GonkRaider Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 Veteran returns bravery medal to protest France's opposition to war LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer Friday, March 21, 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (03-21) 15:02 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- A World War II veteran who was decorated by the French government for his D-Day bravery returned his medal Friday to protest what he called the country's cowardice for opposing the war in Iraq. "I did my share, my part, to liberate the country from Hitler, and this is the way that they repay me," said George Wilson, 80, laying down the rainbow-beribboned Jubilee of Liberty medal at the gate of the French Embassy. Wilson, who lives in Bethlehem, Pa., was wounded in the arm as troops stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was captured by the Nazis and held as a prisoner of war for more than four months. He and other D-Day veterans were given the French medal in 1994 to mark the 50th anniversary. On Friday, embassy officials refused to accept Wilson's medal, but invited him inside to talk to Ambassador Jean-David Levitte. Wilson said he would not go unless accompanied by reporters -- which embassy spokeswoman Agnes Vondermuhll would not allow. "No one will take the medal from me? Well, I'm going to put it on French soil," said Wilson, who was wearing a Purple Heart Society windbreaker decorated with 14 U.S. military medals and a combat infantry badge. "Keep it for the French people," implored Vondermuhll. "No, no, no. That would be hypocritical of me," Wilson replied. Wilson's was the second Jubilee medal to be returned to the embassy. "We are very sad that the disagreement we have on how to disarm Iraq could effect hurt feelings of American people -- especially of veterans," Vondermuhll said. "It's with great emotion that we see an honorable veteran give the medal back. We are very sad today." The episode at the embassy gates ended amicably -- and with a two-cheeked kiss from the French. "You and I are still friends, I hope. Give me a kiss," Wilson told Vondermuhll. "Yes, yes," she replied. GET YOUR HANDS OFF me you damned dirty gonks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trejiuvanat Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 He gave back a medal, a medal granted by the FRench government, which he qualifies as cowards. Is it really cowardice? Or is it more a conflict of interests? Husein is no Hitler either. This as another conflict wiht another circumstances.I thik that this article meant to split even futher France and the U.S., that's what media is supposed to do this days. U.S. Media glorifies the American military, even veterans. I can't see why this guys "rules", I even can't see why the military would "rule". Partly because Costa RIca has no military, butmore I think is because I can't agree with their war against Iraq. http://www.swrebellion.com/~jahled/Trej/banner.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonkRaider Posted March 23, 2003 Author Share Posted March 23, 2003 Every post that involves franch you fanatically defend.. how interesting Well sir.. since you cant appreciate him... Your voice doesnt matter.. you disgust me. and please dont respond.. I promise you i wont even read it. GET YOUR HANDS OFF me you damned dirty gonks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gank Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 This guys obviously gone senile, if he thinks that there is any connection between the liberation of france over 50 years ago and the invasion of Iraq going on at the minute. What hes saying is because the US helped liberate France they've basically got to do whatever the US says? Has he forgotten that without French help against the British there wouldnt even be a United States of America? Gonkraider please keep your french bashing to the school yard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scathane Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 GonkRaider, why is it that you use these forums for advocating the war on Iraq and dissing the French for their not supporting it? Look around you in the world, man: some people agree with the conflict, some don't. You don't have to like it, but that is what is going on. We all know your point of view by now, so there's not much more you can achieve here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahled Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 It became apparent that Gonk had received severe head injuries whilst hanging-out in the shadow of Killimanjaro. Other swrebellion members quickly renamed him, Bonk! http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0OgAAAL4Q9tz*9PPGrprPxbzNCP1oENH3U*51mBwucDkBSZKthBTGE6qGJrjtDhHt!gW!3!jz5AsBHrpScoAZhu*7rBmJ5oWv/gir.gif?dc=4675414710911111184 Gonk, it turned out, was a giraffe! http://www.jahled.co.uk/smallmonkeywars.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scathane Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 I must say that I love your gifs, Jahled. For me, you're the King of Gifs, the Giftrooper, Darth Gif, the Death Gif I & II!