We All Have A Say
As we head down the back stretch of this political campaign, and get ready for what will undoubtedly be one of the most acrimonious and unpleasant presidential races in American history, I found myself today thinking about some important matters that bear repeating.
My wife leads a Girl Scout troop, and they have decided to “adopt” a couple of soldiers serving in the Middle East. This amounts to sending some goodies by mail and corresponding with them, not much else one can do. My wife is also getting ramped up with an organization called Sew Much Comfort which sews customized clothing for disabled and amputee veterans who have unique clothing needs. Both of these efforts fall into the category of supporting our troops. Which is to say, giving thanks and assistance to the front-line soldiers and supporting personnel who are actually doing the dirty work overseas. The phrase has taken on a different meaning among a certain segment of the population, and it’s time to set the record straight once and for all.
Supporting our troops and supporting the politicians who started this mess in the first place are not, I repeat not, the same thing. One needs to be distinguished from the other in a meaningful way, and the cowards who are hiding behind that phrase while harboring a genuine support of the political motivation behind the military engagement need to sound off like they have a pair. If you support the decision to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, get that yellow ribbon bumper sticker off your pickup truck and replace it with something that truly reflects your attitude about this situation.
I don’t think there is a living, breathing American who doesn’t support our troops. Those brave men and women either volunteered to go put themselves into a dangerous and impossible situation, or they were yanked from their jobs and their families and thrust into it against their will — if they had wanted active duty they would have notified their Reserve unit commander and been re-assigned. Either way, those patriots are over there in the sun and sand amongst millions of people who want to see them either die or leave. They’re doing it because our government asked them to. I think you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who did not wish them the best and support their efforts on our behalf.
Supporting this military action, however, is a different story. And you’ll notice that I have refrained from using the word “war”. These actions overseas are not wars. Wars are when you invade and take over, or repel an invading force. What we are engaged in is policing in the absence of a native force that can do it for themselves. In both Iraq and Afghanistan we are propping up the “democratically” elected government (tough to get an accurate paper ballot from somebody who can’t read or write in any language, now isn’t it?) until it can raise a standing army that won’t turn against it.
Meanwhile the elements of those countries who want the government to fall are doing everything in their power to make things miserable for the government, any citizen that dares support it, and the temporary police force (our army). So our men and women are there to keep the Iraqis and Afghanis from killing each other, while the radical elements in those countries are trying to kill the Americans so they can get about the business of killing each other again.
We hear President Bush and his supporters in Congress talk about victory in Iraq. There is no victory in Iraq, any fool knows this. There is only graceful and swift exit with minimal loss of life. For every student of Middle Eastern culture, politics, and history can tell you what the next 12 months has in store for Iraq after we leave. I’ve said this before, I’ll repeat it now. Ethnic/religious tensions will boil over, the leader(s) of the standing government will be assassinated, and civil war will break out. The winner of that war will be the group least likely to believe in truth, justice and the American way, and we will have another dictator in power in Baghdad.
This should not be surprising. Iraqis have lived for literally thousands of years under the rule of whichever individual held the most military power over the region where they lived. How on earth do we think that we can change all of that and implement a functioning democracy just by showing up and passing out leaflets? Their culture will take decades, maybe hundreds of years to wear down the elements of this feudalist existence. And folks, it’s not America’s job to try to accomplish that.
Kudos to those who support our troops. Poll after poll shows that Americans feel there is little justification for supporting the politicians who continue to keep our forces engaged overseas. There is no benefit to be realized from keeping them there, and that’s becoming obvious. How many more body bags with America’s sons and daughters will have to arrive home in secret before we put a stop to this idiocy?
We all have a say in this. November is right around the corner. Educate yourselves not only about the presidential race, but about the politicians representing your district on a state and federal level. Make sure you are there and you are prepared. Make sure your vote counts in every race this fall. Make sure our troops can hear you all the way overseas. Let’s make this one of the turning points in American history that we can look back on proudly.
