Support the troops. Let's support our troops. Don't say anything that will harm the troops. Don't criticize the troops. Let's do what's best for our troops. This is sending the wrong message to our troops. The troops. The troops.
Normally I deal with Republicans and conservatives the same way I deal with country music and infomercials: by ignoring them. But sometimes I can't avoid it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Rick Francona's piece is by no means groundbreaking or even all that inflammatory. And his pieces aren't even all that conservative a lot of the time. But this one is, more or less, just rehashed babble from the right. The inclusion of "Lt. Col." before his name is apparently meant to let us know that, hey, this guy means it from the heart. It's as if to say "Well, gosh, I don't know much about this politics stuff but I know right from wrong by golly."
There are American forces involved in ongoing combat operations as our “leaders” put on this show – the troops deserve better than this from Washington.
Like every other babbling conservative he never actually goes on to tell us what our leaders in congress SHOULD be doing. What's his solution? He sounds like he should have one. I mean, don't come off with this "I know better 'cause I've been there" mentality without showing us the goods. It's like the skit on Colbert a few months back when it was said "Our troops will come home when they win. They win by staying in Iraq." And if I go back in time to kill Sarah Connor, that means John Connor never existed so there was no impetus for me to go back in time... well, you get the idea.
Read any of the analyses in the Arabic language media – American public opinion is turning against the war and a victory for the insurgents is at hand. In their view, passage of this bill in the House just validates that assessment.
So what? Who gives a flaming bag of crap what insurgents or Al Qaeda thinks? And if people like Francona were so concerned about what people in the Arab world thought of us they wouldn't have championed this war to begin with. You mean after launching an unprovoked attack on Iraq, subjugating its people and bleeding the country dry you suddenly have a soft spot for public opinion in the Middle East? How touching. I've been hearing this notion of "sending the insurgents the wrong message" for some time now. What's the right message? Do you honestly believe that there is any message we could send to Al Qaeda that would make them say "Wow, maybe we shouldn't mess with Americans anymore. That was wrong of us."
This does not even serve as putting representatives on record; it’s merely a show for their constituents.
Constituents who have made it abundantly clear that they're tired of paying for this farce. Lt. Col. Francona apparently has forgotten that the military works for us. They are employees of the American people and gasbags like him have no business lecturing us on how to exercise democratic rights. They don't decide foreign policy. When we say the war's over, the war's over. That's it. You're coming home whether you like it or not. Deal with it.
But what's really starting to annoy me, and served as motivation to write this, is the way we talk about "the troops" as if they were fragile boy scouts at a jamboree and one unkind word could forever crush their self esteem. Have you ever met a paratrooper or a Marine? I hardly think they need to be coddled. And leaving them to rot in the Iraqi desert is not noble or patriotic or "support" of any kind. Our men and women in uniform are just that: men and women. Not boys and girls. They are adults who made an adult decision to serve their country.
Stop treating them like victims, Rick.