How can we get the American People to realize that supporting the troops does not mean agreeing with the war?

Love always, Kortnei

I fully agree with you...I dislike the war but have a lot of respect for the service members and stuff...they are doing a job I could never do but I am so thankful they do that job....

ret_roch_cop

Write to your elected officials and tell them to knock the pork out of the funding bill and allow it to either stand or fall on its own. Anything else is dishonest and makes your "I support the troops but not the war" statement disengenuous. The majority party right now will have to get used to the fact that they have a very slim majority, and a very slim mandate.

Cheyenne

I agree. Nobody likes war. Wheter you agree with it or not there are people who left thier families behing to support our country. They deserve everyones respect while they are overseas and for the rest of their lives. My father in law is a Vietnam Vet and he is in a group that goes to funerals of fallen soldiers to protect the families from protesters. Yes, people actually will protest the war at a fallen soldiers funerals. That to me is the highest level of disrespect to the soldier and their family. They get out of hand and yell at the families. So disrespectful.

American Hero

Finally, a Liberal that has it right!!!

Brite Tiger

Take it from a long-time Red Sox fan, One can root like hell for the home team, and still anticipate that disaster is coming. (Or, better yet, ask a Cubsâ€™ fan.) That surely doesnâ€™t mean that one hopes the players fail, or get hurt, and it doesnâ€™t mean you are want the team to lose, either. But, reality does have a way of intruding.

There's an evident confusion that has overwhelmed proponents of a pseudo-controversy, causing them to fall prey to a bit of sloganeering masquerading as something profound and controversial. Yet, it is not profound and should not be controversial. It is an illusion of speech and juxtaposition, and contains an apparently subtle misdirection. Let's see.

I support the troops but I don't support the war.

We have the statement: I support the troops.
We have the statement: I don't support the war.

First, in all the comments I've read, I have never seen anyone explain what they meant by: I support the troops. A simple explanation would end the argument.

You support the troops. Do you mean that you want them to have the best training so that when they are in battle in Iraq they will emerge victorious? Should they have the highest quality sniper rifles and best trained snipers so they can splatter a man's skull from 1000 yards? Do you want the Special Forces to have the sharpest, truest commando knives so they can easily disembowel their enemy or slash open their throats? Do you want the troops to have the best machine guns so they can shred human bodies like so much cabbage? . What do you mean that you support the troops? Do you mean that Apache gunships should have the fastest and most effective machine guns so they can tear their enemies into chunks of smoldering flesh, while inflicting the greatest number of deaths? Do you mean that you want the Air Force and Navy ships to have the most precision guided weaponry so they can obliterate any material object that offers sanctuary or utility to the enemy. Do you support the troops breaking into people's homes to search for weapons caches and explosives.

That is what supporting the troops should mean, as a matter of fact, language and logic.

But that is not what you mean.
Those of you who use the expression "support the troops but not the war" rely on a immediate change of subject. As soon as you write the sentence, the word "troops" attains an unconventional meaning in your hands. What you mean is that: you are empathetic with the men and women who have put their lives on the line to do what they think/thought is best. You empathize with the moral dilemma experienced by many of them, and you admire their loyalty in what they perceive as defending their country. You admire their often outstanding bravery. You appreciate many of their virtuous qualities. They have volunteered themselves for many reasons. Some to seek adventure, and gain experience. Some seek educational opportunities, some want to work in areas that have no counterpart in the civilian world. Some joined up because they had nothing better to do. Some like guns. Some enjoy blowing things up. Some did it for money. Some because their parents thought the discipline would do them good. There are a million reasons, and you understand and empathize with their plight, and you feel badly for the toll taken on their bodies, their minds, and their families. The survivors require care and kindness and gratitude, and you feel badly for them. You wish they could come home. These are wonderful and heartfelt sentiments. This is what you mean by support. And this, of course, is also felt by those who continue to support the war in Iraq.

But your support is not of TROOPS.

TROOPS are soldiers, and marines and Navy and Air force. They are trained to kill in defense of themselves and their buddies, and they kill to gain advantage in position to further their immediate objective...to destroy the enemy. Those who are not killing are in supporting roles: logistics, communications, medical units, and maintenance of equipment absolutely vital to support the fighting troops so they may continue to destroy and kill the enemy.

If you support TROOPS, that is what you support. TROOPS are "trooping" , they are acting like troops, fighting and killing and being killed, and terribly wounded in Iraq. My advice for those who honestly think you can "support the troops, but not the war" is to appropriate a different slogan. You support something, but it is not TROOPS.

