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• Sunday, April 8, 2007 10:05 PM

  Support Our Troops

  When I make any objection to the war in Iraq I almost always get a snarl from someone with a yellow ribbon on the back of their SUV which boasts "Support Our Troops." What does that mean?

  I support our troops because I want them home, given quality medical treatment, financial support and all of the love and emotional support we can muster up to try to thank them for putting their lives on the line for us. I support them by speaking out against the war so that as many of our troops can come home as soon as possible. I support our troops by working hard to elect representatives to our government who will hopefully take action to give our vets the medical and financial support they need for life. I support our troops by thanking them every time I meet a soldier and by telling them that if s/he is brave enough to do his/her job on the front lines then I see it as my job to put pressure on lawmakers to bring an end to our involvement in this war. I made a special ops soldier cry, thank me and hug me by telling him that right before he left for his next tour.

  If you are one of those people who snarl at me when I speak out do you think it is best to "Support Our Troops" by not telling them that they are being forced to fight a political war and that we have already lost? Do you think they don't know that?

  Do you "Support Our Troops" by standing idly by while severely injured troops are sent back into battle, while thousands return home irrevocably damaged with no support whatsoever? Do you support our troops by sending over kevlar vests because our government saw fit to spend hundreds of billions on Halliburton contracts, yet a pittance on personal protection for our soldiers? Do you "Support Our Troops" by promoting our military recruiters to target our poor neighborhoods to mislead our minority and poor young men and women into this awful mess?

  What does that yellow ribbon mean to you?

  —JenniferInMO Read JenniferInMO's other letters
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