|
CounterPunch
December
2, 2002
Support the Troops: Bring Them
Home
By RON JACOBS
Soon, politicians and government officials, with
plenty of help from the mainstream media, will be filling the
air with calls to "support our troops." This call will
sound while the young women and men in uniform are being sent
to kill and die in a war that will benefit very few people. Many
of the soldiers are gung ho to fight this war against Iraq. They
believe, like many US citizens, that Saddam Hussein is the greatest
danger to humanity since Adolf Hitler. Upon closer inspection,
it is easy to see that this characterization of Mr. Hussein is
overblown.
However, even if one accepts the characterization
of Saddam Hussein as the greatest threat to world peace since
Hitler, it is essential to remember that it is not Mr. Hussein
who will be bearing the brunt of the U.S. military attack. It
will be the women and children who live in his country. Soldiers
and airmen/women operating in our name will be killing and brutalizing
these innocents on a daily basis once the war begins. Most American
soldiers will be doing this not out of any pleasure or joy, but
because that is what soldiers do in a war. When the American
GIs return home, they will live with the memories of what they
had to do in Iraq (and wherever else they are sent). As anyone
who has served or known someone who served in previous wars knows,
dealing with these memories can destroy a persons life and the
lives of those around them.
Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld will not suffer
a bit, no matter what kind of tears they shed or pious statements
they make. No, they will call it a great victory if the US further
destroys Iraqi society. If the US military fails, they will send
more troops in and say that the war must continue until victory.
They will say they are doing this to honor those men and women
who have already died in their war. Support our troops, they
will say. Honor their sacrifice. Meanwhile, the soldiers families
will wonder every day if their son, daughter, husband, or wife
is still alive and in one piece. Plus, if and when they do come
home, they will face an uncertain future.
Like the previous administration, the
Bush administration continues to deny the existence of Gulf War
Syndrome and any role the use of depleted-uranium shell casings
might play in the epidemic of unusual and unexplained illnesses
among Gulf War vets. On top of this callous disregard are the
continuing budget cuts made to the Veterans Administration cuts
which make it harder and harder to take care of soldiers from
Americas earlier military adventures. When it comes right down
to it, the Bush administration doesn't really care about US soldiers.
Another scenario likely to unfold if
and when the war on Iraq becomes full-scale is that those politicians
who opposed Mr. Bush's desire to go to war without getting a
rubber stamp from the UN will join in the call to support the
troops in their killing. Chances are they will even go so far
as to pass a resolution in Congress expressing their support
for the soldiers they sent over there. Like Bush, Cheney, et
al., most of our elected representatives will also be risking
nothing by passing their resolution and wearing their yellow
ribbons. That sacrifice will be made by the men and women who
put on the uniform because they believe that they are defending
their nation or maybe just because its the best job they can
get.
What about the antiwar movement? Should
we support the troops? My answer is yes, of course. We should
support the troops as human Beings--as sons, daughters, fathers,
mothers, husbands, wives, boyfriends and girlfriends. We should
support their desire to live full lives. In other words, we need
to get them out of the war zone now. The best way to support
the troops is to bring them home alive. If war should begin,
then we need to support those troops who refuse to serve. We
need to support and organize efforts that can help GIs who decide
that they don't want to kill and die for the oil industry to
get out. If we truly support the humans who wear the uniforms
of Uncle Sam's army, we must do what we can to convince them
to shed that uniform. When all is said and done, it is those
who refuse to serve who are the wars true heroes.
The first step in this project to encourage
refusal is to get the facts to servicemen and women. Even more
than most US citizens, GIs are the target of Pentagon propaganda.
Despite the fact that they are fighting for the freedoms Americans
expect, GIs are refused most of those freedoms. They can not
peaceably assemble to redress their grievances, they do not have
a free press, they can not come and go as they please, and so
on. Most military folks accept these restrictions on their lives,
believing the tradeoff to be worth it. However, as the movement
within the military against the US war in Vietnam proved, there
comes a point when GIs began to seek the whole story about their
mission. It is our job to help them find the information they
have been denied. Once this is provided, many of these men and
women will question their role. Some will live with the contradictions
between their beliefs and their job, some wont be able to.
For those who can't, the antiwar movement
and its allies must provide an alternative. Many communities
have a minimal structure of resistance to the military left over
from Americas past wars. These structures must be reactivated
and expanded. We must move from draft counseling to desertion
counseling. From draft resistance to resistance in the military.
Some of the groups that an individual can contact if s/he is
interested in supporting this type of endeavor are the Veterans
for Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Vietnam Veterans
Against the War-Anti-Imperialist, the American Friends Service
Committee, and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors.
If you are in the service and want to get out, or if you know
someone in that predicament, contacting one of these groups is
a good place to start. If we truly support the troops, we will
do whatever we can to bring them home. Before war changes them
forever.
Ron Jacobs
lives in Burlington, VT. He can be reached at: rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu
Yesterday's
Features
Alexander Cockburn
American
Journal
Gabriel Kolko
Another
Century of War?
Jeffrey St. Clair
Rockets,
Napalm, Torpedoes & Lies: The Attack on the Liberty Revisited
Steve Perry
Spank
the Democrats
M. Shahid Alam
A Predatory
Orientalism
Kurt Nimmo
The Murder
of Iain Hook
Ali Abunimah
Death
& Lies in Palestine
Anthony Gancarski
The
Return of Al Gore?
Joanne Mariner
In Defense
of the Filibuster
Ahmad Faruqui
The Apocalyptic
Vision of the Neo-Con Ideologues
Dave Marsh
Eminem's
Body & Soul
David Vest
On the Lam
from Uncle Sam
Julian Samuel
Bowling
for Columbine
Adam Engel
Piss Off,
NSA!
Behzad Yaghmaian
The Grassroots
Challenge to Iran's Theocracy
Wayne Saunders
This
Mad, Limitless War
Dan Brook
Celebrate
Genocide!
Uri Avnery
"Likud
Has Failed"
Philip Farruggio
Turkeys
CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- CounterPunch Special:
The Persecution of Gershon Legman by Susan Davis: Smut, the Post Office, Commies
and the FBI;
- Reeling Democrats: Is Pelosi the Answer?
- Gandhi v. Hitler: the Secret Race for the Nobel
Prize;
- Sullying Mario Savio's
Memory;
- Lynching Then and Now;
- Earn While You Learn: Chris Whittle and Child Labor;
The Case of the Pompous
Professor;
- The Class Struggle in
Boston: All that
Effort, But What Did They Get?
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1 800 840 3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|
November 23,
2002
Susan Davis
Now About
That Big Stick
Caoimhe Butterly
I Was
Shot While Escorting Jenin's School Children
Kurt Nimmo
Bush &
the Canadians
Chris Floyd
Rough Beast
Slouching
Francis Boyle
On Behalf
of Iraq's 4.5 Million Children
Dave Marsh
Spirit
in the Light
Behzad Yaghmaian
The Rebirth
of Student Protest in Iran
Mark Hand
Dr. Alterman,
I Presume
Ralph Nader
Back Alley
Loan Sharks
Elaine Cassel
The Shameful
Treatment of John Malvo
Adam Engel
& Ian Harvey
Poets'
Basement
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By
Alexander Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
|