In today's paper they have "voter profiles" where they interview one
person voting for Bush and one voting for Kerry. The Kerry voter is a
whiny, pansy-assed college professor.
This is a Bush voter. A member of the military who was deployed to Iraq
and a college student. And she's voting for BUSH!
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/special_packages/facts_unfi
ltered/9920928.htm?1c
Elsa Karman was a student at Normandale Community College when she got
the word: Uncle Sam was sending her to Iraq.
"Actually, I was anxious and excited," she said, recalling her emotions.
"We're going to go over there, and we're going to help people. It's
shock, it's awe, it's excitement, it's anxiousness. It's definitely a mix
of emotions, but it's not sadness and it's not anything negative."
Karman, the daughter of a Vietnam veteran, had enlisted in the U.S. Army
as a 17-year-old. She was a reservist during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
and remembers "feeling guilty" that her active-duty colleagues went to
war in Afghanistan while she did not.
Still, she hoped to remain in Iraq and continue her work, but after six
months, her unit returned back to the United States — to the relief of
friends and family in Minneapolis, who were anxious about her safety,
especially during two months when they heard nothing.
She is not entirely sure what's happening in that part of Iraq now. And
she thinks people in this country don't appreciate how good things are
here.
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http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/special_packages/facts_unfi
ltered/9920928.htm?1c
Voter profile: Elsa Karman
Young voter
Elsa Karman was a student at Normandale Community College when she got
the word: Uncle Sam was sending her to Iraq.
Similar moments have dawned for hundreds of young Minnesotans. Hundreds
of thousands more wonder about their futures, and whether life-altering
sacrifices will be required of them. When Karman's moment arrived, early
in 2003, she dropped all her classes and got ready to deploy.
"Actually, I was anxious and excited," she said, recalling her emotions.
"We're going to go over there, and we're going to help people. It's
shock, it's awe, it's excitement, it's anxiousness. It's definitely a mix
of emotions, but it's not sadness and it's not anything negative."
Karman, the daughter of a Vietnam veteran, had enlisted in the U.S. Army
as a 17-year-old. She was a reservist during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
and remembers "feeling guilty" that her active-duty colleagues went to
war in Afghanistan while she did not.
But in 2002 came President Bush's push for war in Iraq, followed by her
call-up and deployment to Kuwait. Soon after the war began in March 2003,
her unit rolled into Iraq. Her job was psychological operations. She
dealt with Iraqi citizens after the heavy fighting had moved on.
"We weren't the ones out there doing the firefights, no. Our job was more
to stop that, to get people to cooperate with us, rather than have people
fight against us. … What we try to do is put forth a campaign to make
people understand what's going on and make them appreciate what we're
trying to accomplish."
She was stationed mostly in a heavily Shia region, around Nasiriyah. The
majority Shia population had experienced much repression under Saddam
Hussein, and Karman found them "very cooperative" with American units.
She's proud of what she and her fellow soldiers accomplished. It galls
her that the news media reports from Iraq have focused on the turmoil,
while ignoring the positives. She lists some of them:
"That some of the towns that were once lined with sewage now have sewage
lines and they're able to maintain a sense of sanitation. The fact that
people who never had electricity now have electricity, and air
conditioning, and can live more comfortably …. It just goes on and on,
and nobody is even aware of it."
Through it all, living conditions were tough — the desert heat, the wind,
the isolation, the absence of bathrooms, mattresses and air conditioning.
There were cultural and religious gulfs, too, which colored the
interaction between female soldiers and Arab men.
"It's pretty hard, because you have to know that you're not on an equal
plane as the men over there. I'm a staff sergeant, so that was hard for
me."
Still, she hoped to remain in Iraq and continue her work, but after six
months, her unit returned back to the United States — to the relief of
friends and family in Minneapolis, who were anxious about her safety,
especially during two months when they heard nothing.
She is not entirely sure what's happening in that part of Iraq now. And
she thinks people in this country don't appreciate how good things are
here.
"I feel that many people in this country are never going to see what life
is like outside this country," said Karman, 27. "There are people who
live in terror and have to fight that every day."
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Thank goodness this nation isn't full of liberal scum. We'd all be dead
if it were.
Montana Man
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