Good point. I just hope we don't see a repeat of what happened to the troops coming home from Vietnam. I am starting to see it already. With the protests in front of VA hospitals and people protesting at funerals.

Can I get an amen up in here?
Great post Okhams.
On behalf of America I'd like to answer your questions.
Yes. By saying I support the troops. No. No. Oh god no. Never met them. I bought a Hummer 3, they're smaller. Nope, too busy. And a resounding yes!


I think that it is a travesty that the anti-war and the anti-troop crowd get morphed together. (Much like Bin Laden morphed into Saddam) It gets generalized even more in that if you are anti-Iraq war you are somehow an out-of-touch pacifist as well. It is much easier to dismiss the whole group and their legitimate concerns if you can associate them with the extremists who protest at funerals and such. Because all you need to create a crisis is increase media coverage...immigration for example. The funeral protesters are everywhere!! Better not to be lumped in with that crew. Now get back in line and Baa for me one time.
My father and my brother are both currently serving in Iraq. I've had more friends that I can count on my fingers that have gone over there and come back or been restationed, some still serving there and one who came back in a box. One that will never get to see his baby. One who will never get to grow old and have the grandkids over. Screw it, one who will never get to get smashed on Jagermeister and have a menage a trois with the waitress at Applebees.
If it was your father in Iraq, I'm sure it would be outrageous to imply you don't support the troops, whatever the definition of such means to you. But if it was the Department of Defense calling about your father, could you justify this war to yourself then? Which excuse would you use? Saddam had a death ray? Yellow cake? Gassing his own people? Imminent threat? 9/11?(I think Saddam was on Flight 77) Or will you just go with the current (at least I think its current, why did we go there again currently?) arrogant Johnny Applepie story where he runs around and spreads democracy with inadequate troop numbers and no exit strategy, because they will love us and shower us with rose petals upon arrival.
Why aren't the people sending our troops to fight in faraway lands for, let's just say questionable reasons accused of being anti-troop? Without them there would be no funeral protests.
I would like to add before I am accused, I think that anyone heartless and callous enough to go to a grieving family and protest is without a doubt the lowest form of existence on this planet.
I am curious, if anyone here is old enough to remember what WWII was like on the homefront. Because it seemed to me that that was an extremly justifiable war to all Americans, we were attacked so we repaid them with two mushroom clouds. Hmmm...wasn't that one of the fear mongering talking points of this war? Can't let the smoking gun be a mushroom cloud. Women started going to work, the whole Rosie the Riveter bit. We were conserving resources. We were SUPPORTING THE TROOPS!!

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Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
Benjamin Franklin
"I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Albert Einstein

"I think that it is a travesty that the anti-war and the anti-troop crowd get morphed together."

>>>The number of anti-troop Americans is infinitesimally small. Personally, I don't know ANY. But nobody can create a mountain out of a molehill any better than rightwingers. Ask Joe Goebbels and Sean Hannity.

You are right about that...Thats hannity's job!

I sincerely have never heard anyone say they hate the military or the troops as individuals. The 'anti-troop' rhetoric is just rightwing spew.

I'll go ya one better George. Anytime someone criticizes the administrations policies on Iraq, they immediately hide behind the troops and accuse the dissenters of troop bashing. No, we're POLICY BASHING. It has nothing to do with the troops. Holding them up as a shield against criticism is cowardice to the "nth" degree and inexcusable.

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S.O.S. ------ United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Great point. When I see the bumper stickers on all of the cars saying, "I support the troops," I wonder the same thing.

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-Locke

I suppose that one could "support the troops", and yet be anti-war. But as someone on here stated, its a shame that the anti-war and anti-troop crowds always seem to get lumped together often.

I can clearly understand that, sort of like when military recruiting stations are attacked, military recruiters are attacked at schools and such. Or how about when a soldier's home is attacked. The fact is that people have a hard time discerning the difference between soldiering and politics.

Our job in the military is to perform the tasks that are laid before us, and those taskings come from the civilian leadership over us. Sometimes, that may ACTUALLY involve killing other people. many americans refuse to believe that people actually die on both sides during conflict. Many americans have this notion of a "clean war", whatever the heck that is.

The big difference between the conflicts of today and conflicts such as WWI and II are mainly in the way the wars are reported. Back then, there was no CNN, no FoxNews, no MSNBC. You had film reels that were put together by, guess who, the war department (now the department of defense). There were no imbedded reporters with the troops storming the beaches in Normandy; so there was no one there to report on the slaughter of US and allied troops storming that beach. Yeah, eventually we were able to take the area, but ONLY after sacrificing a large number of our own troops and allied troops.

If the 24 hour news channels and round' the clock news coverage that we have today were alive and kicking in that era, I am quite sure that "support" for the troops would've taken on a whole new meaning. Or maybe not....

Excellent Post, gdfather

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S.O.S. ------ United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Great post Gf. One comment would be that Fox is similar to the news reels released by our defense department in that it is very controlled with facts ommitted and only news that would lead people into thinking anything this administration or defense department did was only in the best interest of the people and the military. Fortunately that is balanced by independent reporters on the scene.