Does anyone *not* support the troops?

Question

I am so sick and tired of people using this slogan as a political tool. I am sure the responses to this will be things like- "the liberals want us to lose in Iraq". What sort of brainwash does it take to believe that? There's absolutely nothing to win in Iraq. It is over. Even the republican candidate admitted it was nothing but a face saving operation. My question to you people is, are you going to eventually apologize to all of us people who are correct about Iraq. Also, are you going to feel guilty about the extra soldiers who die for no reason whatsoever while you push publicly to support your face saving campaign ?

Answer 1

I am an Army veteran, I served from 1984 to 1989. I support the troops currently stationed in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the ones who serve with honor and a clear understanding of what our mission in Afghanistan is (no one can define our mission in Iraq: "To Find WMDs"- There are none. "To Remove Saddam"- We did that 4 years ago. Why still there?).

That being said, I do not support the troops nor the officers who ordered the mistreatment of prisoners in Abu Graib prison, nor do I support the troops who raped and murdered a 16 year old Iraqi girl.
I do not support troops who bomb, shoot or napalm innocent Iraqi civillians.
I do not support this administration's efforts to use torture on prisoners to extract information (a useless tool: You beat someone long enough, he or she will admit to assassinating Abraham Lincoln).
I do not support the abrogation of the doctrine of "Habeas Corpus".
I do not support this troop surge because it does not do enough, our troops still are not safe in Iraq.
I do not support of the Iraqi government adjourning for a month (which translates into about 100 dead US soldiers), after reaching NONE of the political or security benchmarks set for them. This clearly shows they have absolutely no concern for the safety of US soldiers, and since they don't care, why should we? It takes the US about 70 days to turn a teenager, barely able to avoid soiling himself, into a disciplined fighting machine. 70 days. Not even a month and a half. Iraq has had over FOUR YEARS, are they really that stupid and untrainable?

I have said this before: For Republicans (especially the ones who "support the troops", yet also support cutting their pay and benefits, so they can keep a "tax cut" which is bankrupting this country) to ever be taken seriously again, two things are going to need to happen- 1. They pay the US back the $9,000,000,000,000 they have squandered the last 7 years, and 2. They NEVER again propose to go to war unless they are in uniform at the time.

Answer 2

What people mean, usually, is that they don't identify the soldiers with the policy. After the catastrophe of Vietnam, when soldiers came home, protesters and other people who were against the war treated the returning soldiers like dirt. They didn't like the policy, but were taking it out on people who had nothing to do with the policy. So this generation of people now refuses to blame the soldiers for fighting in a war that was started and is currently administered by higher ups. This way of looking at it means that being a solider is a job. You do your assignment, try not to get killed, and then come home. I don't think your position is a hypocritical one, I think it's driven by a need to keep thinking of the troops as individual people instead of as a mass of armed forces. Most people who criticize you for thinking this way are not thoughtful people -- they are unwilling to think of the war as a bad act because that would mean all those young people, the purported best and brightest future of our country, fighting in the chillingly unnecessary extension of our president's personal vendetta war are dying for nothing. That is just too terrible an idea to consider, so they don't.

Answer 3

Who downvoted Bert? We have an Army Vet who has a different opinion on what our military is doing and he's downvoted because it doesn't agree with what you think the American military should be saying? People are so mindless...it doesn't hurt to listen to dissent every once in a while. It's not unpatriotic to want change.

This is a great question too. Republicans are teaching that Liberals don't support the troops, that they want to hug terrorists, that they want to abort every baby. These accusations are so unfounded and so out of the realm of what's even sane that it's astonishing that people actually believe this, but there you go. Of course no one is going to say something stupid like "**** the troops", because most sane people don't think that way. This is just a way of being more "patriotic" than the pinko libs...stick a bumper sticker on your car and then it doesn't matter that you're supporting a never-ending war where kids are enlisted straight out of high school and coming back with their lives ruined. You want to support the troops? Give them something honorable to fight for, and stop lying. Americans in Bosnia? THAT was honorable, and something I would sign up to deploy tomorrow for. Sending them in for an ambiguous war on terror via an easy target so we can feel like we're being "proactive" even if we don't really have a game plan? That's not something we should be wasting our military lives on.

Support the troops by making them heroes, not casualties. Support them by bringing them home. Support them by giving them healthcare when they come home with their 19 and 20 year old bodies destroyed for the rest of their lives. Support them by giving them the equipment they need. Don't just slap a god damn sticker on the back of your Humvee with the enormous American flag flying in the back of it.

Answer 4

No, they will always justify their dark history. If they get desperate they will resort to admitting the truth, namely that it was necessary to "protect US interests" (which really means protecting the interests of the ruling class). Bush actually admitted that they went to war for oil. Another example of this is right wingers who argue that Pinochet was great for the Chilian economy, despite the fact that he was a fascist who murdered lots of civilians. As well as this, in Australia, there is a general unwillingness to take responsibility for our history; a history of dispossession and genocide. The Australian government refuses to apologise for this crime to this very day. The powers that be will never apologise for oppressing others. It is necessary for their survival. It is these people who need to organise to make them sorry and bring the power back to where it should be; in the hands of working people.

abegail> Oh what, like they did during the Iran/Iraq war? Saddam wanted to nationalise Iraq's oil. That is why they intervened in the way that they did. The war has nothing to do with "democracy" or "fighting terrorism". It is not about oil per se, although in the case of Iraq it is. It is about protecting US economic interests in the Middle East.

Answer 5

they aren't going to say sorry- they are saving face.

even after viet nam many were saying 'if we just had a bit longer with more troops we would have won!'

wanting the soldiers out of harms way somehow equates to not supporting them in some people's minds. I don;t understand it

Answer 6

I am a tree hugger. I support out troops. I think it is disgusting that the Government doest support them enough to provide them with body armor. I support them enough to want them home safe and sound! I support them enough to want them home alive. I support them enough not to want them sent back time and time again! I support them enough to ask for an nd to this war.

Answer 7

I support the troops. I want them to come home alive and with all limbs.

It's well documented that there are many family members of soldiers who are liberals and want them to come home alive.

Answer 8

I am not against the troops. I am against this war! I want our troops home safe and sound! I want an end to this war!

Answer 9

I’m really sick of short-sighted people who think it’s all about oil. Ask yourself couldn’t we (British) and Americans make a deal with Saddam, let him stay in power and in exchange give us ‘free oil’ without spending billions of pounds and sacrificing lives? Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper? Just be proud of our militaries and support them by all means.

Answer 10

Yes, it is WELL-documented that there are a substantial number of Americans on the Left who are anti-troops and anti-USA