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I Support Our Troops |
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The cover story of Newsweek this week, “Black Hawk Down: The True Cost of Iraq War,” reminds us of the war’s human cost - a reality which, after four numbing years of war and endless political maneuvers surrounding “exit strategies” and other euphemisms, we seem to have forgotten.
At first it was difficult not to feel overwhelmed by the number of deaths. After four years, it is now difficult not to feel numb. In a nation without a draft, the emotional connection between the front and the home front is the weakest it has been in a major conflict in recent memory. There are so many news accounts of troops killed in combat that the details blur. The death of one soldier, or 20, loses its power to shock, except to the families of the fallen.
At some point, the way we talk about the war itself changes. We speak less and less about husbandless wives and parentless children, and instead obscure the suffering in vaguer, more distant and—guiltily—easier terms. We shake our heads and talk about the “losses.”
The Newsweek piece focuses on the lives and deaths of twelve soldiers who died recently in a helicopter crash in Diyala province, as well as their families’ reactions to their deaths. Against a backdrop of human tragedy and suffering, the article provokes the reader to revisit the question, “What is this all for?”
And so I must, as many patriotic liberals (and this is NOT a contradiction in terms) before me have, challenge the belief that to be anti-war is to be against the troops. On the contrary: I respect, admire, and am deeply grateful for the courage and character of our men and women in uniform, and for the sacrifices they have made for America. Rather, it is the decisions and policies of their commander-in-chief that I take issue with.
Throwing away American lives for a war founded on lies is not patriotism, just as blind support for the Iraq War does not mean one is truly supporting our troops. Rather, patriotism is holding our government accountable for its mistakes and lies, and supporting the troops means keeping them safe and with their families, until we need their skill and courage in the face of a real and present danger.
a documentary that shows the war from the troops perspective, in their own words, is “The Ground Truth,” available through Netflix. Some may justly argue that it reserves the camera for soldiers who’ve had largely negative experiences, but it at least tells that side of the story well.
check it out. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446345/