Thank a Vet for their service

Here's my Dad, Sgt. M.C. Mallory, USMC working on his AD-W3 in 1953. He was a crew chief.  I'm not sure if he's on the USS Bennington, a carrier in this picture, or at the US Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The AD3W, made by Douglas (before it became McDonald-Douglas) toward the end of WWII and the first bit of Korea. Like a Corsair or a Hellcat, but it could carry as much weight as a B-17, and sat 3 (pilot, radio man, and mechanic- like Dad). Same engine as a B-29 (only just one, not four- obviously).

Air Reconnaissance squadron. VMC-2 was the original composite squadron in Marine Corps aviation. It was commissioned at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point on September 15, 1952 evolving from the former Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Counter Measures section of the Wing Headquarters Squadron. 

VMC-2 was part of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. VMC stands for "Visual Meteorological Conditions," but VMC-2 and VMJ-2 were known for electronic and photo reconnaissance missions. On the one hand, I figure my dad was fortunate to be an aviation mechanic in the Caribbean instead of an infantryman in Korea. On the other hand, he tells stories of surviving hurricanes that overturned planes and trucks and tossed around jeeps.  

VMC-2 merged with VMJ-2 and became the VMCJ-2 in 1955. My Dad was still on reserve duty when VMCJ-2 documented the buildup of Soviet supplies in Cuba in 1960. He expected to get called up to active duty during the Cuban Missile crisis.

Turned out that dad had an allergy or bad skin reaction to something in jet fuel as opposed to whatever they used in these WWII era prop planes, so he didn't continue as a mechanic- but he did work for American Airlines for more than 40 years mostly in their air freight.

Pray for our troops and our vets

Those of us who haven't served in Iraq or Afghanistan have no idea what it's really like. Having your gun malfunction, the constant threat, the constant stench, placing bodies in plastic bags for removal...

I guess I've been thinking about this a lot lately, with a few current students enlisted already or considering signing with the National Guard, and scores of former students in the Guard or other branches of the military.

I was reminded of it again when President Obama gave a speech last month at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.

"Your dedication to duty is humbling. Your love of country is inspiring. The American people thank you for your service. We honor you for your sacrifices. And just as you have fulfilled your responsibilities to your nation, your nation will fulfill its responsibilities to you.

That's the message that I offered to the inspiring Gold Star families I met with a few moments ago-families who have made the ultimate sacrifice and whom we honor. And that's the message I bring to you and all our forces, families and veterans-around Jacksonville and across America.

You've made the most profound commitment a person can make-to dedicate your life to your country. And perhaps give your life for it. So as your commander-in-chief, here's the commitment I make to you."

Many of us share his sentiments. No matter how divided we were on the Bush Administration's policies in Iraq, we are can remain united in our unwavering care and concern for our service men and women and their families.

I take Luke 14:25-33 very seriously. Remember the concerns about "mission drift" and "nation building" when the U.S. committed troops to the U.N. action in Kosovo to help end the Serbian genocide of Muslim Croats in the former Yugoslavia? I sure remember Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld deflecting questions about managing the aftermath and rebuilding of Iraq after combat would end, before the invasion in February and March of 2003.

That's why I so appreciated when the President said,

"...while I will never hesitate to use force to protect the American people or our vital interests, I also promise you this-and this is very important as we consider our next steps in Afghanistan:

I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm's way. I won't risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary. And if it is necessary, we will back you up. Because you deserve the strategy, the clear mission, the defined goals and the equipment and support you need to get the job done. That's the promise I make to you."

I don't care what you think of health care reform or stimulus packages, you can oppose the President with every breath you take- he shouldn't risk their lives unless it is necessary and they do deserve clear goals and adequate equipment. Even if you don't trust him to keep the promise, you can not disagree that it's a promise they deserve.

