Supporting Our Troops
If you ever get the chance to enjoy Gilbert & Sullivan’s classic operetta, The Pirates of Penzance, you should take it. There is a part in the second act, when the heroine, Mabel, is encouraging the police to go and meet the pirates in battle. She sings to a martial tune:
Go, ye heroes, go to glory.
Though ye die in combat gory,
Ye shall live in song and story
Go to immortality!
Go to death and go to slaughter;
Die, and every Cornish daughter
With her tears your grave shall water,
Go, ye heroes, go and die!
It’s hilarious.
William S. Gilbert was a brilliant satirist. Though written in the nineteenth century, his point is still clear: “Supporting” the troops isn’t too good for the troops!
Yet we’re told that “You can’t be for our troops if you’re against the war.”
In this space, I’ve received comments from individuals who have little sympathy for the dead and their families. “They volunteered,” I’ve been told.
“Gee son, your daddy is dead. That’s OK, because he died fighting for . . . . . uh . . . .oh yeah, WMDs . . no wait, that’s not it . . . . to remove a really bad man from power. . . . no, that’s not it either. . . . . . umm, look, your dad died fighting for his country.”
“But my daddy was a mechanic, not a soldier” The little boy protests through anguished sobs.
“Well son, when your dad joined the National Guard fifteen years ago, so he could afford the payments on that nice house you live in, he knew the risks. Tell your mom not to blame the president, she should blame your daddy for volunteering.”
The bottom line is this:
You can support this war or you can support the troops.
You cannot do both.
On the other hand, I suppose you can be a coward, support this war, and just pretend to support the troops, while expecting other people’s children to fight this war for you—like our president.
Comments
You do have bullet proof glass in whatever it is you're driving now-a-days don't ya?
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What, me worry?
Posted by: Lance Fusting | April 3, 2007 10:44 PM
The problems with this is that it implies this is a war not worth fighting.
It is.
It also implies that we have a choice as to whether to fight this war or not.
We don't.
It also mis-states the job of the "daddy" in the piece.
He WAS a soldier.
Covering the problems backwards, it isn't that there's no sympathy for the "daddy" here. Its just that he did volunteer for the job. That job included the risk of getting killed. He knew this going in. Children don't see the illogic of whining about something happening that was foreseen, but adults should.
As for IF we should fight, that wasn't & isn't an option. War has been declared against us. The jihadists intend to kill as many of us as is possible, using any means they can to do so.
And that leads to why this war is worth fighting. To say that Saddam didn't have WMDs is to ignore the fact that he HAD used WMDs many times in the past. He had the means to make them up. So, while it may be true that he had no WMDs when we invaded, that only means that he didn't have them then. It doesn't mean that he didn't have them the week before, or that he wouldn't have had them the next week. He certainly had the means & the will to use them. That made taking him out worthwhile.
Mulay
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I guess then, if someone has wanted to declare war on us because Harry Truman used WMDs, that would be worthwhile too.
IF we should fight is the subject of another essay.
Thanks for writing.
Posted by: Mulay L. Raisuli | April 4, 2007 08:35 AM
Very well said! and thanks for the pirates refrence!! it is hard, because many people don't understand that supporting our troops can NOT mean sending them to die for an unworthy cause! I look foward to reading more of your blog...
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I look forward to writing them.
Thank you.
Posted by: meagan | April 4, 2007 09:20 AM
I look forward to seeing your essay on IF we should fight.
Meagan has referenced pirates. That's good. Because, of course, pirates should be fought. As should those trying to kill us.
Mulay
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I hope that means you'll be joining me in the fight against the head prate--Dumbya--and his horde of "Big Oil" buccaneers.
Posted by: Mulay L. Raisuli | April 5, 2007 08:07 AM
My son who served one year in Baghdad and may return as the gunner on a humvee has his own opinion. You won't like it but it comes from one soldier who actually has been shot at and shot back.
1. John Kerry does not support the troops by basically calling them stupid.
John Murtha does not support the troops by saying he would not serve with them.
3.The belief over there is that the disunity displayed by those who dissent is causing American casualties. The insurgents know they only have to keep killing American troops and the left wing in America will use the brave service of those troops against the beliefs they died for.
Talking surrender, withdrawel, redeployment, retreat or whatever euphamism you choose is used as propoganda to support Al Qaieda and allies. Talking about getting out is not supporting the troops, it is killing them.
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Well then, let's not talk about withdrawing the troops, let's just do it!
They can't get killed if they're not over there!
Thank you for writing.
Posted by: Ron Acevedo | April 23, 2007 03:24 PM
"They can't get killed if they aren't over there".
I sure wish that was true.
Unfortunately pretending nothing will happen won't work. I don't think it really works for the ostrich either.
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Believe me sir, it is true.
.
Posted by: Ron Acevedo | April 24, 2007 06:46 AM
Instead of talking about getting out we should be talking about waging this war smartly. The Neocons have mismanaged this war intentionally from the beginning because this war is just cover for their rapacious transfer of US wealth. Their aim is the permanent destruction of the US middle class and they're 50% there!
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AMEN!
Posted by: Spin Boldak | July 7, 2007 10:15 AM