US Military in foreign countries

[Guest guest]

Dear Lee, Thank you for your interesting response. I will look into the sources you cited as I am able. I would like to point out that Washington was General Washington before he was President Washington. He created the first branch of the military; then the Continental Army and now known as the US Army. I am sure that he would not be opposed to using the force that he founded to protect our country and defend it against all enemies, foreign or domestic. When he made the statement advising that America refrain from involvement in the rest of the world, weapons of mass destruction had never even been imagined. Wars took place on land and sea and took years of fighting individually and it was not possible to kill thousands of people in a few minutes with one strike. We live in a completely different and far more dangerous world where someone pushing a button ten

thousand miles away can devastate a city in half an hour. We cannot give in to terrorist demands or allow them to acquire or hijack weapons. If we give in or ignore their violent tantrums somewhere else today, they will be kicking and screaming on our turf tomorrow. When you see a maniac with a gun heading toward you or your friends, you don't wait and see if he will shoot, especially when you know he has murdered before. When he's yelling death threats, you can't just say, "Be reasonable and give me the gun" when ten other people tried that and he either ignored them or shot them. He has your friend with a gun to his head and says he will kill him. You have a gun....what do you do? There is no other choice but to shoot him. I will be a while in formulating a full reply to your post but I found this article on the German govt website. In January they dedicated a Memorial headquarters for this organization in a building that

was previously a German embassy. I started with Germany since I lived there for 4 years and I am familiar it. I am attempting to show that most of our bases are in foreign countries because the foreign governments WANT us to be there. Even though our presence began as martial law after World War II, the US was the first to progress to a friendly presence and did so long before Great Britain(1970s) and the Communist Soviet Union(1990). Our military presence in Germany protected West Germany from colonization by the Soviet Union which could have led to world domination by them. Judging from how their country turned out, I think we did a good thing. "The German Marshall Fund was founded in 1972 and is dedicated to promoting greater cooperation and understanding between the

United States and Europe. It is named after General Marshall, Army Chief of Staff during World War II, Ambassador to China from 1945 to 1947, Secretary of State from 1947 to 1949, and Secretary of Defense from 1950 to 1951 (during the Korean War). It was in 1947, as Secretary of State, that he set up the European Recovery Program, soon to be known as the "Marshall Plan", providing American economic assistance to European countries in support of postwar recovery. The German government donated the sum of 245 million marks to create the GMF as a permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance." http://www.bundesregierung.de/nn_6516/Content/EN/Artikel/2006/01/2006-01-12-europe-and-the-united-states-are-indispensable-partners.html Personally, I hate war and pray and cry over it frequently. But, especially after my husband was shot at by terrorists in Germany while guarding our post there, I absolutely understand why it is essential to our freedom. The military personnel give up their rights in order to protect those of all the other US citizens. Being in the military one has no freedom. But this sacrifice is worth it for so many reasons. This group and many if not most others would be considered treasonous if we were under the arbitrary leadership of most other forms of government and we likely would be without our military. More later.:-)

Tamarin

How low will we go? Check out Messenger’s low PC-to-Phone call rates.

[Guest guest]

Hi Tamarin, Your husband was shot at by terrorists in Germany? Was he

injured? Is he alright?

[Guest guest]

Dear Lee, Thank you for your concern. My husband is fine and we are thankful. In 1990 and 1991, during the first Persian Gulf War, there were bombings and all kinds of terrorist attacks in Germany. My husband's unit and several others were part of a "Reactionary Force" and security at our post was on high alert. Yes, while guarding the front gate to the post, he was shot at by a drive-by sniper but thankfully they hit a nearby wall and not him. But the scare was enough to open my eyes to reality concerning terrorists. Diplomacy does not work with people who place no value on human life. I do not know what group the terrorists who were perpetrating the attacks were involved in as I was much less informed about political issues and world events at that time than I am now. I DO know that regardless of the group affiliation, I never want to live somewhere where terrorists are allowed to roam

freely wreaking havoc in between friendly counseling sessions where they promise to be promoters of peace and then continue in their violent activities. Again, I do appreciate the concern very much. Have a great day! TamarinLee <jackalope_lepus@...> wrote: Hi Tamarin, Your husband was shot at by terrorists in Germany? Was he injured? Is he alright?

All-new - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done faster.

[Guest guest]

Wow. I hope that you will encourage your husband to retire and find a

safer occupation. I am so sorry that you have to worry so much.

As for terrorism, many would say that modern terrorists cannot compare

with the terrorism that took place in the French & Indian War when both

the Britsh and the French employed Indians to scalp and murder their

enemies and capture and rape their enemies women. So terrorism is

nothing new. What is new is the smallness of the world that we now

have today. But if we can target modern terrorism's bank accounts and

destroy their sources of income--which, as I wrote, derive from illegal

drugs--that will severely limit their ability to terrorize.

[Guest guest]

No....no....my husband left the Army in 1995. The shooting event took place in 1991. He now works for the State of Illinois as a computer systems analyst. I have much less to worry about concerning his safety now. :-) Maybe your idea would work eventually but drugs cause so many other problems. My parents were drug addicted alcoholics and I suffered my whole childhood because of it. Like I said before, I am definitely conservative on social issues! Have a great night. Blessings! TamarinLee <jackalope_lepus@...> wrote: Wow. I hope that you will encourage your husband to retire and find a safer occupation. I am so sorry that you have to worry so much.As for terrorism, many would say that modern terrorists cannot compare with the terrorism that took place in the French & Indian War when both the Britsh and the French employed Indians to scalp and murder their enemies and capture and rape their enemies women. So terrorism is nothing new. What is new is the smallness of the world that we now have today. But if we can target modern terrorism's bank accounts and destroy their sources of income--which, as I wrote, derive from illegal drugs--that will severely limit their ability to terrorize.

Stay in the know. Pulse on the new .com. Check it out.

[Guest guest]

My dear Tamarin,

I am so glad that your husband is safe.

We have the same background. My mother, uncle, and grandfather were

alcoholics and I have suffered because of them. We are both ACOAs.

But would you rather that the profits from these evil substances went

into the pockets of gangsters and terrorists, or that a large

percentage of the profits were taxed away and used for the public

good? Try talking sometime with a drug addiction counselor who has

worked on a national drug hotline. Listen to his horror stories of

people who become drug addicts but cannot get into a treatment program

because scarce public monies fund such programs.

I did listen. And the horror stories are endless. The worst that I

ever heard was of a woman who was strung out on Heroin and went to beg

her junkie for a free fix to tide her over. Her connection was sitting

around in a room with his friends chatting, and they were bored. So he

agreed to give her a free fix if she would entertain them all by having

sex with his dog. After she got her fix, she had had enough and wanted

treatment and a way out. I pray that she got it, but scarce public

monies fund these drug treatment programs so there are year long

waiting lists to enter many of these programs. But it does not have to

be this way. Tax money from these accursed evils can fund

rehabilitation programs; we need no Al Capone nor bin Laden profiting

off these evils. Blessings to you.