Bluehawk commented on our was losses.

[Boats]

I say to Bluehawk that:

The stats are pretty impressive and they will get bigger but being a super power comes with a cost. Remember only the strong survive and should we kick back and allow certain events to take place we will surely find ourselves on the defense.

We will always be in some conflict somewhere at sometime. There are many who want the things we have and will do what they can to take them away or to destroy us totally.

We are not a country that will sit back and allow other's to take our ideals away. Freedoms come with a cost and our losses are witness to that.

We are very much the same type of people that we were 200 years ago. We win when we work together and for a common cause. We win with our people because of our ability to include all races and religions into our system. We win because our system has checks and balances. We win because our people are dedicated to living the American way - in Freedom.

God Bless The United States Of America and People For Which It Stands.

[BLUEHAWK]

Boats -
I do believe that we will be and are already, and for quite a long while, "on the defense", even in "pre-emptive" global wars.
The questions remain, for WHICH "common cause" are we to work, in order to be strong and survive. Have the sacrifices americans have made in the past 200 years brought us either peace or true security, yet. Are our checks and balances working quite as well as they should, or the way we think they are, or the way we are being told they are. Do we gain true freedom by controlling and depriving others of theirs. There are many who do not want to have anything whatsoever to do with anything we have. What have we won, here at home, that we are not risking or losing every day abroad. Inflicting suffering on innocent people does not resolve nor improve our homeland security. Will all the good we have done ever erase all the evil done in our names.

http://www.newamericancentury.com

Other than that, I agree with you 100%.

[BLUEHAWK]

Something else Boats - with sincere respect,

The checks and balances are way out of kilter, and these Patriot Files threads and forums are absolutely FILLED with the evidence, as if any more was needed.

We just are not gonna get along as well anymore asking God to bless what America is doing, and has done, to itself, mainly.

The thread you responded to dealt with Veteran appreciation, and was nothing more than a simple public record of the sacrifice of life we honor, recount, celebrate and mourn on these pages.

The issue looms ahead; our wars waged for whatever reason, have not and will not have achieved security at homenor peace abroad.

History is replete with the names of great nations and governments who had once been unimaginably wealthy and strong... who are now mere shadows of their former selves:

Egypt, France, Mesopotamia, Inca, Germany, Greece, Lakota, Rome, Ottoman, Aztec, Persia, Great Britain, Soviet Union, Anasazi, Spain... it is a very long list, and America could very easily slip into it if it has not done so already. We are on the cusp.

What is common to all those failed dynasties?

Violence, greed and arrogance.

[Boats]

This is true. And someday it may be our turn as well. As all the great power's before us have learned even the US may see this event occur? I don't disagree and didn't mean to begin an issue of which there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

The USA does the best it can - in all things to all men. It does what it does to survive and the cost is always high. Yet these Countries still come to us afor money and military help over and over again.

What would happen if we became a turtle? Sure we'd live longer but in isolation and eventually we would stagnantt. Do we have to pull in our heads and cover each time something happens? Little countries would surely be over-run by bigger ones.

Terriorist and radicals will continue to intimindate the weak - should only the strong survive? If no action means no casualities is that the best way to go?

The US has taken a bad rap for decades of our help and assistance. We've educated the world's population at our best schools. We are bread basket to half the world. We are still a very young Nation compared to so many other's who've already fallen.

Yes, we may eventually become something else in the years ahead. The USA may most likely be replaced by something or someone else. Only time will tell.

Our soldier's need us and we need them and the world will continue to need men and women like this. We can not become the turtle regardless of the ramifications and what other's have to say about us.

We must stand for something - and it will never meet with everyones approval. Until something better comes along I think I will remain a hawk and stay the course and fight as an American.