Supporting our troops is a great idea, but is illogical as a retort to criticism of the war in Iraq. After all, the biggest drawback of the war is the death of our troops, and a good way to support people is to keep them from getting killed. If you claim to support our troops and still want to risk their lives, you’d better have a damn good reason.
If you don’t, you’re a hypocrite; if you do have a reason, why not make that your response to anti-war rants. We all support the troops, but our administration has given so many different stories that most of us don’t know why they are in Iraq. If you have a good reason that doesn’t reek of the same old fear-mongering, please enlighten us.
Whatever your rationale is, it will convince more people than tired sound bytes. The Iraq debate is full of standard quotes like “cut and run,” “Bush lied” and “support the troops” that don’t really say anything.
Meanwhile, little has been accomplished in Iraq in four years. We replaced a Sunni dictator with Shiite death squads. If more Iraqis say life has gotten better since we invaded, it’s probably because the Sunni minority is now being oppressed instead of the Shiite majority. Aside from the northern Kurdish region, Iraq is smoldering in civil war and is ready to burst into flame whenever we leave.
These problems must be solved, yet, whenever a difficult question is asked, the answers are always the same.
How can we prevent civil war if we leave now? “Bush lied!”
Why stay in Iraq if civil war is inevitable? “Don’t cut and run, pansy!”
Since we have neither a defined enemy nor a good definition of victory, what is the U.S.’s role in this war? “Support the troops!”
What this debate needs is fresh ideas. The way to support the troops is not to be cheerleaders for the military, but to find a way to create a lasting peace so that our soldiers can leave Iraq soon while still accomplishing something.
Ironically, lines like “support our troops” stifle the discussion of how to accomplish such a lasting peace. More often than not, I’m afraid that this phrase is used not to support the troops, but to give hawkish simpletons a copout when they cannot think of rebuttals to criticisms of the war.
Rather than getting off the hook with meaningless one-liners, we should admit that Iraq is a complex issue worthy of complex discussion.
In this discussion, our politicians have sadly relied on rhetoric even more than the general populace. As usual, they seem more interested in quarreling with each other than thinking of ways to get things done. It’s no wonder that the only solutions they can devise are pulling out of Iraq or escalating troop levels — a bigger version of what already isn’t working.
I’m cynical enough to expect such uncreative thinking from our nation’s leaders, but I do expect more from college students. If we put so much thought into understanding physiology, analyzing literature and solving integrals, why not dedicate as much thought to solving the problem of Iraq?
I challenge all readers to respond to the next criticism or meaningless sound byte defense of the war with a thoughtful, well-reasoned suggestion for what we should do in Iraq. By making enough noise this way, we’ll spark conversation and convince politicians they need to have real discussion also.
Better yet, this type of conversation may lead toward creating lasting peace between Sunnis and Shiites and finally ending this awful war.
Send your ‘thoughtful, well reasoned suggestions’ to Brian at [email protected].
