I find it to be too much of a Blanket Statement. You can certainly relate better than most to the un-debate-able reality that its totally impossible to know...to accurately "gauge" the level of Trauma a particular Vet might be subject to as result of his or her service.
Without an ability to measure precisely what a given Vet's injuries are, to know how badly they are wounded, how can you say what you say with any real confidence? That its accurate?
A vet is considered anyone that served. A vet that served from say 1994-1998 should have no more injuries/physical ailments than a guy working at the local vehicle repair shop. Every vet has a story but not all vets are injured or are suffering from PTSD. Some, are taking advantage of their vet status. That's all.
Don't want to hijack the thread, but someone mentioned aid to Israel as if it were a problem instead of what it really is, a bargain and a benefit to the US. This is a post I wrote awhile back:
The money spent by the US on Israel is peanuts compared with the defense and economic aid lavished by the US on Europe.
Why are the Europeans so resentful of anyone else recieving US money? I suppose they feel the Israeli money should be directed towards them.
There were no objections to the US economic and defense subsidies when Britain was ruthlessly putting down uprisings in Malaysia, or France in Algeria. So why the resentment of Israel.
Certainly if you are worried about Palestinian lives, I would expect you would be talking about Jordan. Jordan has killed thousands of more Palestinians than Israel. Jordan continues to be the fourth largest recipent of US foreign aid.
Your stats are posted in a vacuum without comparison to aid, loans, and grants to other countries. For fifty years the US has provided a defense to Japan and Europe at enormous cost to US taxpayers. In fact, at a cost far exceeding aid to Israel.
You are counting "$20 billion in tax-exempt contributions made to Israel by American Jews in the nearly half-century since Israel was created" as your tax dollars. And it isn't.
I find it hard to believe you oppose helping the only democratic strategic ally in a region in which all the other countries are Muslim dictatorships, who either actively support global Muslim terrorism, or wouldn’t stand against it.
The assistance Israel gets from the US is cir. 3% of GDP and most of it is spent in the US.
Israel R&D has massively assisted the US. So I very much doubt that they will want to stop assistance.
Some of the dollars Israel gets is matched by annual aid to Egypt. This segment is a result of the Camp David peace accords.
Some is actually loan guarantees, and Israel has a perfect track record on repayment.
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/myths/mf21.html
Do you wish Israel did not have the military advantage it did, so that it would be vulnerable to blackmail and destruction? Maybe the US won't have to spend so much money and manpower in the Middle East if the Arab world would give up the goal of annihilating Israel.
If Arabs dropped their guns, there would be peace; if Israel dropped its guns, there would be no Israel.
As the US aids dozens of countries, Muslim countries included, and as the US aid to Egypt alone, for instance, is larger than its aid to Israel.
I don't see harm done to US interests by having Israel as a strategic ally, the US’s only trustworthy and capable strategic ally in this part of the world.
If things got messed up in the war on Saddam’s regime, and things can get messed up in any war, the only country in the region that American soldiers could rely on for getting immediate and top level medical treatment, for instance, is Israel.
As the military aid is money that never leaves the US, as it is given on condition that Israel would purchase from American companies only, this is a way in which the US helps US industry. Why stop the subsidizing of US industry?
Why lose Israel’s contribution to the US in quite a few Hi-Tech realms, civilian and military alike?
Washington Post, Jan. 31, 2001 -- “In Beirut, Lebanon, delegates to a pan-Islamic conference... called for the elimination of the Jewish state... In a communique issued after the three-day conference, the nearly 400 delegates from about 40 Arab and Muslim countries said jihad (holy war) and resistance against Israel were the "only decisive option"...
What do you think? -- Could that, “in any way”, be connected to why Israel needs a strong Army?
The US is in a generational war on global Muslim terrorism. No country, the US included, has Israel’s intelligence, experience, tactics and means to carry out highly successful counter terrorism warfare. No other country has ever come close to Israel’s ability to combat terror, which has a success rate of over 99%. The help that the US gets from Israel in her war on global terrorism is more meaningful than what any other country can deliver. American Security Officials Tour Israel
Imagine the cost in lives and in economic loss due to just one airliner that would be downed during takeoff by a small shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile. This is a real threat. This would result in hundreds of deaths. The (underestimated) official estimate is $20 billion. What about a second downed airliner?
The prevention of just one single such terror attack, thanks to Israel’s help, would save more than a few years of aid to Israel. The loss of lives cannot be measured by money.
Now, stop the aid to Israel, and board your next flight...
The American Pres., administration, and experts DON'T AID ISRAEL OUT OF PURE KINDNESS! They help Israel because it serves American interests. In terms of a cold lose-gain calculation, the US benefits by aiding Israel and by having Israel as a strategic ally.
