A long time ago, in times of war, people at home made sacrifices. Everybody, from donating old tires and nylons, to volunteering, to going to work for the cause.
Today, in this war, the sacrifice has been our integrity and honor at the highest levels of government. At home, while the war in Iraq plays second fiddle to American Idol worship and other such pabulum of preoccupation, President Bush is working to return 21,000 more war-weary troops to Iraq, all the while blaming the Iraqi government for its lack of progress in a shattered country. And the forgotten war in Afghanistan smolders on.
To pull back now, Bush says, would bring about a collapse of the government and “mass killings on an unimaginable scale.”
Quite frankly, Mr. President, we don’t believe a thing you say anymore. We’re a disillusioned public, and the references to the so-called “plan” no longer placate our concerns. The majority of the Americans polled overwhelmingly oppose the troop escalation, oppose the war and oppose your presidency.
If our long national nightmare isn’t over, at least, maybe, we’re starting to wake up.
The political goal is clear — ratchet up the war even further and be sure to dump it on the next president. Bush won’t have to be the one to “cut and run.” And, just for good measure, he’ll send in troops to Syria and Iran, and keep the revolving door open on Afghanistan. To meet the quotas, the military machine is casting a wider net for recruits, lowering academic standards and raising the age limits on enlistees.
We’re saying no more. We said it with our votes in November and we’re saying it on the streets of Washington D.C. Given the stubborn charm of Bush, we’re going to have to keep on saying it and doing it for two more years.
In a rare glimmer of hope, Democrats in Congress are now pushing for the “strategic redeployment,” of troops from the self-perpetuating war zone into regional areas of support. It could not come soon enough, and has already come too late for more than 3,000 American soldiers, 79 with ties to Oregon, nine of them from Portland.
It is too late for Robert L. Jones from Milwaukie and Marcques J. Nettle of Beaverton. Too late for John Holmason of Scappoose and Tyler Troyer of Tangent, and so many others killed in this war, along with the tens of thousands more who return home wounded, mentally and physically.
It will take a fast and furious Congress to reverse this course, and we wish them god speed in their work to turn the lights back on in the Oval Office. Because it isn’t just politics anymore, not in the same way it’s been played for the past six years. It is life or death for our men and women, and that’s an aspect that the popular culture conveniently drowns out with mind-numbing aplomb. In the undertow, we’ve lost sight of what we have truly sacrificed.
