Uncle Sam at it again - Somalia this time

[LH]

Mustard ----- as already noted, Canadians helped build that atomic bomb 'in spades', as did the British and I can furnish a name on that item also and he resides just outside Ottawa. You'll find, if you do the research, that not all brains reside south of the 49th Parallel......they just brag more about their than we do, that's all. Not 'Canadian' to brag though, is it?

What did my response have to do with your knowledge of Canadian history? You wouldn't have stated what you did if you were older and/or knew your Canadian history. You didn't learn either and followed that up with another example of your lack of knowledge of Canadian history. At least make some attempt to research what I'm telling you here because I might be 'feeding you a line'. I ain't, but in the process you'd learn much more about the country you call home. Other than that, I believe the expression is...."Until then, I think you should quit while you're ahead".

Oh and I don't have any momopoly on brains or knowledge of Canadian history. What I do have is more knowledge of the history of the country I call home, than I do of Britsh history which is a lot more than I can say for the sverage home-grown Canadian. That's the fault of our school systems.......not our intelligence. As a result, if addressing me as 'Professor' fills your boots, then have at'er.

[Mustard]

Please give me one example of my lack of knowledge of Canadian history?

I don't think I made one false statement. Unless we actually did drop an atomic bomb on someone.

[The Old Fogducker]

Fog:

You talk to Hong Kong vets often do you?

Mustard

Mustard:

Whenever possible actually. Getting to be harder to find them now though Mustard, they are dying off at a great rate. My respect for the Hong Kong Vets is immense. They were to say the least, extremely poorly treated and considered to be less than vermin by the Japanese guards.

I've made it an interest to mentally collect the experiences of people of the WW2 era, whether they be folks working on the home front, family concerns, merchant navy, rate of technology development, etc. I also enjoy speaking to immigrants from the Communist countries who fled socialism and threats of extermination. Some very heroic escape stories. I was lucky enough to have a conversation with a young man who stole an airplane in Poland and fueled it up with several months collection of gas drained from the sumps during walk-arounds. Snuck his wife & child onto the base and flew to West Germany.

These people make me look like I've just dropped off a turnip truck yesterday.

During the celebrations in honour of the 50th Anniverary of VE Day, I was lucky enough to speak with many distinguished veterans and felt honoured to be able to talk in-depth with several of them and have them reluctantly share their experiences in more detail than they were comfortable with.

I sincerely recommend every Canadian sit down with one of these men and have a serious conversation about their lives, sense of values, why they did what they did, and ask to share the information. Trouble is, many will not talk about that time period to this day and it is more difficult to find service men and women with extensive time in the field of battle.

We participated in the atomic bombing of Japan every bit as surely as the US. It was just delivered by an American aircraft because it was the one that could do the job. For one, I'm proud that Canada made that highly significant contribution to ending the war.

Mustard, you are indeed correct, Canada never dropped any nukes on a city. For that factual certainty, you get a gold star in this segment.

But ... we've certainly been ready to do exactly the same mission as the Enola Gay if required. We did indeed have nukes for quite some time, in Germany and at home, aimed at Soviet cities full of men, women, and babies. Yes, we would have dropped them. These airplanes were flown by "good old fashioned Canadian boys in the RCAF" ready to drop on assigned targets inside areas of Soviet controlled eastern Europe. Trust me, if the world circumstances necessitated issuing an order to punch off a bomb from a CF-104, it would have been bang on target.

We've been fortunate (lucky) to have not been called upon to fight that type of war any longer, mainly due to being under the nuke protection of our brothers in the USA.

Fog

[grimey]

Well I don't have to check the history books to know that we have never dropped an atomic bomb on
a city or two.

No, but we helped build them with full knowledge of their purpose. How is that better?

Don't confuse an inability to inflict hundreds of thousands of casualties with an unwillingness to. Atrocities were committed by all sides in WW2, usually with the participation of honorable men at some level. That alone doesn't make a nation evil. Japan massacred hundreds of thousands in Nanking. The Soviet Union killed more people than Nazi Germany immediately prior to WW2, and wasn't terribly kind during or immediately after, either. Germany was responsible for the Holocaust. Canada and the US both ran interment camps for citizens of Japanese descent. Britain and the US conducted a fire bombing that leveled Dresden. Virtually all allied nations participated in the Manhattan Project, Canada included.

[Mustard]

Ya I haven't had the honour of talking to any Hong Kong veterans. Only a few who fought in Europe and Africa.
My only point was that Somalia wasn't the first time and it won't be the last(Japan being the most notable). For
some reason LH then jumped on me and accused me of being very young and ignorant even though he doesn't know who I am. I could be a history professor or even a veteran myself. I just laughed at it though because it shows his ignorance and small mind.

LH I'm impressed with your name dropping. Maybe you and Grimey should get together and quiz each other on military
history.

[LH]

Mustard

You're beginning to get my sympathy, so I'll just reply to your last statements and keep it simple:

1) ".....Somalia wasn't the first time". It wasn't for the Canadian Army either.

2) "Americans don't mind killing women and children". Canadians have done exactly the same, so you could say the exact same thing about them also. I realize that the word "mind" is yours and I'll ignore that because you have no idea as to whether they "minded" or not. That statement also only demonstrated your ignorance again......not stupidity......ignorance. If you knew Canadian military history, you would have never even touched that subject with a 50' pole because you would have known otherwise.

3) No, I don't know who you are or where you live, but I understand English and when someone has made a verifiable incorrect statement that any Grade 9 student could verify in their library, then I attempt......I say ATTEMPT to correct.

4) Your ignorance of history in general and Canadian history in particular tells me that you are not a Professor of History. You are most definitely not a veteran of any war whatsoever because your ignorance of what war is all about is quite apparent. Unfortunately you've 'stepped into it again' in that regard and with that statement because I am one and don't EVER try to B.S any vet about war and actual combat if you've never been in one.

5) You have stated that I've shown my "ignorance and small mind" and if so, I've also shown it to others here. Would you care to share with me and others here where it is that I've "shown" that ignorance and small-mindedness?

6) If anyone here gets involved in a history quiz, it should be you and whatever you do make that a quiz on Canadian history. Remember........ a quiz about CANADIAN history......not British history in Canada.

[Mustard]

Whatever

Once again I'll ask for ONE example of a false statement I made.

I don't recall talking about Canadian history,British or Dutch or anyone else other
than American.

[Widow]

Americans, Canadians, whoever. If this kind of combat makes human beings behave like this, something has to change. Is it the type of people being recruited? The conditions they are living in? Would they behave this way at home?

[grimey]

Americans, Canadians, whoever. If this kind of combat makes human beings behave like this, something has to change. Is it the type of people being recruited? The conditions they are living in? Would they behave this way at home?

If you stick 300k people in a place they don't want to be for longer than they thought they signed on for, you're sure to have a very small minority who go apeshit. I'm not excusing their actions, but don't blame the majority who don't do anything of that sort.

[LH]

I'll try this one more time, but this time I'll try it another way to make my point:

1) Canadians don't mind killing women and children. Just ask the people of Dresden, Germany were they killed 35,000+ women, children and elderly. They dropped a combination of explosive devices and incendiary bombs. The incendiary bombs caused massive fires approaching reported temperatures of 1,800 Fahrenheit and those fires lasted for days. Nearby military installations were not touched. While they were doing that they were also lending very large help to building a bigger bomb that eventually killed 120,000 Japanese women, children and elderly.

2) Many years later they ended up in Somalia with the Americans and there they began torturing and killing.....and that would not be the last time......and wasn't the first.

The above ain't false either. Still in the mood to point fingers at other nations.......true or not?