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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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 Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 10:15 pm Post subject: When Support For GIs Carries That Word ‘but’ |
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Thank you, Mr. Hallock, Sir! WELL SAID!!
| Quote: | When Support For GIs Carries That Word ‘but’
Editorial
by Richard Hallock
Sunday, July 31. 2005
On Memorial Day in May, some Pueblo veterans erected 1,700 small white crosses at the Vietnam Memorial. What a nice gesture, remembering with deep respect the ultimate price paid by our warriors in the service of their country to save us all from terror.
But it was not a gesture of respect; it was done in protest of the war in Iraq and it implied that 1,700 had died in a useless cause. It was, in fact, a gesture of disrespect. The vets who erected those crosses, hopefully, did not realize that they were using heroes to serve their own political purposes. Surely nobody who has served in war could do that intentionally - except, of course, John Kerry. In America, vets against the war can say anything they want to protest policy. They ought not, however, to defame those who died in its pursuit.
Many of our elected politicians seem to take a similar position. "Now I want it understood that I support our brave soldiers but É," they say and then go on to decry how the war is illegal, how Bush lied, how Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11, how the war is for oil, etc., etc. ad nauseum.
Implication: Our troops are sacrificing for no positive reasons.
If Teddy Kennedy, John Kerry, Harry Reid et al. "support the troops" then the Broncos ought to be glad that they are not Bronco fans. Suppose that one of your friends said that, oh yes, he supports the Pueblo Chieftains, but hopes that they lose every game they ever play. You might wonder what kind of support that really is.
Dennis Prager writes, "... most of the Left does not want the troops to win in Iraq. The Left's message is this: ‘You troops may think you are winning; you may think you are doing good and moral things in Iraq; you may believe you are fighting the worst human beings of our age and protecting us against the scourge of Islamic terror. But we on the Left believe none of that. We believe this war is being fought for oil and for Halliburton and other corporations; we believe you are waging a war that is both illegal and immoral; we believe you have invaded a country for no good reason and have killed a hundred thousand Iraqis for no good reason; but, hey, we sure do support you.’ ”
Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., listed so-called atrocities from a report about American treatment of prisoners at Gitmo and then said. “You would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others - that had no concern for human beings." The "atrocities?" "Not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room." Durbin’s comparisons might have been just a tad out of proportion in that those fine folks, the Nazis, Soviets and Pol Pot, dumped millions of bodies in unmarked graves. While American soldiers have been accused of horrid things like making a killer wear a bra on his head, nobody so far as we know, has been beheaded with a dull knife and dumped in an unmarked grave.
Imagine that! It was hot and loud music was being played. Here we are in Pueblo in July. It is hot as blazes and the neighbor’s teens are playing rock music really loud. And we used to think that atrocities were mass murder and rape and burning at the stake. Torture once was putting a guy on the rack and tearing his bones apart or pulling out his fingernails one by one. Now it is making a killer stand up for two hours or waking him up in the middle of the night to answer questions about who ordered him to kill Americans.
Politicians cannot claim to support the troops just by saying those words. Supporting the troops means providing encouragement for them in their mission and playing as part of the team. It means recognizing their sacrifice and helping them to win, not berating their purpose.
Richard Hallock is a retired Army officer, educator and business consultant living in Pueblo West. |
The Pueblo Chieftain
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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PhantomSgt
Vice Admiral
Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 972
Location: GUAM, USA
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| Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:19 am Post subject: |
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I get tortured everyday when I hear and feel Rap Music coming from a speaker on wheels. I still haven't broken down and confessed to anything yet, but I might break soon and admit to the Lindberg kidnapping or something else just to make it stop.
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Retired AF E-8
Independent that leans right of center. |
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dusty
Admiral
Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Posts: 1264
Location: East Texas
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| Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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He said that really well. My sentiments exactly.
So what are they smoking out there in Pueblo? Someone was taking names I hope. Maybe they (these 1,700 vets) joined an organization so their names can be found out. They need to be exposed to the whole country as people who don't support our military, for they surely don't from their actions.
Dusty |
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