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Stop-Loss Protest Unpersuasive, Futile

Abstract:
It was interesting to read about the Students for a Democratic Society's "Funk the War" protest in The Daily Campus on Friday. Apparently the only thing that got less attention than the release of the MTV movie Stop-Loss, was the fact that a bunch of college students served the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate with stop-loss notices telling them they were not to leave their posts (go on vacation, visit family, etc....

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Dan

posted 3/31/08 @ 9:49 AM EST

I don't see any reason to attack Cindy Sheehan. Maybe if she had been at a protest or done anything at all this year there would be a point. But to call her an "old bat" ad make other insulting comments about her isn't smart or funny just degrading to yourself. Have a little bit of class Rob, the woman did lose her son to war and then was turned into a pariah by both the media and the people that surrounded her. I didn't agree with her tactics any more than you, but surely you can come up with a better thing to editorialize on than years old Cindy Sheehan is insane BS. Put a little effort in.
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Independent Conservative

posted 3/31/08 @ 9:50 AM EST

Some comments:

1)True, there have "only" been 4000 deaths in 5 years, however, there have been roughly 30,000 injured soldiers, many of them having sustained horrific injuries that if it were not for modern medical technology would have been deaths. It has oft been said by the doctors and medics over there that we are "saving people who should not be saved..."--meaning the injuries are so severe and debilitating that the 'saved" soldier is being condemend to a life of hell...

2) The Stop-Loss policy is bullshit on several counts. It is indeed a back-door draft. If the current Commander-in-Chief had a spine, he would implement a draft, or at a minimum, he would make a nationally televised "call-to-arms" imploring the young men of this nation to stand up, and perhaps interupt their lives for a couple of years, and ENLIST...but alas, the fiber of this public is the weakest it has ever been so I guess that is just not realistic...

3)The Iraq War is but one phase/part of the overall global war we are fighting against Islam. The current Administration has done an atrocious job of articulating this. This administration has tried to fight a war with campaign-like political considerations at the forefront of its strategy and tactics---which in turn has served to bog down our soldiers. There is only one way to fight this enemy, and that is savagely. It is a myth that insurgercencies cannot be defeated---they have been defeated in the past, but by measures that our weak public could not stomach today and thus by measures that our weak administration will not allow our military to implement...thus we will be fighting this enemy for the next century...

4) We need a hell of a lot more boots on the ground...so I firmly suggest that every "patio patriot" out there stops waving his flag and instead stops by the nearest recruiter's office and signs his name on the dotted line...and that goes for you Casapulla.

-1991 Gulf War veteran (U.S. Army, First Armored Division)
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D F

posted 4/01/08 @ 1:02 AM EST

Originally posted by

Independent Conservative

 Some comments:

1)True, there have "only" been 4000 deaths in 5 years, however, there have been roughly 30,000 injured soldiers, many of them having sustained horrific injuries that if it were not for modern medical technology would have been deaths. It has oft been said by the doctors and medics over there that we are "saving people who should not be saved..."--meaning the injuries are so severe and debilitating that the 'saved" soldier is being condemend to a life of hell...

2) The Stop-Loss policy is bullshit on several counts. It is indeed a back-door draft. If the current Commander-in-Chief had a spine, he would implement a draft, or at a minimum, he would make a nationally televised "call-to-arms" imploring the young men of this nation to stand up, and perhaps interupt their lives for a couple of years, and ENLIST...but alas, the fiber of this public is the weakest it has ever been so I guess that is just not realistic...

3)The Iraq War is but one phase/part of the overall global war we are fighting against Islam. The current Administration has done an atrocious job of articulating this. This administration has tried to fight a war with campaign-like political considerations at the forefront of its strategy and tactics---which in turn has served to bog down our soldiers. There is only one way to fight this enemy, and that is savagely. It is a myth that insurgercencies cannot be defeated---they have been defeated in the past, but by measures that our weak public could not stomach today and thus by measures that our weak administration will not allow our military to implement...thus we will be fighting this enemy for the next century...

