Save Our Troops!

The other night on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher”, GOP Pollster Dr. Frank Luntz talked about the impact words have on our country, our politics and our elections.  Although he was on the defensive most of the time, he made some excellent points.  Too bad the Democratic Party is too busy being outraged to listen to his advice.  But I did.  So here is a NEW PROPOSAL and I earnestly hope and pray that everyone who opposes Bush and his invasion of Iraq today will jump on the band wagon. 

I say, starting TODAY we no longer use this slogan…."Support our Troops!"  Before I go any farther with my proposal, let's review the evolution of this phrase.  Initially upon our invasion of Iraq, I believe the saying went "I support Bush and the troops!" (or something like that).  After a while, as Dubya's popularity started to wane, they just dropped the first part!

Now, I am old enough to remember Vietnam and how many of our troops felt betrayed upon their arrival back in the USA.  Many were called names like baby killers due to the unfortunate press about members of the military who took matters into their own hands by slaughtering innocent women, children and old, defenseless people.     But that has happened in Iraq as well, only we've learned from the past, not to blame ALL the troops for the bad behavior of a few bad apples. 

Many veterans felt they didn't get the well deserved pat on the back for risking their lives in the service of their country during Vietnam.  In fact many were castigated by society as participants in what had become an extremely unpopular war.  What we failed to remember at the conclusion of the War in Vietnam, was that most of the men fighting and dying in Vietnam weren't there voluntarily.  At that time, there was the draft.  In fact if there hadn't been a draft, we probably could have ended that fiasco a helluva lot earlier thus saving thousands of lives.   We lost over 50,000 American lives in Vietnam; fathers, husbands, sons and brothers.  There were no women in combat over there at the time.  Women served in a limited capacity mostly in the area of medical services and ambulance drivers as in prior conflicts.  No we lost the best of our generation to that police action.  That's right. For those of you reading this that weren't alive at that time, Vietnam wasn't even a war.  It was never declared officially to be a war, so they called it "a police action" although the media put the proper spin on it by referring to it as the War in Vietnam.  Years after this police action concluded, many vets confessed that they felt abandoned by the US government as well as the US people.  We felt bad about that.  So this time, we resolved that no matter what happened we would support our troops.  

That brings us to today and today's topic.  What does support our troops mean really?  If you read the news, our government certainly isn't supporting the troops as demonstrated by some of the following news pieces. 

"Mothers in the U.S. military are stressed, poorly paid and need more help caring for their children, according to a report issued by Congress on Friday" as reported today on MSNBC. 

"The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say," as reported by the military's own news media, WIRED. (http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/05/army_bloggers)

Or how about this one?" Children taken from single parents in uniform when they are mobilized".  How would you like to lose your children simply because you were involuntarily redeployed to a foreign country by your own government?  I could go on and on.  I think you get the point. 

So we can say "support our troops" all we want and we can drive around with magnets on our vehicles that say "support our troops."  But that's nothing but lip service!   If we really supported our troops, we would DEMAND that the government that put them there would do EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER to assist the soldiers and their families whose lives they have disrupted in this fiasco. 

Now I'm fairly certain that the GOP's response will be to blame the Democrats.  But let us not forget that the GOP has been in control of the purse strings from the very beginning of Dubya's invasion in 2003 through the end of 2006, almost 4 full years.   So let's lay responsibility where it belongs……right smack dab at the feet (and the votes) of the ones that got us in and keep us in this mess…..the GOP Bushies!

Additionally, those in favor of this invasion keep saying that it's not important why we invaded Iraq.   That's the most ridiculous assertion of all!  It is very important to the thousand of families whose loved ones have died over there or whose loved ones are permanently maimed by this pitiful excuse called a war.     It is important to understand that all this didn't have to happen!  It is important to understand that this invasion was not a matter of protecting our country from terrorists!  It is important to understand that over 3000 Americans and thousands of Iraqi's are dead because of GWB's  obsession with the removal and destruction of Saddam Hussein.  It is VERY IMPORTANT if for no other reason than to ensure that a future president NEVER AGAIN leads us down a deceptive path towards the unnecessary death of American sons and daughters, moms and dads, brothers and sisters. 

