Why Haven't the Bush Twins Enlisted?

Ok, in the Blame Bush category, everybody harps on how Bush is this major war hawk and how he went into Iraq under false pretenses and is over stretching the army and all of this mumbo jumbo and then they claim that they need to inact the draft starting with the Bush twins, as if Bush is so eager to go to War, he should send his daughters there first.

Ok, this logic is kind of twisted in several ways. For one, it is somewhat impractical for Jenna or Barbara to enlist. Furthermore, you know how many women enlist in the army in the first place? Not very many. In a country of 300 million people, there is something like 1.5 million people serving in our armed forces at any given time(that number may or may not be correct, but there abouts, bare with me). I think the demographic of women to men is that 15% of the military is female (again, an estimate, bare with me). If they inact the draft, they aren't going to draft women right away because women are barred from the combat arms and that's what they are primarily going to be drafting for most likely if they need a draft. Yes, they will need to fill other positions in the service support branches, but the first target is males.

Regardless, back to the original statement, a very small percentage of women in the US are even in the military. True, there are many who have served at some point and have gotten out but even with those into consideration, so giving a very liberal estimation, we'll say that 5% of American women have served in the US Military at some point in their lives. My point? So what if Jenna and Barbara Bush haven't joined the military to serve their country? There are a lot of people who haven't. It doesn't make them any more or less American. Everybody who gives me the BS statement that if you support the war, why aren't you or your kids serving in the military and fighting it? Well, there are a lot of Americans in this country, some support the war and some don't. But going back to the small percentage of Americans who are actually in the military, it stands to reason that some people who support the war have a family member serving and others do not.

Guess what? The Army is not for everybody. There are plenty of people out there that have no business being in the military because their personality or issues they may or may not have are incompatible with it. Maybe they are just scared of being shot at. Joining the Army is not a small matter, it takes a special kind of person to gather that much courage to think about enlisting, and yes, there are people out there who join the army because they don't know what else to do. It doesn't make them any less of a person and they can become better for it.

And besides, if Jenna and Barbara Bush did join the army, can you think of the secret service mess that would cause? Would it even be logical for them to join? Specifically enlist? I mean, seriously, how many children of Presidents enlisted in times of war? I could see them possibly becoming officers if the desire struck them to do that instead, but really. . .

Using this argument against Bush is actually kind of dumb. I wish people would stop muttering about how hypocritical he was for sending our men and women of the armed forces to war when he doesn't have his own daughters serving.

I can just imagine the nightmare that would be for the Drill Sergeants who would have to train them if they did decide to do such a thing.

Case in point, shut up about it already. Its not a big deal that the Bush Twins have never served in the military. Members of the Bush family have served in the past and I bet their might be a cousin or another relative serving now.

*yes, a rant, saw some special on one of the cable news networks interviewing Jenna on why she hadn't enlisted yet and I thought it was ridiculous.*

Georges Sada

For those of you who don't know, Georges Sada is a retired Iraqi General that served under Saddam Hussein. Through World Compassion Ministries, I was able to hear him speak on the status of Iraq, and being a religious venue, more specifically the religious freedom of Iraq. Interestingly enough, Georges Sada is a Christian. At times the lecture got a bit too evangelical for my tastes, but the information was very interesting and I came home with his book (Signed!)

This brings into question the reason why we are in Iraq, and why we went there in the first place. Granted, I wish things were going a little smoother now, but I find it odd how many people seem to want to trust Saddam Hussein over George W Bush. Especially as the war came closer and we went in to invade.

Well, according to Gen Georges Sada, Saddam did have WMD and they were transported into Syria before we invaded. Granted, he did not personally see the weapons get transported, and because we cannot verify whether his statements are true or not unless we actually go to Syria, a lot of the book has to be taken on his word.

I found him to be a very personable and friendly person, and his stories are very interesting, especially in regards to how he survived for so long under Saddam Hussein.
Interview with Jon Stewert.

I'll have to read the book and let you all know what I think. . .

Priceless

This has probably made the blog rounds, but I thought this was worth jumping on.



Still not a fan of John Kerry.

Hat Tip: Liberpolly

On the Home Front

Apparantly Protest Warrior is getting in on the action with the "You Don't Speak For Me, Cindy" tour, as a counter protest to Cindy Sheehan, leaving from San Francisco today and caravaning to Crawford Texas.

Dang, right now I wish I were in the states. I would so get in on that. This whole story has made the news here in Kosovo and I've wanted to comment on it yet have refrained due to my active duty military status. Being a member of Protest Warrior, I only got the opportunity to go on one excercise with them within my chapter. But ever since I heard about this, I wanted to do something with it. Unfortunately, I'm not in a state to do anything. Maybe when I get back to the states I can if a similar issue arrises.

I'm at a state where I would volunteer to go to Iraq just to know what its like to be there, for the experience and also being able to back up my viewpoint. You know, the "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt" business? But I know it wouldn't make mom to happy if I did that. Moms are moms, and I guess from that angle I can sympathisize with Cindy Sheehan. But Kosovo, well, Kosovo just isn't the same.

If I hadn't volunteered to come on this deployment to Kosovo, there is a good chance I'd be in Iraq this summer, though that doesn't mean anything because there was a good chance I would go to Iraq three or four times over the last couple of years before I finally got sick of it and volunteered for the first assignment that would take me out of limbo, which happened to be Kosovo. I had even volunteered to go to Afghanistan in December of 2001 but that fell through within a week.

I guess maybe somebody above is watching out for me, but I support the mission we are trying to accomplish in Iraq, and it pains me to see that there are so many people in the states who want the insurgents to win, as if America is the bad guys for wanting to put a little calm and reason within an area of the globe that hasn't seen it for so long. And their rationale doesn't always make a whole lot of sense. Besides, these insurgents are at a point where they are doing more harm to their own people then to the US soldiers who are trying to stabalize the region.

Anyway, I guess one way to show support for my fellow soldiers and their mission would be in a sense to counter protest those that think we should pull out. And showing my support for the war in Iraq wouldn't be considered political, considering I am a member of the military, is it?