Troops have a right to disagree but these aspiring John Kerry’s are often not just offering their opinions but instead actively trying undermine the war effort and are making the jobs of those still in the combat zone who do not have the luxury of a air conditioned CNN green room to wait in till it is their turn to have their say much harder. What about their feelings and long term mental health? If anything Harry Reid and the Democrats don’t want to hear from the vast majority of troops that want to win this war and believe in what they are doing.
When one crosses the line from tempered personal opinions to joining the anti-war effort they are no longer soldiers and it is doubtful that they ever really were. The real soldiers know their mission and that mission is not to embrace failure. The last thing the troops on the ground need is some malcontent veteran casting doubt on what they are doing.
How many soldiers must come home to the stress of living in a nation of traitors and cowards that do not respect them? How many soldiers must commit suicide because of the stress brought on by a media that has more consideration for the feelings of terrorists than for the soldiers that put their lives on the line for them? Sure they speak of concern for the soldiers dieing but if our soldiers were deployed to some strategically insignificant place like Dafur under a liberal administration we’d be hard pressed to find statistics on the dead soldiers let alone a daily count.
They count off the dead not because they respect them but because they see the dead soldiers as patriotic fools and dupes. They do not wish to bring them home so they can be honored and showered with love and respect but so they can spit on them and stamp out every last bit of dignity not only of the soldiers but of this very nation.
We should not sit by as vapid fools redefine cowardice as bravery and sedition as patriotism. We should all take a moment to speak to others about what a good job our soldiers are doing in Iraq and how we support them. Losing is only an option for those who don’t understand what we are fighting for.
And we should stop being civil to those who do.
Amen, brother.
Local talk-show host Mike McConnell had a story not long ago (don’t know the airline) about an airline that identified a soldier in the waiting area and said, over the intercom, “Everyone, please welcome back Pvt./Cpl/Sgt. So-and-so who is just returning from Iraq,” and he got a standing ovation. Then, the airline bumped his ticket up to a first-class seat. Now THAT’S respect.