Supporters of the war in Iraq have often used “support” of U.S. troops to try and shut down anti-war protesters. President Bush himself has praised U.S. troops overseas:
Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure. [Source]
So how does America support the troops? Aside from sending them to die overseas for a trumped up cause in a colonial war, that is?
- Deporting the wives of missing soldiers. [Source]
- Deporting the families of dead soldiers. [Source]
- Deporting veterans. [Source]
- Dragging their heels for months on a bill that would allow Filipino American veterans to be reunited with Filipino family members, such as their children … which took over sixty years to introduce in the first place, and which would apply only to veterans living in the U.S.; veterans who live outside the U.S. have been denied veterans benefits despite fighting for our country. [Source 1; Source 2; Source 3]
- Leaving them homeless. [Source]
- Keeping them in derelict, falling-apart hospitals without access to proper medical or psychological care. [Source]
Sixty years of not supporting our troops, and people still bandy the phrase around like they do. They’ll buy those yellow ribbons for their cars, but will they donate that $5 to a VA hospital or a homeless shelter, or fight to get the families of U.S. veterans the right to stay on or come to U.S. soil?
Or will they just keep using the troops to justify an unjust war and let them fall by the wayside when there’s no longer a use for them?
