FLAIT

Originally Posted: June 2005

The young men and women that volunteer for military service - especially after 9/11 - are the best this country has to offer. So to lose so many young lives and limbs in Iraq...for...for....hmmm, what are they dying and getting maimed for again?

Anyway, when I hear that soldiers in Iraq, even those that have been wounded, want very much to be there (or return there), I don't understand it.

I know when they joined the armed forces they did so knowing there would be a chance they'd have to put their life on the line for their country. And some even looked forward to doing exactly that. Hey, that's noble. It really is.

But once they signed on the dotted line, it didn't mean they were signing away their intellect or common sense; it didn't mean they were willing to fight a war based on lies; it didn't mean they were willing to sacrifice their lives and limbs for Iraqis; and it certainly didn't mean they were willing to die in vain (which they have been. And saying they didn't doesn't change that). And that brings me to my point.

If I joined the service, I'd do so knowing the risks. But I'd assume that my Commander in Chief would:

1) Think not once, not twice, but three times before putting my life on the line.
2) Never send me to war just for his legacy (which is what this Iraq war is all about).
3) Only send me to war if it was absolutely necessary.
4) Not manipulate and play partisan politics with war and the brave soldiers who'd fight it (Bush turned our soldiers into political poker chips from the very beginning when Congress conveniently scheduled the vote for the Iraq war a month before the 2002 mid-term elections).
5) Spend more time planning the war then a family spends planning a vacation.
6) Have an exit strategy.
7) Send me and every other solider to war fully trained, equipped and protected.
8) Not order me to possibly make the "ultimate sacrifice," and then ask the country to "sacrifice" by telling them to "go shopping"...with his tax cuts...and have the nerve to call for more.
9) Only send me to war on the basis of solid information. And if the information turned out to be wrong, thus making the war totally unnecessary, he'd make sure he found out how and why that could have happened.
10) Not spin himself into knots trying to justify a war that turned out to be totally unnecessary.
11) Not spin himself into knots trying to justify a war that's turned into a colossal disaster.
12) Not allow the military to be stretched dangerously thin (in his speech at the 2000 Republican Convention, Bush made a crack that the military - under Clinton - had deteriorated to the point that they couldn't respond if called upon. It wasn't true. But ironically, it is now. [January 2008 insert: see this]).

Bush comes up like a dick on all 12 counts. But you wouldn't know that from the soldiers themselves (at least those we hear from).

Maybe it's not the place for soldiers to speak out against Bush and the war. But how do you solve a problem if you don't admit it? Vietnam ring any bells?

I don't understand how the man who put them into this mess - based on nothing but lies - gets a free pass from the soldiers who are doing the bleeding and dying. On the contrary, they love Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice.

One more point. I shouldn't say this but here it goes...

If our troops will never question why they're in Iraq or the incompetence that put them into this impossible situation - without the proper training, kevlar vests or armored protection, no less - is there any difference between them and the Muslim who straps explosives to himself?

The point I'm trying to make, is that suicide bombers don't ask any questions either and welcome the opportunity to do what they're about to do.

I'd like to think that our troops are much smarter then that because if they're of similar mind, then we really do have a problem. Because our brave men and women sure didn't volunteer for that kind of sacrifice...while the Muslim most certainly did.

"Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed."
- Bruce Springsteen, 1985

Note: Since posting this, I've learned that there's been more of an angry sentiment then I thought coming from our soldiers and military - and it's growing. See Veterans for Peace and GI Special.