Via You don’t have to agree with the Iraq War to support the brave men and women in our armed forces. You don’t have to agree with the politics. The way I see it, it all comes down to that oath, and what it stands for.
These soldiers took a simple oath, they stood up and said that the ideals of America were bigger than they were, and that for those ideals, they would without question sacrifice their lives.
That’s what this is all about. From one day to the next we can bicker and argue over whether a certain war is right or wrong, but at the end of it all, there must be an understanding that men and women like Sgt. Gray and Sgt. Mora, despite the partisan battles that go on back home, continue to day in and day out perform their duties as soldiers.
Remember the closing words of their OpEd, “As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.”
We as Americans have much we can stand to learn from soldiers such as Yance and Omar. Least of which is that this very same spirit of fidelity fuels not only the flame from which this country was born, but exists to this day.
This taken into consideration, I do not wish to honor their service, I am compelled to. I cannot personally look at myself in the mirror unless I have been a part of something to commemorate their passing, and show my gratitude for their service.
As a result, we at Comments From Left Field, in cooperation with Conservative Thinking, are as of this day beginning a fund drive In Honor of Sgt. Omar Mora & Sgt. Yance T. Gray. Read more…
We covered this story from the beginning and to say we were heartbroken by the deaths of these two soldiers would be an understatement. They have been attacked for their bravery, but we can do something good for them. Please follow the links and donate if you can…
Filed Under: Blogs, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Supporting our Troops
3 Trackbacks To “Blog Raises Money for Op-Ed Soldiers“
who’s raising money for the 1.2 million massacred iraqis?
Dead for no reason. All of them. Our soldiers, the Iraqi civilians, the children…not to mention all the displaced, the homeless and helpless.
All this blood and sorrow is on our hands.
We drove past Fort Lejeune on our way to the beach last week–there were a couple miles of sheets and posters on the fence for loved ones in Iraq. It choked up a cynical person like myself.
Of course, I can’t even imagine 1,000,000 dead. How big would that memorial have to be?
Those EVIL liberal blogs!
Agree 100% with you on that John. All GI’s need to be allowed give their voices on the war, whether they support or it not.
In honor of these men and the sacrifice they made, and in honor of the incredible bravery of the other soldiers who signed their names to the editioral, do not live your life in fear! And when some cowardly yella-bellied sabre-shaking, never-been-a-soldier-never-will opens his or her judgmental mouth - make ‘em shut up by making sense.
I hope C&L will have the video.
Pelosi to Blitzer: … adding condescendingly “for those who pay attention” the Democrats will “hold this administration accountable, time and time again for the conduct of this war.”
http://rawstory.com//printstory.php?story=7673
I believe the troops took an oath to defend the country and the constitution. I don’t believe that deploying to Afghanistan or Iraq is consistent with that oath, since both are illegal wars of aggression against sovereign nations that did not attack us.
So, the continual litany of “Well, I’m against the war but I support our troops…” is thoroughly hypocritical and un-American. Indeed, if such a position is justifiable, then so are these:
“I’m opposed to the invasion of Czechoslovakia (Poland, France, Holland, etc,…) but I support the Wehrmacht…”
“I’m opposed to the invasion of Manchuria (Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, etc,…) but I support the Imperial Japanese Army…”
“I’m opposed to the invasion of Ethiopia (Somalia, Sudan, etc.,) but I support the Italian Army…”
“I’m opposed to the invasion of _________, but I support our brave and honorable troops…..”
Admittedly, it is not always easy for soldiers to know when they are being commanded to engage in illegal acts by their superiors. But that in no way excuses them from responsibility for the decisions they make. And if the United States military conducted itself by its own rules most of its principle commanders would already be court-maritialed and facing serious penalties.
Alas, the United States does as it wishes and holds itself to a completely different standard than it holds others. And the same goes for most Americans, who would be shocked to see, for example, a war movie directed by a Vietnamese, Japanese, German, Iraqi, etc., director which portrayed American solidiers with the same lack of regard for their humanity as American directors have routinely depicted America’s enemies.
hadenuf @ 7:
…by sending a strongly worded email to the White House.
Blue Buddha @ 9:
The WH will just lose it.
They are very brave men who spoke on behalf of all of us.
Thank you.
Unlike Cheney who spoke recently to graduates at the United States Military Academy commencement, referred to the soldier’s oath, and did not even know the words to it.
http://antiwar.com/henderson/?articleid=11047
Make no mistake, the Soldiers do not support Cheney.
They are doing their own investigations too.
They are keeping track for when the Dick Cheney trial starts.
Just look who is still supporting Cheney - and they will find some more co-conspirators to the worst policy and events in American History; Blackwater, American Enterprise Inst, Pat Robertson, Family Research Council, Project For a New Century, etc…
Heres “another one” to add to the list
Cheney is preparing to speak to a fake political front christian group in Utah on Friday
The Council for National Policy was founded in 1981 by
–> Rev. Tim LaHaye (author of the “Left Behind” War Killing Game series)
and Paul Weyrich (who helped found the Heritage Foundation).
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/26/cheney-bunker/
I do honor those brave troops who for whatever reason joined the military and perform their duty honorably. However, let us not use our dead as human shields to hide the atrocities that far too many troops have participated in. They are mostly scared, immature kids given the license to use deadly force in a country where most people hate them. The results have not been anything to write beautiful poems about.
