The bolded part is overlooked by the media

[13Gigatons]

Warriors and wusses
I DON'T SUPPORT our troops. This is a particularly difficult opinion to have, especially if you are the kind of person who likes to put bumper stickers on his car. Supporting the troops is a position that even Calvin is unwilling to urinate on.

I'm sure I'd like the troops. They seem gutsy, young and up for anything. If you're wandering into a recruiter's office and signing up for eight years of unknown danger, I want to hang with you in Vegas.

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And I've got no problem with other people ? the ones who were for the Iraq war ? supporting the troops. If you think invading Iraq was a good idea, then by all means, support away. Load up on those patriotic magnets and bracelets and other trinkets the Chinese are making money off of.

But I'm not for the war. And being against the war and saying you support the troops is one of the wussiest positions the pacifists have ever taken ? and they're wussy by definition. It's as if the one lesson they took away from Vietnam wasn't to avoid foreign conflicts with no pressing national interest but to remember to throw a parade afterward.

Blindly lending support to our soldiers, I fear, will keep them overseas longer by giving soft acquiescence to the hawks who sent them there ? and who might one day want to send them somewhere else. Trust me, a guy who thought 50.7% was a mandate isn't going to pick up on the subtleties of a parade for just service in an unjust war. He's going to be looking for funnel cake.

Besides, those little yellow ribbons aren't really for the troops. They need body armor, shorter stays and a USO show by the cast of "Laguna Beach."

The real purpose of those ribbons is to ease some of the guilt we feel for voting to send them to war and then making absolutely no sacrifices other than enduring two Wolf Blitzer shows a day. Though there should be a ribbon for that.

I understand the guilt. We know we're sending recruits to do our dirty work, and we want to seem grateful.

After we've decided that we made a mistake, we don't want to blame the soldiers who were ordered to fight. Or even our representatives, who were deceived by false intelligence. And certainly not ourselves, who failed to object to a war we barely understood.

But blaming the president is a little too easy. The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not. An army of people making individual moral choices may be inefficient, but an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying. An army of people ignoring their morality, by the way, is also Jack Abramoff's pet name for the House of Representatives.

I do sympathize with people who joined up to protect our country, especially after 9/11, and were tricked into fighting in Iraq. I get mad when I'm tricked into clicking on a pop-up ad, so I can only imagine how they feel.

But when you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you're not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse. Sometimes you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times it's Vietnam.

And sometimes, for reasons I don't understand, you get to just hang out in Germany.

I know this is all easy to say for a guy who grew up with money, did well in school and hasn't so much as served on jury duty for his country. But it's really not that easy to say because anyone remotely affiliated with the military could easily beat me up, and I'm listed in the phone book.

I'm not advocating that we spit on returning veterans like they did after the Vietnam War, but we shouldn't be celebrating people for doing something we don't think was a good idea. All I'm asking is that we give our returning soldiers what they need: hospitals, pensions, mental health and a safe, immediate return. But, please, no parades.

Seriously, the traffic is insufferable.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/com...2.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions



Most people don't really support the troops, that's why their are so many homeless vets living in the streets.

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

From what I have seen that is common in most countries. They just don't give a damn about their vets.

There are a few who do well for themselves maybe by setting up consultaning companies to entering politics, but most of them live a hard life, which they do not deserve.

Sadly that is a problem that being faced in many nations, not just the US.

 

[Dissipate]

That piece was pathetic. He says we shouldn't 'support the troops' but then at the end says we have to pony up for their pensions, medical care etc.

 

[slash196]

Nice editorial trick. He says something outrageous to bring you in, and then he hits you with the real message. The ol' bait-n-switch.

 

[Starbuck1975]

Sometimes you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times it's Vietnam.

Agreed with him until this point...there was no ethnic genocide in Kosovo, and we didn't fight anyone save to drop a couple of bombs on Serbia.

American foreign policy has largely been a misguided mess since the end of WW2...partially due to the polarizing conflict that was the Cold War...some of it as America's reaction to the ripples still being felt by European imperialism...much of it due to America attempting to define its role in a post Cold War world.

 

[Meuge]

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975
Agreed with him until this point...there was no ethnic genocide in Kosovo, and we didn't fight anyone save to drop a couple of bombs on Serbia.

WTF?

I don't know, do people on AT P&N come from parallel dimensions or something?.. where historical facts are different?

 

[Booshanky]

I agree with the guy for the most part. It's kind of refreshing to hear someone actually say it publicly though.

But when you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you're not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse.

That's so right on it's not even funny. I always get a bit irked when I hear people say that people in the military are defending america or my freedoms. I'm actually glad that the army doesnt advertise that they want you to sign up to defend america any more. They say you're defending "freedom".

 

[Polish3d]

So routing the taliban and al qaeda in Afghanistan isn't defending America? I guess that argument will be made by the fanatical pessimists around here but who cares ...

