REALLY support the troops

SUPPORT THE TROOPS THE BEST WAY

I’m pretty sick of the “support the troops” crowd. I’m not talking about military families and people who actually support the troops. I’m talking about the people who feel that saying they support the troops, who slap a magnetic yellow ribbon on their car and who forward patriotic e-mails, that they’re somehow actually doing something for the war effort. I loathe this “feel good support” that doesn’t cost anything.

If you don’t have a loved one in Iraq, who’s had to sacrifice? There’s been no financial burden (that we feel YET. Those war bills are going to come due.). No rationing like in World War II. No saving scrap metal. It’s all ‘support the troops’ 21st century style: by the click of a mouse.

My dad told me what life was like during World War II. You couldn't live in America and not know we were at war. It impacted your daily life. Today, we can go through the drive thru at Starbucks, go to the movies, or do whatever we like because life hasn't changed for us. I guess you can call the $1.93 we spend on yellow ribbons stickers for our cars to show our "support" a sacrifice.

I want to support the troops by getting most of them the heck out of Iraq and back to their families. I want to support them by taking all of that money we’re spending on military operations and rebuilding Iraq and redirecting it right here in the good ol’ USA. I want better medical benefits and treatment for veterans. I want to spend that money growing the Army of the 21st century, an army that retired General Colin Powell recently said, is “about broken” from the Iraq conflict.

I've said before that it's great to build a hospital in Baghdad. But I'd rather build one in New Orleans.

What does the active-duty military think about Iraq? Well, a Military Times poll of active duty military has just been released. Only 35 percent say they approve of the way President Bush is handling the Iraq war while 42 percent disapproved. Only 4 in 10 military personnel say the U.S. should’ve gone into Iraq in the first place. These are the men and women who’ve been directed to put their lives on the line for this cause.

We’ve replaced a brutal dictator who was holding a country together among three groups who don’t’ want to be a country. We’ve replaced that dictator with Shiite and cleric control. We’ve removed iran’s biggest threat in the region. Now the streets of Baghdad run red with blood. Car bombings are the norm. Even the Iraqi government acknowledges the level of torture in Iraq today is at Saddam levels.

Saddam's execution was carried out by a government loyal to outlaw Moqtada Al-Sadr. Did Saddam deserve dignity at his hanging? No. But the carnival atmosphere revealed just who the Malaki government is loyal to.

Mission accomplished?

There may be a solution in Iraq. But Iraqis are going to have to be the ones to find it. Lyndon Johnson once promised that he wouldn’t send `American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.'' He broke that promise with Vietnam. And today, President Bush shouldn’t be sending American boys halfway around the world to do what Iraqi boys ought to be doing for themselves.

I’m not talking about a total withdrawal. Rep. Jack Murtha’s plan makes sense. Pull the bulk of U.S. forces out and leave a quick strike force in Kuwait to deal with terrorist training camps or to keep the conflict from widening. I’d redirect some of those troops to Afghanistan where our real fight is.

If you really support the troops, then tell Bush to get them out of the quagmire he’s created.