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahled Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 That's kind of you to say so, dude! On a serious note, I am a little perplexed as to what in our man in Costa Rica actually said he found so offencive enough to flame back with such venom. I fear, Bonk, either has the brain of a peanut, is actually a giraffe, or is truely so blinded by patriotism that he is unable to understand the concept of people having views other than he has! My conclusion is that he might not be a giraffe with a severe head injury after all. No, that would be a cuss on all the animals roaming around in Kenya. My guess is that he is young, and has a bit to learn about the beauty of life; and not the death he seems to so trigger happer to advocate! Incidently, I actually apologized in a private-message to Bonk, for the fury and language of my rage at his comments that Evanders perhaps wisely closed in other topics. If he thinks that was in response to a ticking off from the powers that be, he was mistaken. I was a despatch rider in central London on and off for twelve years. I've sadly seen more than my share of death first hand, which is traumatising. I witnessed an accident which left a motorbike cop shaking. A guy's head was crushed under a construction truck. The jewish dudes, whose community he belonged to, came along, threw sand on the bits and pieces left, and moped it all up into bin bags for his funeral. The cop was shaking on his motorbike, I had seen it all before, so wierdly, me as joe-public was the human first at the sceen calling the shots. I spent the day delivering my consignments. I spent the evening in uncontrollable tears. I witnessed some guy bleeding to death after a robbery in a chemist. I was evan a jerk enough to ask him if he was all right. The guy was already dead. In thirteen years, I have mates who been injured and been killed. Motorbikes are fun and quick, but also deadly. It's very wierd when someone you know is suddenly gone from your life for good. What i'm trying to say Bonk, ok Gonk, dude, is that life is precious. Don't be to bellicose, thumping your heart, kind a thing. Take a breath and draw back for a moment. I've actually just made myself cry, so take this with the best possible intentions. -May the Force be with all my mates who can no longer read what i've just said. http://www.jahled.co.uk/smallmonkeywars.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scathane Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 Right said, Jahled. Hang in there dude! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonkRaider Posted March 23, 2003 Author Share Posted March 23, 2003 Well i think its hillarious how your all constantly up in arms over what i say. If you want to stop me smarty dont comment on it =) GET YOUR HANDS OFF me you damned dirty gonks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahled Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 (edited) Why are you trying to destroy our community? Igor, Evaders, this guy is flamming! هذا الرجل هزّة داعرة، لتفكير كلّ هذه فرحانة. Edited March 24, 2003 by Jahled http://www.jahled.co.uk/smallmonkeywars.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonkRaider Posted March 24, 2003 Author Share Posted March 24, 2003 FLAMMING>.you ..of all people.. consantly insulting me...SPEAKS OF FLAMMING??!?!.. you have alot of ballls... then again, your judging me infront of a group of peers that will for some reason forgive you reguardless of what you do Im going to disreguard what you have to say for now on jahled..this double standard will not stand with me =) GET YOUR HANDS OFF me you damned dirty gonks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonkRaider Posted March 24, 2003 Author Share Posted March 24, 2003 btw.. all those weapons.... you peacicks claimed that saddam didnt have.. WE FOUND...so.. remind me how your news soureces are so much more reliable then mine? GET YOUR HANDS OFF me you damned dirty gonks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonkRaider Posted March 24, 2003 Author Share Posted March 24, 2003 I was a naive fool to be a human shield for SaddamBy Daniel Pepper(Filed: 23/03/2003) I wanted to join the human shields in Baghdad because it was direct action which had a chance of bringing the anti-war movement to the forefront of world attention. It was inspiring: the human shield volunteers were making a sacrifice for their political views - much more of a personal investment than going to a demonstration in Washington or London. It was simple - you get on the bus and you represent yourself. So that is exactly what I did on the morning of Saturday, January 25. I am a 23-year-old Jewish-American photographer living in Islington, north London. I had travelled in the Middle East before: as a student, I went to the Palestinian West Bank during the intifada. I also went to Afghanistan as a photographer for Newsweek. The human shields appealed to my anti-war stance, but by the time I had left Baghdad five weeks later my views had changed drastically. I wouldn't say that I was exactly pro-war - no, I am ambivalent - but I have a strong desire to see Saddam removed. We on the bus felt that we were sympathetic to the views of the Iraqi civilians, even though we didn't actually know any. The group was less interested in standing up for their rights than protesting against the US and UK governments. I was shocked when I first met a pro-war Iraqi in Baghdad - a taxi driver taking