There are so many issues I could address that I find myself in something close to paralysis in deciding which one to address.
One, however, has been bothering me for a long time and that is the slogan and the bumper stickers proclaiming, “SUPPORT OUR TROOPS.”
I have often wondered what that means. I know that is used as a euphemism for support of the war and it has been used not only in this war but in past wars as well. But is supporting a war, supporting our troops? How does getting our men and women killed and maimed supporting them?
I don’t for one moment want to suggest that supporting a war is not often a necessary endeavor. Few would question the necessity of our being in the Second World War against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. Support for that war was a matter of national survival. But even then I cannot see how support for the war was “SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS.” Being of an advanced age I remember how we supported our troops. It wasn’t with slogans like “SUPPORT OUR TROOPS” or even by wearing flag pins in our lapels. We didn’t tell them, ““you fight with the Army you have, not the one you want” as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, told our troops. When we went to war we supported our troops by converting our auto industry to making tanks. Nothing was spared into turning our industry into making the armaments our soldiers needed. We didn’t send them into battle under equipped and undermanned as we have in Iraq.
I remember I was a youth in middle school at the time. Both boys and girls learned to knit so as to make woolen squares that could be sown together to make blankets for our soldiers. Nothing was too good for them. That was supporting our troops!
And we even made sure that our allies had all the armaments they needed. We became the “Arsenal of Democracy.” Now our troops are ill equipped and we keep hearing that the Iraqi troops that are supposed to pick up the baton, so our troops can leave, are under trained and ill equipped. Why aren’t we equipping them? Billions are spent and they disappear in corruption and war profiteering and our troops and their allies are ill equipped.
“SUPPORT OUR TROOPS” at the least is equipping them and taking care of their needs, but this administration and their lackeys in this Congress don’t give a damn about supporting our troops. To them our troops simply serve their political agenda. When we have a bunch of cowards at the highest levels of government who lie and cheat what can you expect?
Where was our Vice-President during the Vietnam War when others were dying for their country? He, as he himself stated, “ He had other priorities.” Oh what patriotism!
And our President got himself into the National Guard where he knew he would not have to fight because in that war we used regular Army troops and didn’t decimate our Guard and Reserves and break our Army in the process. And even then he went AWOL because he had more important things to do.
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS by sending them into an endless war with no clear objectives and no end in sight?
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS by overextending their deployment and by sending them back again and again far beyond their original enlistment.
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS by denying them the armor they need?
And now we discover that when they come home they are housed in slum housing outside our Walter Reed Army Medical Center in a dingy former hotel on Georgia Avenue where the wounded were housed among mice, mold, rot and cockroaches. Where was the Republican Congress oversight over the past three years that this couldn’t be discovered? But did anybody really care? I guess they had other priorities.
It took investigative reporting, of which we have had far too little to expose this outrage. Thank God for the Washington Post. Was it a surprise? Top officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, including the Army's surgeon general, have heard complaints about outpatient neglect from family members, veterans groups, and members of Congress for more than three years. What did they do? Nothing! Men and women who served their country in Iraq and came home maimed, with shrapnel in their heads and in their brains, without legs or arms or other horrendous injuries. What do they get? Neglect!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!
It is time that we supported them by bringing them home so they can put their lives back together and try to resume normal lives.
But in the meantime give them the medical care they need; give them the armor they need. Equip the Iraqi troops with the weapons they need. It is time that the people entrusted with the safety of our troops stopped having other priorities.
It is time for them to support our troops by truly caring about them. This government obviously does not and never has.
The truly sad thing is that it will be almost another two years before we can send them packing along with their cohorts in the Congress.
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7 comments:
A really terrific column - I have been saying something similar (but not as eloquently) for quite a while. Never in the history of America's wars have the sacrifices required been so disproportionately borne by these young men and women and their families. Bob Woodruff's recent report about his recovery and the lack of facilities to effectively care for returning brain-damaged veterans was both moving and depressing. It seems that it is important to those in power to give tax "relief" to the obscenely rich while denying basic care to our injured troops. This is indicative, unfortunately, of where are national priorities lie.
Louise Mayo refers to an article by Bob Woodward. For those who might be interested in reading the article it appeared in the NY Times on February 27, 2007,and can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/arts/television/27watc.html?ex=1188190800&en=65dc02b9fb64c844&ei=5087&excamp=GGHEbobwoodruff
An Outstanding article --I have forwarded it to many of my friends.
Your sentiments are catching on and I believe that the American people are now prepared to hear them.”
Why is it that the Republicans always seem to have the phrase makers and the Democrats can only react? I guess part of the reason is that these one-line phrases don't require much thought to react to. They provoke emotional responses rather than intellectual responses. I think of ‘Just say no’ under Reagan, ‘Cut and run’ under Bush Two and of course ‘Support our Troops’
Maybe some Democratic Senator should come up with the phrase, ‘Bring home our boys’ or ‘no more widows in a useless war’. Forget nuanced reason and logic. Hit them in the heart and forget the mind. Unfortunately, most Democrats are thinking human beings which often puts them at a disadvantage in the political arena.
Leonard levenson's comments remind me that when Goldwater ran for President his principal campaign slogan was, ‘In your heart you know he is right’. The clear implication was that your reasoning faculty would indicate that he was wrong, but if you let your emotions rule you will support him. He was roundly rejected so that didn't work then, but it has since.
Emotions of fear and hate are powerful tools when used in the service of ideologues.
You really are a dumb bitch. You think you can do a better job than the people in government right now. No that’s why you write stupid emails, I hate all democrats like you. Our troops signed up for a reason, we are not politicians, we do our job.
I remember reading that the Johnson campaign's riposte to the Goldwater slogan was the devastating "In your heart, you know he might," the implication being that Goldwater might start a nuclear war.
That said, I also remember reading a letter to the editor during the Reagan's second election campaign complaining about Democratic doomsayers. To paraphrase, it said, The Democrats all said that if I voted for Goldwater, the war in Vietnam would escalate. Well, they were right; I voted for Goldwater, and the war in Vietnam escalated!
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