Do you support the troops?

I would imagine that practical everyone in the country would respond “yes” to the question. Then comes the question, “How are you supporting them?”

Bill Moyer has a new book out, Bill Moyer’s Journel: The Conversation Continues. I highly recommend it. It is some the best pieces he did on his TV program; really great interviews with some very smart folk. One of these interviews is with Andrew Bacevich. He has written several books, one of them, The Limits of Power: the End of American Exceptionalism, I just ordered for my Kindle. Bacevish is a conservative, I believe with a military background, who also lost a son in Iraq. He is very tough on all presidents and congress since WWII that have engaged in military conflict, particularly the presidents and the congress that have abrogated their responsibility in declaring them. He maintains that during WWI and WWII there was a real cost to the nation for a worthy cause in which will all participated in. But now we have a professional army that goes off and fights and we don’t want it to affect us at all, our consumerism lifestyle. Now we blithely borrow money to fight these wars. He sees the Iraq war as a fundamental mistake that may cost us up to 2 to 3 trillion dollars. He asks, “Who bears the burden? Who died? Who suffered loss? Who’s in hospitals? Who’s suffering from PTSD? And was it worth it?” He hopes it will spark real debate in this country.

China is getting rich over our war, we become increasing a debtor nation, and we continue making little or no sacrifices in terms of life style, aside from those directly affected in our professional army.

So, do we support our troops?