Bush's Speech
http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/bush-war.htm
That is a link to a transcript of former President George Bush's address to the nation in 1991 that the United States was attacking Iraq, and that Operation Desert Shield was at that point becoming Operation Desert Storm. One of the things that stood out to me was what he said at the end.
"Listen to Hollywood Huddleston, Marine lance corporal. He says, "Let's free these people, so we can go home and be free again.'' And he's right. The terrible crimes and tortures committed by Saddam's henchmen against the innocent people of Kuwait are an affront to mankind and a challenge to the freedom of all.
Listen to one of our great officers out there, Marine Lieutenant General Walter Boomer. He said: "There are things worth fighting for. A world in which brutality and lawlessness are allowed to go unchecked isn't the kind of world we're going to want to live in.''
Listen to Master Sergeant J.P. Kendall of the 82nd Airborne: "We're here for more than just the price of a gallon of gas. What we're doing is going to chart the future of the world for the next 100 years. It's better to deal with this guy now than 5 years from now.''
And finally, we should all sit up and listen to Jackie Jones, an Army lieutenant, when she says, "If we let him get away with this, who knows what's going to be next?''
In my opinion, Bush used real soldiers in Iraq to justify or validate what he was saying. I think that if he didn't have quotes from actual soldiers, there would be some doubt in people's minds that invading Iraq is a good idea. Some people would be left thinking, "I wonder how the soldiers feel about it." With actual proof of how some of them feel, Bush probably felt validated to an extent.
That is a link to a transcript of former President George Bush's address to the nation in 1991 that the United States was attacking Iraq, and that Operation Desert Shield was at that point becoming Operation Desert Storm. One of the things that stood out to me was what he said at the end.
"Listen to Hollywood Huddleston, Marine lance corporal. He says, "Let's free these people, so we can go home and be free again.'' And he's right. The terrible crimes and tortures committed by Saddam's henchmen against the innocent people of Kuwait are an affront to mankind and a challenge to the freedom of all.
Listen to one of our great officers out there, Marine Lieutenant General Walter Boomer. He said: "There are things worth fighting for. A world in which brutality and lawlessness are allowed to go unchecked isn't the kind of world we're going to want to live in.''
Listen to Master Sergeant J.P. Kendall of the 82nd Airborne: "We're here for more than just the price of a gallon of gas. What we're doing is going to chart the future of the world for the next 100 years. It's better to deal with this guy now than 5 years from now.''
And finally, we should all sit up and listen to Jackie Jones, an Army lieutenant, when she says, "If we let him get away with this, who knows what's going to be next?''
In my opinion, Bush used real soldiers in Iraq to justify or validate what he was saying. I think that if he didn't have quotes from actual soldiers, there would be some doubt in people's minds that invading Iraq is a good idea. Some people would be left thinking, "I wonder how the soldiers feel about it." With actual proof of how some of them feel, Bush probably felt validated to an extent.
posted by Anonymous at 2:53 AM
1 Comments:
Well, quite a string of comments. A good post and some debate. That's great.
Back to the original post: both the pro-war and anti-war advocates use the images and words of soldiers to give their arguments authenticity and crediblity. The anti-elitest sentiments of many Americans makes it tempting for both conservative and progressive elites to package their messages in populist rhetoric and mobilize as many "common man" spokespeople as they can round up.
On the otherhand it is important to hear from both G.I. Joe (and G.I. Jane) as well as Joe Baghdad.
On the second issue raised in the comments: We all want facts from Iraq that tell us both what has been accomplished and what is not. You are both right, there are some positive stories to be told about what we have managed to construct in Iraq. On the other hand, the big picture is bleak. Both should be reported accurately. Anti-war people who ignore the accomplishments are to be criticized, just as the Bush administration's attempts to paint a rosy picture need to be countered with good hard reporting.
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