Can the soldiers just walk away from these wars? Can these, our kids?

[bigtree]

Is it realistic to expect that these soldiers can just lay down their arms and refuse to fight these wars, these manufactured, illegal wars? I sense from many who oppose war, a hard resentment of the soldiers who are tasked to fight them. But, these wars bear little difference from conflicts in the past where the goals were muddy and the toll untenable. I do think that there is a disconnect with many who oppose war from those who are tasked to fight them. We are responsible for their burden. We bear the responsibility for their dilemma. But, most in America today, who aren't tasked with the duty and the fighting, sacrifice much less than ever before. I fear that we are not keeping faith with our children who are the first line of our defense. Perhaps some blame them for the destruction and the bloodshed. They certainly bear some responsibility for their actions, but we, who are safe here at home, must bear the most, both for their continuing task and for their eventual return as well.

Let's help these soldiers get through this. Let's continue to shoulder as much of their burden as we are able, physically, emotionally, and intellectually. God bless our soldiers.

[wtmusic]

1. The brave ones already have

http://freecamilo.org/

[earthside]

2. Profile in Courage

Camilo Mejia - HERO!

"Behind these bars I sit a free man because I listened to a higher power, the voice of my conscience."

http://freecamilo.org/

[New Earth]

4. that is an awesome story.

i never heard of it before. i will have to read the whole site later. it had me choked up :( sounds like a great guy.....with a lot of courage. :hug:

[bigtree]

3. brave ones, yes

but they aren't the only brave ones. Many brave ones still remain in the field. Don't pretend that superior morality lies only with resistors. Don't soil the souls of those soldiers who YOU and I have failed to bring home.

[Laurab]

5. We have not failed to bring them home

our warmonger "leader" has. HE and his administration sent them there, and he and his administration keep them there. I have a nephew slated to go from Korea to Iraq next month. Were he my child, I would do everything in my power to keep him from going, and then some.

He is not happy about it, doesn't think they belong in Iraq, and has no illusions about why we're there, yet he's going because it's his job. However, as he told me in October "everyone I've talked to in the military is praying for a regime change" - ie: voting for Kerry. This was a kid without a future, who joined the army during peacetime. I will never understand why, but he signed up for 4 more years during the 1st shrub war.

I support anyone who is there, but I did not send them. I support equally anyone who refuses to go, or who refuses to go back. I would refuse to go. I did not "fail to bring them home". I only WISH I had that power.

[bigtree]

7. I too would fully support any soldier who chooses to opt out of these wars

of opportunity, or for that matter any war that they could not bear to fight and kill in. I refuse, however, to accept the notion that those who choose to remain in the service of our country are somehow less moral or less courageous than those who choose not to. I appreciate your support for those who are bound by their commitment to serve. Our nation and the freedoms of choice that we employ were made possible by folks who answered the call to service in Europe and elsewhere many years ago, and most did so unconditionally. Our nation may well need these brave individuals who answered the call today in some future aggression against our nation and I am, and will be, eternally grateful for their selfless sacrifices.

I can't separate myself from the responsibility for our soldier's presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though I alone don't have the ultimate power to send them or bring them home. I feel that it is that disconnect from responsibility that some Americans employ that is at the root of the slope of our involvement in these manufactured wars of opportunity. There is a stark and visible lack of sacrifice and effort throughout the country as we go about our daily affairs, assuming these brave men and women will carry the burden of service that our laws governing a soldier's conduct mandate they adhere to.

Although I have also worked hard to change the policy and direction of our foreign involvements, I still insist that I carry some (but not all by any means) of the duty to tirelessly pursue any and all means to bring them home quickly and safely. So far, I have failed in my efforts to do so, in the election and in my advocacy. There can be no doubt about that. I have, so far, failed to stop Bush and his military industrial warriors from pursuing their imperialist ambitions for greed, power, and world domination. In that sense, all of us who long for peace, and seek to stifle Bush's expansionist zeal, have failed miserably. I deeply regret that and I will forever carry the burden of that failure until I am successful in my efforts. That realization will keep me focused and determined to never falter in my efforts and advocacy, and it is an honor to share the burden of responsibility with those soldiers, who, like the ones who came before them, serve our nation unconditionally.

[satya]

6. I did not support sending them there, and billions of our tax dollars are

being used to line the pockets of *'s buddies, while our troops are not being adequately cared for, in the field or when they return. And * dares to call himself "compassionate" and "Christian".

[No Exit]

8. "What if they gave a war and nobody came?"

That's a TV ad I remember from my childhood.

But my all-time favorite TV ad, in that vein, was the one where the narrator said, "Next time we have a war, maybe we should have the leaders battle it out." Then they showed two bloated old guys in very expensive suits, who stood in a ring and proceeded to punch one another. You could hear their wheezy panting as the old farts physically exerted themselves in what was probably the first time in 20 years.

It was a great ad.

[bigtree]

9. Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967), U.S. poet. The People, Yes (1936).

The words were popularized during the anti-war protests of the 1960s, and were echoed in the 1970 movie Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? starring Brian Keith and Tony Curtis. Allen Ginsberg also recalls the line in his 1972 poem, Graffiti: “What if someone gave a war & Nobody came? Life would ring the bells of Ecstasy and Forever be Itself again.”

http://www.bartleby.com/66/53/48053.html

[No Exit]

10. Thanks for the info! It's time for more ads like that!