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Monday, June 20, 2005

Whose kids should fight Bush's war?
Posted by Jill | 6:43 AM

Back during the Vietnam era, the parents were the WWII generation, and for a long time, they were unable to fathom that a president might make a bad decision to go to war. Oh, sure, there were the good, country club Republicans who supported the war but still sent even the least motivated kids to college so they could get a deferral from the draft. But by and large, the anti-war movement was the province of the young.

All that's changed now. Those war protesters now have kids of their own, and they don't want ANYONE's kids having to fight. This, I think, is one reason why so many organizations that help military families are advertising on Air America Radio -- because they understand who's going to do more than just wave flags and say "Send someone else's kid" -- we help. We help by donating money, we help by sending USO care packages, and most importantly, we try to get the truth out about Bush's lies that led us to war so that NO ONE's kids have to go.

Bob Herbert has more today:

It has become clearer than ever that Americans do not want to fight George W. Bush's tragically misguided war in Iraq.

You can still find plenty of folks arguing that we have to stay the course, or even raise the stakes by sending more troops to the war zone. But from the very start of this war the loudest of the flag-waving hawks were those who were safely beyond military age themselves and were unwilling to send their own children off to fight.

It's easy to be macho when you have nothing at risk. The hawks want the war to be fought with other people's children, while their own children go safely off to college, or to the mall. The number of influential American officials who have children in uniform in Iraq is minuscule.

Most Americans want no part of Mr. Bush's war, which is why Army recruiters are failing so miserably at meeting their monthly enlistment quotas. Desperate, the Army is lowering its standards, shortening tours, increasing bonuses and violating its own recruitment regulations and ethical guidelines.

Americans do not want to fight this war.

[snip]

Last week's New York Times/CBS News Poll found that the mounting casualties and continuing turmoil in Iraq have made Americans increasingly pessimistic about the war. A majority said the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq and only 37 percent approved of the president's handling of the war.

What hasn't changed is the fact that the vast majority of the parents who support the war do not want their children to fight it. A woman in the affluent New York suburb of Ridgewood, N.J., who has a daughter in high school and a younger son, said: "I would not want my children to go. If there wasn't a war it would be different. I support the war and I think we need to be there. But it's not going well. It's becoming like Vietnam. It's a very bad situation. But we can't leave."

I don't know how you win a war that your country doesn't want to fight. We sent too few troops into Iraq in the first place and the number of warm bodies available for Iraq and other military missions going forward is dwindling alarmingly. The Bush crowd may be bellicose, but for most Americans the biggest contribution to the war effort is a bumper sticker that says "support our troops," and maybe a belligerent call to a talk radio station.

The home-front "warriors" who find it so easy to give the thumbs up to war endanger the truly valorous men and women who are actually willing to put on a uniform, pick up a weapon and place their lives on the line.


When Jenna and not-Jenna go to Parris Island, then we can talk.
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