Editor,
I just wanted to ask returning UNM students and the invading hoards of freshmen, why are you still here? The U.S. needs generation 9/11.
Our volunteer forces have been forced to issue involuntary call-ups. The military has lowered its recruiting standards, now accepting gang members, skinheads and drug addicts, which results in young Iraqi girls being raped, shot and burned alive. Many very frustrated military recruiters have raped and assaulted incoming female recruits. Female U.S. troops are also being raped by male U.S. troops on the third or fourth year of their tours.
Of course, if you want to make a lot of money, then don't go into the military - become a private contractor. These private militias are not subject to any laws, but they get paid big money.
It has been 1,801 days since Bush said he'd catch Osama bin Laden dead or alive, but we haven't caught him, of course. U.S. forces aren't fighting for our lost freedoms, but for tyranny, for neo-fascists, for Israel, for big oil corporations and for the military industrial complex. We are neither very super nor very powerful - we're more like a paper tiger in a New Mexican monsoon.
Blind allegiance to the troops, to leaders - Republican or Democrat - and to nations does more harm than good. Just look at the disaster in Iraq or the disaster in Lebanon. Take two steps back and take a breath - theocracy is not democracy, war is not peace, and freedom isn't free.
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Brian Fejer
UNM student