4) We need a hell of a lot more boots on the ground...so I firmly suggest that every "patio patriot" out there stops waving his flag and instead stops by the nearest recruiter's office and signs his name on the dotted line...and that goes for you Casapulla.

-1991 Gulf War veteran (U.S. Army, First Armored Division)


In response to 4, they don't allow gays in the military.
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Joe

posted 3/31/08 @ 11:39 AM EST

The movie is demonstrating that there is a back door draft. Throwing in the purpose of invading Iraq and ranting about liberals is irrelevant. Once again Rob Casapulla gives the daily campus another poorly written article consisting of flawed logic and non sequiturs. Enjoy a life of writing up little league games in local papers.
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Kaitlyn N.

posted 3/31/08 @ 12:05 PM EST

Just a little clarification:

The Students for a Democratic Society's "Funk the War" protest happened the week after the "Our Spring Break" Stop-Loss Congress initiative, and while many of the participants were the same from UConn, the two events each had their own purpose and mandate. This might seem like nitpicking over irrelevant data, but I think that when being published in a newspaper, the basic facts should at least be covered, if nothing else. Then again, should it really surprise me that Rob Casapulla would gloss over such specifics in order to achieve his more grander goal of spewing conservative political rhetoric as a defensive mechanism against a subversive enemy (his more liberal-minded peers fighting for peace) that does not actually exist? The majority of Americans might not be willing to protest, but the fact that 2/3 of them don't think it is worth fighting already carries more weight than a single College Republican OR even a small group of "radical" student protesters who function as a voice for this larger dissent.

Alas, I have forgotten...Casapulla's well-crafted response (like his article) would probably be "So?" Just like his buddy Dick Cheney's. I forget that Casapulla's heroes could care less about the ramifications of staying in Iraq, and furthermore the constituency which elected them in the first place. The democratic process is functioning exactly as they expected it would, both here and in Iraq: not at all. If that is how you gauge success, then we won the game in 2003.

Additionally, it is a sad time when one must begin rationalizing the number of deaths in Iraq as insignificant compared to other conflicts as evidence of why we should stay there. You're right, Casapulla.. I'm thinking five more years? 10,000 deaths total? Will that satiate your number crunching of human lives lost?
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KH

posted 3/31/08 @ 1:10 PM EST

Yeah, he does seem to be saying "We shouldn't leave until there's enough dead troops!". Of course, that's just because he couldn't write his way out of a paper bag. I'm usually against ad homoniem attacks, but I'm just so sick of Rob's worthless, badly written, and childish articles clogging up commentary space. Get a new hobby, Rob, and for chrissakes, don't quit your day job.
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Independent Conservative

posted 3/31/08 @ 2:18 PM EST

What's up Casapulla, are you or are you not going to ENLIST?
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D F

posted 4/01/08 @ 1:07 AM EST

Originally posted by

Independent Conservative

 What's up Casapulla, are you or are you not going to ENLIST?


Unfortunately, he's gay (literally). Which happens to give a bad name to gay people everywhere.
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Thomas Ruyle

posted 5/11/08 @ 6:36 AM EST

Obviously, Mr. Casapulla, you have never served in the US Armed Forces. You know nothing of serving in the military, going through basic training, serving, going to Iraq, or losing friends in combat.

You seem to have this idea that, given current data, after 17 years (compared to Vietnam), "only" 17,000 Americans will have died 8,000 miles from home.

I ask you, sir, do you even know anyone who died in Iraq? And after five years there, do you really believe it was worth it?

I had four friends/acquaintances die there - while I was there myself in 2004 - and I will say now that I don't think you have the cojones to enlist and stand up for what you so righteously believe in. Prove me wrong, young man.

This war in Iraq has been a sad joke perpetrated on the American armed forces over the last five years. Feel free to email me on this issue - debate me, if you feel it necessary - and I will tear you a new one, intellectually-speaking.

Wake up, young man. When it comes to war and the future of our nation, you certainly know very, very little of which you speak.
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