And his point about not putting any parades on? How many anti war protestors organize parades for the troops anyway?

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Frackal
So routing the taliban and al qaeda in Afghanistan isn't defending America? I guess that argument will be made by the fanatical pessimists around here but who cares ...

Where did he say that? Heck, he even said he sympathized with those who've signed up, esp. right after 9/11 and were then sent to Iraq. At least fighting in Afghanistan was fighting a group of people that actually attacked the US. WTF did Iraq do to us?

And his point about not putting any parades on? How many anti war protestors organize parades for the troops anyway?

I believe he meant parades, in general. The majority of America feels the Iraq war wasn't worth it. Is it prudent to put on parades? Why not use the funds/resources to help veterans being shafted by this administration once they return home?

 

[Generator]

He made some good points. Unfotunately no will read them, and if they did...wouldn't be able to understand them. Anyways the whole "support the troops" line immediately puts you on the defensive and I don't know if one could really combat those combination of words. Certainly no one wishes harm upon the soldier, but one must admit a soldier is a killer. Its a very disturbing opportunity the government gives you. You want a degree, go kill a few Arabs and then we'll talk. I really don't know how one can possibly rationalize they are capable of helping people out being a soldier.

A soldier is nothing more than a fireman who fights fires with not water, but bombs. I don't know, perhaps if we had some capable leaders in the government, these same men and women who are trying to help Iraqi's out could be under some different outfit that actually has the tools that would actually be able to deliver democracy to people more effectively.

 

[Future Shock]

The problem is that "Supporting Our Troops" isn't specific enough...I mean, I TOTALLY support out troops in Afghanistan, and would like to buy cases of beer (or at least a good GI Bill) for the troops in Iraq. But I don't really WANT those troops in Iraq, because they had nothing to do with 9/11, and this is supposed to be a war against Muslim religious extremists...which Saddam was not. So I don't support the troops in Iraq at all...

Nor do I support those little yellow ribbons, which sent $1.98 to CHINA (check the back) for every ribbon purchased. How is that supporting out troops?

This author has some guts to come out and say what he said, and alas the finer points of what he said (i.e., treat the TROOPS well by getting them home and compensating them well) will be lost. In fact, another thread on this is already locked because some neocons got their nose out of joint by just looking at the headline...

Future Shock

 

[WiseOldDude]

The government doesn't support the troops either, especially when they are no longer an asset. GI gets his butt shot up, they patch him up, send him home, fit him with a new leg or whatever was left in Iraq, then kicks his butt out the hospital door and cancels his medical coverage.

 

[Horus]

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975

Sometimes you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times it's Vietnam.

Agreed with him until this point...there was no ethnic genocide in Kosovo, and we didn't fight anyone save to drop a couple of bombs on Serbia.

American foreign policy has largely been a misguided mess since the end of WW2...partially due to the polarizing conflict that was the Cold War...some of it as America's reaction to the ripples still being felt by European imperialism...much of it due to America attempting to define its role in a post Cold War world.

It was not genocide. It was mass-murder of an ethnic group in order to get them to leave. But...
Talk to anyone who was over there, and actually SAW the mass graves. My CO was in Bosnia in '99, as a Platoon commander. One of his squads found one of those mass-graves...after running it over with their LAV-25's, and body parts came up. They had no idea anything was there until then. He says that the sight will never leave his head.

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: Frackal

And his point about not putting any parades on? How many anti war protestors organize parades for the troops anyway?

I believe he meant parades, in general. The majority of America feels the Iraq war wasn't worth it. Is it prudent to put on parades? Why not use the funds/resources to help veterans being shafted by this administration once they return home?

Really I think both are appropriate... besides, the majority of the people DID originally support the Iraq war, and played a role in sending the soldiers in; it isn't the soldier's fault that nothing was found, they still deserve a welcome for a job well done

 

[Zebo]

Most people don't really support the troops, that's why their are so many homeless vets living in the streets.

Of course they don't it's all Bullshit. Mainly by the idiots who tout the loudest about partiotism - have the stickers - etc. All these guys in power starting the wars sure as heck never served that's for the rabble so they would never understand.

I've met at least 20 serverly disabled both mentally and physically veitnam vets living on the streets with no federal help to cure thier severe illnesses. One dude I met actually volunteered 3 tours to serve in vietnam for his country. Really wacked out - in the middle of the night at the shelter he would wake up and start screaming in vietnamese at the top of his lungs for about 20 minutes. He was a danger to all the other patrons so they got rid of him. The usual.. fell back into drugs alchohol to drown out his nightmares.

I hope we do the right thing this time and take care of the 100,000 or so which will come back from Iraq with lifetime scars, missing limbs etc. They deserve all our respect, funding, and life long care if need be - my destain is reserved for those who put them in that situation.