Posted on 03/13/2008 5:27:10 AM PDT by ricks_place
In the recent political battle around the Marine recruiting station in Berkeley there has been much confusion around the concept or slogan of “supporting the troops,” but opposing the unjust wars of the Bush regime. Many who oppose the Bush regime wars also say they “support the troops.” Let me say it straight out—I do not support the troops and neither should you. It is objectively impossible to support the troops of the imperialist military forces of the U.S. and at the same time oppose the wars in which they fight.
The United States has over 700 military bases or sites located in over 130 foreign countries. The hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in these countries are not there to preserve or foster freedom and democracy as the Bush regime would like to claim, but to maintain U.S. imperialist domination of the world. The United States now spends more on its military than all the other nations of the world combined.
If you “support the troops” in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the other more than 100 countries in which they are located, you also objectively support U.S. hegemony in the world. I believe that the vast majority of people who say they support the troops do not wish to support U.S. imperialism, but that is what they are really doing by putting forth the slogan of “support the troops.”
We need to oppose the recruitment of men and women into the military. We need to support resisters within the military who have realized what they are doing and now choose to resist the role of the U.S. military. This includes people such as Lt. Ehren Watada who refused to deploy to Iraq. Watada stated, “Never did I imagine my president would lie to go to war, condone torture, spy on Americans…” He was the first officer to refuse to go to Iraq and he was court-martialed. Another resister is Camilo Mejia. In 2004 Sergeant Mejia was sentenced to one year in prison when he was court-martialed for refusing to assist the military in Iraq. Mejia said, “I am only a regular person that got tired of being afraid to follow his own conscience. For far too long I allowed others to direct my actions even when I knew that they were wrong....”
We need to expose that those in the U.S. military are trained to be part of a “killing machine.” While not every member of the military is an individual murderer, they are all part of a system that commits war crimes, including aggressive wars, massacres, rape, and other crimes against humanity, all in the service of U.S. imperialism. The bottom line is that even if these people are relatives or friends, you can not support the troops without also supporting the objective role that these troops play in the imperialist system.
United States troops are acting as destructive and murderous forces of invasion and occupation. The people of Iraq and Afghanistan see this on a daily basis. Hundreds of thousands have died as a direct result of the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Millions are either internal or external refugees. Tens of thousands have been detained in prisons, with thousands of these tortured and scores murdered. Haditha, Iraq where 24 Iraqis were massacred is just the best known of the massacres. Women and children are routinely described as “collateral damage” by military spokespersons when they are murdered in military operations.
“Support for the troops” has become political cover to support the wars. In Congress, many of those who claim they oppose the wars, use “support of the troops” to vote for hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the wars. These politicians are political opportunists, but there are also people who genuinely oppose the war, but who also say “I support the troops.”
But to decide whether U.S. troops deserve support you must analyze what they actually do in countries occupied by the U.S. The wars these troops are engaged in have the goal of maintaining and extending U.S. hegemony throughout the world. They are unjust, illegal, and immoral wars. Can you support the troops in these wars? Why is this any different from a German in World War II saying, “I oppose the wars launched by Hitler, but I support the troops of the German army which are making these wars possible.” When the Marines in Haditha massacred Iraqis, including women and children, would it have been correct to say I supported the Marines who killed those people, but not the massacre? This would be ridiculous, but no more so than supporting the troops engaged in the war that made the Haditha massacre possible in the first place.
In 1933 Marine Major General Smedley Butler clarified the role of the U.S. military. He stated, “War is just a racket…It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses…I spent 33 years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps…In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism...”
Like Butler, Watada, and Mejia, those in the military today must take responsibility for what the military does. Just like the German soldiers of World War 2 could not hide behind the “I was just following orders” excuse, military personnel today also can not hide behind it. Those of us who oppose the unjust wars of the Bush regime must struggle with those in the military and those that support them to expose what role the troops objectively play. Supporting the troops engaged in making war against other nations and people on behalf of U.S. imperialism is not acceptable.
Oakland resident Kenneth J. Theisen is an organizer with the World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime!
You got to give him credit for being honest. What an ass.
“The United States has over 700 military bases or sites located in over 130 foreign countries. “
Is this guy even old enough to remember WHY we have so many bases in the first place?
Is this guy Ted Rall’s boyfriend???
Only in America could this subversive write/say this and survive.
In 1933 Marine Major General Smedley Butler clarified the role of the U.S. military. He stated, “War is just a racket…It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses…I spent 33 years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps…In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism...”
By quoting this General who made his statement prior to WWII the writer makes clear that he believes the liberation of Europe and Asia were wars of US aggression. In other words, the author feels there is no role for the US in any foreign war no matter the provocation.
Did he oppose the “Clinton regime wars” as vocally? I don’t recall any opposition to Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia or Haiti. This jackass acts as if all our bases overseas were established in the last seven years. People like him are parasites on our society. They enjoy all our freedoms and spit in our face. There is a special place in hell reserved for vermin like Mr. Thiesen.
In the 40s he’d have been tried for treason and hung.
Many American blacks were freed from slavery by the Civil War. Millions of European Jews were saved from death by the Allied victory in WWII. The list could go on and on.
War is not just a racket to benefit only a few. That is just old communist propaganda.
