<p>This was announced in the Washington Post today. You can commemorate September 11 by showing support for the troops, by a march from the Pentagon to Arlington Cemetary and then to going to a hoedown on the Mall. </p>
<p>The photo on the website this morning featured Sean Hannidy, Sen. Santorum and Oliver North with some troops. (maybe they change the photo periodically) They say this Pentagon-sponsored event is not a political event. But…don’t forget to “register” for this public event by the deadline. you can’t support the troops unless you have a ticket. </p>
<p>I just saw a flyer for a protest event taking place in DC in September (later in the month). Maybe this is sort of pre-emptive counter programming.</p>
<p>I don’t like the way certain factions promote close ties between 9/11 and our efforts in the Middle East. 9/11 is why we have troops in Afghanistan. It is not (directly) why we have troops in Iraq. It’s not just the military who protects our freedoms and prevents future attacks on our soil. It’s immigration officials, port inspectors, border officers, policemen, firemen, intelligence officers, public health officials, and so on.</p>
<p>I think it’s meaningful to commemorate 9/11, and I personally support our fine troops wherever they are sent to do their work. But melding them together seems like a disingenous way to increase support for the Iraq war (or whatever we’re calling it), and I personally don’t like it. If the Pentagon believes it’s important to have a special day for troop recognition, good for them for mobilizing people, but let them pick a separate day. </p>
<p>So, to answer your question, no. Not walking that day.</p>
<p>DP’s …I realized i should have started this thread on the parents cafe site so I copied it over. and sent mr dooley an email. sorry if i goofed up i didn’t do this intentionally. the parents page should be mostly college related stuff right?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, “support for the troops” has become the 21st century version of the 1950’s slogan “my country right or wrong.”</p>
<p>Our national leaders captured and refocused Americans’ sense of hurt and revenge after 9/11 not only on the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan (a “just” response, in my opinion) but also on justifying a preemptive war against Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein was depicted as a supporter of the 9/11 attackers and al Qaeda, and as posing an iminent danger to America because of his WMD, including nuclear weapons. Some 70% of Americans were convinced (according to polls in 2003) that Saddam was behind the 9/11 attacks.</p>
<p>And so, while virtually every American wants to “support our troops,” this slogan has been put forward in place of “celebrate our troops” as a thinly disguised way to validate the official deceptions that led to our launching the attack on Iraq in 2003 – not only to validate those deceptions but also to overlook the terrible lack of planning that turned Iraq into the number one recruiting and training ground of international terrorism today.</p>
<p>We indeed ought to celebrate the huge sacrifices by our troops. But I do so without excusing the huge errors committed by our country’s leaders.</p>
<p>While I don’t feel as strongly as Mackinaw on the subject, I have to agree. Unfortunately, “Support the Troops” has become a synonym for “Support the Mission”. As a member of a community that has a huge number of military families that have been and are being directly affected by the Iraq and Afghanistan mission, I have freely and gladly supported the troops in many ways (USO donations, care packages, the “air conditioner” project). But I won’t engage in activities that are really “support the mission” projects – my participation would be dishonest and, frankly, no matter how hard the organizers insist that the event is solely to support the troops, I wouldn’t be welcome.</p>