TROOPS cannot fight in wars that you do not support.

michele g

Please the Democrats do not support the troops....... never did never will ,it was a photo op that is all!

aceman9188

Absolutely, I also am for the war. I understand they are two different things but also inter-related. People need to stop saying 'bring the troops back' becuase this is their job, they are paid for this. Should we just bring them back and pay them for sitting on their backside? They knew there was mortal danger when they signed up for the job, they know what they got into.

afterflakes

it is blatantly obvious that they do not support the troops. the bill they are sending to the prez cuts off all funding to troops, no matter what, march, 2008. now, i know better than to think that my fellow americans would never, NEVER allow our troops to be in a war without supplies, armor, bullets, tanks, and whatever else they need. i also know my fellow americans would never want us to lose a war that we started. it is funny really. there are really and truly only a few of these dissenting voices, but they are surely heard the loudest and most often. i fear not that the troops know the american people support them to the end. no matter how sickening the democrats sound when they act as though they support our troops but oppose the war. there is no such stance. period.

kvery, it was an interesting point you made that casey sheehan lost his voice because of his mothers, but i have to tell you, the more i hear her voice, the more i think of her brave son, so i believe her sad and embarrassing voice brings casey's sacrifice to the fore. bless him.

Matt

Keep doing what you're doing. You'll make a difference.

rhonda_that_who_ib

Ok I would like to state ,when you support something , this means you support what the person ,or thing is doing.to uphold (a person, cause, policy, etc.) by aid, countenance, one's vote, etc.; back; second. So when supporting our troops you are supporting there cause as well. If you word it just right , then you can Support there family or them in time of hardship ,so forth, so really it is a matter of how you use the word Support.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supportI am daughter of a Navy Officer and also have been married to a man serving in the Army ,. Also our Soldiers did choose to fight in the war , by signing into the military ! When you sign up you are fully aware you can go to war rather you support it or not. So if they do not want to go to war ,then they have that thing called freedom not to sign up, or when there term is up to get out if they choose not to be in the war. So your statement here is false: Our soldiers did not choose this war, they chose to support their country. Well People are welcome to there opinion as anyone, But there are always two sides to a Story and you must know both sides before you can make a Judgment on who is right or wrong, As I have heard stories about our what some of our soldiers have done from soldiers) and also seen video of a Sgt and his Troops teaseling kids making them run for water and not giving them , plus many others like this and worse, and laughing about it. So until you know what is both sides you can not fully say it is right for someone to say it is wrong to call them by names, you can not fully Judge what is going on. Until you do your research and find a truth in the middle somewhere .
In the 1980s american helped muslims fight against russia ,whom was killing muslims. Please do some research on this . As there are always two sides to a story when a fight breaks out , like in divorce(both think they are right but two sides of story, rare cases only one is right, such as abuse) and any relationship. This gose for War too

sheristeele

WONDERFUL for you! You know what true patriotism is. You have already began getting the word out, just by putting your views down here.

I do believe that maybe if they started making EVERYONE sign up for the draft (including females, etc). , or if they discussed requirements of all individuals to serve the country to some extent, then Maybe people will begin realizing that because others have volunteered for their country, that they have been given their own choices in this world.

Because of our troops keeping our country free for our own choices, The individuals in colleges, and other areas of the career world, have not had to become soldiers themselves! THAT is not a freedom granted in many other countries throughout the world.

GLAD their are others out there that are speaking out. AND thank you to all our soldiers that are keeping my country the wonderful place that it is.

Pumken

No body in their right mind agrees that war is a good past time. The fact is we are in a war like it or not. We support the troops by helping them be victorious; by writing letters; by sending cookies and razors and such; by telling them how much we appreciate them and more. We don't support them by saying they are good but the cause is bad; by saying we support them but not the war; by abandoning those we've made promises to; by creating an artificial timeline for withdrawal.

This is not an optional thing. We will be fighting these folks for a long time, either there, elsewhere, or here. Eventually, nearly all of us will understand it; I hope it won't be after catastrophe. (Wasn't 9-11 enough. How could you forget?)

