Support the Troops
 
You see and hear it everywhere: Support the Troops. From the left. From the right. On every other car rolling down the street. Especially prominent on behemoth SUVs. Support the Troops.
 
But what does it mean to support the troops? Does it mean we support the troops that couldn’t wait to get to Iraq for their first kill? Does it mean we support the troops who tortured Iraqis at Abu Graib and other prisons? Does it mean we support the troops who opened fire on Iraqi civilians? And does it mean we support the Colonels and Generals who developed the structures for the torture, or the ones who devised the plans that put us in this quagmire.
 
Maybe we should be careful to avoid a bumper sticker mentality. Maybe we should support the troops who were sent to Iraq against their will and help them to escape the nightmare they have fallen into.  Or perhaps we should support the troops who laid down their arms and refused to fight a war for oil and help them to find a new life when they come home. Or maybe we should support the troops who were physically or emotionally crippled by their service and make sure they are given the opportunity to lead full lives upon their return.
 
We should not support the troops who became tools of the oil barons or who knowingly kill the innocent, or who accept blindly the lies being fed to them by the government. We should not support the troops who joined the military because they wanted an adventure or who saw the military as a way of expressing their aggressive nature. We should not support the troops who treat Iraqis with disrespect because of their racism, biases, and prejudices.
 
If we wish to really support the troops, it is best that we look at each man and woman individually. Some have done good. Some have done evil. Some are there for altruistic reasons. Some are there with malevolent intentions. Some are there because they thought they were going to get an education, or were going to escape poverty. The American men and women in Iraq are not all good. Nor are they all bad. Just like the rest of us.
 
Support the Troops is just another slogan of blind patriotism like “My country, right or wrong,” or "God Bless America!" or " Proud to Be an American!" or " United We Stand!" The suffering that the troops felt after Vietnam because they were treated with disrespect will be but a shadow of the evil that will befall this country if we support the troops by elevating all of them to the status of heroes. To do so condones and codifies not just our positive impulses, but our darker ones as well.
 
When they come home the troops should be treated to the degree that they deserve respect, based on who they are as individuals and what they have done while in the service of their country.
 
Johnny Peaceseed

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