Boy you sure can brag about what a worldly know it all you sound like. You say over and over "I've been there..." but give no specific details about what justify's this war. Quit glorifying yourself and do some actual explaining. Thank you Mr. Hero. Peace-James

God, are you one skrewed up individual. I hope you get some counseling and history lessons, ASAP. Plese don't ever own a gun or takes drugs - people like you scare me and frequently make the news, unfortunately...

Hello,
You served in some capacity in Afghanistan, although you didn't say what branch. I assume you volunteered. THANK YOU! But as far as your self righteous lecture goes, maybe your indignation is misplaced.
You think you saw the reality of Afghanistan in one year? You didn't even come close! You saw Afghanis and their country through the lens of an occupier, through the lens of your "mission" and all the indoctrination and military brainwashing goes with it. You worked with Afghanis? Well they worked with you because they're desperate and they HAVE TO. You were strutting around in their busted up country with a gun and some handouts. How patronizing! Do you think because they smile and make you some tea that means they want you there?
If you bother to read a little history, you might find out that you weren't the first foreign occupying force to go into Afghanistan. There's a long line, and you were just the most recent,
but you seem to have the same ignorance and the same arrogant attitude as the ones before you. Whether Osama Bin Laden (whoever he is) may or may not have been based there (and if so, how did he get away so easy?) doesn't really matter to the Afghanis in the long run. They're really proud people, and they've developed a sore spot about this occupation thing over the past 300 years, and it REALLY pisses them off to see foreign uniforms and military equipment in their country and having their villages and family homes and weddings blown up by mistake, or maybe on purpose. They have recently endured 30+ years of war and horrible oppression, courtesy of the soviets, taliban, and warlords, plus all the poverty, deprivation, starvation, and horror that goes with it, not to mention America's broken promises when the Soviets left. It's just possible that they're not in the mood to accomodate your proud mission, no matter how much you believe in it. Do you think Americans are going to stride in with our righteous indignation about 9/11 and win Afghani hearts and minds and transform their society by building some clinics and schools and handing out candy to their kids after we've blown the place apart? Or, try this one on; Don't you think American patriots would fight to the death if there were chinese tanks in Arizona or the Smokey mountains or ships off the coast of Seattle? Might you be tempted to target your enemy and blow some ------- up if your family memebers got blown up or burned and maimed and written off as collateral damage? And do you think you'd need a uniform to do that? ------- NO! IT'S YOUR COUNTRY! Of course the occupiers would define you as an "enemy combatant" under international rules and imprison (or torture) you, but maybe that wouldn't be the first thing on your mind when you go fight. Oh, and speaking of habeas corpus, you may have noticed that while you were over there serving, we lost habeas corpus HERE IN THE U.S., courtesy of your commander in chief and his flying monkeys at DOJ. Simple fact about constitutional law as applied to rights, either EVERYBODY has them, or NOBODY has them. And to write off every carnage that happens in Afghanistan or even Iraq, for that matter, as an Al Qaeda operation, is just plain ignorant. There are murderous elements in Afghanistan and Iraq that want to kill Americans, some of them are Al Qaeda, a lot of them just want the occupiers, including Al Qaeda, out of their country, just like you would. Americans think that because 9/11 happened, we have some divine right to go in and run military ops that indiscriminantly kill and maim THOUSANDS of innocent civilians because we're enraged and confused about the attack on our country. There are some dots to connect here. In light
of your service, I hope you take the next step and educate yourself a little better about where you were and what you are a part of. There are plenty of people who for years have gone and continue to go to Afghanistan who know the people and the place a lot better than you ever could from a military perspective, maybe you should talk to some of them.

Sorry to hear that you don't know anything. I'm sure you've seen the worst that man can do to his fellow man. Sorta like when American bombs land on civilians killing hundreds at a pop. Why? I guess they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There is no such term as "enemy combatant". You can look through the UN charter, the Geneva Convention, the Nuremburg Trials, and anywhere else. The term doesn't exist. But what DOES exist is Article VI of the US Constitution (you may have heard of this piece of paper. It's the one you're trying to destroy). Article VI states that ANY international treaty that the US government signs onto becomes "THE LAW OF THE LAND." Sorry to show how dumb you are, but I'm afraid you've left little choice.