Did you know that on Sept. 11, the head of the Saudi Arabia desk in the CIA didn’t even speak Arabic? He couldn’t assess critical intelligence directly from the source, and had to rely on translation. The first country that the US turned to for help, within hours on Sept. 11, was Israel. The US received more than she hoped to get. Now, have a nice flight... and enjoy your next visit to the mall... and cross that bridge safely... get back home and enjoy your computer time, thanks to the mutually beneficial relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
The money spent by the US on Israel is peanuts compared with the defense and economic aid lavished by the US on Europe.
Why are the Europeans so resentful of anyone else recieving US money? I suppose they feel the Israeli money should be directed towards them.
There were no objections to the US economic and defense subsidies when Britain was ruthlessly putting down uprisings in Malaysia, or France in Algeria. So why the resentment of Israel.
Certainly if you are worried about Palestinian lives, I would expect you would be talking about Jordan. Jordan has killed thousands of more Palestinians than Israel. Jordan continues to be the fourth largest recipent of US foreign aid.
Your stats are posted in a vacuum without comparison to aid, loans, and grants to other countries. For fifty years the US has provided a defense to Japan and Europe at enormous cost to US taxpayers. In fact, at a cost far exceeding aid to Israel.
You are counting "$20 billion in tax-exempt contributions made to Israel by American Jews in the nearly half-century since Israel was created" as your tax dollars. And it isn't.
I find it hard to believe you oppose helping the only democratic strategic ally in a region in which all the other countries are Muslim dictatorships, who either actively support global Muslim terrorism, or wouldn’t stand against it.
The assistance Israel gets from the US is cir. 3% of GDP and most of it is spent in the US.
Israel R&D has massively assisted the US. So I very much doubt that they will want to stop assistance.
Some of the dollars Israel gets is matched by annual aid to Egypt. This segment is a result of the Camp David peace accords.
Some is actually loan guarantees, and Israel has a perfect track record on repayment.
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/myths/mf21.html
Do you wish Israel did not have the military advantage it did, so that it would be vulnerable to blackmail and destruction? Maybe the US won't have to spend so much money and manpower in the Middle East if the Arab world would give up the goal of annihilating Israel.
If Arabs dropped their guns, there would be peace; if Israel dropped its guns, there would be no Israel.
As the US aids dozens of countries, Muslim countries included, and as the US aid to Egypt alone, for instance, is larger than its aid to Israel.
I don't see harm done to US interests by having Israel as a strategic ally, the US’s only trustworthy and capable strategic ally in this part of the world.
If things got messed up in the war on Saddam’s regime, and things can get messed up in any war, the only country in the region that American soldiers could rely on for getting immediate and top level medical treatment, for instance, is Israel.
As the military aid is money that never leaves the US, as it is given on condition that Israel would purchase from American companies only, this is a way in which the US helps US industry. Why stop the subsidizing of US industry?
Why lose Israel’s contribution to the US in quite a few Hi-Tech realms, civilian and military alike?
Washington Post, Jan. 31, 2001 -- “In Beirut, Lebanon, delegates to a pan-Islamic conference... called for the elimination of the Jewish state... In a communique issued after the three-day conference, the nearly 400 delegates from about 40 Arab and Muslim countries said jihad (holy war) and resistance against Israel were the "only decisive option"...
What do you think? -- Could that, “in any way”, be connected to why Israel needs a strong Army?
The US is in a generational war on global Muslim terrorism. No country, the US included, has Israel’s intelligence, experience, tactics and means to carry out highly successful counter terrorism warfare. No other country has ever come close to Israel’s ability to combat terror, which has a success rate of over 99%. The help that the US gets from Israel in her war on global terrorism is more meaningful than what any other country can deliver. American Security Officials Tour Israel
Imagine the cost in lives and in economic loss due to just one airliner that would be downed during takeoff by a small shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile. This is a real threat. This would result in hundreds of deaths. The (underestimated) official estimate is $20 billion. What about a second downed airliner?
The prevention of just one single such terror attack, thanks to Israel’s help, would save more than a few years of aid to Israel. The loss of lives cannot be measured by money.
Now, stop the aid to Israel, and board your next flight...
The American Pres., administration, and experts DON'T AID ISRAEL OUT OF PURE KINDNESS! They help Israel because it serves American interests. In terms of a cold lose-gain calculation, the US benefits by aiding Israel and by having Israel as a strategic ally.
