Using the Troops as a Yoke
by E. R. Bills 
www.dissidentvoice.org
January 27, 2006



 

In the January 24, 2006 edition of the LA Times, Joel Stein made the incredibly relevant point that when we say we support the troops but not the war, we give “soft acquiescence” to the politicians who started this war under false pretenses and continue to conduct it shabbily (at best). For this reason, Stein posits, he doesn’t support our troops.

It goes without saying that this gutsy conclusion is drawing fire from every corner of the country. Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin classified Stein “one of the most loathsome people in America.” People are threatening to beat him up, telling him to leave the country, calling him slime, etc., etc. But dog-piling Stein isn’t going to change the logic of his thoughts. Lauding the efforts of the troops in a war we simultaneously condemn is blatantly non sequitur. It’s safer and more patriotically correct, but it’s ambiguous, hypocritical and politically spineless. They say the soldiers of Nazi Germany were whisked up by a spell of nationalism that approached a communal neurosis, that they were just doing what they were told, serving their country. Did doing their duty for their country and their fellow countrymen absolve them of the social, political and moral results? 

If you support a war, then you should have no problem going off to fight in it. In fact, you have no problem sending your own children off to fight in it. It’s no coincidence that military recruitment quotas in this country are a joke. It’s no coincidence that the National Guard is now actually paying current guardsmen to recruit and enlist their family and friends.

This war is driven by a repulsive, Republican, political machine that deliberately places combat uniforms on the less fortunate and the most gullible. I can’t help but think of Fahrenheit 911. When Michael Moore attempted to get U.S. Congressmen to enlist their children to fight in the war in Iraq, they looked at him like he was crazy!? The Bush twins are of military age and not doing much with their lives -- think George would ever send the apples of his eye off to fight his dirty war? Nah. They’ll get free passes like dad.

Contrast this with our last ill-advised military blunder, Vietnam. Another Texan was in the White House, holding dominion over an increasingly unpopular war. His daughters weren’t permitted to fight, but both of his son-in-laws (who he could have gotten free passes -- like George W.) were in the fray.

The war in Iraq is so questionable that no one really supports it. They zealously support the party that imposed it on us (my party right or wrong …. my party, love it or leave it, ad nauseam) or they wishfully idolize God’s choice for president and consider doubting or questioning His authority sacrilege or blasphemy.

Stein says that the “people pulling the triggers are ultimately responsible,” but this is an oversimplification. As a journalist for the LA Times, he need look no further back than Charlie Manson’s case to see that collusion in an evil act is just as shameful as the commission of the act. When he then notes, “an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying,” he unintentionally makes his most important point. The “army of people” is us. If this war is wrong, we’re all wrong. If this president and those folks who brandish that Republican swastika “W” on their back windshield are keeping us in this war against our will, then saying we support the troops but are against the war is a pathetic half measure. It’s simply going along to get along.

Most of the American soldiers who are fighting and dying in Iraq are what history and Republicans call politically expedient. I’m not surprised that President Bush didn’t send the National Guard down into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina; I’m just surprised he didn’t send National Guard recruiters down into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina!

When Stein spoke out, someone finally cut through the steer excrement. The cunning Republican war machine keeps us married to this war by using our regard for the troops as a yoke.

If we support our soldiers in an unjust cause, then we condemn them to disgrace and we really don’t support them at all.

E. R. Bills is a writer from Ft. Worth, Texas. His recent works have appeared in Dissident Voice, Fort Worth Weekly and Flashquake.

Other Articles by E.R. Bills

* Whitman's Last Victim's Right to Die
* Uncle Ahab's Blood Money

HOME