Today, we find ourselves at an impasse, a stalemate if you will.   We elected a new Congress last November, sending a very strong and emphatic message to Washington declaring that we wanted to go in a different direction; we wanted to take a different approach.   It is apparent that most of our elected officials in Washington got the message.  However, a few did not  and it's obvious a few don't care what the American people think or want.   These Bushies have decided they know better than the rest of us what is good for Americans and America.  They are wrong!

Did you know that Mother's Day was originally a day calling for peace and unity in our country? In fact, it originally was called "Mother's Day of Peace" in response to a mother, Julia Ward Howe (author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic), who advocated for mother's working towards peace in the events leading up to the American Civil war.  So in the spirit of that first Mother's Day, let all mothers in the USA stand up for peace by insisting for a change in the rhetoric we use.   No longer shall we say, "Support our troops!"  Today, the new slogan is and will continue to be for however long we must say it, "SAVE OUR TROOPS!"   And we do that, by DEMANDING that they come home for good not in a year or two but RIGHT AWAY!

Of course, I know what those who advocate for our continued presence in Iraq will say.  They will say withdrawal is surrender to the terrorists!  Hogwash!  First of all, they said something eerily similar towards the conclusion of the War in Vietnam.  But our troops have accomplished everything they have been asked to accomplish in Iraq by Dubya.  THERE IS NOTHING MORE TO BE ACCOMPLISHED!  Today it should be up to the Iraqis to find their way in this new era rebuilding their country.  The time has come to SAVE OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME!

This is not by any means a conventional war as we have fought in the past.  This isn't a war where our men and women go out and find and shoot up the enemy.  No, it's far from that.   Once again the best of our nation is being murdered without ever firing a shot or seeing the enemy.  Over 95% of the fatalities and casualties in this invasion are suffered at the hands of home made bombs (IEDs = imbedded explosive devices) that incinerate their jeeps, trucks, Humvees, tanks, etc. 

Imagine if every time you get in your car and drive to work or to the grocery store, you realize that today could be your last day alive and well.  Imagine knowing that this could be the very last thing you ever do or the very last time you see your family and friends?  There is no warning.  There is no fighting.  There is no enemy.  All there is, is a loud and sudden BOOM! And of course, there are plenty of dead bodies!   This is the reason that there can be no Victory as described by Bush and his cohorts!  You cannot defend against this type of attack.  You cannot lock up every Iraqi in the country!  Perhaps this is why our troops in Baghdad outposts seek safety in their fortifications.  The Washington Post reported just this past week the following: "To guard against bombs, mortar fire and other threats, U.S. commanders are adding fortifications to the outposts, setting them farther back from traffic and arming them with antitank weapons capable of stopping suicide bombers driving armored vehicles."

Outside these outposts, there is no safety.  In fact, there is no safety anywhere in Iraq for our brave men and women.  They are being blown up like firecrackers without any warning, without ever seeing the enemy, without ever firing a shot.  So, our new slogan, as mothers who can no longer stand by and watch the best of 3 generations be slaughtered, must be "SAVE OUR TROOPS!"  Save our sons, save our daughters, save our husbands, save our wives, save our mothers, save our fathers, from being slaughtered and maimed not by the terrorists that the Bushies use as a sorry excuse to stay in Iraq but from the Bushies that started all of this and who choose to continue the massacre of innocent people, both Americans and Iraqis.  BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!   No more excuses.  No more money spent.  NO MORE!  If we truly support our military, then we must act to save them.  Because it is clearly obvious that those we have elected will not save their lives!  These politician's words are empty and hollow and full of nothing but fear.   Our country was built on bravery, not fear!    If we are to rebuild our military and rebuild our position in the world, we must stand up and demand that our government ACT TODAY TO "SAVE OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME NOW!"  No more American lives lost!  No more of our tax dollars spent!  No more pro-war rhetoric.  No more changing the mission.  No more excuses!  NO MORE!   End of story!

Today, we come together as Americans and once again make history by changing the rhetoric and demanding our rights as citizens of this great Republic.  It is OUR COUNTRY, NOT BUSH'S COUNTRY!  Today we come together in the name of peace for a single righteous cause which is simply to "SAVE OUR TROOPS!"