Did you know that on Sept. 11, the head of the Saudi Arabia desk in the CIA didn’t even speak Arabic? He couldn’t assess critical intelligence directly from the source, and had to rely on translation. The first country that the US turned to for help, within hours on Sept. 11, was Israel. The US received more than she hoped to get. Now, have a nice flight... and enjoy your next visit to the mall... and cross that bridge safely... get back home and enjoy your computer time, thanks to the mutually beneficial relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
In Syria at the moment are two monsters, Assad the mass murderer and ISIS the mass murderers. Right now ISIS is scattering, some headed back toward an area they control in Iraq. If the global community can get its shit together ISIS can be easily defeated. That doesn't end the threat of global jihad but it rids half the refugee problem and 50% of the reason for instability in Syria.
The next step is to get Russia to agree on the method of exit for Assad the dictator. He has murdered so many and his minority sect should they remain in Syria will have the deserved revenge enacted upon them. There is no solution with him remaining in Syria.
Re Refugees: The best and fastest way to keep these people safe is to absorb them into other countries. Unfortunately these other countries citizens are pushing back against this idea. Here in the US we can already see the issue is going to get tied up in legalese and bickering before these people get the help they need.
So the best idea I can come up with is a safe zone inside Syria. And since Vlad wants to be perceieved a hero let his air force and troops protect them. Israel will gladly provide food and medical care; it already is to a large degree.
The next step is to get Russia to agree on the method of exit for Assad the dictator. He has murdered so many and his minority sect should they remain in Syria will have the deserved revenge enacted upon them. There is no solution with him remaining in Syria.
Re Refugees: The best and fastest way to keep these people safe is to absorb them into other countries. Unfortunately these other countries citizens are pushing back against this idea. Here in the US we can already see the issue is going to get tied up in legalese and bickering before these people get the help they need.
So the best idea I can come up with is a safe zone inside Syria. And since Vlad wants to be perceieved a hero let his air force and troops protect them. Israel will gladly provide food and medical care; it already is to a large degree.
thks for the informative posts Scott
'And since Vlad wants to be perceieved a hero'
is that he wants?
...
Have to agree with his strategy going in-- let's worry about Asaad later. Work WITH the Syrian state ; eliminate ISIS and other JIhadist groups . Then and only then set a plan for the Syrian people to make their call on future leader. Russia open to suggestions/talks with other nations as to handle. ...
he's a different bird, no doubt,......i mean...and I quote;
'to forgive the terrorists is up to God, to send them there is up to me'
geez, easy big fella......
To quote the Brits; cometh the hour , cometh the man
...cmon, gotta have some fun..........dagone....................
'And since Vlad wants to be perceieved a hero'
is that he wants?
...Have to agree with his strategy going in-- let's worry about Asaad later. Work WITH the Syrian state ; eliminate ISIS and other JIhadist groups . Then and only then set a plan for the Syrian people to make their call on future leader. Russia open to suggestions/talks with other nations as to handle. ...
he's a different bird, no doubt,......i mean...and I quote;
'to forgive the terrorists is up to God, to send them there is up to me'
geez, easy big fella......
To quote the Brits; cometh the hour , cometh the man
...cmon, gotta have some fun..........dagone....................
thks for the informative posts Scott
'And since Vlad wants to be perceieved a hero'
is that he wants?
Have to agree with his strategy going in-- let's worry about Asaad later. Work WITH the Syrian state ; eliminate ISIS and other JIhadist groups . Then and only then set a plan for the Syrian people to make their call on future leader. Russia open to suggestions/talks with other nations as to handle. ...
he's a different bird, no doubt,......i mean...and I quote;
'to forgive the terrorists is up to God, to send them there is up to me'
Boffer generally I agree. US intelligence though (hey don't laugh) shows that until the Paris massacres Vlad was targeting mostly Assad's domestic enemies. That has shifted though, and as I said in Poly ISIS is fleeing Raqqa in large numbers due to Russian and French bombardment, even if we're mostly hitting storage facilities. The world wants to "worry about Assad later" but Assad is how it started and 95% of native Syrians want him dead.
Now if the US, Russia, France, Britain, Turkey and the Kurdish Peshmerga could align (and it would be nice if Obama would tell Ergodick to stop bombing the Kurds!) it's bye-bye ISIS. Now again that only destroys their caliphate, it hardly dents the threat of global jihad. We will still need to be on alert for Paris like attacks for a generation. When the campaign to rid ISIS is over tensions will heighten again if Putin tries to force a political solution in Syria that includes Assad.
''Boffer generally I agree. US intelligence though shows that until the Paris massacres Vlad was targeting mostly Assad's domestic enemies'
Russia denies this and has stated it has targeted the enemy since arriving, 6 weeks ago. It also asserts that the US refused to share information in efforts to destroy the enemy. Now it becomes, whom to believe. Following the airplane attack Russia would understandably step it up agasint ISIS
obviously both these military behemoths would want to be seen in good light, not slighted. Perception is 'important'.