I’m sure he can get an apartment in Moscow.
This guy is incredibly ignorant of all matters military. He needs to read a little military history and learn how relatively good our military has been through out the course of our 200 plus years of existence, compared to virtually every other army that’s ever existed. If he CAN read, that is.
WHICH planet?
Moonbat POS.
“The hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in these countries are not there to preserve or foster freedom and democracy as the Bush regime would like to claim...”
So, BUSH put ALL those troops there? I think not. The U.S. has had troops all over the world since just WWII.
If it’s such a horrible thing, why didn’t the Democrat heros Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter or Clinton I bring them all home? Or were their presidencies “regimes” also?
What a narrow minded world view this poor intellectually unfortunate individual has.
You should see Mr. Thiessen’s website...total leftist idiocy.
Indeed...his idiocy is consistent across the boards.
It just goes to show, just because you are educated doesn’t mean you can apply it intelligently...
Thanks to the Bush regime and the U.S. imperialist domination of the world!
He should be hanged right now!
LOL What a loon.
It’s hard to argue with someone whose knowledge of history doesn’t extend back before Jan 20, 2001.
Berkley is the epitome of the Marxist imperialist indoctrination centers of hostile and violent liberal "pacifists", the most violent of the insane leftists.
“Berkley is the epitome of the Marxist imperialist indoctrination centers of hostile and violent liberal “pacifists”, the most violent of the insane leftists.”
And what this idiot doesn’t get that if the type of Marxist utopia he envisions was truly enacted, his website would vanish.
If nothing else, surely the moron remembers September 11, 2001?
He probably thinks we deserved it.
Given that, however... hippies, hippies, HIPPIES!!! *breaks board*
Sorry, carry on...
There, I corrected it for him.
If we lived in a just world this bastard would be deported to North Korea yesterday.
If we lived in a Nation where our leaders had any guts this sob would either be hung or deported.
As it stands we live in neither and this sob can go merrily along his way spewing his shit and living in the luxury paid for by the blood of his betters.
I
Smedley Butler’s sort of an interesting character. He’s the last guy to win two medals of honor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
You got to give him credit for being honest. What an ass.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
These Berkleyites make even the old Soviet Communist Party blush....
Actually, as I recall, Rush has been agreeing w/ him for a while. He’s been saying that you can’t do one without the other.
At least this guy is intellectually honest as opposed to the entertainiers who go to Iraq or yap under the guise of “I support the troops.”
How about an American/communist? Much more fitting.
Or "Progressive," same thing.
He’s got your typical Berkeley viewpoint.
Jan 20, 2001?? More like yesterday!
This guy needs a trip to China.
Unlike 99% of Dem's in Congress who lie about it... while working tirelessly to see the troops defeated.
Dear Mr. Theissen:
With as much decorum and civility as I can muster for such drivel as your rant: FU - and the white horse you rode in on.
Something is wrong with the internal wiring on this person. One of the imperatives of any social group of people is to ward off the assaults from other factions. There is a faction (in fact several factions, but they are united in one objective) in this world that is trying to usurp the position of home territory for that tribe known as “Americans”, by waging sniper attacks on the fringes, and occasionally lobbing a “Molotov cocktail” into our front rooms.
This attrition at the fringes is all for the greater good of the whole American society. But there is a cancer within America, Americans in name only, who are either unable or unwilling to take up the burden of BEING an American citizen.
These fringe groups have also allied themselves with the politics of the opposing factions, and have, with some success, managed to capture control of at least part of one of the major political parties in this country, and it isn’t the Republicans.
Not all “Democrats” are genuine citizens of the United States, as they have chosen to be “citizens of the world”.
In which case, they should have their passports issued as “stateless persons”, with a visa application demanded of them, and issued according to existing regulation, before they may remain in the US.
Mr. Thiessan, I would remind you, if it was even possible to get through your ignorance, that the reason you’re able to freely express your beliefs is in large part due to the military’s protection of your right to do so.
And it doesn’t matter how much you deny this fact, it will always be true.
If this wasn’t so vile to a Veteran to read, it would be funny. What’s even funnier is if you click on the link to read this tripe, you’d see a web ad at the bottom of the page advertising for a group named “www.VetFriends.com” which looks like a service to “re-unite” US Veterans and Military alike.
Can you say “Hypocrite?”......Sure, I knew you could......
Hey, Mr. Theisen, GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!! And, you’re welcome for being able to write this w/o getting a visit from the “BrownShirts”...Oh I’m sorry, the Imperialist forces of the USA stopped those people from being able to stop you!
A*&Hole........
Gee, how brave he is to write this. Plus he manages to get away with it. I thought Bush took away all our rights and locked up the dissenters.
I love sarcasm.
Except when the Dims run things.
“This guy needs a trip to China.”
Have you heard of a game designer named American McGee? He worked on the original “Doom.” He was so hateful of his own country that he did move to China to start up a gaming development company. I heard him on a podcast the other day, still bemoaning his country’s involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, etc then he goes on to complain about how the Chinese gov’t has been such an interference in his business.
What a moron.
Butler and his enablers had absolutely no words of criticism for the belligerence of the Soviet Union.
A direct offspring of Hitler and a SOB who should be in jail for treason. I spit on this Nazi whore.
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