AFwife

i don't know but those people 2 weeks ago in an anti war rally were burning an effigy of an American soldier and chanting "its the soldiers too" they don't help in your theory

dawoyo

I totally agree with you, it is wrong and totally unacceptable leaving those troops out there uncatered for, they have one objective, and that's to protect their nations from invasions.
The democracts will regret failing the troops and i believe the only way the new strategy can work is if the americans give the new strategy a chance to work and if they (democrats and the americans) stop opposing the president in public bcos when they do, the insurgents.iranians,syrians etc will get the message that all they need do is hold on a little longer in order to fustrate the president and for the democracts to call for the troops withdrawal.
I'm not an american but i'm in support of Bush cos he has a great plans for america and he wants to make sure that further 9/11 will be prevented. The Americans needs to trust their president cos they elected him to oversee the affairs of the nation.
I think the American should look back to 9/11 and ask themselves one very honest question "Do they want a repeat of 9/11"? The troops must not be allowed to fail in Iraq and Iranians must be denied nuclear power cos that will mean the Unitness of Arab nations and believe me, Isreal, American and the rest of the world are finished.
Therefore American pls look before you leap.

Michael B

I was in the military during peace time and was scarred to go to war but knew it had to be done if so. Showing other countries that you are a threat does not mean that we are police either. The soldiers do not have a choice and if we go to war for the wrong reasons then we question our democracy which was elected. Thats why democrats were elected in recently. I'm just waiting to see what they will do to correct what's happening in Iraq. You can't win an election by badmouthing republicans, getting elected, then sitting on your hands. We've jumped into the ring, now we have to straiten the situation out (we are the well educated authority).

the blue hat

Some lefties need to lead by example.

Ray S

So the troops who carried out the orders of Hitler should have our support? After all they were just carrying out orders!!
In fact if all the troops simply refused to participate in the war that is based on lies....there would be no war.
You can't separate the people who carry out the killing from the people who order it. Both are wrong.

ednliz

For those who say that supporting our troops is equivalent to supporting the war, I disagree.

I work for the Army and I have the greatest respect for our military. I believe that the soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen are a great resource and that resource should not be wasted. These service people have committed themselves to a dangerous job. Before we put our military personnel in harm's way, we must be certain that it is necessary and that there is no other way to resolve the situation.

I supported going into Afghanistan after 9/11. We had been attacked and it was necessary to go in and bring the perpetrators to justice. We could not let the Taliban get away with attacking our country. However, I don't believe that it was absolutely necessary to go into Iraq. I believe that this country needlessly put our military in harm's way by going into Iraq and that things are going to get worse before they get better.

I want our military to have the best equipment, the best training, the best leadership they can possibly have so I do my job to the best of my ability. And I want our military to be supported and respected when they are the front line in defending our freedoms. What I don't want is for them is to be ordered into battle when it isn't necessary.

You may disagree with me on whether it was necessary to go into Iraq. I realize that very, very few people have all the facts and intelligence (CIA type intelligence, that is) that went into making the decision to go into Iraq. It may be many years before an objective evaluation can be made about whether it was right or wrong. But to say automatically that if you don't support the war, you don't support the troops is wrong.

skalasagna

This is how: Move to a country that contains smarter and less blindly patriotic people.

=)

My family and I are close to high-tailing it to Canada or Europe where they, like I, consider Americans blind.

pedohunter1488

Go read General Giap's biography. Your stance is what gives our enemies the will to keep fighting. To say you support the troops but not the war is an oxymoron.

Ken

I agree with you 100%. The best thing we can do to support our troops is bring them home! This administration has put our troops in positions that they have never been in before. Many have spent in excess of 24 months in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of those are reservists who thought they would never see combat action. Extending enlistments, telling soldiers they will go home and then extending their tours, deplorable conditions in VA hospitals when they do come home . . . its unconscionable and I cannot believe that anyone could say that this administration supports our troops in any way.

Support our troops . . . I support them 100%. Bring them home and let them defend our country, not fight a politically motivated battle in a distant land.

Boomrat

Tell you what... Bring all the troops home from every base, every place in the world and post them in the US so when the Killers come knocking on your door our troops can stand by while the police and FBI try to figure out who did it then our troops can watch our lawyers try to get another country to send the killers back here so we can feed them for the rest of their lives.

William B

As a Red Sox fan saying I support the Red Sox but do not want to fund Schilling's efforts is essentially what you guys are saying.

I support the Colts, but they should stop paying Manning.

I support the troops, but let's not fund them.

Why can't people like you see how stupid that is?

Samm

so if 40% of people did not agree with the Government before WWII. what should we do then??

silly girl

go to the president and talk to him

greyzone2

by spreading anti propaganda message - facts on Walter Reed , veteran health, lack of body armor, screed up priorities.

Para-diddle

you cant becuase troops believe whole hartedly in the way thats why giving their life is something they are prepared to do. to say i support you but dont believe in what you are doing is a condridiction. to support troops means to believe in their cause and what they do. to not support the war means you dont support why we are over there and thus dont support the ppl that believe int he war.

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