Now go fall in line with all the other smelly hippies.
Posted on 11/11/2005 5:04:55 AM PST by kristinn
We see them every day on the back windows of SUVs, on the fuel doors of sedans--stickers and magnets that say "Support Our Troops." Sometimes they sport yellow ribbons; sometimes American flags. Often they are weathered, peeling off the metal or glass. We see them so often it's easy to tune them out. Like the inoffensive "Have a nice day," the slogan is a pleasant sentiment that skims across our consciousness and disappears into the air.
On Veteran's Day, when we honor all of those who have served our country through the military, it's helpful to take a closer look at these three words that have become so familiar: What does it mean to truly support our troops?
Often, when people ask us to support our troops, they are asking us to support the Bush Administration's decisions in Iraq. But is the Administration supporting our troops by sending them into a war based on lies? By sending them into one battle after another with inadequate body armor, inadequately armored vehicles? By bringing home the wounded in the dead of night so we can pretend they don't exist? By cutting veteran's benefits upon their return, so they have to struggle to pay for their housing, their groceries, their medical care? By making young men and women fight an unwinnable war, a war that no longer has the backing of the American people?
Since March, peace groups including CodePink and Veterans for Peace have been staging a weekly candlelight vigil in front of Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC, to highlight the needs of injured soldiers. Lately, the vigils have been met by aggressive counterdemonstrators, who line up on the opposite side of the street with signs denouncing the vigil. These people support the war in Iraq and argue that demonstrations are demoralizing to the recovering soldiers. But how demoralizing must it be for soldiers coming home to discover that in state after state, Veterans Administration hospitals are being shut down? How demoralizing must it be for injured soldiers to have to fight for disability benefits, to be faced with increased co-payments, to be told that their post-traumatic stress disorder is not war-related?
What is the impact on soldiers still in Iraq to learn that the Bush Administration manipulated the intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in order to justify an invasion? How must they feel when they learn that Iraqis don't want us there or understand that their acts of bravery are not making their families safer at home? How demoralizing must it be to see their buddies die in a war that increasing numbers of soldiers don't even believe in?
More than 2,000 of our troops have been killed, and more than 15,000 injured. These numbers are important to remember, but it is also important to remember that our troops are not numbers, not statistics. They are human beings, and there are actions we can take to support them that are much more meaningful than blindly supporting our President or slapping a magnet on the back of our gas-guzzling car.
Send care packages to Iraq: books and snacks and toiletries to mitigate some of the harshness of the desert war zone. Donate to organizations, like the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, that provide help for returning soldiers struggling to put their lives together after war. Stand on street corners with candles and signs that spotlight the injustices our troops face. Support groups like Iraq Veterans Against the War, made up of courageous soldiers speaking out against the war. Urge elected officials to end this misbegotten military adventure. Support clean, green energy programs and lifestyles that move us off our dependence on other countries' oil.
As we honor the sacrifice and courage of our veterans, let us recognize that the best way to support our troops is to call for their swift exit from Iraq, to guarantee them the care they deserve when they return, and to make policy changes that will stop us from ever again rushing into a reckless war.
Medea's version of 'supporting the troops' is to give $600,000 in cash and aid to Al Qaeda in Iraq while telling our troops at Walter Reed they are fighting in an unwinnable war.
Now go fall in line with all the other smelly hippies.
Hehe. Yep, they can't stand it that we've matched them outside Walter Reed every Friday night.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
What a jerk. What's that word that the University of Colorado president used as a term of endearment? I can't say it here.
Keep it up!
ping
If I was in the service and I got moral support like that, I would turn it away. What good is support when all it does is make me question myself? That's not support at all.
Unwinnable only when America quits. Then we live to fight it again.
Let's assume for the sake of this argument that Bush lied. This then begs the question, why?
Can it not be said that if Bush said " I want to take down Saddam Hussein because he is generally a pain in the ass and I'm sick of his shit", these nitwits at code Pinko would have had a hissy fit and screamed "not in my name", "no blood for oil" and "Breasts not bombs" just as they are today. Would the Demoncraps and the MSM 5th Column, and all those on the take in Kofie the Criminal's Oil for Graft program opposed it just the same?
It seems to me that Bush sort of painted himself into this corner by trying to justify the step-down of Saddam with sensational WMD charges. I'm sure that Saddam had everything that Bush said that he did. But in the Run-up to the invasion Saddam had the chance to scatter his stocks and bury them in the desert just to make the US look bad, which again Saddam has again managed to do.
No, this is not about supporting the troops as Code Pinko has suggested, it is about advancing the idea that Bush lied, and that they want to start impeachment proceedings against him. I believe as I suggester earlier that Saddam was a pain in the ass and he needed to be dealt with. He didn't follow the prescriptions for surrender from the first gulf war and there were no other justifications necessary.
Medea the DC Chapter has been there and out numbered you since day one.
ping
Rule 3: forget your moral questions about the war. Morality is for those who support the war and for those who oppose the war, not for those in the war. Those seriously wounded are still fighting the war so clam up about the immorality of this stupid war.
A corollary to this rule is never protest against a war in front of a military facility, especially a military hospital. That is a no-brainer. You demonstrate against those who made the policy to go to war, not against those who are sworn to carry out the order to go to war.
Code Pink has posted on their Website the article that I linked and excerpted above. Apparently they either didn't read the advice within it, or they disregarded the advice.
If the latter, then that is proof positive that they don't care about the troops; that their goal is to humiliate and demoralize the wounded soldiers and their families, and to increase the pain and anguish they are experiencing as they fight to live and to heal their wounds.
I really appreciate all of your efforts. Thank you, kristinn.
Side benefit.
What we really want is for them to go away.
One day they are going to get on a wounded soldier's last nerve...
She seems in serious need of a Midol.
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