These Colors Don't Run

[deathstarchris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t53fpkqc77I

I wrote and performed this song. Joel Carlo mastered it.
This song is for all of our current and past veterans. They are the reason you and
I are able to play with our little toys and enjoy our freedom.

Please leave a comment under this youtube video in support of our troops. This is not about
me! We lost almost two dozen Navy seals alone this month. We need to show our support!
Please leave a message showing your support for them!

This is also for my father who I lost in May 2010.
Sargent, Vietnam Combat Veteran. 101st Airborne Infantry Army Ranger, Silver Star

May you finally be at peace Dad.

"I want to know, have you ever seen the rain, comin down on a sunny day"
CCR

You may download this track here:
http://soundcloud.com/deathstarchris
or my site.
http://www.absolutextremes.com/blarsky/?page_id=192

[Twigsoffury]

I feel kind of bad for the 1,600,000 displaced external refugees and the 2.8 million internally displaced refugees.

That is the every man,woman,child and infant in the city of Boston MA displaced currently with out shelter, food, water electricity medical care and protection against warring factions.


Don't hear about that on the news though.

[dr.walrus]

refugees

?

warring factions

???

Under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951, a refugee is more narrowly defined (in Article 1A) as a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country"

...

[mDust]

Under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951, a refugee is more narrowly defined (in Article 1A) as a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country"

You have to read the line after that one:

The concept of a refugee was expanded by the Convention's 1967 Protocol and by regional conventions in Africa and Latin America to include persons who had fled war or other violence in their home country.

Terrible things have happened in the last 60 years. Definitions had to be revised.
Further down it says this:

The term refugee is often used to include displaced persons who may fall outside the legal definition in the Convention,[3] either because they have left their home countries because of war and not because of a fear of persecution, or because they have been forced to migrate within their home countries.

So anyone displaced within their own country is also a refugee if they are fleeing war, disaster, persecution, etc. I suppose we could just label them something other than 'refugees'. (I nominate 'scaredy-cats'.) Just because we blasted their home apart with them inside and kick in every door in the neighborhood to forcibly search for anything considered suspicious is no reason to run.
I support the intelligent, non-bloodlusting troops but not the wars. We need to teach the countries how to fish...

[deathstarchris]

Almost ten years after 911,
will it be another 10 years before we are out of the middle east?

[TheGreatSatan]

At least

[billygoat333]

Depends on when the oil runs out. lol

[dr.walrus]

So anyone displaced within their own country is also a refugee if they are fleeing war, disaster, persecution, etc.

No, the 'forced' specifically refers to something people have done, UN definition notwithstanding. Scroll down that article til you get to 'climate refugee' - it's a re-appropropriation of the term. Also search the article for the words 'disaster' and 'weather' - they only appear in that section.

My reaction here is solely to the idea that the entire metropolitan area of Boston has been destroyed, and that there is a civil war threatening the 4m inhabitants? Because I don't seem to recall that happening.

[mDust]

Depends on when the oil runs out. lol

We'll be out the day after the last well runs dry. We've already got a foot in the door in Libya. 'Wait! What's that!? Terrorists in one of these countries!? Send in the troops!'

No, the 'forced' specifically refers to something people have done, UN definition notwithstanding. Scroll down that article til you get to 'climate refugee' - it's a re-appropropriation of the term. Also search the article for the words 'disaster' and 'weather' - they only appear in that section.

I'll take your word for it.

My reaction here is solely to the idea that the entire metropolitan area of Boston has been destroyed, and that there is a civil war threatening the 4m inhabitants? Because I don't seem to recall that happening.

You didn't hear about that? After their mini-earthquake the East Coast went nuts...

[Twigsoffury]

So anyone displaced within their own country is also a refugee if they are fleeing war, disaster, persecution, etc. I suppose we could just label them something other than 'refugees'. (I nominate 'scaredy-cats'.) Just because we blasted their home apart with them inside and kick in every door in the neighborhood to forcibly search for anything considered suspicious is no reason to run.
I support the intelligent, non-bloodlusting troops but not the wars. We need to teach the countries how to fish...

Yup. internally displaced would be the term, ex. families fleeing active hot zones.

after all you don't want to end up like this 12 year old inside the van.



**** NSFW [extremely graphic] NSFW*********

its not a matter if your a pussy or not, its a matter of keeping your family alive and not becoming collateral damage when sh@# hits the fan in your neighborhood. I had the luck of living in east ireland during the late 80's and early 90's.

We went to school in a convoy of buses with security trucks on each end, the school had huge blast shields around it with armed guards (USAFB), I got to see some guy taking grenades to a funeral and blowing people up.. s#@t your not supposed to see when your 6 years old. I'm lucky my dad got us up and out of dodge with the quickness. hahah i remember him telling me to "shut up" while he must of been doing a good 70mph down the road.



that the only footage/mention i can find of that whole ordeal. I don't even remember the guy pulling the pistol out and shooting into the crowd. but i remember the grenades.


So i can sort of sympathize with the internally displaced refugees. No family should have to go about that sort of thing. and i just had the slightest taste of that situation.. they (iraqis) are dealing with the worst of the worst of the worst and that is something i can only imagine.



Now having said that, I fully support our troops. I know they don't go out and willingly and knowingly cause CKIA's. and they do extremely well with the technology and smart weapons we provided them with but sometimes **** happens in the fog of war and you can't distinguish civi's from insurgents. its not like the civilians have IR tags on there heads and chests like our troops have. They are just trying to keep there own buddies from getting killed, and sometimes a guy carrying a suitcase fleeing can look like a guy carrying a IED wanting to blow up your buddies HMMWV, so you shoot him up because hes fleeing right where the insurgents are at the same point in time and you don't have minutes to think about something when your up in a helicopter drawing flak and ground fire while your buddies on the ground are getting hammered on by insurgents on the roof tops and side streets. (dressed exactly the same as the civilians fleeing)



as far as afganistan goes. I mean those people would have to have real cities and towns before they could be refugees. Hell they are still like the rest of the middle east was before they found the black gold and started getting 2.4 Trillion a year in oil income.

Saudi Arabia would still be like afganistan if they never discovered the vast oil deposits. so would the majority of those middle eastern countries. just a bunch of nomadic people at war with each other over the little natural resources they have (plus religious sects)


Sorta like Central and north africa i'd guess? its semi civilized, but its still a place with war lords and factions and random ass violence over resources and strategic locations of worth.



I dunno... I'm rambling it seems to i'll cut it out.

and FYI were never going to be out of the middle east, It's been 60 something years and were still not out of germany or japan. I'm assuming it'll be the same with iraq/afganistan/libya/syria as it is with any other country we invaded and set up shop at some point in time.