Our soldiers in Iraq aren't heroes (But Andy Rooney is! (not))

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[Peter J. Huss]

Our soldiers in Iraq aren't heroes



4/12/2004

By ANDY ROONEY

Most of the reporting from Iraq is about death and destruction. We don't learn much about what our soldiers in Iraq are thinking or doing. There's no Ernie Pyle to tell us, and, if there were, the military would make it difficult or impossible for him to let us know. It would be interesting to have a reporter ask a group of our soldiers in Iraq to answer five questions and see the results:

1. Do you think your country did the right thing sending you into Iraq?

2. Are you doing what America set out to do to make Iraq a democracy, or have we failed so badly that we should pack up and get out before more of you are killed?

3. Do the orders you get handed down from one headquarters to another, all far removed from the fighting, seem sensible, or do you think our highest command is out of touch with the reality of your situation?

4. If you could have a medal or a trip home, which would you take?

5. Are you encouraged by all the talk back home about how brave you are and how everyone supports you?

Treating soldiers fighting their war as brave heroes is an old civilian trick designed to keep the soldiers at it. But you can be sure our soldiers in Iraq are not all brave heroes gladly risking their lives for us sitting comfortably back here at home.

Our soldiers in Iraq are people, young men and women, and they behave like people - sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes brave, sometimes fearful. It's disingenuous of the rest of us to encourage them to fight this war by idolizing them.

We pin medals on their chests to keep them going. We speak of them as if they volunteered to risk their lives to save ours, but there isn't much voluntary about what most of them have done. A relatively small number are professional soldiers. During the last few years, when millions of jobs disappeared, many young people, desperate for some income, enlisted in the Army. About 40 percent of our soldiers in Iraq enlisted in the National Guard or the Army Reserve to pick up some extra money and never thought they'd be called on to fight. They want to come home.

One indication that not all soldiers in Iraq are happy warriors is the report recently released by the Army showing that 23 of them committed suicide there last year. This is a dismaying figure. If 22 young men and one woman killed themselves because they couldn't take it, think how many more are desperately unhappy but unwilling to die.

We must support our soldiers in Iraq because it's our fault they're risking their lives there. However, we should not bestow the mantle of heroism on all of them for simply being where we sent them. Most are victims, not heroes.

America's intentions are honorable. I believe that, and we must find a way of making the rest of the world believe it. We want to do the right thing. We care about the rest of the world. President Bush's intentions were honorable when he took us into Iraq. They were not well thought out but honorable.

Bush's determination to make the evidence fit the action he took, which it does not, has made things look worse. We pay lip service to the virtues of openness and honesty, but for some reason, we too often act as though there was a better way of handling a bad situation than by being absolutely open and honest.

[don-o]

Andy Rooney poll:

1. Harmless old coot.
2. Menace to society.
3. Freakish waste of carbon.
4. Living proof of everything that is wrong with the "Lame stream Media".
5. Oxygen thief.
6. Pious old fart
7. Off his Hormone Replacement Therapy
8. Waste of wrinkled old liver-spotted skin.
9. Poltroon.
10. Neither clever nor cute..
11. Cockroach!....
12. Anti-American turd
13. Old windbag

[madison10]

Andy Rooney poll:
1. Harmless old coot.
2. Menace to society.
3. Freakish waste of carbon.
4. Living proof of everything that is wrong with the "Lame stream Media".
5. Oxygen thief.
6. Pious old fart
7. Off his Hormone Replacement Therapy
8. Waste of wrinkled old liver-spotted skin.
9. Poltroon.
10. Neither clever nor cute..
11. Cockroach!....
12. Anti-American turd
13. Old windbag
14. Traitor

[Paulie]

FUAR

[GailA]

What a jerk

[aculeus]

What a dick.

My (certain body part) is hurt by this comparison.

