My brain supports the troops because it's good politics. We all saw what happened in the 70's. But that's far too cynical.
And I would never speak about this with moderates or Rethugs. We need to be smart of course. But I wanted to try to have this discussion here, because a lot of people I know are like myself and are honestly very sad to feel the way we do.
I want my heart to support the troops. I think there are a good number of liberals (my friends, some colleagues etc...) that need the same help. Can you help us?
Here's where I'm at ethically... all messed up and anti-American as usual I guess.
1. I think it's our Patriotic Duty to be informed. I think America in 2005... we're so corporatist and powerful that it really is every American's Patriotic Duty to be informed. We should all know by now after what happened in Vietnam, Iran Contra, Watergate, etc... to be more than just a little bit sceptical about our government... and in Iraq, certainly everyone should have been sceptical of the relationship between War and corporate profits... even with very little research/reading. To ignore these things seems almost criminally irresponsible to me. It seems like puting blinders on so we can achieve what's best for our own economic self-interest. I know that can't be right... God I hope not.
We've even all seen the movies (Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Three Kings). I really honestly don't understand how people can be "gung-ho" in 2005... even with 911. I didn't abandon all reason after 911 and I live in a coastal city listed as a probable next target. Is it really all just about a psychosis? I don't think that fully explains the problem for me.
2. It seems to me to be very irresponsible to think that it's morally OK to sign up to potentially kill foreign people without doing some reading and trying to figure out what's at the root of the War. That just seems like typical Jesus style personal responsibility to me. And quite frankly, in some ways... I think to myself: isn't involuntary manslaughter still a crime? I know that's a stretch... and it may not be helpful... but there seems to me to be a similarity in some ways; and it gets back to the real qestion about Nazis: "Are we different enough?"
Wouldn't we criticize the moral decisions of a corporation that polluted the waters and told us:
"We never did the research to know it wasn't OK to pour Mercury into the water... and besides, you didn't tell us we had to do any reading or care about the results of our actions. We're just doing what Bush says is OK. And that should be good enough for you." This doesn't make sense to me either. Somehow the PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, the morality; it seems inexcusably absent.
3. It also doesn't seem to really make sense to fight a war you know is illegitimate or to ignore the necessary reading in order to make money for a college education. When I look at that with vision untinted by sympathy...
(and yes... I have great sympathy for those who must face this difficult moral test. It's terrible any young American should be forced to choose between jail or poverty and fightinng in an illegitimate War)
...it just looks like taking money to kill people; justified either by self-imposed ignorance or by simply "turning away" from the truth in order to make a better life for oneself. I can't seem to make sense of this either.
4. Now I can understand an argument from a logistical standpoint... that Americans now must remain in Iraq and finish the job. I'm not convinced on that... I think if American corporations turned over the business, then other countries would take a more active military role in a stable Iraq... but for this discussion, I'm trying to get more at the morality of the decision in the first place... so I can actually honestly support the troops themselves... as people.
And, I can understand how some might consider sympathy the same as support. If so, I guess I support the troops.
But as it is... right now I feel that I would rather not donate anything monetarily or physically to their cause if it meant the Iraq War would end more quickly... if it meant things would get tougher for us or that troops would get disgruntled and keep dropping out. Because I'm not very convinced we can "outkill" the hate. That just doesn't seem likely to me. I think people will only get more and more upset as we provide more and more evidence that America is only there to control the oil and the Reconstruction process and to funnel profits back to American corporations. We must remember that Iraqis aren't 3rd world people in the stereotypical sense of the term... they aren't living off of subsistence like many in Afghanistan... they really resent our coming in and taking over Iraqi profits/economic opportunities. That seems to be the real battle we have to overcome before we can win any military battle... at least to me anyway. And that's never going to happen in my opinion.
And that's a terrible way to feel. It's a terrible way to think makes the most practical sense. That the best way to end the War is to force troops to get fed up. But it seems to me like this is life and death... so I guess I have to go with what makes the most logistical sense... I guess that's the moral decision for me... not to give money to support the troops? So that I can help force the troops to see the futile nature of the War? So they'll continue to do what they're doing now and drop out sooner? That can't be... somebody straighten my ass out on this one.
5. I do believe in a 2 yr. Mandatory Service or Civil Service replacement like they have/had in much of Europe until such time that we aren't militiristically subsidizing our way of life. I believe every parents kid (even rich Republican ones) should be potential cannon fodder... then we wouldn't have these problems in my estimation. And it's why I think if we're faced with a draft, the Iraq War is over. Continued violence can always be "spun" by the clones in the MSM. And no doubt it would be a devastating defeat for Republicans, though my guess is not as devastating as admitting how wrong they were on the war and how badly it's going by reinstituting the draft. I imagine that's the only thing anyone might see eye to eye with me on. Maybe it's a place to start a dialogue.
So, Please Help My Heart Support The Troops
