Please don’t let Der Trihs see this thread, please don’t let Der Trihs see this thread…
I might applaud if I had admiration for the key action our military is currently involved in, or if what they were doing there gave me any sense that my nation was safer for it. I do not feel those things, so I would not be moved to applaud. Just as well I don’t fly much.
It is wrong to denigrate them, however, just as it was wrong during Viet Nam. 35 years ago, there was a draft, and young men had to make a very difficult decision: defy the government or allow duty to carry them into a criminal war. Today a sadly large number of soldiers are being drawn back into the quagmire by unethical practices of their civilian commanders, and are faced with a very similar decision: follow the commitments they made to their service, or desert, leaving their units to go back in one soldier short. Not an enviable position to be in.
I will applaud after the last troop to leave Iraq sets foot on American soil. Quite heartily, I will.
While I don’t think anything in my post suggested I was “blaming” servicemen, I do believe that to some relatively minor extent folks who chose to enlist after Bush indicated his intention to go on the offensive made it easier for the administration to embark on their big adventure. Since I consider our efforts in Iraq terribly wrong, I have to similarly consider wrong people who support those actions thru their words and/or actions. Of course, the casual bystander is unable to tell whether a particular servicemen joined before or after we invaded.
For the folks who were in the military before we attacked Iraq, I mainly feel sorry for them, that they are forced to play a part in such a dishonorable action. It would suck to make a committment to your country, and then be required to actively participate in such an indefensible and reprehensible effort. If such a serviceman supports the invasion of Iraq, then I personally consider them either mistaken or worse.
But the troops in Iraq are not doing anything that I wish them to do. They are doing nothing that improves the quality of my and my family’s lives. To the contrary, they are participating in an endeavor that is likely to cause negative implications in countless areas for generations to come. None of that adds up to my applauding individuals who chose such a job.
And yes, I realize that not every serviceman is serving in or in support of Iraq.