me back to my hotel late at night. I explained that I was American and said, as we shields always did, "Bush bad, war bad, Iraq good". He looked at me with an expression of incredulity. As he realised I was serious, he slowed down and started to speak in broken English about the evils of Saddam's regime. Until then I had only heard the President spoken of with respect, but now this guy was telling me how all of Iraq's oil money went into Saddam's pocket and that if you opposed him politically he would kill your whole family. It scared the hell out of me. First I was thinking that maybe it was the secret police trying to trick me but later I got the impression that he wanted me to help him escape. I felt so bad. I told him: "Listen, I am just a schmuck from the United States, I am not with the UN, I'm not with the CIA - I just can't help you." Of course I had read reports that Iraqis hated Saddam Hussein, but this was the real thing. Someone had explained it to me face to face. I told a few journalists who I knew. They said that this sort of thing often happened - spontaneous, emotional, and secretive outbursts imploring visitors to free them from Saddam's tyrannical Iraq. I became increasingly concerned about the way the Iraqi regime was restricting the movement of the shields, so a few days later I left Baghdad for Jordan by taxi with five others. Once over the border we felt comfortable enough to ask our driver what he felt about the regime and the threat of an aerial bombardment. "Don't you listen to Powell on Voice of America radio?" he said. "Of course the Americans don't want to bomb civilians. They want to bomb government and Saddam's palaces. We want America to bomb Saddam." We just sat, listening, our mouths open wide. Jake, one of the others, just kept saying, "Oh my God" as the driver described the horrors of the regime. Jake was so shocked at how naive he had been. We all were. It hadn't occurred to anyone that the Iraqis might actually be pro-war. The driver's most emphatic statement was: "All Iraqi people want this war." He seemed convinced that civilian casualties would be small; he had such enormous faith in the American war machine to follow through on its promises. Certainly more faith than any of us had. Perhaps the most crushing thing we learned was that most ordinary Iraqis thought Saddam Hussein had paid us to come to protest in Iraq. Although we explained that this was categorically not the case, I don't think he believed us. Later he asked me: "Really, how much did Saddam pay you to come?" It hit me on visceral and emotional levels: this was a real portrayal of Iraq life. After the first conversation, I completely rethought my view of the Iraqi situation. My understanding changed on intellectual, emotional, psychological levels. I remembered the experience of seeing Saddam's egomaniacal portraits everywhere for the past two weeks and tried to place myself in the shoes of someone who had been subjected to seeing them every day for the last 20 or so years. Last Thursday night I went to photograph the anti-war rally in Parliament Square. Thousands of people were shouting "No war" but without thinking about the implications for Iraqis. Some of them were drinking, dancing to Samba music and sparring with the police. It was as if the protesters were talking about a different country where the ruling government is perfectly acceptable. It really upset me. Anyone with half a brain must see that Saddam has to be taken out. It is extraordinarily ironic that the anti-war protesters are marching to defend a government which stops its people exercising that freedom. http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fopinion%2F2003%2F03%2F23%2Fdo2305.xml GET YOUR HANDS OFF me you damned dirty gonks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gank Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 btw.. all those weapons.... you peacicks claimed that saddam didnt have.. WE FOUND...so.. remind me how your news soureces are so much more reliable then mine? Whats a peacick? Anyways where do you get your information from, because even the Pentagon themselves haven't confirmed any banned weapons have been found. They rumours floating they had found what MAY be a chemical weapons FACTORY but as of yet had not found any WEAPONS . Are you in Iraq? if not then how do you know this when nobody else does, please enlighten us on your news sources, I'd be very interested in seeing them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonkRaider Posted March 24, 2003 Author Share Posted March 24, 2003 Well, since its still up in the air =) dont toot your horn so soon you peacenik<-- =P GET YOUR HANDS OFF me you damned dirty gonks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JediIgor Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Wow that story about the human shields.. deep... Hey, I don't mind you guys arguing.. but can we please keep the insults off this board? I am sure kids underage still visit this board, we don't want to scare them off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scathane Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Well i think its hillarious how your all constantly up in arms over what i say. If you want to stop me smarty dont comment on it =) I don't see how you think this is hilarious. Up till