{"quotes":[{"text":"To fuel yet another war this time against Iraq by cynically manipulating people's grief, by packaging it for TVspecials sponsored by corporations selling detergent and running shoes, is to cheapen and devalue grief, to drain itof meaning. What we are seeing now is a vulgar display of the business of grief, the commerce of grief, the pillagingof even the most private human feelings for political purpose. It is a terrible, violent thing for a State to do to itspeople.","author":"Arundhati Roy","tags":["9-11","grief","iraq","state-manipulation"],"id":4278,"author_id":"Arundhati+Roy"},{"text":"It is much easier to condemn Islam and 'oppressive Muslim men' than to unpack the intricate relationships between global politics related to empire building and capitalist expansion as well as regional and national struggles revolving around political and economic power and resources.","author":"Nadje Al-Ali","tags":["foreign-policy","iraq","islam","islamophobia","muslim-men","muslim-women","muslims"],"id":7919,"author_id":"Nadje+Al-Ali"},{"text":"The only thing worse than his arrogance was his incompetence. He was a bully, behaving like an ass. I saw Angel though, not him. The memorial was right there, just outside the window. It’s in the flowers, and it makes me angry. Angel liked to sit on the couch, watch TV, eat chips. She hated outside. Maybe I should have been a bully and an ass to Angel’s parents. Maybe Angel and Grace would still be alive if I’d behaved like this piece of shit teacher.","author":"Tucker Elliot","tags":["9-11","9-11-01","afghanistan","dodds","education","germany","iraq","korea","military","terrorism","tucker-elliot"],"id":9954,"author_id":"Tucker+Elliot"},{"text":"Evan stares at me.I try to hug him. He takes a step back. I pause, my heart in my throat. I’ve got to reach out to him, let myself be vulnerable. I find the courage, but he backs up again.“You can’t go to Iraq anymore.”“I know.”He looks up at Deanna, then back to me. “Did you fight bad guys? You told me you weren’t.” His voice is suspicious, full of accusation. He doesn’t trust me, and I don’t blame him for that.“No, Evan. I didn’t fight bad guys.”I can’t bring myself to tell him the complete truth. I want so desperately to go back into this fight. I miss it every day. I always felt I could change the world with a rifle in my hands and our flag on my shoulder.“Did you get shot?” he looks me over, apparently searching for bullet wounds.I grin a little. “No, Bud, I didn’t get shot.”“People get shot in Iraq.”“Yes, they do.” It strikes me then that Evan for the first time has a grasp on the dangers that are faced over there. He’s six now, and the world is coming into focus for him.“People get shot, Daddy. They die. Bad guys kill them.”I think of Edward Iwan and Sean Sims.“Yeah, I know they do, Evan.","author":"David Bellavia","tags":["army","dad","death","die","fight","guns","iraq","military","soldiers","son","terrorism","war"],"id":12450,"author_id":"David+Bellavia"},{"text":"This country has not seen and probably will never know the true level of sacrifice of our veterans. As a civilian I owe an unpayable debt to all our military. Going forward let’s not send our servicemen and women off to war or conflict zones unless it is overwhelmingly justifiable and on moral high ground. The men of WWII were the greatest generation, perhaps Korea the forgotten, Vietnam the trampled, Cold War unsung and Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan vets underestimated. Every generation has proved itself to be worthy to stand up to the precedent of the greatest generation. Going back to the Revolution American soldiers have been the best in the world. Let’s all take a remembrance for all veterans who served or are serving, peace time or wartime and gone or still with us. 11/11/16 May God Bless America and All Veterans.","author":"Thomas M Smith","tags":["afghanistan","airforce","america","army","coast-guard","coastguard","cold-war","combat","courage","freedom","honor","independence","iraq","korea","marine-corp","marines","memorial","memorial-day","military","navy","pj-s","rangers","revolution","revolutionary","sacrifice","seals","selflessness","service","socom","sof","veteran","veterans","vietnam","war"],"id":12582,"author_id":"Thomas+M+Smith"},{"text":"In the time that we're here today, more women and children will die violently in the Darfur region than in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Israel or Lebanon. So, after September 30, you won't need the UN - you will simply need men with shovels and bleached white linen and headstones.","author":"George Clooney","tags":["9-11","afghanistan","darfur","death","global","iraq","israel","palestine","politics","un","united-nations","war"],"id":15212,"author_id":"George+Clooney"},{"text":"Who supports the troops? The troops support the troops.","author":"Clint Van Winkle","tags":["army","iraq","lip-service","military","ptsd","soldiers","support","troops","war"],"id":15683,"author_id":"Clint+Van+Winkle"},{"text":"For the senior officers in Iraq, at least in 2005-2006, the responsibility was to the men at the top, the media, the message, the public back home - anything and everything, it seemed, but the soldiers under their command. And that's the ultimate betrayal of Iraq, the one that disillusioned me in Baghdad and Nineveh and keeps me outraged today.","author":"Luis Carlos Montalván","tags":["army","betrayal","iraq","military","outrage"],"id":17156,"author_id":"Luis+Carlos+Montalv%C3%A1n"},{"text":"I think you can be an enemy of Saddam Hussein even if Donald Rumsfeld is also an enemy of Saddam Hussein.","author":"Adam Michnik","tags":["donald-rumsfeld","iraq","iraq-war","saddam-hussein","war"],"id":18043,"author_id":"Adam+Michnik"},{"text":"Are you okay, man?'Yeah, I'm good.'It's a lie. I wonder if I will ever be good again.","author":"David Bellavia","tags":["army","death","iraq","lie","life","military","soldiers","terrorism","war"],"id":19449,"author_id":"David+Bellavia"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":158,"pages":16,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}