While there’s lots of shots on CNN of military families supporting the war, I haven’t noticed any mention of the kinds of responses profiled in this Salon.com article. Or any mention of the organziation they’ve formed, www.mfso.org.
The article begins:
Military families who oppose the war in Iraq say there’s a special horror in watching this campaign unfold. Like everyone else who has a relative serving in the Gulf, they’re beset by a sickening anxiety that builds as the troops move toward Baghdad — and that paralyzes them every time another casualty is reported. For those who believe the war is unjust, though, there’s no pride in a
righteous cause to ease the terror, no patriotic sense of shared sacrifice to make sense of their families’ disruptions. There is just the helpless feeling that their loved ones might lose their lives for nothing.
Some telling, intelligent, and eloquent quotes from the story:
“It hurts a lot, sacrificing our children for a war that Bush took us into,” says Peter Hansen, a Navy dad in Palm Springs, Calif. “I picture my son going off to World War II and I really think I would feel differently. I’m not a pacifist, but I really feel something stinks about this, and every day I get more confirmation. I have an intuitive sense that Bush is not a good man.”
“I support my son and the troops 150 percent, but I also have tremendous feelings of empathy and compassion for the Iraqi people,” says Dreysus. “There’s a tremendous amount of conflict and confusion. It’s like a paradox that you’re holding inside your heart.”
“The other night on television, they said, ‘Here there was an antiwar demonstration, while here is what some people are doing to support our troops,'” Nancy Lessin recalls indignantly. “That formulation is absolutely wrong, and we’re trying to correct it everywhere we go.”
“The hardest thing by far would be to lose Joe in a war that was unjust and unnecessary,” Lessin says. “In that case, we think we would never, ever recover from our grief and never let go of our anger. That anger would be directed at this administration and the Congress that abdicated its responsibility and allowed this to happen.”
And this from a personal statement on the mfso website:
… I am concerned about the defective mission upon which President Bush is sending him. His dedication to country is being abused by a President hell-bent on an unjustified, unnecessary and
Kalilily Time
Just an old lady talking to herself
very good website is not
iraq news
What a novel concept– “I have an intuitive sense that Bush is not a good man”.
Can we get these masses of people together to proclaim together in unison their hidden secret.
Lets all be motivated by our resolute belief that the future is just going to be this horrible wretched place full of war. Lets let everyone know just how bad its going to be.
Theres no chance that peace in the Middle East will actually result? A complex problem requires a hard solution. This is the hard. And its almost over. Just like the Berlin Wall falling.
May the pessimists keep trying to divide the world and this country. May they be allowed to sit in their living rooms eat chips, watch tv, complain, protest, spread pessimism, and not worry about anyone else in the world that does not have the same luxury.
Freedom for the Iraqi people really is possible. And the U.S. soldiers have the best intentions. Who better to rid the world of Saddam Hussein- a ruler for 30 years with sons waiting in the wings.
YOU CREATE THE WORLD YOU FEAR.
Others are doing something to create a world full of hope. You just don’t want to believe. Because its not you and its not your way.
GOOD THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. THE BEST IS YET TO COME. LIFE WITH EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET WILL ONLY GET BETTER.
While I’m sure we all hope for the best to come out of this fiasco, our track record (Afghanistan, for example)is not exactly good. As far as hope goes, I am full of it — hope that Bush gets dethroned and we can begin to establish a positive regime change in America — hope that we can find the funds to help all of those mentally and physically maimed soldiers when they drag themselves back from hell — hope that we will not find ourselves deep in an economic depression when this is all over — hope that the Iraqis whose innocent children we killed will forgive us….
We are not pessimists. We are optimists forced to become realists.
And I don’t eat chips and surf. That sounds like projection to me.
For the Military Leaders, please listen:
The Third Infantry Division was one of the driving forces of the war in
Iraq. They have more than done their job and then some. They were told
that their way home was through Baghdad. They have gone to Baghdad but
you have not come through on your promise. The lives of our soldiers are
being put in jeopardy especially because they are over-worked and
over-stressed by the rigors of constant warfighting for more than six-weeks
after the war is over. How much more do you expect to get out of our valiant
men and women before they start to break down and not perform as you expect
them to perform. They are human beings and not machines. Where is the 4th
Infantry Division which was supposed to relieve the invasion forces once the
initial push into Iraq was over. We all know that the 4th ID was not able
to come in through Turkey as planned, but they have had plenty of time to
deploy and assemble in Kuwait. So, where are they? What is the plan? We
all know that the security conditions in Iraq are not optimal, but what about
a systematic replacement of forces? You owe it to the soldiers that won the
war. Let’s quit the foot-dragging, take serious action and bring the 3rd
ID home. We the american people supported you all the way from the shores
of Georgia to the center of Baghdad. It is your turn to respond and take
action, bring our boys home!!