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Urban Legends Reference Pages: Rumors of War (Colonel of Truth):

“In spite of our overwhelming conventional strength as the world’s only superpower (a truly silly term), we are the underdog in this fight. As you listen to the carefully scripted rhetoric designed to prepare us for the march for war, please realize that America is not equipped or seriously trained for the battle ahead. To be certain, our soldiers are much better than the enemy, and we have some excellent counter-terrorist organizations, but they are mostly trained for hostage rescues, airfield seizures, or the occasional body snatch, (which may come in handy). We will be fighting a war of annihilation, because if their early efforts are any indication, our enemy is ready and willing to die to the last man. Eradicating the enemy will be costly and time consuming. They have already deployed their forces in as many as 20 countries, and are likely living the lives of everyday citizens.

Simply put, our soldiers will be tasked with a search and destroy mission on multiple foreign landscapes, and the public must be patient and supportive until the strategy and tactics can be worked out. For the most part, our military is still in the process of redefining itself and is presided over by men and women who grew up with - and were promoted because they excelled in - Cold War doctrine, strategy and tactics. This will not be linear warfare, there will be no clear centers of gravity to strike with high technology weapons. Our vast technological edge will certainly be helpful, but it will not be decisive. Perhaps the perfect metaphor for the coming battle was introduced by the terrorists themselves aboard the hijacked aircraft ? this will be a knife fight, and it will be won or lost by the ingenuity and will of citizens and soldiers, not by software or smart bombs. We must also be patient with our military…”

Brian Shul the Speaker - Veteran’s Day Address:

“This place we love, that we call America, is not just a place, it is an idea. An idea manifested in its people, a very diverse people. I heard a college student on TV the other day say that if a mandatory draft was imposed, he would head for Canada, as he had already mapped out his career, and serving in the military was just not in his plans.

Not in his plans… I wonder if the young boys on the beaches at Normandy had other plans, as their dead bodies washed ashore in a sea of red. I’m sure the young men who found themselves in the jungles of Viet Nam, watching their buddies die in an unnamed rice patty fighting an unseen enemy had other plans. I guess those men and women surprised at Pearl Harbor one morning had all their plans rearranged in ways they could never have imagined. The people at the World Trade Center have no more plans.

But in this diversity, also comes our strength as a nation. All may speak, and the will of the majority will be heard. Though we may disagree, we are all Americans and live under the same flag. That beautiful flag that has become such a symbol of freedom to the world. For those who have fought on foreign soil, they understand better than most the importance of this flag, and the strength derived from its presence.”