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At Lockheed Martin, we count people for profit:

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At Lockheed Martin, we coerce people for profit:

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At Lockheed Martin, we control people for profit:

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At Lockheed Martin, we kill people for profit:

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At Lockheed Martin, we never forget what we’re working for…

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I once took a class on this [insert snickers here] …ok, though, seriously – as part of my military officer training we were required to complete classroom instruction on “Just War Theory”. This was not a cakewalk and required serious and deep analysis of what determines when a war is “just”. Not easy… but oh so vital to achieving a balance between the meta-extremes of imperialism and surrender… and the practical-extremes of global-policing and global-appeasement/consensus.

I do think that we have to put an end to terrorism, and that will most likely be a very violent process. At the same time, I must voice caution. Whenever we go to war with another nation, we must be sure certain requirements have been met. In being Catholic, I look to the Cathecism of the Catholic Church, which does provide parameters for wars and revolts.

(1) “The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain”. This has been met.

(2)”All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective.” I don’t think this was met to the degree that would require us to take over Iraq. It seemed that we just said, “Hey, we think you got some bad stuff in your country, so we’re gonna take it away.” Then again, my memory is kind of faultering about the begginning of the war.

(3)”There must be serious prospects of success. This has been met”

(4) “The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.” Americans are the best soldiers in the world when it comes to not inducing collateral damage.

Another point of the Cathecism is in #2312. “The Church and human reason both assert the permanent validity of the MORAL LAW DURING ARMED CONFLICT. ‘The mere fact that war has regrettably broken out does not mean that everything becomes licit between warring parties.’” This goes hand in hand with the preachings of a Polish martyr speaking out against communism in the 1980′s.

“Do not struggle with violence. Violence is a sign of weakness. All those who cannot win through the heart try to conquer through violence. The most wonderful and durable struggles in history have been carried on by human thought. The most ignoble fights and most ephemeral successes are those of violence. An idea which needs rifles to survive dies of its own accord. An idea which is imposed by violence collapses under it. An idea capable of life wins without effort and is then followed by millions of people.”

If we don’t be careful, we will be dragged into barbarity alongside the Muslims. We will use violence when there is no other viable option, but that must be the only time.

The only way this war could turn into another Vietnam as the democrats like to say, is if we try to lose this war, and that would be a sickening waste of lives.

It is not a popularity contest, but we should be aware of how our actions are perceived.

Why haven’t we captured Osama yet? If we put as much effort into that as we have the Iraq war, you’d think we’d have him by now. I believe he is where our efforts should have been directed.

I’m glad that the rape rooms run by Sadam’s sons are now closed and his sons burning in hell. Perhaps there are those of you who prefer the rape rooms. I wish there was as much anger over women being raped as there were by a prisoner on a leash.

Singaporean :: It’s pretty bold of you to inform an entire country that they don’t know why something on their own soil happened. Even so, nobody can explain pure evil… but it exists. If my family is being attacked I don’t need to know why before I kill the attacker… because it’s the WHAT that is important. Why do certain men rape little boys? Who the hell cares? Everyone has the option of whether or not to kill… whether or not to rape… whether or not to terrorize.

Nothing the US has done has ever deserved what the Islamo-fascists have done. Muslim extremists hate the US and hate Israel and hate the fact that Israel exists and will continue to exist as long as the US exists.

That’s like saying… You need to look long and hard at why I raped and murdered your wife… because it’s been five years since I did it and you STILL haven’t forced my idiot neighbor to ditch the pink lawn flamingos.

There is no question that various actions taken by the US governement over the last, oh, 50 years have been unpopular with various peoples of the world.

I’ll just to a conclusion here. I think you’re suggesting something like “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.” I think it would be very naive to think that suddenly handing out iPods and Big Macs will make us instantly popular. Further, the US forces in Iraq are doing many things to improve the lives of Iraqis. Yes, we always see the scenes of violence. But they are out there offering medical assistance and rebuilding the country. And do you know why we don’t see that? Because murderous thugs would target those things if they were publicized. For the good of Americans and the Iraqis they are helping, a lot of that stuff is kept low key. Do the good deed and live with the fact that they won’t get credit for it.

The bottom line is the past is great and we should learn from it, but we’re sitting here in the present and we have to deal with that. Unless you have an extra fancy DeLorean around. Barring that, we need to make the most the situation at hand. It would be hard to deny, in my opinion, that stablizing Iraq is the best thing we can do.

WarAxe: You also make many valid points with regards to heros and cowards. We also have to support our troops regardless of where they are or why they are there. I only wish we had went after the real problem.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14784142/

I’m deeply saddened that 5 years since, nothing much has changed.