We've been in Afghanistan for eight years now and we still haven't caught Osama bin Laden. Some think he's dead. There are some who argue that we should get out of Afghanistan because most of the Al Queda forces we're pursuing are already in Pakistan instead. Some think we can't leave until we're absolutely certain that the Taliban can not return to power, others say that the Taliban was never our target, Al Queda was.

So we are at a decisive moment, some of us want a troop surge in Afghanistan, some of us want a long deserved standing-down of all U.S. troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile the President seems to be weighing both options and some balance in between.

And then came the tragedy at Fort Hood. Like everyone else, I was shocked and sickened. And when I read about Major Nidal Malik Hasan, I was saddened. Maybe because he is my age, but mostly because as an Army psychiatrist it was his job to listen to the stories of and counsel dozens of veterans returning from service who experienced Hell on Earth, many of whom suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And too because he felt harassed by his fellow soldiers because of his political opposition to the wars and because of his religion.

Don't think for a minute that I excuse what he did- it was heinous, cowardly, truly inexplicable and ultimately inexcusable. At best it was terribly misguided, selfish and counter-productive to the causes he claimed to stand for. At worst it was plainly evil.

But it should bring our attention to the true spoils of war, the spiritual, social and emotional putrefaction that leads to such psychological break down.

It should make us pause and take to heart Luke 14:25-33 before we resort to military force, and do so only with the somber grief and caution of an Abraham Lincoln, and not the zeal and enthusiasm of a Kaiser Wilhelm II. What's more, I don't think that there is any shame or dishonor in re-evaluating and reconsidering why we're in any war, or how we prosecute said war.

Unlike Iraq, we entered Afghanistan with no controversy or disagreement. Terrorists trained and harbored in Afghanistan attacked us on our own soil. Though not Afghanistan itself or even her own people (most members of Al Queda were Saudi). President Obama called it a "war of necessity."

Be that as it may, American men and women are dying there every month and enduring experiences which will haunt them their entire lives. They are being torn from their families and careers. We need to support them whether or not we support our government's sending them into harm's way. We need to support them whether we love or loath their Commander in Chief. And we need to support them and their families in thought, word, and deed, not just in word only.

Please pray for our troops and their families. 2010 will see the largest single call-up of Iowa National Guard units since World War II. Some will be 18 year -olds, others will be 40 year-olds. Many on their first tour of duty, and many on their fifth or sixth deployment. But don't just pray for our active-duty soldiers- remember to pray for our veterans too. WWII, Korea, Vietnam, First Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghan veterans (and their families) need to know that we value them, that we are grateful for their sacrificial service.

Here are some ways that you can make a difference:

• There are 27,600 living vets just in Iowa. Consider writing a thank you card to one of the veterans at the Iowa Veteran's Home, 1301 Summit St. Marshalltown, IA 50158.
• Remember to buy a poppy to support the VFW and American Legion
• Visit www.supportsiouxlandsoldiers.com and help them provide for troops and their families. Adopt a family this holiday season.
• Consider supporting the United Service Organizations (USO) at http://www.uso.org
• Most of all, pray for our troops and our vets. Challenge yourself to pray for them everyday between Veteran's Day (November 11) and Thanksgiving.
• Wear black to work or school on Thursday, November 12, in honor of the victims and families effected by the Fort Hood massacre.
• Observe a moment of silence and pray for peace at 11 AM on Veteran's Day (11-11-1911).
• And no matter how you voted, pray for President Obama, that God would help him keep the promises he made at Jacksonville last month and that God would guide all of his decision making, but especially as Commander in Chief.

Happy 4th of July

My Dad by his plane. USMC Sgt. Merle Mallory was Crew Chief for a Hell Cat reconnaissance plane on a carrier stationed out of Guantanamo Bay during the Korean Conflict in the 1950's. I'm proud of his service. This Independence Day, say a prayer for all the men and women currently serving in harms way, as well as for their families. And tell them "Thank you" for all their hard work and sacrifice, even if you disagree with the Administration policies that put them in danger.

