Bush’s upside down Memorial Day

I’ve never flown the American flag on Memorial Day. I’m certainly not going to start now, because George Bush’s misguided policies have turned this day of remembrance upside down.

If I were to fly a flag, it’d have to be flown the same way, just as it was back in the Vietnam War protest days.

I used to be proud that American men and women died so we could preserve our freedoms. Now I’m not proud that our freedoms are being taken away so, supposedly, we won’t die.

That’s not the American way. That’s the cowardly way. The Bush administration wants us to forget “Live free or die” and adopt its neo-conservative creed of “Live unfree or you may die.”

I remember when conservatives were the staunchest defenders of the Constitution. I’ve got a long memory. Those days are long gone.

Now American citizens can be detained indefinitely without charges being filed against them. Now American phones can be wiretapped without a court order. Now the American president can decide on his own which laws he wants to comply with.

Bush likes to say that we’re fighting the terrorists there so we won’t have to fight them here. Well, since Al Qaeda wants to take away our freedoms, they don’t have to fight us anywhere to do that. George Bush is doing it for them.

And now an apparent cover-up of unprovoked murders by American Marines barely raises anyone’s eyebrow. Ho-hum. Another day, another military atrocity. We’re in a war. Collateral damage is to be expected.

Do you know what “collateral damage” means? The death of innocent people. Think about it. Death. Non-existence. The ending of what may well be a person’s one and only opportunity to experience life on this planet. Gone. For little reason.

American wars used to have good reasons behind them. The Vietnam War was an exception, though the Domino Theory was a heck of a lot more believable than the Weapons of Mass Destruction Theory.

It’s taken me a long time to admit this to myself, but I’ll say it: I don’t support the troops in Iraq. How is it possible to support the troops who are fighting an unsupportable war? Especially when what is known about American atrocities is almost certainly just the tip of an atrocity iceberg.

I’ll proudly fly an American flag, right side up, the day the last American soldier leaves Iraq. That’s when this country will truly honor the troops--with an admission that they have been fighting a dishonorable war.

Comments

[Shawnde]

I'd guess that 95% of our soldiers are acting honorably and I'm sad to see that the attention is focused on the errant 5%. These men and women are putting their lives on the line for us, and trusting the gov't to send them into war when necessary. It really troubles me that you would blame them when you disagree with the actions of the US govt. Those who have performed atrocities have committed crimes and will be judged for it. Why penalize those who have not?

[Mike]

Oh that's helpful. Maybe if you torpedo their morale a little more, they'll lose focus and die in numbers so great that the government will just have to pull them out of there.

Maybe standing up for what you believe in by writing letters to your representatives and protesting against the government is just too hard these days. I suppose it's easier to just trash the military.

[greenink]

Didn't take long to trot out the "few bad apples" defense. That's what we heard about Abu Ghraib, too. And the abuses at Guantanamo Bay. Shawnde, please remember that the entire Iraq war is illegal. So it's not just an errant 5%. It's all of them.

Do you think the two dozen innocent Iraqis murdered in Haditha are the only ones? Thousands of non-combatants have died at the hands of the U.S. military in Iraq. That blood is on the hands of everyone who supported - and continues to support - this damn war.

And Mike, if "writing letters to your representatives and protesting against the government" did a lick of good, every one of those American soldiers would have been home eating hot dogs and apple pie with their moms on Monday.

[Rain]

I agree with your post, Brian but I fly the flag and will continue to do so because this country and that flag are bigger than the Bush administration and those who fall lockstep in place to defend them every time any criticism comes out.

Bush's Arlington speech made me angry because he's trying to say we honor those soldiers who have died by continuing his folly, by finishing the war he started with no reason that makes sense and no reasonable end goal except some vague concept of democracy over there where it appears religious fundamentalism is the most powerful concept. I believe instead we honor them by making sure veterans have what we promised and we honor them by speaking out when we see our government going in wrong directions-- whether someone else likes the latter or not. And we don't honor this nation by ignoring wrong actions by our government or trying to pretend this is an issue of only a few rogue soldiers.

This country was founded on freedom to speak our minds, on the right to articulate dissent, as you just did.

[Robert Paul Howard]

Dear Brian,
How well do you Tango with Bush (and his ruling notions)? Robert Paul Howard

[Brian]

Shawnde, when I say that I don't support the troops, this doesn't mean that I oppose them. Basically, I'm neutral toward them (though I certainly oppose those who are committing atrocities).

To me it's something like this: We recently bought a lot next door with some wonderful large fir trees on it. Let's suppose the government was in cahoots with a lumber company and made up a lie about the trees being infected with a dangerous beetle, so they had to be cut down.

My wife and I would be outraged, but powerless to do anything about it. When the lumberjacks arrived, we certainly wouldn't support them. Yes, they'd just be doing their job, but the job they'd be doing would be founded on a lie.

Just like Iraq.

Regarding your comment that the soldiers in Iraq are putting their lives on the line for us, I have to disagree. They aren't, except in a very minimal way. Most of the insurgents in Iraq are nationalists, not Al Qaeda. Yes, there are terrorists in Iraq, but they came into the country after we invaded, not before.

So the terrorist problem we're trying to solve was created by us.

If you watched a "60 Minutes" segment a few weeks ago, you'll know that the former head of the CIA in Europe said that, without a doubt, the Bush Administration knew that the claims that Saddam was seeking nuclear weaponry were false. Yet Bush still went ahead and spoke about mushroom clouds over American cities.

The CIA guy said that he feels that the Iraq war will turn out to be the greatest foreign policy mistake in U.S. history. Maybe, I don't know.

All I know is that George Bush and company are besmirching the memory of those who died in wars that were truly necessary to defend our freedom by dragging us into this war with lies.

Mike, I'm not trashing the military. I'm trashing the Bush administration policies and that portion of the military that engages in cover-ups and lies to protect those failed policies.

Robert, not too well. But Tango is a dance of passion, so I guess Bush and I are dancing together--just not to the same tune.

Rain, it's great that you fly the flag. To me the flag is just a symbol. It isn't anything sacred. I've got no problem with someone flying the flag, or flying the flag upside down, or burning the flag, or flushing the flag down the toliet.

It's just a piece of cloth. The meaning we give to it is in our minds and hearts. That's the real flag: the one we carry around inside ourselves, not the one we raise on a flagpole. It's that inner American flag that I don't feel like saluting these days.

But, like you, I honor those who died in necessary wars to defend our freedom from genuine enemies. Like you said, Iraq isn't a necessary war, and our freedom wasn't threatened.

[j,hfk]

u guys are fucking
sick
just 'cause Bush defends America
what is is going to do
if a guy shoots at u w/a gun
are u not going to shoot back????
if u arent then you are a dumb ass
and deseerve to die