By Staff
In that image-manipulating way this administration has - think of how Saddam Hussein was implicated in 9/11 terrorist attacks without that false connection ever being made explicitly - our choices are lashed together: If you don't support our war, you don't support our troops.
Our troops shouldn't even be dragged into this debate.
Politicians decide to go to war - not soldiers.
Troops on the battlefield generally follow orders and have little to say about the war's execution, the deployment of resources or the length of the conflict.
Speaking out against a bad war is meant to spare young men and women from being sacrificed for a questionable cause, not to slight their service.
That's why Iraq has never been comparable to Vietnam.
Americans have gotten beyond blaming soldiers for politicians' blunders.
This administration goes to great lengths to avoid honest debate.
Where the war is headed and at what cost should be fodder for vigorous debate.
The administration must muster a more credible defense of its policies than a defensive, “To criticize us is to betray the troops.”
Whether or not democracy will work in the Middle East remains open to debate, but there's no denying how valuable a free Iraq could be in stabilizing the world's most volatile region.
The Bush administration took us into battle with a political strategy instead of a military one, scrimping on the number of troops committed to avoid further antagonizing Arab states.
We treated them as the liberated rather than the vanquished, with the thin deployment enabling outside agitators to pour across porous borders and set up shop for a nasty insurgency.
As a result, the wider war on terror against Islamic extremists is bottled up, with the determined lunatic fringe preoccupying American military might.
We ought to be able to discuss a strategy for concluding the conflict and returning Iraq to the Iraqis without being accused of dishonoring our troops.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney like to castigate critics at a safe distance, usually with a receptive audience at a military installation. It beats braving skeptics' scrutiny.
Bush's strong preference for military audiences is a sign of weakness, ironically, though he cherishes the image of himself as a resolute commander in chief, like in May 2003 when he delivered the “mission accomplished” speech in a flight suit on the deck of the USS Lincoln.
With public opinion turning against the war, if Bush addresses civilians he is confronted with hecklers and protesters waving impeachment signs. With the military's ingrained respect for authority, soldiers comport themselves in a respectful manner and set aside personal opinions.
The White House went so far as to compare a senior House Democrat - and a decorated Vietnam veteran - who called for a swift withdrawal from Iraq to anti-war filmmaker Michael Moore. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said it is “baffling that [Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha] is endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic party.” Despite this blatant attempt to demonize him as an extremist, Murtha is a retired Marine colonel who earned a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts for service in Vietnam.
Cheney avoided military service during the 1960s Vietnam era with a series of draft deferments. Bush served stateside in the National Guard during Vietnam.
Nearly 2,100 American troops have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein - a war U.S. officials said was needed to strip Iraq of illicit stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and efforts to produce a nuclear bomb. No such weapons have turned up since Hussein's government collapsed in April 2003.
Public support has dropped sharply. Only 35 percent of those surveyed in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll supported the Bush administration's handling of the conflict; 54 percent said the invasion was a mistake. Nineteen percent of Americans want to see troops come home now; 33 percent said they wanted them home within a year. Only 38 percent said they should remain “as long as needed.”
It's wrong to imply that anyone who questions the war is therefore hostile to the troops fighting it.