In Memory

Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion Post #66 Homer Hall) 2nd Vice Commander B.H. Meyer plays Taps at the post's Memorial Day observances held at Charter Oak-Ute High School this morning, Monday May 25, 2009.

Show a Vet you care

When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address.
If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much would get.

When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please
include the following:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington , D.C. 20307-5001

Remember

"...all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.

Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.
So I will throw Veterans' Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't want to throw away any sacred things." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Homecoming is a relief for Iraqi vet

A year or two ago critics of the continuing U.S. occupation in Iraq tried drawing parallels between this conflict and Vietnam. It was difficult for me to see sometimes. One’s a desert- the other’s a jungle. One had a draft, the other has extended deployments and stop-gap redeployments of National Guard units.

But there is at least one thing that Iraq now seems to have in common with Vietnam, and 2008 has in common with 1968. Both Republicans and Democrats are angry with the way the White House has handled things.

“Hawks” think that we may have gone in too soon, with too few allies, too few troops, insufficiently armed and supplied and without adequate planning for what to do after Saddam Hussein was removed.

Most “Doves,” of course, think we shouldn’t have gone in at all, but agree with too few allies and the inadequate planning. And both Hawks and Doves agree that we can’t blame the workers for a botched job. If there’s only one lesson that we seemed to learn from Vietnam, it’s that we should support our troops no matter how much we disagree with their Commander-in-Chief. At lease we’re agreeing on SOMETHING.

I know a young man who aspires to the discipline and prestige of the United States Marine Corps. He wants to make something of himself and he doesn’t see that happening at home on the farm. His girlfriend doesn’t want him to go but she’s so young that she’s not quite ready to wait for him either. He’s determined, even though he’s scared.

Sounds so cliché that I could’ve made it up doesn’t it?

One of my former students cam back from Iraq last week and came to see me. His stories were amazing. Being fired upon almost daily, having to return fire, not knowing when someone with a weapon is serving in a friendly force or an insurgent one. Bureaucratic headaches and personality conflicts all along the chains of command. Troops secure a territory on their patrol, but rather than staying there, they return to base and as soon as they leave, the insurgents return. Come to think of it, Iraq does sound a lot like Vietnam, doesn’t it?

He told me about how instead of trip wired for booby trap mine, now we call them improvised explosive devices (IEDs), they’ve taken to using those infrared or laser activated sensors like stores have in the mall, so that if you pass between the sensors you set off the bomb.

He told me about how the guardsmen worked on humanitarian projects to help the Iraqis in their neighborhoods and how he befriended the kids there. But it’s not the Army or the Guard that’s directly involved in these projects. The soldiers do it when they’re off duty. Sure, we finance things like community soccer fields, but according to this vet, there’s not much accountability. “You hand the Sheik $50,000 for the dirt work and see him driving by in a new car the next day, a week later he comes back and says that they got the dirt work done, but now they need another $70,000” and so on.
Story after story led me to believe that veterans of other wars who’d written anti-war books like Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5 and Richard Hooker’s MASH were not such absurd satires as they were accurate memoirs.

He had a buddy who covered a shift of guard duty for him who was shot and wondered if it should’ve been him. He misfired an ordinance he hadn’t been properly trained on which led to policy memos prohibiting anyone in the unit from “wasting” that particular type of ammunition.

He was on the phone with administrators who wanted a full, detailed damage report for a fire fight, WHILE the battle was going on. Difficult to do when you’re one of only two guys in the guard tower being shot at.

And of course there were stories of the chaos, the anarchy, the trash and the heat. Three Baghdad suburbs surrounded their part of Camp Victory and all three hated each other, even though two were both Sunni and only one was Shiite.

We talked a little bit about how we take care of our veterans, like about the Veteran’s Administration and the new G.I. Bill that’s been proposed in Congress. He seemed absolutely thrilled to be home, although through a paperwork SNAFU he was gypped out of a great deal of college funding. Despite that he’s applying for a full time job with the Guard.

I gingerly broached the subject of post-traumatic stress. He confided that there are nightmares, but not about battles or even being over in Iraq. The only dream that troubles him is the one where they call him back.

