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Edited on Tue May-22-07 12:37 AM by NanceGreggs
Yes, we need to show more sympathy for these people.
They travel miles in the heat in a country they were told they were liberating, when in fact they were sent as occupiers, the target of every Iraqi citizen who has been treated as a criminal rather than as a liberated national.
They are greeted not with the promised sweets and flowers but with suspicion, anger, hatred -- understandable feelings held by people who have been arrested without cause, tortured, humiliated and sometimes murdered not by a few bad apples, but by US soldiers following orders that came directly from above, traceable all the way to the White House.
They risk their lives in combat without sufficient body armour and other necessary supplies, while Halliburton and other administration-friendly war profiteers are paid millions for delivering goods and services at prices far beyond the going rate and who have never been asked to justify their exorbitant fees.
They fulfill their duties on the other side of the world, all the while carrying the extra burden of worrying about wives and children left behind to make do on pennies-per-day while the mercenaries they fight beside are paid as much in a month as the average soldier earns in a year. Both are remunerated at the taxpayers' expense, and they cannot help but question why others' lives are deemed more valuable than their own.
They wonder why the president who sent them into battle did so without an exit strategy, nor a true plan for resolution of the conflict; they wonder why he persists in ignoring the advice of those whose experience in military matters should be heeded instead of being dismissed. They wonder why their president contends that a raise in their pay is unnecessary, and refuses to sanction a pay-raise that would literally only amount to a few more dollars per month.
They rarely see their families because their so-called Commander-in-Chief has extended their tours over and over again. They wonder why the president, his administration, and his party members extol the virtues of a war they started not by way of necessity, but of choice. They wonder why such people talk about supporting the troops at the same time they have cut their pay, their pensions, and their medical coverage.
They live among people who speak a different language, in conditions where communication would be invaluable. They wonder why so many translators were dismissed because of their sexual orientation in a time when their services were needed most.
They face adversity every day - not only from an indiscernible enemy, but from those in charge who apparently have no regard for their welfare. They live in fear of being severely wounded and winding up in Walter Reed or some other hellhole of a hospital that has been privatized and handed over to some loyal Bushie who is eager to cut costs and maximize profits. They wonder if they will come home disabled only to be told they are not eligible for the disability payments required to provide for themselves and their families.
They do their best and give their everything, every single day, and they are spat upon by the very people who sent them to where they are, and who keep them there for indefinite periods of time.
They wonder why they have been abandoned by the people who use them as a background for photo-ops when convenient, and ignore their plight the minute the cameras are turned away.
As for your question -- "Doesn't it seem strange that the Democrats are willing to lavish all kinds of social benefits on illegals, but don't support our troops and are now threatening to defund them?" -- it should be abundantly clear even to the most mindless of pseudo-patriots that the Democrats want to defund the war, not the troops. By doing so, the troops would be brought home to their families and loved ones, finally free to pursue the lives so needlessly interrupted by waging a war that was as unjustified as it is pointless and unwinnable.
And for your edification, it was G.W. Bush who vetoed a raise for our soldiers - a raise proposed and supported by the Democrats.
As for "lavishing all kinds of social benefits", no one would accuse this administration or the Republicans of lavishing anything on illegals; they are too busy enriching themselves and their friends to take notice of illegal aliens, or our fighting men and women, or anyone other than themselves.
After all, there are only so many billions of dollars to go around - and what hasn't been lost in the fog of war has been earmarked for the pockets of the war profiteers.
So please pass THIS on. It is worth the few minutes it takes to read it -- and while you are reading it, you might offer up a prayer for the soldier who died while you were doing so.
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