I was doing some work on the movie "Full Metal Jacket" today and one

[driver8]

of the characters said this as he was being interviewed by a film crew:

"They want to take our freedom and give it to the gookers, but they don't seem to want it. I guess they'd rather be alive than free...poor bastards."

I couldn't help but think that this is the exact same thing that is going on in Iraq today (without the oil). We (supposedly) are bringing freedom and democracy to the people of Iraq and our way of doing this is by killing hundreds of thousands of them. WTF? How could anyone support that kind of "freedom"? How can this possibly make sense to anyone except the Kool-Aid drinkers and the neo-con chickenhawks??

I know the chickenhawks ran and hid when they were called on to fight in Vietnam, but didn't they learn anything from that war? Jesus...it is just so, so sad.

[Selatius]

1. Well, the whole freedom argument was the back-up argument when the WMD argument collapsed

With that gone, they trotted out the "we're bringing them freedom" stuff again, just a rehash of Viêtnam-era rhetoric. Nobody would buy such arguments today, not since Viêtnam, which is why they used the WMD argument. They felt they could hook more people if they used WMD to convince people.

[MikeNearMcChord]

2. There is a scene in that movie

where the Marines gather around the bodies of their comrades who was killed earlier, the naive Marine says that at least they died for a good cause, in which one of the cynical members asks what cause, the naive Marine says Freedom, in which the cynic snorts That you think we waste the Vietnamese for freedom? Another scene a Marine Colonel makes the claim that inside every Vietnamese is an American waiting to get out.

[driver8]

3. Animal Mother says, "you think we kill these gooks for freedom? This

is a slaughter. If I'm going to get my balls shot off, my word is 'poontang'."

That scene with the Marine Colonel is one of my favorites. He says, "We have to keep our heads until this whole "peace craze" blows over."

[MikeNearMcChord]

5. Well I admit I was trying to be PG rated here

O8) I always love the Basic Training part of the movie. Sgt Hartmann and Gomer Pyle are two of the more compelling characters of that movie. The Donut in the Foot Locker and the Blanket Party scenes are my favorites.

[Rick Myers]

4. That is Kubrick's most underrated movie!!!

It is SO VERY 'now,'

The duality of Man, sir...

How do you kill women and children? To the door gunner.

Ya' just lead them less...

Iraq is Vietnam: Vice City...

Our Kids (aka: The Troops) are dying, and Amerika, Inc. profits thanks to 'privitization.'

Recruiting ads look like Halo or Quake.

If there is a tornado this weekend, I hope it's in Iraq. They are covered!!!

Videos of our troops verbally abusing children in Iraq appear in the Web.

Tomorrow's TERROR ALERT: A Clockwork ORANGE!!!

[Blashyrkh]

8. HA HA HA. Ain't war hell?!

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. Some of those lines were quite real

A good deal of the dialogue is taken directly from Michael Herr's memoir of his year as a correspondent in Vietnam, Dispatches.

"Easy. Ya just don't lead 'em so much." was - according to Herr - actually said by a door gunner to a reporter.

[juno jones]

6. I saw that movie when it came out.

We got in about 10 minutes late. With no background it was INTENSE to say the least. Put it this way, Kubrick intended to make an IMPACT. I have watched the whole thing since, but would find it hard to do now. I find 'Dr Strangelove' hard to watch.

And Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil'

[lancer78]

7. Well, my opinion

Well, my opinion is that freedom, when put into the big scope of things, is really unimportant. Maslowes (sp) hierarchy of needs states that humans first NEED Food, Water, and Shelter. The next step up for man is then security and safety, which we all know in non-existent in Iraq. I remember seeing this video of a LT (Lieutenant) talking to his Iraqi counterpart. The Iraqi was saying that he had access to fuel during Saddam's rule and how he wished it was like back then. The american officer said "Yeah, but your free now" and all the Iraqi said was "So, I still don't have any fuel for cooking".

[newyawker99]

10. Hi lancer78!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[MindPilot]

11. A similar scene in Apocalypse Now

During a completely one-sided attack on a small village which seems populated mostly by women and children, a Vietnamese woman slips a bomb into a medevac chopper. As Robert Duval's character aims his rifle at the the woman, he tells his pilot, "Get over there and put that right skid up her ass. Goddamn assasian...Jesus! Don't these people ever give up?!

[edbermac]

12. And the sign in the Marines press hut:

First To Go, Last To Know, We Will Defend To The Death Our Right To Be Misinformed.

How apropos, even today. As they say, In War, Truth Is The First Casualty.

Great film by a great film maker.

You maggott!