Our soldiers in Iraq aren't heroes (But Andy Rooney is! (not))

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[Peter J. Huss]

Our soldiers in Iraq aren't heroes



4/12/2004

By ANDY ROONEY

Most of the reporting from Iraq is about death and destruction. We don't learn much about what our soldiers in Iraq are thinking or doing. There's no Ernie Pyle to tell us, and, if there were, the military would make it difficult or impossible for him to let us know. It would be interesting to have a reporter ask a group of our soldiers in Iraq to answer five questions and see the results:

1. Do you think your country did the right thing sending you into Iraq?

2. Are you doing what America set out to do to make Iraq a democracy, or have we failed so badly that we should pack up and get out before more of you are killed?

3. Do the orders you get handed down from one headquarters to another, all far removed from the fighting, seem sensible, or do you think our highest command is out of touch with the reality of your situation?

4. If you could have a medal or a trip home, which would you take?

5. Are you encouraged by all the talk back home about how brave you are and how everyone supports you?

Treating soldiers fighting their war as brave heroes is an old civilian trick designed to keep the soldiers at it. But you can be sure our soldiers in Iraq are not all brave heroes gladly risking their lives for us sitting comfortably back here at home.

Our soldiers in Iraq are people, young men and women, and they behave like people - sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes brave, sometimes fearful. It's disingenuous of the rest of us to encourage them to fight this war by idolizing them.

We pin medals on their chests to keep them going. We speak of them as if they volunteered to risk their lives to save ours, but there isn't much voluntary about what most of them have done. A relatively small number are professional soldiers. During the last few years, when millions of jobs disappeared, many young people, desperate for some income, enlisted in the Army. About 40 percent of our soldiers in Iraq enlisted in the National Guard or the Army Reserve to pick up some extra money and never thought they'd be called on to fight. They want to come home.

One indication that not all soldiers in Iraq are happy warriors is the report recently released by the Army showing that 23 of them committed suicide there last year. This is a dismaying figure. If 22 young men and one woman killed themselves because they couldn't take it, think how many more are desperately unhappy but unwilling to die.

We must support our soldiers in Iraq because it's our fault they're risking their lives there. However, we should not bestow the mantle of heroism on all of them for simply being where we sent them. Most are victims, not heroes.

America's intentions are honorable. I believe that, and we must find a way of making the rest of the world believe it. We want to do the right thing. We care about the rest of the world. President Bush's intentions were honorable when he took us into Iraq. They were not well thought out but honorable.

Bush's determination to make the evidence fit the action he took, which it does not, has made things look worse. We pay lip service to the virtues of openness and honesty, but for some reason, we too often act as though there was a better way of handling a bad situation than by being absolutely open and honest.

[Peter J. Huss]

What a dick.

[Peter J. Huss]

You are too kind. How about this: Andy Rooney = Falluja Rose.

[The South Texan]

Give the old Looney one a break. He is only reflecting what others in the lamestream media think about our men as well.

[PsyOp]

Giving Aid & Comfort.

[1Old Pro]

Andy, it doesn't matter what the troops "feel" about being in Iraq. They are under orders. Roody is a first class a*shole

[RoseofTexas]

Psalms 31:18 - Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

Lord shut the mouth of this lying demon from the pit of hell!!

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

I'm starting to think Andy's just plain evil.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Our soldiers in Iraq aren't heroes.

Not to people like Rooney, whose heroes are probably Mao and Stalin.

[Dog]

I can not believe what I just read..

[wallcrawlr]

This guy is pathetic.

[PsyOp]

4. If you could have a medal or a trip home, which would you take?

That question is a canard. No soldier (except an absolute fool), no matter how just he thought the war he was fighting was, would choose a medal over a trip home. Rooney knows that. What a POS!

As for the lack of Earnie Pyles, there are lots of journalists that have been trying to tell the "real" story about the great things the troops are doing for the Iraqi people, but the networks won't run them and the papers won't print them because they aren't juicy enough and don't support the line they're selling.

[Dog]

The media elite is open warfare against everything American. They don't even try to hide it any more.

[mystery-ak]

Hey Andy....blow it out your a--!

[Peter J. Huss]

We pin medals on their chests to keep them going.

No, those medals and ribbons are earned, sometimes at the expense of personal fortunes, life and limb.

I would not be surprised is Roony has to go into hiding after this.

[BluH2o]

I'm starting to think Andy's just plain evil.

Just old, crotchety, in the early first stage of dementia. The affected sheep dog look (the overly long eye brows) is starting to wear thin as well ...

[Dog]

This is a stunner.......the hatred is just dripping from every word.

[archy]

I can not believe what I just read..

Precisely. Or anything else you hear on the network *news* broadcasts, either.

A young ROTC student of my acquaintance who's a broadcast nes major has gotten immersed in the TV news business, and is horrified to have learned that less than 50% of the stories with whom that reporter has had personal contact with were reported factually or completely. Less than half. I am rarely inclined to suggest to a broadcast journalist that they go into my old print journalism line, where things aren't much better and which is a dying business. But this may be a notable exception, and I suspect we'd gain a pretty good ink-stained wretch to add to our numbers. But you are exactly correct. You cannot, and should not, believe it,

[BlueNgold]

His disdain for the military and desire to subvert military discipline is generic, not specific. That much is very clear from this article...

[blackie]

Hey Andy ~ you are a senile old traitor!

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~