Veteran's Day Tribute!

During the WW I years, Arthur S. Mole and John D. Thomas made some incredible human pictures by using thousands of sailors or soldiers in uniform to create images. This was taken at Camp Dodge in Iowa and involved 18,000 men!

Say a prayer for all of our service men and women and their families this Sunday at 11 AM. And please pray for peace. Remember, the armistice ending WWI was signed at 11 AM on 11/11/1919.

Patriot's Day Display

This is an American Legion Post Chaplain, taking a moment. He was one of 33 volunteers placing 4,200 flags on a lawn to commemorate our fallen soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Tired of "Chicken Hawks"

War is a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.
- Thomas Mann

(German novelist and essayist whose early novels—Buddenbrooks (1900), Der Tod in Venedig (1912; Death in Venice), and Der Zauberberg (1924; The Magic Mountain)—earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929.)

I listened to a speech by our Congressman Steve King today at the dedication of our local Veteran's Memorial. To his credit, he drew attention to the nearly 510 service men and women who lose their lives every year during peace time training, who die unheralded as part of the cost of being prepared to defend our freedoms. I liked that part.

Unfortunately, mush of what he said was pretty typical pro-Bush, pro-War propaganda. He contends that you just can't solve some problems by talking and you may as well use your military as long as you have one. He mentioned how scary Iran is and even went so far as to quote Sun Tzu's "the Art of War."

I thought to myself that even heap big macho Republican god Ronald Reagan talked us into better relations with Russia, and Gary Sick, who served on the National Security Council under three presidents contends that Reagan's campaign met secretly to negotiate the release of the American hostages from Iran (but not until January 1980, so that Carter couldn't take credit). Every preschooler and kindergartener knows, to "always use your words, hitting never solves anything.".

Hello??? It's called "militarism," it's what Italy, Japan, and Germany were practicing in the 1930's. Our honored veterans of the "greatest generation" (God bless them) fought and died to defeat this viral, insidious philosophy! It seemed like Congressman King was trying to make himself sound smart by citing historical references. I think he needs to go back to school and brush up a little on both history and philosophy.

Whew! Thanks, now that I've got that out of my system, I can go write a nice, pleasant, innocuous, objective news story about the dedication of the memorial, which really is beautiful, solemn, and moving.

I always believed that America's founding fathers hoped that we would be a nation built on reason and intellect, not military might, like the great European empires that preceded and eventually spawned us. But alas, it looks like, as happens to almost all adolescents when they grow up, we have become our parents- the very thing we once held in such disdain.

This brings me to Thomas Mann's quote. I think of it as an antidote for Sun Tzu (and Machiavelli, for that matter). I think when I finish reading "Cannery Row," maybe I'll try to get my hands on some of his work. This is some of what Wikipedia says about him:

In 1930 Mann gave a public address in Berlin titled "An Appeal to Reason," in which he strongly denounced Nazism and encouraged resistance by the working class. This was followed by numerous essays and lectures in which he attacked the Nazis. At the same time, he expressed increasing sympathy for socialism and communism. In 1933 when the Nazis came to power, Mann and his wife were on holiday in Switzerland. Due to his very vociferous denunciations of Nazi policies, his son Klaus advised him not to return. However, Thomas Mann's books, in contrast to those of his brother Heinrich and his son Klaus, were not amongst the many burnt publicly by Hitler's regime in May 1933; apparently, since he was the literature Nobel laureate for 1929 (see below), they did not dare that so early. Finally in 1936 the Nazis denied officially his German citizenship.

"Images of Disorder", by social critic Michael Harrington in his collection The Accidental Century, is a highly literate account of Mann's political progression from the right to the left.

