tempting to Western governments because by attacking terrorism they come into conflict with the second-largest religious community in the world.I discount the assertion that Islam is essentially a religion of peace and that the very word 'Islam' means 'peace.'
Alas, not so. Islam means 'submission,' a very different matter, and one of the functions of Islam, in its more militant aspect, is to obtain that submission from all, if necessary by force. Islam is an imperialist religion, more so than Christianity has ever been, and in contrast to Judaism.
Khomeini crystallized a mindset with revolutionary implications: Muslims were not responsible for their plight, it was all the fault of the West, to be rectified by war.
So mosques in Iran, and then elsewhere, began to resound with cries that America was the Great Satan, and crowds burned the Stars and Stripes. The emotional logic hardened into a series of syllogisms: Islam is righteous; America is imperialist; therefore unrighteous America is uprooting Islam.
Or again: Good Muslims must kill Jews; America helps Jews; therefore America is killing good Muslims. Yet again: America is arrogant; Muslims are proud; therefore suicide bombers are giving America what she deserves.
The ideology of Islamism is a fanatical fundamentalist revivalist movement seeking to establish a theocratic Islamic Nation over all Moslems, one nation at a time. The first was Iran in 1979, when an Islamic fundamentalist religious revolt toppled the pro-western Shah in reaction to his "White Revolution" which allowed women to vote and hold jobs, built large cities, and created a more secular society with Western freedoms, much as Kemal Attaturk had done in Turkey beginning in the 1920's. After the Shah, an Islamic Republic under the Ayatollah was created; he promptly called the U.S. "The Great Satan," and Western-type freedoms disappeared. Shortly thereafter, mobs seized the U.S. embassy and its staff, holding them hostage for two years.
This ideology finds expression through many organizations whose names have become all too familiar to watchers of the Palestinian war against Israel -- Islamic Jihad, Hizbollah, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood -- and a host of others less well known but with similar objectives in every Muslim country. In 1996, Afghanistan followed a similar path under the Taliban.
The enemy of Islamic fundamentalists is secular society, secular governments, and Western civilization, which they see as corruptive and destructive of Islamic values. They scorn "moderate" or secular Moslem governments such as Turkey, Egypt and even Saudi Arabia.
What is the historical background? Within 100 years of Mohammed's death in 632 AD, Muslim armies had swept across North Africa, the Middle East, and India, bloodily conquering from the Atlantic almost to the Pacific, and into Spain and France where they were finally stopped at the battle of Poitiers. At that time, the Muslim empire was the largest the world had ever known. They remained in control of Spain until the 15th century, and, under the Ottoman Turks, laid siege to Vienna as late as the 17th century after the fall of Constantinople and occupation of the Balkans in the 15th and 16th centuries.
This military conquest, arising out of Arabia over centuries, was done in the name of religion. As Ibn Khaldun, the great Islamic historian of the 14th century wrote: "In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force."
As for tolerance toward Christians and Jews, Ibn Khaldun wrote: "It is for them to choose between conversion to Islam, payment of the poll tax, or death." And the 14th century Imam and Islamic scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya wrote, "...Jihad is obligatory until the word of Allah reigns supreme, and until all are of the religion of Allah, until the religion of Allah triumphs over all religions and until they pay the poll tax while in a state of inferiority." Those in this state of inferiority were called dhimmis (protected minority), and were required to wear a distinctive garb so Muslims would know not to treat them as equals.
As the Ayatollah Khomeini stated: "We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry 'Allahu Akbar' resounds over the whole world. There will be struggle. There will be Jihad... Islam is the religion of militant individuals... Islam will be victorious in all the countries of the world, and Islam and the teachings of the Koran will prevail all over the world... This is the duty that all Muslims must fulfill..."
Heres a thought...where is the WMD? Did you ask the same thing of the UN weapons inspectors? Why were you not so impatient then? Why did you not dog the UN for answers? Just because you hate the USA doesnt mean we wont find them.We Will...
and when we do I'm sure you'll be b****ing about something else when we do find them.What have we found? Thousands upon thousands of dead bodies in mass graves put there by Saddam and his regime.
We've also found smiles on the faces of Newly free Iraqis who now have their first taste of freedom from tyrany.
We found chemical bodies suits and no..they were not there for a costume party.We will find the WMD like we found Saddam (in a hole) and when we do I just wish you leftists would then just go away into the sunset like the democratic party and France
Terrorism Motives? Thats funny because last I heard islamic terrorists brag about their hate.They put it on videotape. Their motives are hate,death and destruction.They kill for the love of it as all mass murderers do.Just as their prophet Mohammed did as outlined in the quran.Their motives are simple but with a subtle twist... Murder. MURDER with thier Gods(allah) blessings.
Islam (and its followers) is the worlds largest, most violent Racist Cult of Death the world has ever seen.
****************
This is just a partial text of my original writings on "Global Trends of Islamist terrorism".
Detective, the author of the above writings is currently a Calif State Licensed Private Investigator (for well over 20 years)involved in anti/counter terrorism affairs as a civilian consultant and advisor for both Government,Intelligence, Law Enforcement and Private Corporations doing business or operating in the Middle East.
more to follow...
all the best,
John the Detective _________________ U.S. CODE, Hostile Nations Act TITLE 50 CHAPTER 40 Sec. 2301. Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, Syria.(All of them support Terrorism)
All the above Officially come out in support of John Kerry for President of the USA. |
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msindependent Vice Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 891 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 12:05 am Post subject: |
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I made myself watch Berg and this one, I can now say that I've seen evil. I guess it hits people in different ways. I feel a tad guilty about not being more sad, I'm just totally pissed. Livid actually. |
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Poposwife_Retiredarmywife Ensign
Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 68
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Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 11:58 am Post subject: |
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Detective,
I read through your entire post and have to say that you laid it out very well.
Their way of thinking is alien to us as Western Society because we are taught from a very young age that to judge another by religion or color is wrong and we should instead judge by an individuals actions.
We have to sit and remember that these people are raised to believe they are the "true and only" children. The rest of the world are sheep to be dominated, converted or slaughtered.
Unfortunately for the "true" followers, its very difficult to keep an entire nation isolated from the effects of other societies. It is a losing battle that they cannot and will not recognize. Instead they will shed every last drop of blood they have and never, I repeat...never give in.
I keep thinking of what I watched, and believe that we need to be just as determined. We should also never give in.
Freedom is a precious thing, for all the flaws we are experiencing...America is still a glorious place to be where we can be in truth ourselves.
Lorelei |
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