no I have talked to Marines and Soldiers (brothers, uncle(officer), and a few friends) and they have told me this. like I said since you do not believe what I am saying is true. You are wrong. On this issue you could say I have "inside" sources and you just take what you hear from the media.

It kinda makes more sense why I started hating Obama once I learned more about him.

I've actually talked to Iraq veterans who were pissed off that they were ordered to protect oil fields, and if they asked "Why can't we go protect those Iraqi hospitals or schools?" they'd get in trouble. The soldiers wanted to be liberators, but they were forced to be oil guards.

You are wrong. On this issue you could say we have conflicting inside sources.

I think you missed the point.  Obama said he would talk without preconditions to anybody.

Including Ahmadinejad who McCain said he wouldn't talk to without preconditions.  The main difference was that McCain saw preconditions as previous diplomatic events with other diplomats, while Obama saw it as "They must do every single thing we say."

In reality they both agreed on it... and both had different ideas on what "Preconditions" means.  In the end Obama conceded that there would have to be starter talks before he talked to anybody.

Hey BigJon....you're not going to belive this...but soldiers have biases, too.  My brother served two years over there....and he paints a much different picture than you or Bush would present.  If you want to come into a thread and discuss...that's fine.  But quit being all high and mighty and suggesting that you know the absolute truth.

If I recall correctly, even after Obama correctly defined his use of "preconditions", McCain continued to hammer that point.  I could be wrong, as I don't have time to review the transcript at the moment.  I will later, but feel free to beat me to it and prove me wrong. 

The problem is... Obama's definition of preconditions was incorrect.

"I'm not going to meet with you until the secretary of state or some other guy meets with your leaders first."

is a precondition don't you think?

It's not sure if that was his original definition or if that was just Obama backtracking on his previous comment.

And you are not?

Ok, you anecdote is your bother... My anecdote contains about 6 people. Btw- Is your bother in the Army? or Marines? I am just wondering. marines don't do 2 year deployments. Army does 14 month deployments(usually, although it really does depend on what your MOS is), was he in the initial assault? I know some of those soldier got screwed and were stuck over for 20-26 months.

"On preconditions the two appear to agree. Last week Kissinger also said that 'I do not believe that we can make conditions for the opening of negotiations.'" source

As for the definition of preconditions, here's how the term is used by the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state: 
U.S. wants Georgia, Abkhazia talks without preconditions
...
Both Georgia and the rebels have set preconditions for sitting down to talks with each other.
...
"We cannot understand why there are no direct negotiations between Sukhumi and Tbilisi. If the parties are serious about reducing tensions, they do not put preconditions," [U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew] Bryza told reporters in Tbilisi.
...
Abkhaz separatists say talks would be impossible unless Georgia withdrew its troops from a disputed gorge cutting deep into Abkhaz territory.

They also demand Georgia sign a formal pledge not to attack the region. Georgia has refused to sign formal pledges not to attack, saying it did not have any such plans anyway.

So I think it's clear that "preconditions" means "do this and this and this, and then we'll talk to you", not "we'll talk to you right now but not at the Presidential level at first". 

Debate or a personal verbal slanging match?

It's the same in the UK, most politicians are now such idiots they have no ideas so just choose to criticise the other person and their party.

I watched the debate last night - and truthfully, Obama came off as classy and respectful. McCain wasn't. He couldn't say 'middle class' once and rarely looked at Obama. And guess what? At the end, Obama and Michelle walked across the stage and greeted the McCains. That's classy and earns points in my book. All McCain had to do was walk to the middle of the stage ...

Obama held his own and really made the debate his most of the night. The economy, the crisis and domestic affairs dominated the debate and even on foreign topics, Obama held off McCain advances.

For McCain to be a seasoned debater, he seemed to get own3d. The pundits said it was a draw, but most polls have Obama as the clear winner - plus he got a bump.

It's Obama'a election to lose.