One last quick aside- at the pancake brunch before the ceremony, one member of the VFW, a retired Air Force General, called me a "reactionary liberal." I wasn't too offended because for one thing, in spite of George H. W. Bush's spin on the word back in 1988, I think that being liberal something to be proud of, even though I'm really pretty moderate to conservative on many issues. And because basically, anyone who writes about politics is reactionary, you're always reacting or responding to something. In this post, I'm reacting to what a dweeb I think my Congressman can be sometimes. The other reason I wasn't too offended, was that what he actually said was, "There's my favorite writer, of course I wish you weren't such a reactionary liberal, but you're still my favorite writer." How can you be offended by something like that? Thanks Doc.

Video Vets

These video testimonials from Iraq vets are very moving

VideoVets: Peter Granato

Which VideoVets video should be a TV ad?
Vote at http://pol.moveon.org/videovets

Video Vets

This website has an amazing collection of testimonials from veterans and their families.

VideoVets: Kevin Denton

Which VideoVets video should be a TV ad?
Vote at http://pol.moveon.org/videovets

Say Thanks

www.letssaythanks.com

If you go to the website above you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq.

You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!!

his is a great site. Please send a card, it is FREE and it will only take a few seconds.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these?

Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to know we are behind them.
__________________________________
http://ted.mallory.googlepages.com/home.html

"The gospel is meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." ~Garrison Keillor

Support our troops, bring them home!

I recently got an email that complained-

"Americans who support our troops used to be called the "silent majority". We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organized, boisterous or over-bearing. We get no liberal media coverage on TV, to reflect our message or our opinions."

I couldn't believe how persecuted they felt. They control all 3 branches of government. I clicked the "reply-all" button and fired back:

How the President and Secretary of Defense FAILED to support our troops:
1. Didn't send enough of them to Afghanistan
2. Began planning to send them to Iraq BEFORE they even got into office, let alone before 9/11
3. Lied to us to make us thing that Iraq had anything whatsoever to so with 9/11
4. Sent them to Iraq
5. Didn't send enough of them to Iraq
6. Didn't send them with enough or good enough supplies, from body armor to vehicle armor
7. Don't take good enough care of their families while they're gone
8. Don't take good enough care of them or their families once they come home
9. Didn't and still don't have a plan for the reconstruction of Iraq once Saddam Hussein was overthrown
10. Contract too many aspects of the operation out to private contractors, who get paid insanely greater amounts than our soldiers
11. Extended stays, re-ups, re-mobilizations
12. Failed to train them adequately for coping with IEDs and RPGs
13. Failed to train them adequately for security, infrastructure rebuilding and general peacekeeping duties of occupation (which should be reconstruction)
14. Failed to train them in ethics and human-relations OR actually instructed them to violate international treaties, leading to abuses in Abu Grahd, and Haditha- then let them take the fall for it in the courts and the media instead of taking responsibility at the command level.
15. Abused the National Guard system for major combat operations when they're supposed to be reserved for natural emergencies like Katrina and Rita. Especially when guys like Bush and Cheney conveniently avoided service in Vietnam by joining the Guard

Support our troops, remember them, pray for them, offer any assistance you can to their families at home, welcome them back with open arms when they do ge to come home, thank them for their service and sacrifice, give to veterans' charities, write to them and send them care packages, vote for them when they run for office once they get home, please, PLEASE keep them and their families in your prayers- but don't stop thinking, don't start hating people who think differently than you do, don't worship our leaders and follow them blindly without scrutinizing them. Support our troops by exercising the rights that they fight for. Best of all, support our troops by calling for their return home.

And don't send mindless, arrogant, foolish, prejudiced, right-wing propaganda to me unless you want me to answer back with the truth like this again.

Your fellow American, and member of the TRUE silent majority- the MIDDLE!

We should do right by our vets

On June 28th, 1914 Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and wife were assassinated in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalist. Germans wanted to defend Austrians, Russians wanted to defend Serbians, the French had promised to help the Russians. Germany marched through Belgium to attack France. The English wanted to defend the Belgians and by summer everyone in Europe had “August Fever.” They assumed that thanks to modern technology and good planning, they’d win a quick war and be home by Fall.

