why do people say you can't support the troops w/o supporting the war?

Question

i don't mean to offend anyone but i think that's complete bs. i absolutely disagree with the basis for, and continuation of the war. however i will support the troops until every last one of them comes home. i come from a military family and i've always had respect for them, but it doesn't mean that i have to like war. i understand that it reads like an oxymoron, and maybe it is in some way, but supporting them as a person doesn't necessarily have to do with politics.

Answer 1

You can still love and support people even if you don't necessarily agree with their jobs.

The troops are enlisted to serve their country - a very nebulous job description. There is nothing dishonorable in serving your country.

By disagreeing with the war, you are disagreeing with the policies of the government, whose only relation is 'I command, you do'. In essence, not supporting the war is not supporting the government that decided upon such policies.

I do sympathize with those people who cannot separate the person from their job. This is akin to saying 'I love you as long as you do x, y, and z - if you do x, y or z, I do not love or support you' whereas supporting the troops, not the war is akin to saying 'regardless of what you do, I still love and support you *unconditionally*'.

To that end, I certainly support the troops, but never supported the war.

Answer 2

Good for you. Nobody likes war, not even the troops who train for it. But they do love their country.

Kerry, Rangel, and Matt Damon and much of the Democratic Party say they support the troops and oppose the war. If they left it at that, I would have no problem with it. But then all three say that our troops are stupid and born losers with nowhere else to go. That is not supporting the troops. Rangel and Matt Damon talk about no shared sacrifice and want Bush to reinstate the draft, but when pressed, they announce that if drafted they would not serve but they think everybody else should.

That is not supporting the troops. So, statements like, "I support the troops but oppose the war," when made by BS artists like Matt Damon and Charlie Rangel have no validity whatsoever. When publicized by the press and the Democratic Party, it is a statement that cowards make.

Nobody asked for the war on terror. Bin Laden just decided to attack American citizens one fine day for no reason whatsoever. 2,990 civilians lost their lives in the WTC. These were not military personnel active in the Middle East. These were our fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers that had almost never been out of NYC.

It would be nice if Al Qaida was an Afghanistan group, but it is not. Al Qaida is a network of terrorist cells concentrated around the world. The war on terror is fought on hundreds of fronts not only in Afghanistan and Iraq, but in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Great Britain, the Phillippines, Iran, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Pakistan, and Canada, everywhere where Al Qaida have cells and resources around the world. It is even fought in United Nations of all places where Kofi Annan and others have argued to protect known Al Qaida safehavens.

It is very possible to support the troops and oppose war, but when celebs like John Kerry, Charlie Rangel, Matt Damon, Susan Sarandon, Cindy Sheehan, Al Gore and others say that and then curse the military, it discredits the people who support the troops.

But remember, we did not ask for this war. This war was declared on us.

Answer 3

Look at Alyssa Milano. She's a buddhist. She did not back the war, and even said she thought it was a bad idea; however, she joined the USO and went to keep our troops in good spirits, in support of their being our soldiers.

Yes. You can support the troops, and not the war. Too many people seem to think that apreciating what our soldiers do for us is the same as saying "Go, son/daughter. Kill people for the sake of __________ (Fill in the blank with whatever en vogue negative issue folks are chattering about, these days)." That just isn't so. Our troops are in sworn to the duty of defnding us, our constitution, and the governance that was elected under its auspices, at the direction of our elected leaders. Some say this is Bush's War. Well, yes. It is. But, it's also every Congressman/Congresswoman's War who voted to declare that war. Our troops are just the people who do what our leaders say to do. Some go too far, as in the prison scandal, but, for the most part, our troops do as they are told by both the President, and the US Senate.

Answer 4

Well I dont really support the war But I just volunteered to go to Iraq. I guess at this point its all about supporting the troops. The war doesnt really have a big meaning anymore. Its all about our troops! Its all about standind by our troops as they are in a place they really dont want to be but feel they are serving the country. As Americans regardless of what we think about Bush or Politics or the war .... Its all about our troops. keyword..our.

Answer 5

I believe there are some people out there that cant relate soldiers to having families at home, I actually believe some people just think that a person can make a call and all our soldiers will magically come home and everything will be allright. Well as you know it doesnt work that way. Our soldiers deffiently know that it doesnt work that way, and everyday of their life during the war is in danger. The soldiers need all the support they can get whether we agree on the war or not.

Answer 6

I support our armed forces no matter where they go. Its their job that they chose to do and they have bosses like everyone else. No they might not want to go but they still go and I support all of them. Plus people have to understand that the media around the world is waiting for us to make any kind of mistake just to make us look bad. Most stories coming out of Iraq are blown way out of proportion with no accountability to whoever writes it, but yet we still look like the bad guys even if we are innocent. Get rid of the media and let them finish this war the way it should be finished.
Support our troops NO MATTER WHAT!!!

Answer 7

People who say that you can't support the troops without supporting the war are fools. They are the sort of people who are aiding and abetting the rise of anti-intellectualism in this country. The idea here is to conflate two very charged subjects into one thing, bringing an end to nuance. Educated people who can see in shades of grey are the enemy of these folk.

The roots of this idea, that support of troops = support of war, comes from the backlash to the Vietnam war. A lot of abuse was heaped on the heads of the undeserving soldiers by people who can't separate the citizens from their government. By this I mean that the soldiers were trying to do the job that had been given to them by their government so while individuals might perpetrate atrocities like My Lai, there's no reason to blame the entire army for the actions of a few.

A decent number of people seem to think that we could have won Vietnam were it not for the anti-war movement (not true. We were doomed). The sad part is that there are quite a number of these folks running our government. This pattern of thought coupled with the abuse heaped upon the returning vets has gotten all mixed up in peoples heads and now we're stuck with this support troops = support war rhetoric. Usually tho' I hear it in the form that you have it, can't support the troops if you're not all about killing innocents.

Answer 8

I have lots of family members that are fighting in the gulf war in fact my brother in law got hit by an ied(improvised explosive device) on Christmas day. I support our troops but not the war. people who say this are wearing blinders and have forgotten a little war called Vietnam. where many brave men lost there lives of a political disagreement. Don't get me wrong we should have removed sadom from power. But all we have done is destabilized the area and caused a civil war that no one will win and when its all said and done we have caused more problems than we have fixed.

Answer 9

It doesn't matter where or who our troops are fighting. We should respect the fact that they are fighting for our freedom. They are taking the fight away from the United States to keep our citizens safe on their homeland. You also have to respect the fact that they have the integrity and the guts to serve our country. Everyone fighting today in the military is part of a all volunteer fighting force.

It doesn't matter weather you agree with what they are fighting for or not.....after all, freedom of speech is one of the rights that the citizens of the United States enjoys and that is one of the rights that our armed forces are fighting to protect.

Good question!

Answer 10

All the answers posted thus far have the right idea but have missed it. By not supporting the war you are indeed not supporting the troops. To not support the war means to not allow the troops to do their jobs by denying them the tools needed to accomplish the mission. So it's wrong to say you don't support the war but support the troops. More correct would be to say you don't LIKE the war but as long as we are there you are going to support it.