Thursday, April 10, 2008

EDITORIAL COMMENT BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

President Bush can quit boasting about cutting the deployments of US troops to Iraq from 15 months to 12 months because at the rate US soldiers are getting KILLED in Iraq there won't be anyone left to rotate back to the United States. (see posts below)

Also, President Bush should have made it clearer that the cut in deployment time DOES NOT apply to those who are currently in Iraq and Afghanistan, but only to those who are sent to Iraq and Afghanistan later this summer.

In the past five years, this former GI has heard some stupid rationalizations for the war in Iraq, but the dumbest crossed my emails a week ago when someone actually tried to prove that there were more military deaths during the Clinton and Carter years than since Bush has been in office.

The person actually had the audacity to trot out a list of year-by-year military casualties from the Clinton and Carter years and then went on to say more military deaths occurred during those years than have happened in the Iraq war.

To compare deaths of military personnel away from a combat area is patently absurd and anyone who ever served ONE DAY in the military would know you can't compare combat deaths with deaths that happen during training or even when a GI is stationed at some military installation out of harms way.

The other most stupid thing we have heard in a long, long time is when someone mentioned we have troops in Germany, Japan and Korea and shouldn't they be pulled out too. To begin with NOT one US soldiers has been KILLED due to combat in Germany, Japan or Korea since the wars ended in those countries over 50 years ago. Nothing could be dumber than trying to compare, again, combat deaths in Iraq to GIs stationed in Germany, Japan or Korea.


We're all for bringing ALL of our troops home, but please don't try to compare troops in Germany, Japan and Korea with troops in a "hot" combat zone like Iraq and Afghanistan.

We started this blog on January 1, 2008 and it is dedicated to the men and women serving in the United States military in Iraq and Afghanistan as the header at the top of the page states.

We search reliable news sources for information about the wars in both theaters of operation and we bring our readers the latest from Iraq and Afghanistan because the mainstream media doesn't report on the wars anymore probably because most editors and reporters never served a day of their life in the uniform of the military of the United States of America, nor do they have a family member who is or was in the military recently.

Our blog, CORKSPHERE, is a big hit according to my stat counter which indicates more than 500 people a day log onto my blog at
http://corksphere.blogspot.com/ to read the latest on what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan because they aren't getting the news anywhere else.

As long as there is still one GI caught in the quagmire of Iraq or Afghanistan and taking enemy fire on a daily basis, we will continue to report on events on the ground in both war zones.

That is the very least this veteran can do for the men and women of the United States military.

Bill Corcoran, Fmr. Cpl. (E-4), Squad Ldr, 1st Platoon, United States Army Combat Engineers, Korean War veteran with an Honorable Discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States of America.
Editor of CORKSPHERE which can be found here:
http://corksphere.blogspot.com/

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that comment ,Bill!
I am a Vietnam vet and what your saying is the truth. These idiots get on the Bush train and like him, love to count the numbers and show the charts,disregarding the actual observation. I've said for a long time that this war is very similar to the war in Nam, for the fact is that we can not control the borders and a well-armed organized insurgency. We are told that we are going to stay for a hundred years if need be. Well I can tell anyone who cares to listen that we can't afford a hundred years and if we could, we would still be hearing about the insurgency from Bush's great-great grandson and how we just need more time.To compare deaths on the battlefield and deaths from drinking too much and falling out a window is "ignorance extraordinaire". Keep up the great work, Bill!

Bill Corcoran said...

Thanks for your service to our country and thanks for your comment.
I think so much of the problem has to do with the lack of a vested interest in this war. For most people the war is just something that is happening thousands of miles away and they have no real personal involvement in it because they don't have anyone close to them in the military. I also blame the press for giving up on reporting on the war. They call it "Iraq Fatigue." Members of the media I've talked with claim the American public is tired of hearing about this endless conflict. If there were a draft, I think you would see both the media and the public suddenly start paying attention to what is happening to our brave young men and women in Iraq.

As for the comment about comparing deaths in a non-combat situation to deaths on a battlefied, I agree with your comment that it is "ignorance extraordinaire."

It is mind-boggling to think someone doesn't know the difference between battlefield deaths and deaths in the military that happen from accidents like getting drunk and falling out a window as you so aptly put it.

Thanks again for your service and your personal knowledge of the topic I wrote about.

Bill