March 19th marks yet another anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom. For most it's not a day of celebration but a day of sorrow. Many lives have been affected by this unnecessary action, not only here but abroad as well. Sixteen nations, not including the US and Britain have lost soldiers over there. Who really knows how many innocent Iraqi civilians have died? Iraqi security forces and police are dying daily.
This anniversary makes me stop and think about how necessary all this was/is? Was it necessary to occupy a nation that intelligence proved wasn't a direct threat to the United States? Was it necessary to stretch are military so thin, we pose very little threat to other rogue nations, who do pose a direct threat the security of the United States? Was it necessary to stretch the National Guard so thin, we had very little resources here at home to deal with natural disasters and other domestic emergencies?
We've spent billions of dollars towards the war effort in Iraq. $6 billion a month! Not too mention the credibility we've lost has a nation. If we didn't go to Iraq, Abu Ghraib wouldn't have been a grotesque picture of American soldiers, damaging our credibility. If we didn't cause so much unnecessary bloodshed and suffering, by using such things as "willy pete" and tactics that seem to violate the Geneva Conventions, maybe we'd still have credibility. Not too mention the fact that Usama bin Laden is still alive. We had a job to do in Afghanistan, which was left undone, all too divert resources to Iraq. I supported and still support the Operation Enduring Freedom mission. I have found it hard to support the Operation Iraqi Freedom mission.
People say that if you don't support the mission, you don't support the troops. I was one of the troops and I know countless others who didn't support and don't support the mission in Iraq. Some of these are veterans of OIF. It sickens me to hear conservative pundits say that liberals/Democrats or those who don't support or believe in the Iraqi mission as unpatriotic or that they (we) don't support the troops. I shouldn't defend my patriotism nor should I have too, I signed on the dotted line, putting my nation before my very own life!! That's pretty damn patriotic. I would die for my nation. I got "lucky" and ended up not going to Iraq for personal reasons. I would've went in a heartbeat, not only because I was ordered too, but because other people (my unit) depended on me to do a job. Granted I didn't believe in the mission but I was ready and willing to go. Where the hell was Rush Limbaugh during Vietnam? Where the hell was Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Chris Matthews and Bill Bennett? These rat bastards did not serve in the US military. Yet they have the damn nerve to question another American's patriotism? What the hell has this nation come too? When somebody who didn't volunteer to die for the nation can question my patriotism, because I don't believe in the mission in Iraq?
Why is it that these bastards are willing to send soldiers to war, when they haven't experienced it themselves? How can they sit behind their microphones or cameras and doubt fellow American's patriotism? The bUSH crime syndicate and other Republican pundits have smeared many combat veterans. They smeared Al Gore, John Kerry, John Murtha, John McCain and Wesley Clark. All I want to know is how they can sleep at night?
