Friday, November 12, 2004
Veterans Day
I tried my best to write a "thank you to the troops" post yesterday but I couldn't do it. It's not that I don't thank them for their sacrifices. I absolutely do, but it makes me unspeakably sad that they are giving themselves and their lives to an Iraq war that has very little to do with the threat of terror Bush claims to be protecting us from.
In my mind, their honorable commitment to defend the country is being abused by a shameless White House that has no moral difficulty in misleading the country and exploiting the patriotism of a stunned people in order to achieve longstanding foreign policy goals that preceded 9/11, namely direct military control over the region containing the most indispensable economic resource in the world.
So, thank you to our soldiers, past and present, who have served honorably in the cause of freedom. And god damn their leaders who, I feel, have all too frequently abused the trust placed in them by those soldiers even as the leaders grotesquely wrap themselves in the honor legitimately earned by the sweat of other, better people.
In my mind, their honorable commitment to defend the country is being abused by a shameless White House that has no moral difficulty in misleading the country and exploiting the patriotism of a stunned people in order to achieve longstanding foreign policy goals that preceded 9/11, namely direct military control over the region containing the most indispensable economic resource in the world.
So, thank you to our soldiers, past and present, who have served honorably in the cause of freedom. And god damn their leaders who, I feel, have all too frequently abused the trust placed in them by those soldiers even as the leaders grotesquely wrap themselves in the honor legitimately earned by the sweat of other, better people.
