Come again? Find one place from my return where I have done any of the silly things you have mentioned. Your "paint-by-numbers" with fecal paint of a liberal is proving you to be a tool for the political machine, because obviously it has failed again. Of course, I could be a tool just like you, but then again, I would have to be a CEO to benefit from it.
Please. You question every single source anyone quotes unless it's in line with your own ideals. Now you don't want to know the source of the letter? If your friend feels that Iraq is going well, then that's great. However, I have a couple problems with the letter. 1). No source. The only person that can verify he's even in Iraq is you. And we can't even verify you are lying or not. But let's not even get into whether you have an agenda or not. a). To follow up on that: the letter itself is worded very strangely. It's not worded as a letter to a close friend with updates on life and the occasional, "How's so and so?". It's made from end to end as an argument that Iraq is progressing nicely. The rhetorical questions, the cliche sayings. Who writes like that? Sure it puts a couple spacers on the front and back to make it look personal, but it's obviously very generic as a whole. 2). The soldier is probably has a low rank. He's told by his leader what to do and when to do it. He doesn't know how the entire war is progressing. Maybe his unit is in a peaceful area, but other units may be fighting and dying at the same time. Of course, every soldier will have a different perspective, so just because he says the war is going well doesn't mean that is necessarily so.
I don't think the soldier was talking about all people. Certainly his job is too root out the few (like Zarqawi) to make life safe for the majority of Iraqis.
its not much of a "first hand account". seems more like an opinion piece to me. but at least its great to see that his morale is still high.
But the question I still ask you is, would you have asked him to divulge the source, if this was a soldier who held the same beliefs as you, religious, and beliefs about the war? I'm not going to wait for your answer, I know you wouldn't have. The double standard, the hypocrisy is what I'm talking about. what's really going on here is you are asking for the source just because you disagree with what is going on here. if this soldiers muslim, if you agree with his beliefs and experiences about the war, you don't ask for the source. you say you would have, but you are not being honest. see, the hypocrisy, it's there every time.
Exactly, and no where in this thread did TJ jump to any conclusions to use this as a basis that the war is just. This is pointless flaming and we need to stick to what is of face value. The soldier in the email says that he feels he is fulfilling an important purpose and I want to add that I am happy for him. Any other arguments here is out of scope and should be on another thread IMO.
The soldier has been taught that the enemy are evil human beings that must be destroyed by the force of good because change is not possible. The real enemy of man is not man, it is our ignorance, discrimination, fear, craving, and violence. I will speak out when I hear otherwise. Change is more than possible, it is inevitable.
Well, a source is always nice, but it is not too important when it is being presented in a "letter from a friend" context. Undoubtedly many of our brave soldiers and civilian workers in Iraq believe in their mission. I would only demand a source if this letter said something like, "My view is shared by the majority of the soldiers here." In that case the letter is stating a factual claim and I would need strong evidence. But a mere opinion about how one soldier feels about the situation? That's ok, IMHO. Tell your friend to be safe and take care.
1. I sent him an email asking permission to name him as a source. I'm sure he won't care, he is very proud of his beliefs and his country. a. He writes like that. He has a masters degree from Texas A&M, was a writer for a newspaper, he writes oven and is good at it. He is very well educated. 2. wrong again, he went into the marines with a masters degree, so he is NOT a low ranking soldier. He is a high ranking Lieutenant and he calls the shots for his Battalion.
Maybe you can invite him to join Clutchfans? I would love to hear his take on how things are going, especially if he can give us first-hand accounts when he returns to Iraq.
To be human is to have those qualities. If you think you are free of those qualities, then I would have to say you are the ignorant one. The only thing we can do is to make the best out of it. I do agree that from the soldier's point of view, the enemy is evil and that happens in wars. I believe you are claiming that the people the soldiers are killing are innocent and I can find many articles that would find your views wrong. IMO, if the terrorists are killing civilians and soldiers alike, then they must be stopped. You have every right to defend them, but I do not agree with your assessment.
Critical thinkers don't dismiss the power of the narrative. But maybe you'll get to that in graduate school.
Reading some of the responses to this thread makes me wonder how I ever thought some of you didn't support the troops.
That's good. It's obvious he's very idealistic and proud. Newspaper writer? That makes perfect sense. Wrong? I meant in the grand scheme of things. Here's the ranks of officers: 1. 2nd Lt. 2. 1st Lt. <---Guessing your friend is here 3. Captain 4. Major 5. Lt. Col. 6. Col. <---Consider this a high ranking officer 7. Brig. Gen. 8. Maj. Gen. 9. Lt. Gen. 10. Gen. Anyways, it's great that he enjoys and believes in what he is doing in Iraq. Wish him luck.
Well, to be fair, powerful narrative is a rhetorical tool. It doesn't have much to do with critical thinking. I'm not saying powerful narratives cannot be factual or logical, but just because a statement is beautifully written does not make it any more logical to a critical thinker. I don't think the original post is using it as evidence of anything, except that his friend has these views and he likes to share them. If any moron (including myself) can start a thread, certainly a soldier who has been on the ground there deserves at least as much respect.
Yeah I always thought the first thing you learned in critical thinking was All men are mammals. Socrates is a man. Therefore Socrates must be a mammal. It gets much more complicated after that. I don't remeber being taught, anecdotal evidence is crap...though, could just be my liberal arts school...wackos...
Can you also agree that we should take action if we do see injustices or discrimination that we should take action? That is exactly what the soldiers are dealing with. There are discrimination and injustices in Iraq at the current moment, is it flawed for a soldier to take pride that he is taking actions to correct this?
