seasonal dichotomy

So I am torn between what I am feeling and what I should be feeling. Its the time of year that you are supposed to be filled with Christmas cheer and all of that stuff. I am excited that I will be going back to the States in a week for the holidays and get to see my family. The time to stuff myself with Mexican food (sorry, but the Dutch don't do good Mexican food) and soak up the rays of the California sun. My niece who has grown so much since I last saw her in February, my parents who have shrunk in the same time period. A chance to speak to people in English WITHOUT having to feel stupid for not speaking Dutch; a chance to immerse myself back into my native culture (consumerism?).

But I am not happy. I am pissed.

I am a former member of the military and I have a huge amount of respect for what that job entails. They make horrible wages, live in poverty, and some need food stamps to survive. Their profession is hard and dangerous yet they volunteer to do it. They have a great love of the country and put their lives on the line to defend it. The follow orders not because they are mindless drones but because they recognize that a chain of command is in place to make the best war machine possible.

And they are being treated like slaves by the current administration of the United States.

Recently there have been sharp criticism of the way that the war in Iraq is going. Spc. Thomas Wilson recently stepped up to the microphone and asked a poignant question to DefSec Donald Rumsfeld. Basically, where is the armor that will help protect me? Rummy's reply is an insult to our men and women serving in uniform - "You go to war with the Army that you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

WTF????

It is HIS responsibility to make sure that we do have the best Army that we can have. What kind of a frickin' moron suggests that we go to war when our troops are not adequately prepared? C'mon, even Hitler wasn't that stupid. Did the Germans attempt to roll through Poland when their army was only at half strength? Its one thing to be attacked when your armed forces are below optimum strength and preparedness, but to be the aggressor? Talk about taking an enemy lightly, did Rummy, GW, and the rest of the warmongers in office really think that we didn't need armor to INVADE A COUNTRY? Hmm, Hitler and the Germans pulled off the Blitzkrieg pretty efficiently thanks to... armor. What a concept, protecting the people that are doing the fighting. I hate to keep drawing parallels between the one of the most deranged men in history and how much smarter he is than all of our current administration but this treatment of our troops is disgraceful.

Men and women from all over the world are members of our armed forces. They take an oath to defend the United States from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. They didn't take an oath to be sent off to invade a oil-laden country with inadequate protection from the people who are shooting at them. Why doesn't Rummy get into one of those unarmored Humvees and go on patrol? Heck, I'll even give him the benefit of being in a convoy where he isn't the only target AND the benefit of having someone on the 50 cal that is mounted on the roof. IF YOU WON'T DO IT YOURSELF THEN DON'T EXPECT YOUR PEOPLE TO DO IT EITHER. Rule number one of the good leadership booklet, lead by example.

Our soldiers are being sent into combat to secure the future well-being of the Bush family. Its not secret that the Bush family is deeply entrenched in the oil industry and now troops are out there securing the land that has the second highest concentration of oil in the world. Hey Dick, don't think I forgot about you! Halliburton is ripping off the American people by overcharging for the work that they are doing over there. You claim that you are no longer part of Halliburton but I am positive that you are still getting 'compensation' for your time over there. Rummy, you are just a plain idiot and remind me of that Iraqi gentleman who was constanly on CNN telling everyone that tanks were not in Baghdad just as the other side of the screen showed a statue of Saddam being toppled with the help of an American tank. An outright liar. If you can't trust a man's word, what else is there to trust?

Americans - more than 1,000 troops have been killed in Iraq. These are your brothers, cousins, uncles, and friends that are dying over there. They are dying because greed and incompetence. They are dying because the Commander in Chief sent them there. They are dying because we selected the man who is the Commander in Chief. They are dying...


Merry Christmas?