Ho Chi Murtha

To the Editor:

John Murtha is a combat soldier like I was. We learned mostly about kill-or-be-killed. He did not go to war college or West Point to learn how to plan a war.

John Murtha is only talking politics. How many lives would be lost if we just got out? All the troops want to stay and finish the job. But Murtha wants to retreat and give up. I'm glad you all were not around for World War II or we would be goose stepping.

I do honor John Murtha for his service to our great country. Let's get behind President Bush and finish World War III!

V.

Now this pisses me off. V., I in no way question your bravery or dedication to your country. I do question your allowing partisan politics to cloud your perception of motives. If anyone should know better than to buy into the "Murtha wants to cut and run" bullshit, it should be a fellow veteran. Bush, Cheney, Rove and Rumsfeld are political hacks, who never served themselves and therefore have no issue using the military as a form of political currency. You, on the other hand, should have more respect than that.

First of all, the issue at hand here is one of history, sociology, and the human sciences, not military strategy. Murtha isn't saying the war is being poorly handled, he's saying the war is not worth fighting. That's a completely different, issue, coming from a totally different perspective. You don't have to agree with it, but at least be honest about the man's credentials and how they apply to the situation. How many years have you been a hawkish member of the United States legislative branch, V? None? Well, then the fact that you both started as combat soldiers doesn't really matter, does it?

Moving on, a statement like "All the troops want to stay and finish the job" is a completely irresponsible thing for you to claim as fact. First of all, it's just plain off-the-charts wrong. I'm not going to make any claims about numbers or percentages, but the assertion that ALL the troops support our efforts on a philosophical scale is completely inaccurate and asinine. Here's just one link to prove you wrong, V. And that's just on an organizational scale. Your having been a soldier once doesn't put you in a position to make blanket statements for military members any more than my having been in 11th grade twelve years ago makes me the national spokesperson for high school students across America.

The spin coming from the far-right is that Murtha and those of a like mind want to "cut and run", or as V. put it, "retreat and give up." This is complete pap, and I'm surprised that so many people are willing to believe that any American public servant would think that way. It goes a long way toward showing just how much you've allowed batshit rhetoric to cloud your judgment. You want to read Ann Coulter's "How To Set Fire To A Liberal's Children" and Bill O'Reilley's "The Left-Is Raping Our Pets", that's fine, but you've forgotten your grain of salt. You've let them convince you that America is no longer a team effort. You, with help from them, have become the real problem, V.

The truth is that John Murtha is a patriot, and you should be able to think critically enough to ponder how it is that his opinion differs from yours without falling back on anti-American brainpiss. Patriotism is loving your country, V. It is similar to loving your children. Of course you love your children, and you wish the best for them. That doesn't mean that you enable them when they go through a self-destructive phase, or that you ignore their wrongdoings. In the hope of guiding your children to future greatness, you hold them accountable for their decisions and reprimand them when they misbehave. That's how we, as patriots, feel about the war in Iraq, V. We don't want to move to Canada or topple the government. We want to lovingly but forcefully return America as a bastion of light and goodness in the world. Ask around, V. We are no longer that. The world looks at us as the bully on the block to be avoided. I wouldn't let my child act as such, and I won't stand by idly as my nation does either.

The only reason I'd get behind Bush is that I don't trust him enough to walk in front of him. He just a few days ago admitted that the war was anchored on bad intelligence and that the responsibility was his; this has been the claim of his critics for YEARS. Yet through all those years, the anti-war movement was labeled as a bunch of traitorous America haters, for asserting exactly what the president finally fessed up to. People like you refuse to take him to task because he makes you feel good. He's like morphine... the nation may be ailing, but as long as you're high on his rhetoric, you don't have to worry about it. Well, morphine never healed a wound or cured an ailment. It's time we got off the painkillers and dealt with the real issues.

This isn't World War III, V., and comparing the two is almost blasphemous. We were attacked by a sovereign nation and entered World War II to defend ourselves and our allies, our soldiers joining a steadfast coalition of our staunchest allies while Americans at home made sacrifices for the cause. This time, we reacted to an attack by criminals by attacking a foreign nation that was completely uninvolved in the criminal act, our allies barely able to support us, if at all, due to the horrified reaction of people around the world, while at home we are asked to sacrifice nothing and are given tax breaks that favor those who could afford to sacrifice the most. This is no World War III. It is American imperialism, hubris, and vanity, and believe me, V., pride cometh before the fall.