Of course, the best way to support the troops is to end this war.
Check out the website John Edwards has helped set up to focus community activity towards ending the war. http://www.supportthetroopsendthewar.com/ The site offers a variety of ways for you to make your voice heard in the offline world on this Memorial Day.
Edwards also released a
proposal for how America
must support the brave men and women who have served our country in this misguided war.
He calls it a "sacred contract" between our country and those who have served. Some of its major points are:
Fully funding veterans' health care.
Ordering a review of military hospitals to ensure that our service members are getting the excellent care they deserve and rejecting the Bush Administration's ideological drive to outsource federal jobs.
Requiring that all service members returning to the U.S. or leaving the military be provided with a new "Plan for Coming Home" including thorough post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) screenings, benefits information and seamless transfer of medical records.
Increasing the research and treatment of traumatic brain injuries, the "signature wound of this war," and the conditions that follow from them.
Creating a new national "Chain of Care" to ensure that no veteran again falls through the cracks. The chain will coordinate treatment and benefits in outreach centers and clinics in every county where a veteran resides, both within and outside the VA network. Edwards will also improve training for health personnel to recognize and treat PTSD, and establish uniform standards for mental health care.
And finally, another crucial way to support the troops is to make sure that they're not used mindlessly in the future. I urge folks, if they haven't already checked it out, to look at Edwards' speech this past week to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Among many its many good points, I find the attack on Bush's "war on terror" formulation to be the most important:
It is now clear that George Bush's misnamed "war on terror" has backfired--and is now part of the problem.
The war on terror is a slogan designed only for politics, not a strategy to make America safe. It's a bumper sticker, not a plan. It has damaged our alliances and weakened our standing in the world. As a political "frame," it's been used to justify everything from the Iraq War to Guantanamo to illegal spying on the American people. It's even been used by this White House as a partisan weapon to bludgeon their political opponents. Whether by manipulating threat levels leading up to elections, or by deeming opponents "weak on terror," they have shown no hesitation whatsoever about using fear to divide.
But the worst thing about this slogan is that it hasn't worked. The so-called "war" has created even more terrorism--as we have seen so tragically in Iraq. The State Department itself recently released a study showing that worldwide terrorism has increased 25% in 2006, including a 40% surge in civilian fatalities.
By framing this as a "war," we have walked right into the trap that terrorists have set--that we are engaged in some kind of clash of civilizations and a war against Islam.
Support the troops. Make sure they have a better Commander in Chief in the future.