I recently had the unusual experience of having someone that I posted a video of contacting me. Here's the video and it was an exchange on Hardball about whether we should bring back the draft:
Mark Finelli wrote to me and thanked me for posting the video and asked for a copy. More below of my reply to him.
Here's what I wrote in response and I'm leaving out the first part where I told him that I'd gladly send him the video and asked him some questions about file formats and where to send it:
Quite frankly the one part of your interview that shocked me the most is that anyone who is supportive of the war was actually willing to say on television that we went into Iraq for military bases after the Saudis kicked us out. I agree with that notion and also believe it was for a lot of other reasons besides that like feeding the military industrial complex, war profiteering for these contracting companies, and of course for control over their oil resources going to the six or so major oil companies that want these PSA's so they get over 80% of the oil's worth and leave the Iraqi people with less than 20%. I also believe those PSA's which are continually touted as a sign of "progress" are the big elephant in the room that no one on any side is willing to speak honestly about, and the major reason for much of the violence there. The Iraqi people know they're going to be ripped off and aren't going to stand for it and then they're also battling each other for control over all of the money that oil is worth and who controls it.
I feel for our soldiers and for anyone who is stuck in that hell hole over there that we've created. If a draft were ever fairly implimented I think it would get us out, but I never see one being fair. The rich will always find a way to get out of it as they've always done. I would like to see us get out of there before our military is completely broken. How we do that without making things worse than they are already is the big quagmire we're stuck in. Anyway, I appreciate that fact that at least someone said one honest thing about this war on the TV, but there needs to be a lot more honesty about just what the hell we're doing there before things get any better is all I know. We need to come clean before we'll ever get any help from the rest of the world about what we've done and we need to let the Iraqis know that oil is there's before the fighting is ever going to stop. Some of the best reporting I've seen on just what's happening there is at AlterNet. If you're not familiar with their site I'd ask that you go read their archive section on Iraq for some stories the MSM isn't willing to report.
He never wrote me back. Here is his user page at You Tube:
Mark Finelli
From that profile he says he was one that survived the 9-11 attacks and joined the Marines just afterwards. I've got the highest respect for anyone who was willing to do that although I think his views are misguided. I'm curious what anyone here thinks about the response I sent to him. It's not often I get the chance to tell someone who was given the bully pulpit of the cable news industry shows exactly what I think about something they said on the air. I'm disappointed that he never replied to me.