Is it possible to be against the policy in Iraq and be pro troops and pro American

Question

I am British and as such used to being against government policy and certain troop deployments without being labelled anti Brit or not supporting our troops. Whilst in the US it seemed such a view is held by certain people as being almost a traitor!..Or a democrat...What do people really think?

Answer 1

I'll always support our troops I wouldn't do the job they are doing and doing so well by the way..but i also don't agree with the war but we are there so we all should be supportive of these men and women they don't get the luxury of choosing the wars they are involved in

Answer 2

Of course - many ex soldiers dislike the fact that our troops are being used in a political and counter productive way on a military errand that will  kill some of them and destroy the lives of many others.

Answer 3

The Bush/Cheney "Scare em up" credo worked for several years, as soon as you said "Hey, maybe this is not such a good idea" you were pronounced anti-American, a traitor, a flip flopper (and probably a Communist and homosexual, as well!).

Times change, over 4,000 fine young Americans have been sacrificed for what is turning out to be exactly what critics claimed "Protect the Oil" for their buddies in Texas.

Lots of us have nothing but the highest regards for the men and women in the Service, what we object to is this draft dodgers in the White House, who avoided any danger in the Vietnam era being so ready to throw away lives for such a crass and disgusting reason, it will be many years before ANY politician will be given unwavering support again.

Answer 4

yes ! But I bash the pentagon and CIA

Answer 5

Well, as a Brit, you should probably know that the UK history with Iraq goes all the way back to WWI, T,E. Lawrence (a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia) and his trained resistance to the Ottoman Empire, and the failed attempt by the  British way back then (partly betrayed by internal British and French politics and partly due to in-fighting among Arab tribes) to bring Democracy to the Middle East.

In the end, the oil interests won over the democracy activists and idealists like Lawrence.  So here we are again.  We went into Iraq for mostly the wrong reasons.  I won't argue otherwise.  Tony Blair and George W. Bush put the interests of oil companies ahead of our own people.  I'll give you that.  But so what?

Today, we have a  chance to deliver on T.E. Lawrence's promise of Democracy to the people his own government sold out to oil and King Faisal.  But... big oil won't want us to leave until they get the production sharing agreements they want, and I say... "s***w that".  If they get them, fine.  If not, let's leave when the Iraqis ask us to leave, and let's not even look back.

Answer 6

it certainly is possible.

troops don't make the war policy.  they follow orders and uphold an oath.  

americans seem to differ on what being a patriot means; or at least it is evidenced in different ways, often in correlation to their political party and/or religious affiliation.  

Answer 7

Like stated above, Soldiers do not create policy. They are given orders and execute. We allow the people back at home the freedom to have the right to determine who should be in office who in turn create policy.

As far as Iraq goes, we can argue until we're blue in the face about whether or not the inital invasion was justified. But it's too late for that one. We've got to concentrate on the present and the future. GEN Petraeus has been doing a d**n fine job giving Operation Iraqi Freedom a clear vision and the leadership (which was lacking from March 2003) necessary for a transition to the Iraqi people. The situation in Iraq has improved since Petraeus took over. Thank goodness he is assuming command of CENTCOM (now oversees Iraq AND Afghanistan).

It would be silly to think we could pull out all the troops like Obama claims over a few weeks and expect the situation to improve. We are rebuilding a country's entire infrastructure. It will take years of Allied assistance to ensure it can stand on its own (and hopefully prosper as much as Germany and Japan has).

We Soldiers are not war-mongers. We have families at home and would prefer to be with them! But if we're given orders, we execute them to the best of our ability.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belong to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again. Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

-Theodore Roosevelt

Answer 8

As a 2 time veteran of the war in Iraq... I do understand people have the freedom of speech and expression, but personally, it really doesn't feel like support from our country when everyone is saying we should not be there.....If some one wants to support the troops..keep the anti-war comments toned down. .... and dont think that soldiers really enjoy fighting over there..because we dont...but we're proud to fight for a better tomorrow, and proud to be the ones to step up and answer our nation's call