While millions are protesting the war in Iraq and the escalation, there are many who are standing by their man, and supporting the surge. This is the story of one such protest.
From the tumbleweed towns of Texas to urban Houston and Galveston, from
the Rust Belt to the Bible Belt, Americans have taken to the streets to
protest.
Waving oversized Chinese-made American flags, wearing T-shirts with
pictures of Donald Rumsfeld, and holding banners proclaiming, “Destroy
Iraq, Save Civilization,” they demand that America accept the
“augmentation” of troops in Iraq.
“How can you call for continued war?” I asked one of their leaders.
“Because if we leave Iraq,” said Thelma Lou Hodgkins of Whelping Falls,
Mo., “we’ll have stood down and the terrorists will win because we
can’t stand the Iraqis, so they’ll either stand up or down. Or maybe
sit. Or maybe they’d be lying down on the streets.” Mercifully, I cut
her off.
“Most Americans now say they were lied to by the Administration,
that the war was wrong, that it has been poorly planned and abysmally
executed.”
“That’s only the ones who have never been in Iraq. Or went to Iraq. Or
knew someone who went to Iraq. The rest of us know better.”
“More than 3,000 Americans and as many as 100,000 Iraqis, most of them innocent civilians, have died in this war. At least 20,000 American soldiers have been wounded, some crippled for life.”
“So what’s your point?” she asked. “Besides, we just can’t cut and run like the defeatists want. There’s still a war to win, and money to be taken by Halliburton and Exxon.”
“The war profiteers have indeed gotten richer because of this war,” I said, hoping she’d see my point.
“And that’s how we keep the economy as good as it’s been. More profit means more jobs and the right of every family to be able to shop at Wal-Mart.”
“It also means more deaths.”
“There you go with that death thing again,” she said. “At least 5,000 soldiers haven’t yet had any opportunity to win a medal?”
“Even if the medals are Purple Hearts?”
“Wounded. Dead. Helps their career. They get promoted. Makes for better survivor benefits.”
“You’re aware that only about 28 percent of all Americans even believe in this war?”
“That makes us a minority, and we have rights!”
“A year ago, you were in the majority, and you said the minority were unpatriotic traitors. Said they should be shot for treason.”
“And we were right then, too.” She paused a moment, reflecting upon what had happened in the past year. “Besides, we’d still be in the majority if all those cowardly politicians who supported us didn’t turn tail and try to get re-elected. At least Thomas Jefferson is on our side.”
“I doubt Jefferson would have said that supporting war is the best course of action in any dispute.”
“Maybe it was Washington. Or Cornwallis. I get all them Founding Fathers mixed up. But, someone said that no one has the right to protest the government. That’s downright un American!”
“None of our Founding Fathers said that silencing opposition was acceptable. That’s why they gave us the First Amendment.”
“Don’t you ever watch FOX News?” she demanded. “Our glorious leader, Bill O’Reilly, has declared that in order for Americans to be safe from camels overtaking taxis in New York, we must outshout all opposing views and suspend the Constitution. Except for the Second Amendment, of course. No one messes with the right to lock and load!”
“How long do you intend to stay on the streets?” I asked.
“Until the last soldier is killed dying for this country. That’s when we’ll know the war is over.”
“Don’t you feel any shame?” I asked.
“All we are asking,” she said, “is give war a chance.”
When last I saw the protestors, they were holding hands and singing “Okie from Muskogee.”
[Walter Brasch’s current books are America’s Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government’s Violation of Constitutional and Civil Rights; ‘Unacceptable’: The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina; and Sex and the Single Beer Can: Probing the Media and American Culture. They are available through amazon.com and other on-line sources. You may contact Dr. Brasch, professor of journalism at Bloomsburg University, at brasch@bloomu.edu, or through his website, www.walterbrasch.com.]
"no personal invective, no demonizing or pseudo-psychologizing of your opponent, etc. This is a site for political discussion -- and action -- not a playground or a barroom."
Hmmmm? Speaking strictly as a Texan 'in' Iraq, somehow, you seem to miss the obvious, in that the author is doing exactly what you proscribe above, with his deliberate use of comments that no Texan would utter (possibly fabricated pseudo-psychologizing?). The 'interview' reeks of comments taken out of context, 'spliced together' to imply ignorance on the part of the interviewee. The picture contains one sign with a mis-spelled word (deliberate? Moran...?), held by a man wearing a shirt that marks him as an alien (illegal?) from a strange land (Cardinals? In Texas?)...must be a refugee from Kalifornia, or, Massachusetts?
But, my greatest objection is to the 'slant' and intent of the article to imply that support for a war fought 'over here', is, per se, ignorance. I'd much rather fight it here, and possibly die in the doing, than fight it again in Texas because of ignorance touted as enlightened logic by a Media mouthing propaganda.
Gordon Arthur DeSpain Baghdad, Iraq
1
January 30, 2007
a guest: Boogie man
Do you really think by fighting Iraqi freedom fighters (yes, that's what they are because they want YOUR ASS out of there) is going to stop al Qaeda (I am talking about the ones in Afghanistan your president can't be bothered to look for anymore) from invading Texas?
What a load of bullshit.
I know you are picking your teeth for justification in being over there. Well, here's THE TRUTH. You are working for Wall Street... you know - the guys who get millions in bonuses every year while your neighbour loses his job at Ford because those very same assholes that want Iraq's oil are shipping jobs to China and putting hard working Americans out of work.
Let me give you a quote. From a great movie called Good Will Hunting.
Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll give it a shot. Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. So I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well.
But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never had a problem with get killed.
Now the politicians are sayin', "Send in the marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number was called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some guy from Southie takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he comes home to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks.
Meanwhile my buddy from Southie realizes the only reason he was over there was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the skirmish to scare up oil prices so they could turn a quick buck. A cute little ancillary benefit for them but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon.
And naturally they're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic.
So my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's got to walk to the job interviews, which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he's starvin' 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State.
So what do I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. Why not just shoot my buddy, take his job and give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.
2
January 30, 2007
a guest: jack, usa
How hard is it for us to get off oil? A zillion different alternatives, that cost a bit more at the pump, yet with the potential to end terrorism as we know it. Europe had to lead us in this regard, as their oil is more expensive, and is the only area in which they can be idolized. The most effective solar plant is in Germany, which get's less sunshine than Seattle. The time for change is nigh.
3
January 31, 2007
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From the tumbleweed towns of Texas to urban Houston and Galveston, from
the Rust Belt to the Bible Belt, Americans have taken to the streets to
protest.
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