by Sebastian Talon

Created on: January 26, 2010

Conflict in Iraq: Is it possible to support the troops but not the war?

My answer to this is yes, it is possible to support the troops but not the war. However, not supporting the war shows disrespect for those who have fallen in battle. Those who have given their "last measure of devotion to their country", and our freedom, deserve much more than our respect. They deserve to have the war they died in taken seriously by this country.

Do you have to like a war to support the troops? No, of course not. They are there because they have been ordered to go. But remember this, the President may be the Commander in Chief that the Armed Forces must obey, but WE, the citizens of these United States, are the masters who choose the President. I wish that the people of this country would remember that WE supported this war when it started. We may have gone to war anyway, but when the Iraqi invasion began, more people than not supported the action.

Now, the circumstances are different. Iraq is free and democratic, Saddam Hussein is dead and gone, his regime with him. But, Al-Qaeda  and other Middle Eastern extremists have taken up the fight. Why? Well, that's simple. They want to kill Americans and embarrass our country. They do not want us to have a victory in the region. Why, again? Again, it's simple. If we have a victory such as turning Iraq to a peaceful democracy, then other, just as important diplomatic moves may work out as well. The more we succeed there, the more we cut the legs out from under Osama bin Ladin, and more importantly, Iran.

Consider, though, if you will, the pull out of troops from Iraq. Are we supporting those soldiers who have fallen in battle or by cowardly attacks by IED's? Many will not think that we are betraying those soldiers, that we don't have to support them because they are dead. I say they are the most important of our soldiers and that they, more than the live ones, need our support to carry the war to its peaceful conclusion. Otherwise, they have died in vain and we have basically spit on their graves.

Once before we withdrew troops after badly botching the way we fought the conflict our soldiers were dying in. Almost no one at home was supporting that war toward the end. I am disgusted by this. Even more so by those who actually spit on our returning soldiers. Were you spitting because they failed? Because they fought? Or just because you were an ass who didn't know better? Or, could it be that you were spitting on those coming

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>