message from a retired general

R

rallyhound

New member
This "Letter of Apology" was written by Lieutenant General Chuck Pitman, US Marine Corps, Retired:

"For good and ill, the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will remain an issue. On the one hand, right thinking Americans will abhor the stupidity of the actions while on the other hand, political glee will take control and fashion this minor event into some modern day massacre.

I humbly offer my opinion here:

I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans took up arms and sacrificed the blood of our youth, it was in the defense of Muslims (Bosnia, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.).

I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the extremists came after 9/11.

I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were Islamic Arabs.

I am sorry that most Arabs and Muslims have to live in squalor under savage dictatorships.

I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth.

I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the US in their religious schools, mosques, and government-controlled media.

I am sorry that Yassar Arafat was kicked out of every Arab country and high-jacked the Palestinian "cause."

I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or offer more than a token amount of financial help to those same Palestinians.

I am sorry that the USA has to step in and be the biggest financial supporter of poverty stricken Arabs while the insanely wealthy Arabs blame the USA for all their problems.

I am sorry that our own left wing, our media, and our own brainwashed masses do not understand any of this (from the misleading vocal elements of our society like radical professors, CNN and the NY TIMES).

I am sorry the United Nations scammed the poor people of Iraq out of the "food for oil" money so they could get rich while the common folk suffered.

I am sorry that some Arab governments pay the families of homicide bombers upon their death.

I am sorry that those same bombers are brainwashed thinking they will receive 72 virgins in "paradise."

I am sorry that the homicide bombers think pregnant women, babies, children, the elderly and other noncombatant civilians are legitimate targets.

I am sorry that our troops die to free more Arabs from the gang rape rooms and the filling of mass graves of dissidents of their own making.

I am sorry that Muslim extremists have killed more Arabs than any other group.

I am sorry that foreign trained terrorists are trying to seize control of Iraq and return it to a terrorist state.

I am sorry we don't drop a few dozen Daisy cutters on Fallujah.

I am sorry every time terrorists hide they find a convenient "Holy Site."

I am sorry they didn't apologize for driving a jet into the World Trade Center that collapsed and severely damaged Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church - one of our Holy Sites.

I am sorry they didn't apologize for flight 93 and 175, the USS Cole, the embassy bombings, the murders and beheadings of Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl, etc. etc!

I am sorry Michael Moore is American; he could feed a medium sized village in Africa.

America will get past this latest absurdity. We will punish those responsible because that is what we do.

We hang out our dirty laundry for the entire world to see. We move on. That's one of the reasons we are hated so much. We don't hide this stuff like all those Arab countries that are now demanding an apology.

Deep down inside, when most Americans saw this reported in the news, we were like - so what? We lost hundreds and made fun of a few prisoners. Sure, it was wrong, sure, it dramatically hurts our cause, but until captured we were trying to kill these same prisoners. Now we're supposed to wring our hands because a few were humiliated?

Our compassion is tempered with the vivid memories of our own people killed, mutilated and burnt amongst a joyous crowd of celebrating Fallujahans.

If you want an apology from this American, you're going to have a long wait!

You have a better chance of finding those seventy-two virgins.

Chuck Pitman Lieutenant General, USMC (Ret)
 
Shortly after the prison story broke (and it really is a problem when the good guys are doing crap like that) an "insurgent" group that had just taken some hostages said that they would treat their hostages in the same way as the prisoners at Abu Gahraib.

Good, I thought. They'll feed them well, then put them through a photographed humiliation session, then set them free and prosecute those who did the humiliation.

Sadly, those good muslims were lying again. They beheaded the hostages and did nothing to prosecute those responsible.

It amazes me that the arab communities can't see by these comparisons who the bad guys are. Instead, they just focus on the words of the bad guys and never delve into the actual results.

A very messed up part of the world. I hope the blood and wealth we've spent there accomplishes something worthwhile.
 
It amazes me that the arab communities can't see by these comparisons who the bad guys are. Instead, they just focus on the words of the bad guys and never delve into the actual results.
Click to expand...

It is cultural blindness. If you had been born into that culutre you too would see yourself as the good guy and us as the bad guy. This has nothing to do with logic. Everyone of us is raised in an immersion of our own culture in such a way that we can not see any other view point. If Arafat had been born in Los Angeles he might have turned out to be a gang leader, but he would also think the Palestinans are as crazy as I do.

If you expect a person from another culture to have a sudden epiphany and see things the way your culture does - you will be continually disappointed.
Culture blindness just is - it's a fact of life.
 
It is cultural blindness
Click to expand...

You're right, of course. We all see things somewhat from a "cultural" point of view. Some of it is peer pressure, some of it is us accepting the ideas of those around us because we can't study/research/think about everything.

But I think with the Mid Eastern culture it goes a bit deeper.

While in college some years ago I had a few middleastern acquaintances from Kuwait and Egypt. They were very intelligent guys (and from the fact they were here came from the rich elite, of course) and had a lot of insight on their part of the world.

One thing they said that the Western concept of "truth" is different in the Middle East. In the west, Truth is an absolute; a standard that everyone strives to learn and honor.

In the mideast "truth" is more a matter of honor. If your leader/imam/family, whatever, is putting forth an idea it is your absolute duty to investigate no further but just support it.

I think this is how so many Arabs can honestly call the first Gulf war an Iraqi victory (at least out loud) because the American's stopped it when we did because we were "afraid of the Republican Guard" (as absurd as it seems, this is seriously often voiced in the Mid East).

When that is being said by your Imam, it would be dishonorable not to repeat it/believe it/fight to defend it.

My thoughts ...
 
here is one along the same lines. i found it on snopes.com which gives a link to the author.

snopes
link to author Doug Patton

WHAT'S ALL THE FUSS?

"Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001? Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania? Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet? Well, I don't. I don't care at all!

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

I'll care when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi tells the world he is sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling, slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

I'll care when Clinton-appointed judges stop ordering my government to release photos of the abuses at Abu Ghraib, which are sure to set off the Islamic extremists just as Newsweek's lies did a few weeks ago.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college hazing incident, rest assured that I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank that I don't care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed "special" food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and — you guessed it — I don't care!" I don't give a sheet either about those sheet heads!!!!!
 
Contrast this:
I don't give a sheet either about those sheet heads!!!!!
Click to expand...


with this from GarandIllusion:
But I think with the Mid Eastern culture it goes a bit deeper...
Click to expand...

One displays the right and most intelligent way, IMO, to approach the problems in the middle east.

The other is doing nothing but agitating, and telling us what he doesn't care about.

Which is helping America more in her time of need? The one who goes around calling the people whose support is necessary to end terror "sheet heads" or the one who looks honestly into the root causes of support for terrorism and extremist regimes?
 
all i said was that it was similar to the original post, and aside from the cheesey "sheet head" remark, i think it was.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top