Kathy, I sincerely hope your huaband comes home OK, but his being in Iraq has nothing to do with our being a free country or not.

It also has nothing to do with whether we tolerate sexual misconduct in the military, or anywhere in, what we hope is someday, a civil society.

I understand your and his fear and need to believe he risks his life and your future for something good, but it just won’t wash, .....sorry.

Some of you people are really messed up on here! You dont deserve to live in this country! So screw you! The President knows far more than any of you or I about this war. For security purposes he can not disclose this information to the media. My husband is in Iraq right now and he is witnessing so much of the good things that tthe U.S.A is doing over there. The media distorts things and gives you only the information that they want. Who wants to here about the good when they can get so much more publicity by telling about the bad? Think about it. i can not believe the people on here who say that the soilders are also to be held responsible for all the bad that you think is going on. You are the ones that ought to be shamed! you are ungrateful, disgusting, unworthy human beings. I find it amazing how you say that they ought to be shamed for not standing up and telling their authorities that they wont go. What would have happened if we would have done that it WWII? you all have forgotten that we have been attacked here on our soil!I am ashamed to know that I have brothers and sisters of this wonderful country that dont aappreciate the people who have lost their lives for YOUR freedom!

Women need to be smarter and not “join” and accept and buy into the BS of “serving my country”. That is a load of crap that has killed hundreds of millions in the last several thousand years with men blathering about “glory” and “bravery” and proudly wearing bits of metal and ribbon to show the world what a wonderful thing is war, never stopping to think of why those bits of metal and ribbon were made. If being a soldier and helping to kill millions is such a “valuable” service to the country, why are the streets full of ex-soldiers who have nowhere to live and are unequipped to deal with daily life, but have been abandoned by the country to whom they gave this “valuable” service?

But, if you have joined and become a part of this killing machine, then you are an idiot not to use what you have learned to keep yourself from becoming the type of victim described in this article.

What type of women join the military especially in a time of war? What type of people join the military in a time of war? AN illegal war? They must be sadists and masochists! These are not the cream of the crop, folks. I simply do not understand how the more “sensitive” sex (females) would voluntarily go off to fight in the desert alongside a bunch of horny, angry, often drug addicted and not very morally minded men unless they themselves are of similiar character traits. There are some youngsters that got suckered by the big sleazy recruiters into joining and then realized they had been had and decided that a year in jail was better than fighting an unjust war. They were willing to sacrifice their own comfort and risk having their personal reputation marred by a dishonorable discharge than to go off killing the civilians of another country. Even if there were a draft, we are all individuals who have another option. You cannot be forced to pick up a gun and shoot someone.
As far as all this rhetoric about voting in an idiot president, let’s set the record straight: THERE IS NO DEMOCRACY. You have the option of voting for this or that sleazebag of one of two parties that are simply the different sides of the same coin. They get paid by the same people… they get endorsed and get campaigning money from the same corporations and sleazeballs. Some talk smooth, others do not. A single administration over the course of even 8 years does not have enough power to completely alter the course of a nation. What is taking place has been the cumulative result of efforts exerted by the real powers over decades.
And who to blame? Only our own damn selves. Voting on a touchscreen computer or by old fashioned ballot is no vote at all. What we buy, what we consume, how we consume is the REAL vote. Where we pour our own energies, who we decide to work for is our vote. And I tell you, it is a lifetime of work to find a way to cut off the funding to these wankers that are in office and run for office. Somehow, they are always getting paid every second your heart beats.

As a college female, I am privileged and therefore felt no pressure to enlist for the bonuses and the phony glory.  I am so sorry for my sisters, many who have few choices in life and are despised by the Bush administration as cannon fodder, and call them to leave any unit that will not support their right to be safe from androcentric rage.

And let us stop the phony praising of the honorable military.  Let us stop hiding behind the phrase “let’s stand by the troops and honor them.”  We honor the troops, few of whom are in any way heroes, by shortening their service time and returning them to the USA.  Bush is at war against the American people and has been since 2001. Let us stop being duped and manipulated by the neo-cons and move to protect our constitution and liberal democracy. We all have reason now to be ashamed of America as we now find it in its greatly humbled and reduced state.

It’s a great relief to know that this type of behaviour occuring, and being condoned, is in line with the overall performance of our wonderful gov’t (and our vaunted military). It just “warms my heart” ‘cause I know that we/Americans deserve to be the “beacon” that the rest of the world should envy, and emulate.
Seriously, I’m ashamed. We need to overhaul the whole military system. It NEEDS to be a ...“out with the old and in with the new” type of change.