Was I harsh about the troops in my last post? I waver back and forth between yes and no as an answer. There's always more than one side to a story. In the previous post, I sounded off about a matter that bothers me when it comes to our troops. What bothers me most is when our troops and any other representatives from my country do things that reinforce the ugly American image. I know, there's a lot of assholes in and from my country. Ignorant rednecks, uncaring hustlers and snobs... You name it, we've got it.

However, I also give these guys the benefit of the doubt. Rummy and friends have been lying to the troops just as much as they've lied to the rest of us in the world. The troops are over there, their bodies loaded with gear, including protective material to (hopefully) keep them alive. It's hot there. They want to come home. Their families want them home. Iraqis want them to leave.

My dad stayed gone eleven months out of the year when he was sent to Vietnam. That was hard on my mother, sometimes hard on us kids. It was also hard on him and the others caught in that hell zone. I'm not just talking about the troops sent to that country. I am also talking about the Vietnamese people.

Like the Vietnam war, this invasion and take over of Iraq is controversial. It's riddled with lies that have led to bloodshed. Like that war, there are morons in this country that are so brainwashed by the government and the corporate media, they actually believe that war is good and that there's no reason to question the assholes in government. It's like they think politicians don't lie.

I'm seeing a repeat of history in more ways than one. On the one hand, I see my nation divided over something that has brought great destruction to another country. In fact, there are two countries so far. Some Vietnam vets that I see nearly every night still can't talk about the war. I know few that can. One of those vets has a son in the Marines. His son just recently returned from Iraq. He can't bring himself to talk about what happened over there. The father is still in therapy. He once told me, "I still have nightmares." He's also told me that he was really pissed off when he'd realized that the U.S. Government (President Johnson and the Pentagon) had lied to him and forced him into a situation that he wishes he'd have never experienced.

The war-mongering idiots of this country are of the mind that support for our troops is only in support of them being sent to war. They think that there is no support for them if we protest the reasons why they are being sent. They assume that we aren't supporting them by trying to keep them from being sent into a situation that they shouldn't be forced to enter. The fact is, these people are hungry for war. It excites them, puts them at the edge of their cushy seats in the comfort of their homes where the mainstream media will entertain them while glorifying the U.S.A.'s attacks on a virtually defenseless country.

Our society has been groomed to love war.