[cmotormac44]

A a Normandy Vet I am disgusted, outraged and sorely disappointed that Andy would say such 'garbage' on public tv---for many years I had a good opinion of this man for his service in WW2 along with the witty material he put out at times--sad to say, it appears he has "lost it" and is well on his way to senility--the problem is that he still commands some respect in many quarters and is allowed to smear theis "filth" by his handlers of the media elite--hopefully, most people will note his advanced age and lack of patriotism and true support for the troops he supposedly thought so much of for what it it--time does strange things to otherwise decent folks

[GailA]

FAA failures Click here

[Peach]

Good for you, prairie. Old Andy is sort of like a retread troll - sort of funny to watch as they dodder along in their ignorance until one day when they step over that line and then you realize their entertainment value wasn't worth the price of admission.

Andy stepped over that line a while ago. My heart goes out to our military who hear these things said about them.

[2111USMC]

Thanks for the link perfect stranger.

I just sent them an e-mail complaint calling for his immediate termination.

[2111USMC]

"FoxFans: This thread is not Fox News-related, but I really had to make an exception for this one... Andy Looney went WAY over the line this time, IMHO."

Hannity is about to talk about it any minute now on H&C.

(He also brought it up in his radio program this afternoon.)

[prairiebreeze]

Their favorable opinion of President Bush is slipping... *sigh*

No worries. The big guns of the Bush campaign machine won't get started until late summer because most people aren't going to pay attention until after Labor Day and the Bush campaign knows this.

Besides, when confronted whether to re-elect the President or vote for John Kerry, your relatives (and most voters I believe) will realize there is simply no comparison. Which we've known all along, of course.

Prairie

[perfect stranger]

You and me both, brother.

How much money are they willing to lose spouting garbage like this?

It seems like they all are in a fight to get the lowest ratings against FoxNews.

[GeorgiaYankee]

Rooney is doing the enemy's work as detailed by Freeper PsyOp in his post

Giving Aid and Comfort
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1116136/posts

Rooney's questions follow this script

"How do you destroy the enemy’s morale and will to fight? It’s simple, really.

First, you call into question their mission. Make them question why they are fighting. Make them question whether they are doing the right thing. Soldiers unsure of their mission question their orders and hesitate to act when quick action is most necessary. In combat, you’re either quick or you’re dead.

Second, call into question their leadership. Make them question their commander’s skill and honesty. Make them question the motives of the political figures that made the decision to go to war. Soldiers unsure of their leadership may refuse to follow their orders or take direct action against their leadership. In combat, failure to immediately follow orders usually gets soldiers killed.

Third, make them homesick. Point out how miserable they are; remind them how long they have been away from home; how much their loved ones miss them; accentuate the bad and ignore the good; tell them there is no foreseeable end in site (no, you won’t be home by Christmas). Homesick and depressed soldiers are not effective soldiers. Ineffective soldiers often become dead soldiers.

Fourth, make it all about them. Point out that the war is not in their personal best interest. “Hey, you can lose an eye (or worse), doing that.” This last step, converting the soldier back into the psychological equivalent of a civilian, is the most deadly. Soldiers who start thinking only of themselves stop acting as members of a team. A soldier concerned only with his own safety stops watching his buddy’s back. Unit cohesiveness breaks down. Desertions and insubordination becomes rampant. Casualties mount higher."

[Ciexyz]

I don't listen to him, I don't read him, and I wouldn't know about his comments if it wasn't for FR and Drudge. Rooney's inane comments just reinforce my contempt for the liberal media and the leftie world they live in.

[Ciexyz]

I wonder if Rooney is watching "Band of Brothers" on the History Channel this week, and if so, would he also say of the WW II generation, "They're not really heroes. We can't just pin a few medals on 'em and call 'em heroes."

[PattonReincarnated]

I wonder if Rooney is watching "Band of Brothers" on the History Channel this week, and if so, would he also say of the WW II generation, "They're not really heroes. We can't just pin a few medals on 'em and call 'em heroes."

Rooney was a pathetic liberal war correspondent during WWII. The brass hated his ass.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

OK FReepers, let Andy Rooney have it!
Just click on link to fill out a compaint form.

File a complaint against Andy Rooney

[okie01]

6. Pious old fart

Hardly. Andy is an professed atheist.

And hardly worthy of fart status...

[onyx]

Please ping your lists to Tonk's post above.
File a complaint against Andy Rooney.

[tiamat]

Got, sent, BUMP!

;-)