Instead, World War One, or “the Great War” left 10 million dead and 20 million wounded, many of those permanently maimed. The world faced amputees, the long-term health effects of new chemical and biological weapons and to the paralyzing psychological traumas that were then known as “shell-shock.” So many young men and boys were lost that theirs became called “the lost generation.”

At 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918, in a railroad car, leaders of the Allied and Central Powers signed an armistice, a temporary suspension of hostilities. Americans observed that day as a day to honor peace and the sacrifice of it’s veterans already in 1919. In 1938, Congress made it an official, National holiday. In 1954 Congress renamed the holiday “Veteran’s Day.”

Before WWI was even finished, in January 1918, President Woodrow Wilson gave his famous “14 points” speech to Congress. Outlining his plan for making the world safe for democracy, and making sure that WW I would be the war to END all wars. We could learn a lot from his plan:

1. “Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at”…”diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.” No secret alliances, no secret negotiations, all deals needed to be above-board. Would that also mean no secret bombings and no secret prison camps?

2. “Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war”

3. Free trade

4. Arms reduction

5. Sovereignty and self determination for small countries, rather than occupation and control by more powerful nations.

Points 6-13. Dealt with the reorganization of many of the European nations that were fought over and agreeing on where their borders should be.

14. “A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”

After WWII, the U.S led the way in creating such an association, the United Nations, in hopes of helping all nations operate by rule of law and international agreements, rather than by the personality and whims of their leaders or parties in power.

Republican Senator from Wisconsin Gerald Nye led a committee to investigate what drew the U.S. into WWI. Between 1934 and 1936 his seven member committee held Ninety-three hearings and questioned more than two hundred witnesses. The committee reported that between 1915 and April 1917, the US loaned Germany $27 million while at the same time loaning Great Britain and its allies $2.3 billion (about 85 times as much). They concluded that the US entered the war because it was in its commercial interest for England to win.

116,516 American service men died in WWI. The war cost the U.S. $18.7 billion. Americans came to understand that America’s involvement may have been profit driven. Congress authorized veterans' benefits in 1917. In 1924, WWI vets were promised a bonus payment of $1,000. As the Great Depression worsened in 1932, nearly 15,000 veterans and their families marched on Washington to demand their bonuses. The “Bonus Army” camped out for months. By July, the Bonus Army was 25,000 strong.

No matter how we feel about the war or the President, we should honor our soldiers. We should pressure our officials to make sure that veterans and military families, including National Guard members receive the benefits that they need.

Ben Tripp of Veterans For Common Sense puts it this way. “Thousands of Vietnam veterans are lost in America's streets and public shelters, thirty years after their war petered out, unable to repatriate in a nation that has forgotten what real sacrifice costs… Will we let this happen again to the warriors that are spilling their guts in the sands of Iraq?... Do not judge them for what they have done, no matter how bloody, no matter how banal their role in the war. Do not judge them. They are the sword that cuts. They are not the hand that wields it. Some will be accused of crimes, and will answer for them; others will be lauded as heroes and held up as models for future generations…if we are willing to do the work, we might be able to stop the war inside our troops when they come home.”

VAIW :: Veterans Against The Iraq War

VAIW :: Veterans Against The Iraq War: "Veterans Against Iraq War is a coalition of American veterans who support our troops but oppose war with Iraq or any other nation that does not pose a clear and present danger to our people and nation.

Until and unless the current U.S. Administration provides evidence which clearly demonstrates that Iraq or any other nation poses a clear, direct and immediate danger to our country, we oppose all of this Administration's pre-emptive and unilateral military activities in Iraq. Furthermore, we cannot support any war that is initiated without a formal Declaration of War by Congress, as our Constitution requires.

Although we detested the dictatorial policies of Saddam Hussein and sympathized with the tragic plight of the Iraqi people, we opposed unilateral and pre-emptive U.S. military intervention on the grounds that it established a dangerous precedent in the conduct of international affairs, that it could easily lead to an increase of violent regional instability and the spread of much wider conflicts, that it places needless and unacceptable financial burdens on the American people, that it diverts us from addressing critical domestic priorities, and that it distracts us from our goals of tracking down and destroying international terrorists and their lairs.

