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Yes

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Yes. These are two different issues, one policy and one social.

On the Policy side, I will never support any effort to squelch or demine any debate on the policy of being involved in any armed conflict. Our strength has always been, and must remain, our ability to agree to disagree. No matter the issue, there will always be conflicting sides of the discussion but we cannot treat one another as criminals simply because we disagree. From a policy perspective, supporting the troops means making sure they have everything they need to be successful, food, ammunition etc. Our obligation is to support the policy until the policy is changed. The democratic congress is trying to force policy change my placing our troops into a deadly situation, just as they did 30 years ago. In my opinion, if we disengage from the war on terror, yes including Iraq, we will pay a huge price for decades to come.

On the social side, During Vietnam, our soldiers, and those that supported them, were painted as "baby killers", murderers, rapists and worse. The entire media was focused on demoralizing our national confidence and eliminating our national tolerance for each other. Over the last 30 years it has gotten increasingly bitter. Americans, even if I disagree with them, are and have been the most companionate nation the world has ever seen. We are raised to respect the value of human life, the feelings of others and the value that each of us bring to this little blue marble we call earth. When we are faced with dire situations as we have today, our youth must make the mental change to an aggressive, at times, heartless person to survive. To support the troops, is to make sure that when they return, they are NEVER treated as murderers, rapists. To support the troops is to allow them to accept what they had to do to survive as simply that, and that we understand. This constant barrage of negative media, protests, farcical trials such as winter solder and public accusations is a constant reminder to our troops of the things they had to do to survive.

Is it unclear to me how we can consider legislation to ban abortion because we consider it "murder" and then allow our fellow humans to be stoned to death for simply walking the street alone, to starve to death because their corrupt government will not distribute food that has been given them, or as in the case of Sadam Hussein, killing hundreds of thousands using chemical weapons.

I believe the constant public negative image painted of our troops is a huge factor with the suicides.

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