Keep in mind, Putin made it very clear as to his intentions;
"Our goal is to defeat terrorism, fight terror, help President Assad defeat terror, thus creating conditions for the start, and, I hope, successful conclusion of the political settlement process.
"I believe this is the only right way.
given history, and that it's Russia i get skepticism. Its needed, healthy. BUT , call me crazy, i think he's sincere. He's been consistent.
he's spot on here, Scott;
“The latest tragic events in Paris show that we have to unite our efforts in fighting this evil, something we should have done long time ago,” Putin said.
interestingly, some leaders in Europe are GLAD Putin is involved
italy;
'Renzi said he shares Russian President Vladimir Putin's urging that what is needed to combat IS is a grand coalition of countries, like one that came together in World War II to defeat Hitler, the Associated Press reported.
In an interview Wednesday on Italy's Sky TG24 TV, Renzi said bringing Russia into such an international coalition "would be very positive."'
Russia denies this and has stated it has targeted the enemy since arriving, 6 weeks ago. It also asserts that the US refused to share information in efforts to destroy the enemy. Now it becomes, whom to believe. Following the airplane attack Russia would understandably step it up agasint ISIS
obviously both these military behemoths would want to be seen in good light, not slighted. Perception is 'important'.
Keep in mind, Putin made it very clear as to his intentions;
"Our goal is to defeat terrorism, fight terror, help President Assad defeat terror, thus creating conditions for the start, and, I hope, successful conclusion of the political settlement process.
"I believe this is the only right way.
given history, and that it's Russia i get skepticism. Its needed, healthy. BUT , call me crazy, i think he's sincere. He's been consistent.
he's spot on here, Scott;
“The latest tragic events in Paris show that we have to unite our efforts in fighting this evil, something we should have done long time ago,” Putin said.
interestingly, some leaders in Europe are GLAD Putin is involved
italy;
'Renzi said he shares Russian President Vladimir Putin's urging that what is needed to combat IS is a grand coalition of countries, like one that came together in World War II to defeat Hitler, the Associated Press reported.
In an interview Wednesday on Italy's Sky TG24 TV, Renzi said bringing Russia into such an international coalition "would be very positive."'
That's certainly the general idea with immigration (the economic benefit) --- but it doesn't always apply to refugee situations. Let's not pretend this is Tom Cruise (Far and Away, scrappy Irish lad), hoping to secure his future & land in Oklahoma.
I mean, according to Obama, a substantial % of the Syrian refugees are old women. Not exactly the demographic that will spur society to economic & intellectual gains.
That being said --- USA needs to accept a few refugees. It's an effective form of global marketing. As long as we don't accept any future terrorists (???), the ROI is pretty good.
Thank You ML Dog. I can tell you are one who puts a considerable amount of thought into what he is writing as well.
(Not so funny) story. When 9/11 hit I was in a heated battle over Israel/Palestine at Major Wager with several other posters. I told them this Shit is coming here and soon. When the "Two Planes" thread was started at MW everyone was, "Where's Scott?" Heck, who wants to be right about that?
But I didn't post for a day or two because that was also the same day I realized my live in ex girlfriend was crazy. How do you figure out someone is crazy? You have a fight over something petty. She goes to her college classes in the AM. The whole world changes in a few hours. She comes home and the first thing she does is reignite the argument. Are you kidding me you self-absorbed bitch? This was the moment I decided she was moving out and soon. At the time it was thought there may have been 30K people in those buildings and you come home from your little community college classes and you want to argue? On 9/11?
"Where's Scott?" Scott is dealing with his own jihadi and will return to posting when she finds a place of her own
Thank You ML Dog. I can tell you are one who puts a considerable amount of thought into what he is writing as well.
(Not so funny) story. When 9/11 hit I was in a heated battle over Israel/Palestine at Major Wager with several other posters. I told them this Shit is coming here and soon. When the "Two Planes" thread was started at MW everyone was, "Where's Scott?" Heck, who wants to be right about that?
But I didn't post for a day or two because that was also the same day I realized my live in ex girlfriend was crazy. How do you figure out someone is crazy? You have a fight over something petty. She goes to her college classes in the AM. The whole world changes in a few hours. She comes home and the first thing she does is reignite the argument. Are you kidding me you self-absorbed bitch? This was the moment I decided she was moving out and soon. At the time it was thought there may have been 30K people in those buildings and you come home from your little community college classes and you want to argue? On 9/11?
"Where's Scott?" Scott is dealing with his own jihadi and will return to posting when she finds a place of her own
This made me ROFLMAO,,, sad, sad day, put in a very funny, funny way.
