Today let's talk about the military

Last week I received an email from a Republican voting/Bush supporting friend that went a little something like this:

"PICTURES FROM IRAQ THAT ARE TOO SHOCKING & GRAPHIC FOR THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA!!!
Subject: Photos that will never make the news.....

Please pass the pictures on. Sometimes in our everyday lives we tend to forget what's going on elsewhere in the world and that the brave men and women of the service are just like you and I. They have family and friends back home who love them very much and are praying for their safe return."

I got a little miffed at the implications from the email. To my mind, they are:
a.) All of our soldiers are doing a great job over in Iraq -- just look at the pictures! See??? Proof!!!
b.) that the "mainstream media" suffers from such a liberal bias that they are either too proud or not gracious enough to support this 'great job' our troops are doing--as was PROVED in the attached pictures!
and c.) Kerry, you have it all wrong by constantly not backing the war in Iraq and by calling Bush a lying, cheating thief. Just look at the pictures and see how the Iraqis LOVE Bush!!! C'mon Kerry, what's wrong with you? Why do you hate the military??

I might be wrong in jumping to these perceived implications -- but the email WAS from a Bush supporter... so let me just set the record straight.

I think the U.S. military is a terrific thing when used correctly to protect, police, and defend. I am extremely proud of friends and family who have served. My best friend from high school is now a successful doctor thanks to her joining the navy. I campaigned for General Wesley Clark in his run for President. There have even been brief moments when I entertained the thought of joining myself... but reason would always kick in and I'd realize I'd be a TERRIBLE soldier. (I just can't get past that idea of shooting at "Enemy Soldier X" because someone told me to, while "Enemy Soldier X" is shooting at me for some reason he was told by someone else.) So while I would be hard pressed to find a convincing reason to join up, I in fact do not hate the military and have much respect for the guys and girls who are able to get their heads around the things they are asked to do. (I DO have a bit of a gripe with the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy which excludes gays from the same rights and benefits --monetary, education-- offered freely to heterosexuals, but that's been the subject of previous posts.)

So why am I so critical of the war on Iraq? Am I not supposed to "support our troops" like a good American?

In a nutshell, here's why I get so fucking angry about Iraq:

After 9/11, the patriotism in this country ran so thick you had to cut it with a chainsaw -- and for good reason. We were coldly and cruelly attacked by an unconscionable group of Islamo-fundamentalist wackos and we HAD to strike back. Enlistments suddenly shot up, people wanted to fight for America and show that we were resilient by going over to Afghanistan and kick some Al Queda/Bin Laden ass..., as was our right to do.

So what do Bush and Co. do with these eager and fresh swelling numbers in their military ranks?

They concoct WMDs in Iraq and pull troops out of Afghanistan (before we can capture Bin Laden), so that they can depose Hussein, get his oil, and unwittingly create an insurgency (unless you believe, like some conspiracy theorists that Bush and Co. forced Iraq on us in order to create more terrorists in order to breathe new life into our "permanent war economy".)

The facts that prove that we were lied to about our reasons for going to war in Iraq are slowly rising to the surface (in items like The Downing Street Memo, and the Valerie Plame outing investigation) and it really pisses me off that the kids who enlisted to fight after 9/11 have to go to Iraq to get shot at and die in this sham of a war.

But you know what? They're starting to realize that it's a sham of a war -- as illustrated terrifically in this piece in The Stranger -- and as a result, kids aren't enlisting. Good for them, bad for Bush & Co., and bad for America should a real military crisis arise when those soldiers could have been put to earnest use. There is no way a thinking person can honestly claim that Bush has made Americans safer. The effects of his complete and gross incompetent mismanagment of both country and war will be felt for generations to come as orphaned Iraqi children seek out their revenge. There were no WMD's, no real war plan, no exit strategy, and anyone who tells him (and the American people) the truth about these situations gets canned.

To call this President 'dumb as a rock' is an insult to the intelligence of rocks.

And as a little aside to my emailing friend..., I think I can 'support our troops' without supporting for an instant what they're ordered to do in Iraq. They were lied to by your President just the same as I was and we're all paying the price for being mislead. It's just disgusting that the price for them could actually be their lives.

Comments

[Magnus]

Hey, I'm no photo-journalist, but I think it's FAIRLY safe to guess that there is a CHANCE, however remote, that SOME of these pictures, now don't be mad at me, are directed. DON'T HIT ME!

Seriously, though... That's exactly the kind of photos I hate. My God, they're like taken out of some fifties' war movie! Even the kiddie-text seems faked! COULD be real kiddie-text, but it looks more like a grown-up tried to write like a kid, which rarely works out, as seen in the photos.

ALSO, this proves what I've always known. Wherever American soldiers go, they seek out the pussy. Never goes wrong.