thedrifter
07-12-05, 06:50 AM
Courtesy of Mark aka The Fontman
Support for troops but not for war
By Acel Moore
Philadelphia Enquirer
July 12, 2005
As I watched the Fourth of July celebrations and the raising of the American flag, my thoughts were on the war in Iraq and the inequality of sacrifice by Americans.
The casualties, to invert a phrase, do not look like America. It is the working class, the lower middle class, and rural America who disproportionately make up the military and have thus borne the burden, and it is those segments of society that are blacker and browner than America as a whole.
What makes the military less white, less prosperous? For many of those who joined, the military was the only opportunity available for them to get training or to go to college.
We hear that we'll need soldiers in Iraq for a long time, as long as 12 years (in one Donald Rumsfeld remark). If we go that long, we may need an alternative to the built-in imbalances of the all-volunteer Army.
The celebrations on the Fourth also reminded me of the persistent divide in our country, a divide that most Americans, if they were honest, would admit they face every day.
It's not so much whether you are Republican or Democrat, nor whether you're liberal or conservative. And there's little disagreement that terrorism is a clear and present evil: Most Americans were on the same page on that score as of 9/11.
Nor is the divide over whether we should support our troops in Iraq. I know few people who do not support our people in uniform, who go into harm's way in our name.
The divide is between those who support the war and those who don't. And a growing majority of Americans have serious doubts about the efficacy of the war in Iraq and about whether we were told the truth about why we went there in the first place.
The side you take in this divide has nothing to do with your patriotism.
I talked to two men who have profound thoughts about the Iraq war and about war in general. These are men whose patriotism I would never question.
Both are veterans who have seen and experienced combat, one in World War II and one in Vietnam. Both support our troops. Yet both are against the war in Iraq.
Edward Lazar, 89, is a veteran of World War II. The other is John Braxton, 60, a lawyer, former Common Pleas Court judge, and a political activist.
Lazar, a member of the 570th Signal Company, was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. When he talks about war, he knows what he's talking about: "I remember the day I was wounded as though it was yesterday. It happened 60 years ago on March 19, 1945."
The truck he was riding in struck a mine. The explosion killed the two men in the front of the truck. He and another passenger survived.
Lazar received the Purple Heart for his wounds. Both eardrums were ruptured in the explosion, and he has heard ringing in his ears ever since that day.
Braxton was an Army artillery officer who served with the First Infantry Division in Vietnam. A Bronze Star recipient for meritorious service while under fire, Braxton is one who now avoids fireworks during the Fourth of July.
"The colors of projectiles are beautiful from a distance," he says. "But up close, the sounds are the same as those incoming shells that I heard and felt during combat in Vietnam.
"I am against the war [in Iraq] and was from its beginning," says Braxton. "We were misled and lied to about why we went over there. I support our troops. I respect all of the men and women who serve, who meet their responsibility and follow their orders despite having doubts about why they are there.
"As a veteran of Vietnam," he says, "I know how the lack of support makes a soldier feel. When I came home, there were no greetings and no hero's welcome. People then were against the war - and against me as well."
That's why Braxton makes sure everyone knows he supports our soldiers in Iraq.
For all his heroism, Lazar holds a dim view of war in general. Like Braxton, he feels the American people were misled into the Iraq war.
"Nobody really wins in any war. War is just people who die, cry and lie," he said.
Both say we need a clearer exit strategy. They acknowledge that it won't be easy, especially since Iraq seems to have become a terrorist magnet.
Until there is greater equality of sacrifice, especially among political leaders who send others off to war when they themselves never went, I'll have trouble supporting this war, too.
Ellie
Support for troops but not for war
By Acel Moore
Philadelphia Enquirer
July 12, 2005
As I watched the Fourth of July celebrations and the raising of the American flag, my thoughts were on the war in Iraq and the inequality of sacrifice by Americans.
The casualties, to invert a phrase, do not look like America. It is the working class, the lower middle class, and rural America who disproportionately make up the military and have thus borne the burden, and it is those segments of society that are blacker and browner than America as a whole.
What makes the military less white, less prosperous? For many of those who joined, the military was the only opportunity available for them to get training or to go to college.
We hear that we'll need soldiers in Iraq for a long time, as long as 12 years (in one Donald Rumsfeld remark). If we go that long, we may need an alternative to the built-in imbalances of the all-volunteer Army.
The celebrations on the Fourth also reminded me of the persistent divide in our country, a divide that most Americans, if they were honest, would admit they face every day.
It's not so much whether you are Republican or Democrat, nor whether you're liberal or conservative. And there's little disagreement that terrorism is a clear and present evil: Most Americans were on the same page on that score as of 9/11.
Nor is the divide over whether we should support our troops in Iraq. I know few people who do not support our people in uniform, who go into harm's way in our name.
The divide is between those who support the war and those who don't. And a growing majority of Americans have serious doubts about the efficacy of the war in Iraq and about whether we were told the truth about why we went there in the first place.
The side you take in this divide has nothing to do with your patriotism.
I talked to two men who have profound thoughts about the Iraq war and about war in general. These are men whose patriotism I would never question.
Both are veterans who have seen and experienced combat, one in World War II and one in Vietnam. Both support our troops. Yet both are against the war in Iraq.
Edward Lazar, 89, is a veteran of World War II. The other is John Braxton, 60, a lawyer, former Common Pleas Court judge, and a political activist.
Lazar, a member of the 570th Signal Company, was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. When he talks about war, he knows what he's talking about: "I remember the day I was wounded as though it was yesterday. It happened 60 years ago on March 19, 1945."
The truck he was riding in struck a mine. The explosion killed the two men in the front of the truck. He and another passenger survived.
Lazar received the Purple Heart for his wounds. Both eardrums were ruptured in the explosion, and he has heard ringing in his ears ever since that day.
Braxton was an Army artillery officer who served with the First Infantry Division in Vietnam. A Bronze Star recipient for meritorious service while under fire, Braxton is one who now avoids fireworks during the Fourth of July.
"The colors of projectiles are beautiful from a distance," he says. "But up close, the sounds are the same as those incoming shells that I heard and felt during combat in Vietnam.
"I am against the war [in Iraq] and was from its beginning," says Braxton. "We were misled and lied to about why we went over there. I support our troops. I respect all of the men and women who serve, who meet their responsibility and follow their orders despite having doubts about why they are there.
"As a veteran of Vietnam," he says, "I know how the lack of support makes a soldier feel. When I came home, there were no greetings and no hero's welcome. People then were against the war - and against me as well."
That's why Braxton makes sure everyone knows he supports our soldiers in Iraq.
For all his heroism, Lazar holds a dim view of war in general. Like Braxton, he feels the American people were misled into the Iraq war.
"Nobody really wins in any war. War is just people who die, cry and lie," he said.
Both say we need a clearer exit strategy. They acknowledge that it won't be easy, especially since Iraq seems to have become a terrorist magnet.
Until there is greater equality of sacrifice, especially among political leaders who send others off to war when they themselves never went, I'll have trouble supporting this war, too.
Ellie