Posted on 06/07/2005 12:03:09 PM PDT by Eternally Vigilant
After relentlessly criticizing the U.S. military, anti-war agitators like to assuage their guilty consciences and convince themselves that they are patriots by repeating empty slogans about opposing the war, not the warrior. Then they promptly resume bashing the cause for which those warriors risk their lives.
(Excerpt) Read more at eternalvigilance society.org ...
Last Sunday, a speaker at a Manhattan anti-war rally claimed that the American military trains convoy drivers using cardboard cutouts of kids so that the drivers can get practice driving over children. Clearly, one cannot believe that our troops practice running over children and simultaneously support them.
Almost every comment made by the war's vocal opposition about the U.S. military is negative. However, they know that the anti-war movement has a shameful lineage of mistreating veterans dating back to the Vietnam era. To avoid conjuring up memories of so-called peace protesters spitting on young vets in airports and calling them "baby killers," they try to cover themselves by proclaiming to support the troops.
In brief, anti-war zealots who claim to support the troops are liars. Recent events in our community prove it.
On Memorial Day anti-war activists splashed gallons of red paint on a veterans monument in Putnam County. Wednesday they spray-painted a peace symbol on a monument honoring Walter Panas High School grads serving in Iraq. Do they expect us to believe that they oppose the war but support the troops even while painting over the names of those troops and desecrating the monument erected in their honor?
Anti-war apologists dismiss these acts of vandalism as isolated instances. A few bad apples, they say. This, too, is false. In February, a man was arrested for throwing a burning rag at an Armed Forces recruitment center in the Bronx. A Manhattan recruiting center's door was bashed in with a rock while anti-war slogans and the trademark red paint was splattered on the building. More patriotic troop supporters in action, I suppose.
In March, four anti-war protesters vandalized an upstate Army recruiting center and poured blood on the office's American flag.
That same month, anti-war protesters in White Plains demonstrated their support for the troops by asking me, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, how many kids I killed in Iraq and by calling me a Nazi and a sucker for enlisting in the military. The White Plains crew also demonstrated their undying support of the military by passing out fliers that encouraged young people not to join it. Clearly those assembled that day were troop supporters all.
An on-line search indicates that in nearly every state of the union similar instances of anti-troop, anti-military vandalism have been perpetrated by those who espouse peace despite the ubiquitous claim that they oppose the war not the troops.
The anti-war rabble who hide behind a placards proclaiming to support the troops while constantly condemning and dishonoring them are hypocrites of the first order. Their lies must be challenged and exposed by those who truly support our troops and the cause for which they are serving.
(Mr. Lalor, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, is the founder and executive director of the Eternal Vigilance Society. For more information, visit www.eternalvigilancesociety.org)
Re: That same month, anti-war protesters in White Plains demonstrated their support for the troops by asking me, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, how many kids I killed in Iraq and by calling me a Nazi and a sucker for enlisting in the military. The White Plains crew also demonstrated their undying support of the military by passing out fliers that encouraged young people not to join it. Clearly those assembled that day were troop supporters all.
I hope Mr. Lalor is aware of how many of us there are out here who have the utmost respect for him, and who appreciate all he has done for our country. Treating a veteran like this is reprehensible.
Good article. I tell you I didn't support us going to Bosnia. I used the "I Support the Troops but Not this war" mantra also. However, to vandalize memorials, to call troops names and all that other crap these wacko, "give peace a chance" hypocrites would have never crossed my mind.
Just goes to show that those who claim to be so tolerant, compassionate, peaceful and loving are NONE of the above!
As a supporter of both Iraqi Freedom and the Bosnia War and of the honor our troops have always maintained (even in the utterly un-human face of Nazism), the idea of our troops being treated this way by those who have never and will never serve is abominable. That said, I think we should be careful not to dehumanize the other side (even if they do it to us from time to time). My mother is actually an anti-war lefty (sadly, she wanted Kucinich to win) who went to many of the rallies before the war. She would never do anything to insult the troops or blame them in any way. While I don't agree with her views, she makes it clear that her beef is only with the policy-makers and not the troops. Then again, it is probably easier for her to make this distinction, since she has 3 sons in the military (one of which is a Dem).
Military recruiting is quickly turning into a home-front disaster. ROTC recruitment is down 16% over the past two years. Active-duty Army recruitments were 27% below the goal for February 2005, despite a $20,000 recruitment bonus. And the Army missed its April recruitment target by a whopping 42%. Source
It is amazing how they can claim to support the troops yet be so quick to believe the worst about them.
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I may not agree with her politics, but she clearly did something very right. I salute her.
older post...but, grrrr!!!!
"The big lie" is right. We've seen that somewhere before...?
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