So, 4 years on and we're still there. The folks I was listening to on TV yesterday believe we'll have a military commitment in Iraq for the next fifteen years. We were assured this war would be over before we knew it. "6 days, 6 weeks, 6 months ..." Rummy said. When Johnny comes marching home ...
What have we seen in the last 4 years? We've seen our medical technology in action, men and women surviving injuries that would have left them dead on the battlefield in Vietnam, even when I was in. We have seen the gallantry and professionalism of the Hawkeye Pierces, the Trapper Johns, and Margaret Houlihans whom I believe should all get a medal for the work they do. But we've also seen the soldiers who they've given a second chance at life kicked to the curb by the people who are supposedly 'compassionate' and 'supporting'. When Johnny comes marching home ...
We've seen families and veterans groups in this country rise to the occasion, having bake sales and raffles to supply equipment to the troops because the 'compassionate' and 'supportive' went to war with 'the Army they had' as opposed to 'the Army they needed'. The wealthiest nation in the world cannot see its troops protected adequately, yet we 'support' them. And when their limbs are blown off and their minds destroyed, we warehouse them in deplorable conditions and make them wade through layers of red tape in order to get barely adequate care. When Johnny comes marching home ...
The 'compassionate' and 'supportive' said this war will be paid for from revenue from Iraqi oil. 4 years on and a half-trillion dollars later, our wallets are still open, but not for the wounded, not for the families struggling to keep their heads above water, and not for those who would provide care, but for those who make the weapons, for those who drill the oil, and for those who kill for the highest bidder. When Johnny comes marching home ...
When Johnny comes marching home, he comes home to a broken marriage, broken finances, and inadequate care for his broken body. He comes home to a nation who shows their gratitude by sticking a magnet to their cars. He comes home to a nation who will send him back to the war because they can't talk anyone but criminals and psychopaths into enlisting at this point. He comes home to a nation who sees him as nothing but a figure on a force strength chart, as nothing more than a trigger finger.
When Johnny comes marching home, he comes home to a nation that treats its pets better than they will treat him. Whether the Iraq War was right or wrong, moral or not, legal or illegal, the disgrace of this nation is the way we treat those who have fought for it. When Johnny comes marching home, we will be dealing with the consequences of that treatment for decades to come.
Update:
Read this too.
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Today is really a day to remember the men and women whose lives ended for the lies of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their NeoCon cabal. This is also the day to remember the families of those men and women and the men and women who have come back and need our help as a nation to become whole again after their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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