Suck It Up, GI - YOU Voted For Him!

by pessimist

Now that it's too late to do much about it, some Red Staters - in the form of the US Military - are figuring out that they made a bad choice.

T. F. B., Ahos! We gave you a chance, so in the immortal word of sympathetic response:

Kwitcherbitchin!

You Asked For It, and You Got IT, Boyota!

The pattern of discontent in US ranks

Griping among the troops is as old as armed conflict, illustrated most memorably by cartoonist Bill Mauldin's "Willie and Joe" characters during World War II. But something more than that is happening now in Iraq with what appears to be growing resistance from the troops.

You smash it, you cash it, soldier!

"What is driving the resistance is the same thing that drove it during Vietnam - a lack of trust in the civilian leadership and a sense that the uniformed leaders are not standing up for the forces," says retired Army Col. Dan Smith, a military analyst with the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington.

The lack of trust and the inequity of the tours will very likely be reflected in the numbers of Guard and reservists who vote no-confidence with their feet."

And just WHY didn't you guys vote with your ballots when you had a chance? Or are we supposed to understand that you are no better than all those so-called Christians who didn't bother to think about how their ministers were telling them to vote? Were your officers signing your ballots for you?

I know some of you guys still have brains and remember how to use them. I'd love to hear what you guys have to say about this.

But tell me this also - why should we care about your plight since you didn't care for ours?

"When you are risking your life on the battlefield, the importance of knowing why you are doing so cannot be underestimated," says Ivan Eland, national security analyst at the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif. "If soldiers don't know why they are fighting there or believe they've been hoodwinked, we may see the same phenomenon happen in Iraq as occurred in Vietnam."

Let me be clear, guys. I want to see all of you come home in one piece and in good health. But I also want to believe that you knew what you were doing when you voted for Bu$hCo.

So far - I don't.

And because I don't, I'm less sympathetic to your gripes. How many of you danced with glee when you heard that John Kerry lost? How many of you voted for 'moral values' which don't even apply to all of you in harm's way? How many of you Reservists and National Guards(wo)men even gave a thought to why you are in Iraq or Afghanistan in the first place?

Just because you are in the military and you are to follow military orders unquestioningly doesn't abrogate your responsibilities as citizens to the nation. You are still supposed to be acting as citizens when it comes time to vote. This, however, you failed to do, and you are now among the first to feel the effects of your rash decision.

You didn't want to change horses in the middle of the stream, and now you discover that the water's very cold - and rising 'cause your mount has short legs.

So when you need to know who's going to ride to your rescue, I hope you have your shaving mirror handy. You surrendered our ability to help you without firing a shot. Now you're on your own.

Suck it up, you manly men!

Copyrighted source material contained in this article is presented under the provisions of Fair Use.

FAIR USE NOTICE

This article contains copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of democracy, economic, environmental, human rights, political, scientific, and social justice issues, among others. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material in this article is distributed without profit for research and educational purposes.