Support The Troops-A Red Herring?
Posted: Monday, May 21, 2007
by Michael Johnston
Michael Johnston, CPA
When I hear President Bush ask Congress to “Support the Troops," I first nod in agreement out of respect for our volunteer army. Then, I look at the bigger picture and feel betrayed and manipulated by the president's use of a patriotic phrase for political purposes.
By relying on America ’s overabundance of pride and patriotism, Mr. Bush is “cloaking" himself in red, white and blue to deliberately misdirect our focus from the unwanted invasion and occupation of Iraq and the massive fraud and corruption surrounding the rebuilding programs.
Consider this; did the President, “Support the Troops" by providing them with body armor, or protect their Humvees from Improvised Explosive Devices or ensure that the best patient care was provided to injured Iraq Veterans at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC?
Not only was there not enough body armor, but, our troops were asking mom and dad to buy and ship them the body armor they needed to save their lives. Hooray for the ingenuity and perseverance of our volunteer Army!
It’s time to rub our eyes, clear our vision and take a look at the forest. Our focus should not be on whether we support the troops, because that is not in question; the real issues are whether we support; the deliberate manipulation of intelligence, the bullying, shoot first and don’t ask questions policies of the current administration and whether we are willing to spend untold billions of additional dollars in support of “Texas Swagger."
Has the war in Iraq made America safer from a terrorist attack? I don’t think so. Suicide bombing hasn’t subsided in Iraq and one might see the day when an army of Iraqi orphans travel to America on student visas seeking revenge for the loss of their non-combatant parents.
In my opinion, the best way to “Support the Troops" is to bring them home and stop asking them to quell a civil war they were not prepared to fight and most likely cannot win.
It’s just too obvious that the Shiites, Kurds and Sunni’s share no vision of a unified nation; that they won’t fight for democracy; yet they will trigger a detonator and blow themselves up for Islam. We just don’t have a military response for these realities.
We need to realize that shock and awe, and the American Bill of Rights do not a recipe, or much less, an appetizer make for converting Muslims to democracy?
Let’s exit Iraq , regroup, and redirect our military forces to Afghanistan so we can get the 9/11 ---tard.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Exit Iraq, yes regroup and redirect our millitary to kill elsewhere, no! Our politicians make fools of all of us. Bush can't talk to the enemy for he has no brains or love. To fight evil with evil the only thing that can be gained is an evil win. Only love can prevail, win a war with hate makes us the evil ones. "Would you believe I'm an ex-marine?"
A very good article which hits the points exactly. The real question is that we are now at a historic moment in history. The question being are we going to continue to put these same types in office? The fact is this congress is owned lock stock and barrel by the wealthy and powerful. That has been like that since history began. However, this nation began because a group of people stood fast for there beliefs. We truly need to find those whose character is representative in their deeds and not just those who spew rhetoric and do the opposite. If these people wanted to win it would have been won long ago. The point about the people of Iraq is truth. If they wanted freedom they could have grasped it. Tribal fueds and religion has done away with that dream. There is a TV show on Saddamn this week. He stated he must rule with an iron hand to keep that nation together. I don't condone his horror but we all now understand the difficulty. Good job.
Michael, This article echo's my sentiments! You stated the case eloquently. Now if we can just get Congress to quick wimping out and redirect our efforts appropriately. Thank you.
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