I am OUTRAGED at the unquestioned truth behind troop support rallies

[Elidor]

Several local car dealers are holding rallies where people can donate goods to Tennessee's 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment of the National Guard (recently departed to Iraq). And none of these good people who attend, all of them with yellow or blue ribbons on their new SUVs, ever stops to say:

"Why are our troops in the field so poorly supported by our own government that they are dependent on us back at home to help them survive the greatest ordeals of their lives? Is it normal for the army of the richest country on earth to go begging for food, water, shelter, ammo, medical supplies and R&R? And why don't we hear more about this on the news?"

A guardsman writes home to the local sherrif requesting bulletproof vests and is slapped down by his unit's public affairs officer. Military families desperately scrape together what money they can so their loved ones can fly home briefly from the madness. Young people are snatched early out of college and sent off to kill and be killed in the War Nobody Wanted.

Certainly there were similar efforts during past wars, but the difference today is crucial: in the past, our soldiers in the field depended on us for letters and chocolate and cigarettes, not for the basic equipment that they need to do their jobs and stay alive.

I met several of these people before they left for Iraq, a couple of whom came into the paper where I work to run classifieds to sell off anything they could before they left, including vehicles, pets, businesses, etc., and it was unclear who would be worse off; them in Iraq or their families here at home, left to fend for themselves indefinitely while this madness continues. My heart cries for them and I will contribute a care package of my own. But I will do so with anger and burning shame for all we have thrown away, all that Would Have Been.

How can it be that Donald Rumsfeld still has a job? They are more important to us than this stupid war. Bring them home now. And try Rumsfeld for War Crimes.

Am I naive for saying that? Is it passé to hope that common sense and justice can still prevail?

Thanks for listening. Sometimes a guy just has to vent.

[xultar]

1. Did you see that AmericaOrg commercial about the troops and

the war.