Posted on 03/18/2003 7:06:42 AM PST by lloydwdudley
Don't even try it. They don't want to hear it. They do need to see it. They do need to feel it. Where they are life doesn't get any more real. Where they are cheap rhetorical platitudes are not only meaningless - they're harmful. When the left derides our pending action in Iraq it hurts the troops' morale, it weakens our position in the world with our real and supposed allies, and it strengthens Saddam's hand and that of his apologists in the UN. When they follow their derision with the statement that they nonetheless support the troops it flies in the face of reality and the troops don't want to hear it.
The mainstream media has been too busy running stories of leftists against the war that say they support the troops to notice the big story out there. The big story is not the peace marches in Paris and Berlin but the Rallies for America that have been happening all across the country. Over 3,000 people joined the "Let Freedom Ring Rally for America" in Nashville. A crowd of over 4500 people attended a Rally for America in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Over 6,000 in Oklahoma City, 5,000 plus in Omaha, 8,000 in San Antonio, 10,000 in Houston, 10,000 in the bitter cold in Cleveland, 25,000 in Atlanta in front of CNN headquarters were ignored by media, and 10 to 25,000 descended upon Valley Forge outside of Philadelphia on Sunday. Future rallies are planned for later this month in Fort Wayne, IN, Richmond, VA, Woodlands, TX, Charleston, SC, Jefferson City, MO, Sacramento, CA, and Washington DC. Attending these events are some of the Americans who truly do support the troops and word of these events is making it to the frontlines despite the media's unwillingness to spread the news.
The anarchists, communists, socialists, greens, Democrats, and evil regimes they support appeasing would probably all like to be able to say that they support the troops - but the fact is every word they've spoken and every action they've taken has only served to hurt the troops. What the Dems just don't get (well - one of the things they don't get) is the meaning of words and actions and the relationship between the two. Words and actions do have meaning. Actions do speak louder than words. Words that contradict one's actions are hypocritical and meaningless.
Saying that you support the troops lacks all credibility if you've spoken out against their mission. If everything you've done has served to delay action and give Saddam more time to prepare then you've placed our troops at greater risk. If everything you've said has served to bolster the views of Chirac and Schroeder then you've caused further delay and weakened the role of the UN while diminishing the chances for Saddam to surrender without war. If you've been marching for peace then you've only served to delay the arrival of peace, justice, and liberty for the Iraqi people.
If you believe you can be against this war and still support our troops then I challenge you to attend some of the upcoming rallies and talk with some of the veterans in attendance. Ask the loved-ones of those serving now if you can be against the war and support the troops. Ask some of the vets who were spit on when they returned from Vietnam if you can be against the war and still support the troops. At the rally in Valley Forge near the statue of George Washington kneeling in prayer the Vietnam veterans were thanked and cheered by the crowd. Some of them felt thanked for the first time. They were thanked and they were thankful to be able to walk 5 miles uphill to get to the rally to show support for the troops serving now.
Anyone that has a chance to attend one of these events will be forever grateful if they make it there. Speakers like Glenn Beck spoke inspirationally about the Norman Rockwell America and how we have become or truer and greater selves since 9-11. The National Anthem and God Bless America were sung with passion by all and when the Pledge of Allegiance began the ceremony the crowd raised their voices when it came to the words "under God".
The bottom line is that everyone in America should be supporting our troops but the troops are happy to serve their nation and even die for your right to speak out and protest the war if that's what you choose to do with your freedom. If you want to see what it means to support the troops attend one of these rallies. But if you spend your time speaking out against your country and the mission our soldiers are tasked with then please don't say you support the troops.
I had some similar thoughts (though no doubt not as well-articulated) which I posted on March 12 on a thread pertaining to the Dixie Chicks chick's semi-apology, in which she indulged in the "I support the troops, but..." rhetoric:
Get ready for it, folks. As soon as the missiles are launched, many of the protesters (celebrity and otherwise) will elbow their way to the nearest microphone and proclaim their allegiance to "the brave men and women serving in our armed forces," while continuing to decry their mission.
This is, of course, bogus. Impossible to be for the warriors and against the war. Yet many citizens will swallow this hypocritical claptrap. The fact is, most of these anti-American protesters (and let's call them what they are: anti-American and/or anti-Bush, not anti-war) will be hoping the war goes badly, even to the point of wishing for an outright defeat. Such an unlikely turn of events, of course, would result in cataclysmic casualties among the troops they so piously support. But for most protesters, better a war gone bad than a success for George W. Bush. It's no coincidence that so many leftist organizations which heretofore had no foreign policy agenda are now under the anti-war umbrella.
Don't let them get away with it. I suggest that FReepers consider a sort of pre-emptive action. Write a letter to the editor now, not after the shooting begins, calling out these "we support the troops, but..." phonies. Or call your local talk radio host. Or just talk about it at your office water cooler or after-work bar. Make it clear that the protesters' "support" is not welcome, tainted as it is. They've already chosen their side. Don't let them share in the victory to come. And for God's sake, never forget what they were saying before the war began. If they try to climb onto the bandwagon, kick them off.
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