I don't think I'll bore you all with my thoughts about the panel on the war in Iraq last night,(which I thought was excellent until the Conservatives started calling us all liberal mucky-mucks) or on the Diversity Coalition meeting that 'Che and I attended after that.
Why won't I bore you? Because I may fall asleep typing it myself! My God it was awful...
I think I will take a little time to weigh in on just one issue: what does it mean when you say "I support the troops, but I don't support the war"?
Well, to me there seems to be one obvious thing being overlooked; the troops that you are supporting are the ones doing the actual shooting and bomb-dropping and van spraying, much as we would like to divorce them from their actions (just following orders, have no choice) the fact of the matter is, when we begin to see soldiers as neutral and impeachable instruments of state policy, then we should be prepared to allow them to perform any kind of atrocity and shrug it off as following orders.
Wasn't this the same argument that the Wehrmacht leadership used at Nuremberg? Just following orders...
I think that support for the troops need not be conflated with sympathy or concern for their safety,or a strong wish for the soldiers to be home; barbecuing, drinking beer, bashing their gay/lesbian counterparts, riding around in Hummers...
You support the troops? Hold the government responsible for sending them to fight this foolish war in the first place! Regime change begins at home...
posted by WM @ 11:38
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