now, I thought that you were serious about a serious subject. But now it seems you find reactions to your posts hilarious. You also seem to think its hilarious that people are angry with you. Your remark about stop reacting if you want me to stop posting is the other way around: forums work in such a way, that if you don't want reactions, you shouldn't post. I must agree, though, guys, that a lot of us resort to calling GonkRaider names. I think that's uncalled for. If you have something to say to the Gonkster, do it in a civil way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonkRaider Posted March 24, 2003 Author Share Posted March 24, 2003 btw.. all those weapons.... you peacicks claimed that saddam didnt have.. WE FOUND...so.. remind me how your news soureces are so much more reliable then mine? Whats a peacick? Anyways where do you get your information from, because even the Pentagon themselves haven't confirmed any banned weapons have been found. They rumours floating they had found what MAY be a chemical weapons FACTORY but as of yet had not found any WEAPONS . Are you in Iraq? if not then how do you know this when nobody else does, please enlighten us on your news sources, I'd be very interested in seeing them. .. about the weapons.. ...we more or less blew up the evidence that iraq was giving us the run around =) Atleast the patriot missles did =D GET YOUR HANDS OFF me you damned dirty gonks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scathane Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Blowing up evidence... You must admit that isn't a very smart thing to do, Gonk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gank Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Gonkraider obviously hasnt seen the pictures of missile wreckages in the desert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jin_Roh Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 To paraphrase HAL9000 (man am I showing my age), maybe we should all just take a stress pill and relax. GonkRaider: take a look at the locations of many of our members. A sizeable number of them are from Europe, and the polls indicate they are totally opposed to the war. There's no way you're going to win them over on this forum, especially by lashing out in the way you have here. You shouldn't be surprised to get a fight with this topic. I know this is General Discussion, but maybe we'd all be better off if for now our discussions gravitate away from the Real World and more towards the galaxy far, far away... Jahled: GR is right man, you gave at least as good as you got on the flaming front. I cringe every time I see a current events topic on the few boards I frequent, because I know my blood pressure is going to take a hit. I wish GR hadn't opened this one. And I also wish you wouldn't occasionally accuse Bush of wanting to incinerate the planet...the fact that we're all still here suggests it just ain't so. Obviously you've seen some awful things in your young time, and your appreciation and appeal for humanity is laudable. Just remember GR is part of that big ol' human family, and who knows what he has seen? For all we know he was in the vicinity of the WTC on Sept. 11, 2001, and saw enough carnage to keep his nightmares going on an endless loop for the next dozen years. Trejiuvanat: "Husein is no Hitler either"??? That may be true...in the same way that it's true Hitler was no Stalin and Stalin was no Mao. His body count may not have reached their exact same stratospheric heights, but it hasn't been for want of trying. There are serious people who say Saddam Hussein has been responsible for the deaths of more Muslims than anyone else in history. Ideas do have consequences. My humble opinion is that the idea of defending SH or even trying to minimize his crimes is, in a word, perverse. You've made it plain on other threads that you think Bush is no better than Saddam Hussein and the US is responsible for most of the world's problems. If you want to make a fetish of your hatred for Bush and the US, well...it's your life. Spend your time as you will. But now that you've made your feelings known, why not concentrate on SWR, at least on this board? Kumbayah people. Peace be unto you. Now let's shut this thread down and get back to the business of escaping reality, not wallowing in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scathane Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Applause, Jin_Roh. Applause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahled Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Respect Jin_Roh. And I swore I wasn't going to come back here... http://www.jahled.co.uk/smallmonkeywars.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElvisMiggell Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Sheeesh guys. Could we please move on. So we don't agree about the war, we have different opinions. Well here's some news, we have something in common with the rest of the world. Now why don't we talk about something else like, um, I dunno, Star Wars!!! Elvismiggell. Strike me down and i will become more powerful than you can ever imagine... Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la Not gone, merely marching far away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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