Comments on: Heh! This Should Fire up the ACLU

By: Saint Snarky

Saint Snarky — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:06:33 +0000

If you took every church, temple, and mosque, stacked them on top of each other, you’d still be farther from Heaven than the first floor of the ACLU. God loves the U.S. Constitution more than anything other text.

By: COL Dan Baggio

COL Dan Baggio — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 04:10:24 +0000

Well, well, well…. I was resisting responding to this, but have succumbed to temptation and must now put a stake in it. Everybody on both the right and left side of the fence need to lighten up a tad here. Somewhere among what I allegedly said, what Pauline from AP noted, what the AP editors edited, and what some of you readers interpreted, the whole context of my comments has been lost and distorted. Let me get the mea culpa out of the way – if I used the word God – I regret that I did, especially today in this world where folks hang on your every word, over-analyze it and in-turn over-react. Although Iâ€™m no rookie to the Army (enlisted in the National Guard in Nov 1979; became a Regular Army Officer in April 1983) or to the media (11 years media relations experience), this is a testament that we can and should learn something every day; Iâ€™ve certainly been reminded to be more cautious. That said, assuming maybe I did say â€œGodâ€ – it was only a figure of speech; I could have said â€œyeomanâ€™s workâ€, â€œmore than their fare share of the workâ€, incredible work, freaking hard work – you get the point!!! Iâ€™m curious – from that passage, how does one assume Iâ€™m Christian? Didnâ€™t see Jesus or Christ in there – did ya? The last time I checked, the Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship the same God, plus many other faiths believe in a divine being. My faith or lack of it is irrelevant. My so-called quotes came from an informal chat – albeit on the record – with APâ€™s Pauline Jelinek in my office – I like Pauline and I donâ€™t fault her article, Iâ€™m sure she didnâ€™t intend for it to be extrapolated as a call for Christianity and probably most people didnâ€™t read it that way. The focus of the interview was two-fold: 1. The number of troops who had deployed vs. havenâ€™t deployed and 2. An announcement by the Marine Commandant, saying how operationally focused they are and was the Army somewhat different – less operationally focused (translate: not as gung-ho). I vehemently defended the lionâ€™s share of Soldiers, focusing on the Armyâ€™s Warrior Ethos and that no matter where they work – theater or stateside – Soldiers contribute to the fight. I can relate, currently working at the Pentagon, but having spent 13 months and 17 days in Iraq (Jan 04 – Feb 05), plus multiple shorter war zone deployments in the Balkans. I made it clear that the Army was full of Warriors – every bit as tough as our sister service the Marines. Well…now I got â€œthatâ€ off my chest – it at least makes me feel better. Iâ€™d normally sign off with something like â€œGod Bless Our Troopsâ€ but I donâ€™t want to offend anyone else – so Iâ€™ll say â€œKeep our Troops in your thoughts and wishes.â€ COL Dan Baggio, U.S. Army.

By: John Ryan

John Ryan — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 23:55:25 +0000

If Col Baggio is working for God then God should be the one to sign his paycheck. NOT THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER

By: Saint Snarky

Saint Snarky — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 16:07:51 +0000

What a sad site this is. You want to stop the people who are trying to protect Americans’ civil liberties. Thanks for nothing.

By: Will Smith

Will Smith — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 00:06:12 +0000

My history books tell me that the SS was largely composed of “Christians” too. It’s interesting that neither Jesus nor any of the twelve disciples ever appear to have served in an army. I wonder why not?

By: ibfamous

ibfamous — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:42:00 +0000

oh look! there’s a bush on fire… lets go ask it what to do about iraq.

By: IanY77

IanY77 — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 23:56:43 +0000

Osama bin Laden has said repeatedly that the US wants to invade their countries and take away their Korans (I’m paraphrasing, obviously). This sort of crap plays right into the terrorist’s propaganda. Conservatives say that the enemy is listening to our debates. This sort of crap has to stop.

By: Jack Flackett

Jack Flackett — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 23:31:35 +0000

Comments like this are also invaluable to those recruiting for, say, al Qaeda. It fits right it with their charge that the war in Iraq is really a Christian crusade. Thanks for supporting our troops, Col. Baggio.

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:49:05 +0000

Nice job Alex and iaiantbacchus.

By: iaintbacchus

iaintbacchus — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:18:02 +0000

Whoever Colonel Baggio is he isn’t speaking for the Army. Unless thay’ve changed the oath in the last 15 years his oath
and that of every officer in every branch of the service is to the Constitutiion of the United States. Not God.
He doesn’t work for GOD. He works for the people of this country. And if he thinks any different then he shouldn’t be wearing
the uniform and I hope someone straightens him out before he shoots his mouth off in public and embarrasses himself again.
Shame on Military.Com for printing that.