HOW DARE SOME SAY SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!

[Guest guest]

Someone recently informed me that they didn't know that my son was

being deployed to Iraq and asked why I hadn't told them. I really

didn't have an answer.

 

That is when I began to be annoyed by those ever-present, good-

intentioned but mindless ribbons stuck on the back of cars and SUVs

exhorting, " Support Our Troops. "

 

I find those magnetic messages to be offensive when I think of

parents and friends of National Guard soldiers who purchased

expensive Kevlar armor for their soldiers while Donald Rumsfeld said

they didn't have any in stock.

 

Those marketing messages seem so empty when soldiers are told to " up-

armor " their Humvees because the Department of Defense had not asked

the manufacturers if more could be done.

 

I am saddened when veterans wait over a year for appointments at

veterans' hospitals and soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and places

like Walter Reed Hospital are required to pay for phone calls and

emails home. I bet Rumsfeld doesn't have to pay for calls and e-

mails back home, and I find it unbelievable and unacceptable that

Rumsfeld has not been fired while the troops have been treated so

poorly. Support our troops?

 

I accept that there are justifications for going to war. However, I

cannot find anyone who can give me a solid reason to justify our

going to and continuing the war in Iraq.

 

Seeking Reasons

 

There seems to be no question in America more avoided, particularly

by elected officials, than a discussion of the war in Iraq. I asked

Maine's members of Congress those questions.

 

U.S. Rep. Tom Allen said the war was not justified, but to abandon

Iraq and its people now would be a mistake. Sen. Susan Collins said

that going to war in Iraq was a problem of faulty intelligence, but

the chaos in Iraq required us to stay.

 

Sen. Olympia Snowe blamed Saddam Hussein as the revised apparent

rationale for invading Iraq, and she focused on the need for global

support for the U.S efforts in Iraq. U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud

agreed with Snowe.

 

Those answers translate that we got there by mistake, and we are

staying there by mistake. There is no plan, there is no discussion

and there is no leadership. Didn't we go into Iraq to protect

ourselves from weapons of mass destruction and because of Iraq's

connections with the terrorists, reasons that have been found to be

utterly in error? Support our troops?

 

The pointless death and maiming of this war is pure insanity and

probably even criminal. In this war, many times those who died in

the World Trade Center have been wounded or killed. Over 1,400

American soldiers are dead, over 10,000 soldiers are physically

wounded while uncounted others are psychologically wounded, and, by

some estimates, over 100,000 Iraqis have been killed and maimed.

 

How can the killing be justified? Are we going to destroy a nation

and kill its people to save it? We tried that once before. Support

our troops?

 

I am afraid for my son. I certainly worry about his being killed,

but I am also worried about his being placed in the position of

killing, too. Most of all, I am angry that we are sending our

soldiers to a war that nobody can justify.

 

Most Americans, especially members of Congress, do not have to worry

about a loved one in the middle of this war, and they duck the tough

questions.

 

Why do we permit a defacto back-door draft of the National Guard and

recycle them, too? We were lied to once before, and we must avoid

being lied to again. Will President Bush be this generation's Robert

McNamara? I hope not. Will the Congress have the courage to ask the

relevant questions? I hope so. Support our troops?

 

Please Don't Ask

 

Now you know why I didn't go out of my way to tell people that my

son is being deployed to Iraq, and please don't ask about him if you

really don't want to know.

 

Instead, please know that you will be in my shoes or his shoes

unless you ask questions and demand answers of those in power. In

the meantime, please excuse me if I have a painful lump in my throat

or tears brimming in my eyes and that I am so angry with this damned

war and the people who declared it.

 

Support our troops. Ask tough questions. Bring them home now.

 

J. Kamilewicz is a resident of Orr's Island, Maine.(dexkam@a...)

 

2/14/05 Portland Press Herald

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0214-23.htm