Over the past several years, both sides of the aisle have played politics with the troops. The Republicans are clearly the worst offenders with their mantra "You can't support the troops without supporting their mission." Hand ringing Democrats- like Joe Biden - who once supported the war, now claim they were "misled" and the war has been "mismanaged." If only Biden had read a couple of diaries here at Kos he would have known this was thing was going to be a disaster. Biden and friends claim they truly understand and care about the troops. Joe claims that he's the reason the pentagon finally got the MRAPs (mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles)over to Iraq. The truth is there should have been and should be now an honest debate on the policy rather than using the troops as a political football.
And heck, we shouldn't even really be listening to these blowhards anyhow. How can we expect the fools who go us into this mess to get us out? It's time we starting hearing what the grunts on the ground have to say. They should be heard. The truth is the troops are not monolithic; our people in uniform have differing views about the conflict their embroiled in. They have political leanings, ideologies, opinions. That's why I felt it was important the day after George W. Bush hailed the success of the surge and progress in Iraq that we hear from one of these soldiers.
And this soldier definitely wanted to be heard. Our brave servicemen and women in Iraq have been sent to "mop up" al Qaeda in Iraq yet again. Supposedly Mosul is the last sanctuary city for "al Qaeda in Iraq" and American and Iraqi forces have been sent to flush them out. Yesterday five more American soldiers died in this offensive only hours before George Bush proclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen, some may deny the surge is working, but among the terrorists there is no doubt. Al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq, and this enemy will be defeated."
Well one soldier has something to say to Mr. President: Come see the pain and suffering for yourself - and this time leave the plastic turkey at home. From the AP:
At a U.S. base outside Mosul, scores of U.S. troops and an honor guard stood at attention on the airfield tarmac as five coffins of their slain comrades were loaded onto a plane for the journey home.
A cold wind blew as the bleak ceremony began. Five groups of eight pallbearers each took turns unloading a flag-draped coffin from the back of five Humvee ambulances, as about 75 members of the fallen soldiers' unit stood at attention.
At least 100 other soldiers stood erect and silent through the 30-minute ceremony. Even civilian workers at the airport of Forward Operating Base Marez on the outskirts of Mosul formed an honor line as the dead soldiers bodies' were loaded into a gray C-130 transport plane.
Soldiers refused permission to photograph the ceremony, saying the pain of the sudden loss of five comrades was too great, and that not all the families had been notified.
"President Bush should be out here watching this ramp ceremony to see what it is really like," said one soldier, who asked not to be identified.
"The people who created this war need to be thinking about the families of these 18-year-olds who are dying."
These words stand on their own - not much more to say.