Texas protest changes columnist's perspective

[Sapphire Blue]

Texas protest changes columnist's perspective

Mary deJuliis
Phoenix columnist

(excerpt)

I went to pay my respects to a grieving mother. There is no way I can express my feelings to the families of all 1,841 KIAs (the count when I left for Crawford,) so I paid my respects to Cindy and the other grieving moms and wives who I found at Camp Casey. I was very moved by the more than 1,841 white crosses that lined the side of the country road from the campsite back towards Crawford. Each one represented a fallen soldier. They were placed along the side of the road, three or four back, and went for about a mile. Each cross or star of David had a soldier's name. They were hard to look at going as far as the eye could see to a bend in the road without thinking of your own children. And there are so many soldiers who have come home injured. War isn't a video game. It isn't a movie. They don't get back up when it's over.

<snip>

Being there has changed my perspective regarding veterans. I have always respected the men and women of our military. But I don't think I've been showing it like one should. They honor our country and we citizens by their great service and sacrifice. We should respect and honor them. They go into the military and train to protect our country and our freedoms and understand they may have to sacrifice their lives. They trust our government to be in the right and don't question it. We should do what we can to ensure they aren't misused, abused or cast aside by our own government. We can do this by paying attention to what the people we elect are doing in Washington D.C. and calling or writing them when we are happy with them and when we are not. It's time to get off the couch, take 10 minutes out of your lunch break, or whenever you can find a few minutes as this is important.

<snip>

I am not antiwar. As long as it is possible for people like Adolph Hitler to come to power and persecute people, then there is a possibility for a need of military action. We need military presence here at home to protect ourselves from attack, so closing all the bases under Base Realignment And Closure makes absolutely no sense to me. I'm not sure why we need all those military bases all over the world, as I don't see the strategy of some of their locations. But I'm no expert.

I am antiwar in Iraq because we were lied to about why we are in Iraq, our troops still don't have enough protective equipment, there were no weapons of mass destruction and Iraq wasn't responsible for the bombing of the World Trade Center. The first report I saw on CNN was that Marines had successfully secured 20 oil sites. It hasn't been about taking democracy to the Iraqi people. The Downing Street memos, the massive number of soldiers returning wounded and with missing limbs and more than 1,841 American soldiers' deaths, those are some of the reason's I am against the war in Iraq.

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050818/OPINION/508180319/1014

[Cha]

1. Brilliant column by

Mary deJuliis. Her reasons are based on facts..the anti-Cindy smearers reasons are based on LIES.

[Jade Fox]

2. Wow. Very simple, direct, and effective. n/t

[Sapphire Blue]

3. ...

:kick:

[zbdent]

4. So, how long before the author is fired for

mentioning Hitler in any way, shape, or form other than denigrating liberals?

[Generic Other]

5. Thanks. I posted a link here:

8/18 ALL DU Cindy threads DAY 12
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4387685#4387755

Glad to see Americans coming out of the trance. Cindy's wake-up call.

[Straight Shooter]

6. I get annoyed when the right paints the left with a broad anti-war brush.

I believe in war the same way I believe in self-defense to protect one's life. When you are defending your life (or another's life) in an immediate crisis, all you can do is react to save yourself as best you can. With the option of war, you have time for reflection to consider your actions and their consequences and it is imperative that war be only as a regrettable extreme last resort.

I deeply wish there were no need for war, but for that to occur there must be people of good faith and reasoned intellect who lead their countries. People must set aside their fear and bigotries and elect those whose motivation is the ultimate good for Earth and its inhabitants. Will it ever happen? Sadly, I doubt it.