Furthermore, we do not believe that the American military can or should be used as the police force of the world by any administration, Republican or Democrat. Consequently, we believe that the lives and well being of our nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines should not be squandered or sacrificed for causes other than in the direct defense of our people and nation."

support the troops

What does it mean to support the troops?
from the 'Sojourners' weekly newsletter: 05.18.2005 www.sojo.net

Memorial Day is approaching, and calls to support the troops echo across the national media. But how does the United States really treat its soldiers and its veterans?

Even those of us who advocate nonviolence must recognize the humanity of those who, for many reasons, made the hard choice to join the armed forces. As we protest a war and an occupation that has claimed as many as 100,000 Iraqi civilians' lives, we must have compassion for the suffering experienced on all sides.

Well over 1 million soldiers have served in Afghanistan and Iraq since September 11, 2001, according to the Pentagon. A full third of those million have served more than once. In addition to the 1,600-plus soldiers who have been killed in Iraq, more than 12,000 troops have been wounded and needed to seek medical treatment. Soldiers who have suffered psychologically are more difficult to count - and often more difficult to treat. A 2004 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine pointed out that 17 percent of Iraq veterans were exhibiting signs of major depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But according to that study, less than 40 percent of those soldiers sought treatment for PTSD, due to the stigma associated with its diagnosis. According to Steve Robinson at the National Gulf War Resource Center, the military needs to be doing much more to educate about and treat PTSD.

Once soldiers arrive home, they face new difficulties. According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, although veterans compose only 9 percent of the U.S. population, they represent 23 percent of our nation's homeless. More than 500,000 veterans experience homelessness each year.

The White House isn't getting kinder to vets, either. In January of 2003, just prior to the March invasion of Iraq, President Bush suspended the health-care benefits of 200,000 veterans. The Bush administration's proposed 2006 budget would charge a new $250 enrollment fee to 2.2 million veterans, and would double vets' prescription drug co-pay, which could limit access to those drugs for veterans living in poverty. The budget also proposes to cut $351 million from veterans' nursing homes, and $4 million from medical and prosthetic research.

This Memorial Day, join Sojourners in calling on our country to uphold its responsibilities to veterans, practice real compassion, and truly support the troops. With just a few clicks of your mouse, you can send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and help us raise veterans' issues around the country.

Click here to take action!

Operation Truth

Operation Truth: "We are the voice of the troops, a non-partisan group created to help them share stories of life on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are also working to help veterans get the support they need."

These are Iraq Vets who hope to be considered non-partisan. They're not as onto pulling out immediately as IVAW. Op Truth is more about the day to day needs of troops and vets. I'd say they were the "stand up at Sec. Rumsfeld's press conference and ask why they don't have enough armor and supplies" kind of guys.

Look, if you won't listen to a Dove like me on this stuff, please visit one of these three websites to get the points of view of the people who've been there, fighting the Bush family's war.

IVAW-Iraq Veterans Against the War

Mission - Iraq Veterans Against the War"Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) is a group of veterans who have served since September 11th, 2001 including Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. We are committed to saving lives and ending the violence in Iraq by an immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces. We also believe that the governments that sponsored these wars are indebted to the men and women who were forced to fight them and must give their Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen the benefits that are owed to them upon their return home."

These are Servicemen and women who have served (and a few who are currently serving) in the current U.S.-Iraq War

Support the Troops, Oppose the Policy

VAIW :: Veterans Against The Iraq War

VAIW :: Veterans Against The Iraq War: "Veterans Against Iraq War is a coalition of American veterans who support our troops but oppose war with Iraq or any other nation that does not pose a clear and present danger to our people and nation." These are Vets from all different wars, WWII, Vietnam, First Gulf War, etc.