3rdEye
09-26-2004, 10:11 AM
A friend of mine is in the U.S. Army. He is not in active combat. I saw him last night for the first time in a while. My conversation with him revealed to me some interesting things about the opinion of the rank and file members of our armed forces regarding the war in Iraq.
First. According to my friend, he and his companions in the military generally believe that this war is a lost cause. Those who are not already in Iraq are scared to death of going there--not because they are cowards, but because they fear that they might die for a cause in which they do not believe. While there is a deep hatred of terrorists (which, for some, amounts to a disdain for all things Arab), the consensus is that the war encourages rather than suppresses terrorist activity.
Second. While my friend and his comrades generally oppose the war on intellectual grounds, many of them are prompted to support it out of spite against those civilians who, a la Vietnam, harass the troops and label them mindless agents in the service of "evil" (i.e., Bush).
This, of course, is something that many of us probably already knew, or have surmised. In that respect, I offer nothing new to this debate. The point of this post is to illustrate that, in my opinion, those who oppose the war would do well to avoid knee-jerk opposition to all facets of the effort. Much that has been accomplished by our troops in Iraq has been for the betterment of the global community. While it may be (and I believe) that, as a whole, the war effort is unnecessary and ill-advised, we who oppose the war should freely acknowledge it when an outcome of the conflict is beneficial to Iraqis and/or Americans. It is obvious, for example, that Iraqis are better off without Hussein. If only they (that is, the Iraqis and the anti-war types) would collectively abandon their poliitcal prejudices and acknowledge this fact, we would all be better off.
In sum, those of us who oppose the war would do well to avoid Vietnam-protestor-like extremism. The troops, while generally intellectually sympathetic to our stance, are motivated in their hearts to wage war by the desire to spite those who would label them agents of evil.
While we may deplore this war, we must resist the instinct to vilify those who are assigned to wage it. In the end, political harassment of our soldiers is both obtuse and counterproductive.
First. According to my friend, he and his companions in the military generally believe that this war is a lost cause. Those who are not already in Iraq are scared to death of going there--not because they are cowards, but because they fear that they might die for a cause in which they do not believe. While there is a deep hatred of terrorists (which, for some, amounts to a disdain for all things Arab), the consensus is that the war encourages rather than suppresses terrorist activity.
Second. While my friend and his comrades generally oppose the war on intellectual grounds, many of them are prompted to support it out of spite against those civilians who, a la Vietnam, harass the troops and label them mindless agents in the service of "evil" (i.e., Bush).
This, of course, is something that many of us probably already knew, or have surmised. In that respect, I offer nothing new to this debate. The point of this post is to illustrate that, in my opinion, those who oppose the war would do well to avoid knee-jerk opposition to all facets of the effort. Much that has been accomplished by our troops in Iraq has been for the betterment of the global community. While it may be (and I believe) that, as a whole, the war effort is unnecessary and ill-advised, we who oppose the war should freely acknowledge it when an outcome of the conflict is beneficial to Iraqis and/or Americans. It is obvious, for example, that Iraqis are better off without Hussein. If only they (that is, the Iraqis and the anti-war types) would collectively abandon their poliitcal prejudices and acknowledge this fact, we would all be better off.
In sum, those of us who oppose the war would do well to avoid Vietnam-protestor-like extremism. The troops, while generally intellectually sympathetic to our stance, are motivated in their hearts to wage war by the desire to spite those who would label them agents of evil.
While we may deplore this war, we must resist the instinct to vilify those who are assigned to wage it. In the end, political harassment of our soldiers is both obtuse and counterproductive.