2008 Woodie Awards
Idiots on Capitol Hill prolonging war
Andrew Browning
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: Opinion
Phil Donahue just released a documentary titled "Body of War" that chronicles the struggles of a young man named Thomas Young who was paralyzed by a bullet in Iraq. I have not had the pleasure of seeing it yet, but it has been getting rave reviews. It raises a fundamental yet overlooked question: How can people support the war when they have no real connection to the damage it is doing to our soldiers and the people of Iraq? I have scratched the surface of this topic in other articles, but for once it needs to be examined deeper.
It seems like every day I encounter someone who thinks the sacrifices being made in Iraq are justifiable. When the topic of military service comes up, the person ultimately bows his or her head and admit they have never served. If you have never pointed a rifle at another human being with every intention of pulling the trigger, you do not understand what it means to make a sacrifice for this cause.
Politicians continually argue this war is about the hearts and minds, and for once I am in complete agreement with them. On one hand we need to win over the Iraqis, on the other it is about the pulse of America, the heartbeat that has been forever weakening since the invasion. People are so quick to believe in a cause as long as they don't have to lift a finger more than a few times to type a blog.
I can no longer hold back my contempt for the cowards on top of Capitol Hill who justify this war in terms of dollars and cents and backward ideologies. There are only a handful who have served in combat and an even smaller number who have children who have served in Iraq. How can they make a decision that will ultimately lead to the deaths of the sons and daughters of this country? Oh wait, I remember, their sons and daughters will not go and they won't really feel the pain. Visiting Walter Reed does not make them compassionate - it makes them pretentious, and they should be ashamed of the pain that they have caused.
If all of the people who said they believe in this war actually volunteered to join the service, we might not be talking about a broken military. Then again, if the war affected everyone equally in this country, there would be massive protests every week until it ended.
You may have already written me off as some peace-loving hippie who hates war, and you would be half right. But what is wrong about hating war? I have yet to see the benefits of this war. Gas prices have skyrocketed; there are more than 30,000 Americans who have been wounded and more than 4,000 who have died.
I guess as long as we "feel" safer and someone else's son or daughter, father, mother or best friend dies over there, people will continue to support it the best way they know how - by not really doing anything at all.
It seems like every day I encounter someone who thinks the sacrifices being made in Iraq are justifiable. When the topic of military service comes up, the person ultimately bows his or her head and admit they have never served. If you have never pointed a rifle at another human being with every intention of pulling the trigger, you do not understand what it means to make a sacrifice for this cause.
Politicians continually argue this war is about the hearts and minds, and for once I am in complete agreement with them. On one hand we need to win over the Iraqis, on the other it is about the pulse of America, the heartbeat that has been forever weakening since the invasion. People are so quick to believe in a cause as long as they don't have to lift a finger more than a few times to type a blog.
I can no longer hold back my contempt for the cowards on top of Capitol Hill who justify this war in terms of dollars and cents and backward ideologies. There are only a handful who have served in combat and an even smaller number who have children who have served in Iraq. How can they make a decision that will ultimately lead to the deaths of the sons and daughters of this country? Oh wait, I remember, their sons and daughters will not go and they won't really feel the pain. Visiting Walter Reed does not make them compassionate - it makes them pretentious, and they should be ashamed of the pain that they have caused.
If all of the people who said they believe in this war actually volunteered to join the service, we might not be talking about a broken military. Then again, if the war affected everyone equally in this country, there would be massive protests every week until it ended.
You may have already written me off as some peace-loving hippie who hates war, and you would be half right. But what is wrong about hating war? I have yet to see the benefits of this war. Gas prices have skyrocketed; there are more than 30,000 Americans who have been wounded and more than 4,000 who have died.
I guess as long as we "feel" safer and someone else's son or daughter, father, mother or best friend dies over there, people will continue to support it the best way they know how - by not really doing anything at all.
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posted 4/20/08 @ 11:13 PM CST
Mr. Browning,
I am a 13 year veteran who supports what we are doing over there. I have family and friends over there and couple I know have made the ultimate sacrifice. (Continued…)
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