Now go back to work on destroying the rest of the Constitution and Bill of Rights so that future generations will be able to ask, "Daddy, what does freedom mean?"

A human is a human, regardless of nationality. A nation that claims to the pinnacle of freedom and tolerance should not do things to citizens of other nations that it would not do to it's own.

The name calling bit is almost as laughible as the clear fallacys that liter your argument.

And although I personally disagree with the ideolgy of those so called "Enemy Combatants," I have far more sympathy for them than the selfrighteous nationalist zelots that fight for the United States. Maybe it is MY frist hand experiance but they are far to misguided; a great waste of ones life in my opinion. And yes this is a direct insult of the military. The hero worship of them in the media is unsettling. The USA has a volunteer armed forces, those who volunteered shouldn't be put up for their mistakes. If bad things happen to anyone in the army regardless of the ineptitude of the leaders that person should look no further than themselves.
Casey?

Wrong. The Geneva convention protocols intertwine with the Hague conventions(that also tie into and as long as enemy combats are identified carrying a weapon, then they have the same protections. Even though we have not fully ratified AP 1 and 2 though it's implemented in the Army field manual, the Martens Clause indicates that the Additional Protocols may be considered customary law and that all parties are morally bound by the rules in them if they truly wish to be seen as adhering to both the letter and the spirit of international law) And WW2 Generals from the greatest generation don't agree with you, so you might want to show some respect for what this country actually stands for since you claim to be a veteran, but John McCain would rather spit on you than look at you, for he does not support the new G.I Bill, so really when you defend him, you're saying you don't want your pension and you don't want your education paid for or respect. You're saying you don't want health care; you're saying you don't care about veterans suffering in Walter Reed which is a national disgrace.

And Mark showed you exactly where it says habeas corpus applies to non American citizens and it shall not be suspended under any circumstances except if this country is invaded etc. Which is why it has only been fully suspended during the Civil war. This is really important to know, especially for those serving. Whether you like Mark, me, or anyone else, we have more respect for your service than any Republican that supported th Military commissions Act which was unconstitutional and fades away protections given to you, if you were taken prisoner; that's the point. You say you don't support torture. Good, but thinking that habeas corpus only applies to American citizens is not true, for habeas corpus was established before this country was established.

McCain does not care about you; McCain does not care about the Constitution via your rights and protections if you were under POW status, If he did he would not have supported the Military Commissions Act like the poster above you said. Not caring about habeas corpus or rule of law is not supporting what Americans stand for and that's why WW2 Generals abhor torture and the suspension of habeas corpus, because they are intertwined. That's what this country stands for; rule of law. And The Military Commissions Act does allow for habeas corpus to be suspended for US citizens. All that has to happen is for the president to say that they are "enemy combatants." He's allowed to interpret it, and that's close to starting dictatorial powers for even some kings didn't have that power when it was first written.

If you care about your fellow veterans than I'm going to implore you to think of freedom as something more than a yellow ribbon or a symbolic gesture. If you care about your fellow veterans, you will hear their cries and you will pay attention to them:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/OPINI...

VoteVets is an amazing organization and I would plead for you to join them, because they are the only group who really cares about our veterans, because John McCain does not care at all, and we can see that by his actions and his refusal to support the new G.I Bill.

http://votevets.org/pages/?id=0009

Don't ignore that 1,000 veterans are committing suicide, because they don't get the mental health benefits promised to them when they come back. Please don't turn your back on your fellow veterans and please reconsider supporting John McCain for he does not care about you.

I welcome conservatives-- the more, the better! Conservatives can add a lot to the discussion. (Why, even I hold some conservative views:-) I wish we could stop viewing everything through a left-right prism.

-Mark Fiore