Let’s not forget the many who have sacrificed, but let’s not pretend that they are all living on some higher plane of existence. The one thing that a soldier hates (I’m told, I won’t pretend to be a vet) is those who romanticize war and warriors.
ysbaddaden @ 10:
No, they will DELETE it. The media will claim that they lost it.
Some lady on C-Span a couple of days ago mentioned two dead soldiers killed after they blew their whistles on some military bullshit. Are these the guys?
Thank you so much Logan for giving this endeavor your support.
I also want to thank everyone who has donated so far, I’ve just got word from Mike that in the last half hour alone we’ve pulled in about $210, which is simply awesome. After only having this drive up for a little over a day, we’re already about a third of the way to our goal, so you people are really making it happen!
rasta @ 1:
I’m sure their families could use some of that 190 Billion that the Dems are getting ready to put towards extending the occupation.
Support people that kill in our name? NO!
We were accused of spitting on the soldiers returning from Viet Nam. Despite that being a lie, too many anti-war folks have bent over backwards to support the troops and oppose the war. I cannot do both.
You cannot have a war without soldiers.
If your parents lived through Buchenwald and Auschwitz, you have a hard time calling the ’service’ by Wehrmacht soldiers ‘honorable’, ‘heroic’, etc. Participating in a war crime of massive proportions isn’t ‘heroic’ despite all the gung-ho jabber about ’seeing the mission through’.
The ‘mission’ is imprisoning over 20,000 Iraqi males in concentration camps. Oops..sorry. ‘Detention centers’. No charges, no suspicions, just that good ol’ Ariel Sharon-style ‘living while Arab’ charge hanging over their heads. Nice mission our ‘heroes’ are worshipping.
The ‘mission’ is carpet bombing from 30,000 feet. Children are vaporised, their parents given a $500 check for the loss. ‘Heroic’ indeed.
Uh, are we going to idolize the bomber pilots, too? Remember the guncam videos of farmers being blown apart by some Texan moron with a snootful of uppers and a moral compass the size of an amoeba? Are the helicopter door gunners (who spray anything living with .50 cal, when a roadside bomb goes off below them) ‘heroes’ too?
Let me get this right, so I know where to arrange myself in the Nancy Pelosi/AIPAC/DLC lib’rul conga line. The CO’s who go to jail rather than fight in an immoral scheme of genocide….they’re ‘heroes’ because they sacrifice themselves rather than kill Iraqi civilians or help The Machine do so via their participation in support roles. The soldier who refuses to shoot at the Russian partisans, or the Ukrainian village’s terrified Jews, or the Yugoslav hostages…he’s a hero because he’s saying no to crimes against humanity.
But then we have some elements inside the anti-genocide movement who want it BOTH ways…support the troops who don’t kill, and who don’t work to prop up the killing machine, and then support the troops who DO.
How does that work, exactly? I guess Ron Reagan was right when he placed the wreath at the SS boneyard at Bitburg? Funny…the B’nai B’rith didn’t think so, at the time.
Tell me, ‘Logan Murphy’, can you really look at the photos of lakes of blood in Iraqi streets, and read about U.S. snipers ‘baiting’ their victims with valuable goods that any impoverish person would take in order to sell in the souk, and still bring yourself to call the perpetrators ‘heroes’?
You can read about the c-h-o-l-e-r-a that Herr Bushler has finally brought to B-dad, and the misnamed ‘depleted’ uranium dust that covers Iraq and causes horrific birth defects….you can look at all that carnage, and you can lavish your fawning, love-to-be-loved adoration on ‘the troops’ who’ve BROUGHT that mass murder and torture to their victims?
I wonder how many Code Mauve trewpluvrz can even remember the names of the Abu Ghraib torturers? How many from the ’support the troops’ brigade bother themselves with Sy Hersh’s warning that crimes even more ghastly than mere murder-by-beating and murder-by-asphyxiation occurred in Abu G? No doubt one can have a more pleasant, Pollyanna life, though, if one forgets that according to Nuremberg everyone who obeys an illegal/immoral order is a war criminal.
I suspect that ‘Logan Murphy’ and the rest of the enablers would have showered LT. William Calley (My Lai) with their adoring kisses, too. That’s what makes going to war so attractive, for the hormone-addled 19 year-old kid. The Lancet can tell the Uninformed Left that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died because the USA has invaded and occupied their country, destroyed the water and electrical infrastructure, and the Loving Left will still tell Junior Gunslinger that he’s their ‘hero’. Yes, we’re really going to stop the Pentagon’s killing machine THAT way….
The Amy Goodmans will always make themselves forget the Hadithas and Fallujahs and Abu Ghraibs, so that the Mushy-Centered Left can go on pretending it’s friends with everyone. Kumbaya, Lord, Kumbaya….
I live in Sugar Land, TX, not far from Galveston, the home of Sgt. Mora. A song came to mind the other day that was popular during the Viet Nam war called “Galveston” by Glenn Campbell. I was young and at the time I just thought it was sappy. Now it breaks my heart. Almost forty years later that song is apropos. How horrible.
They are very brave men who spoke on behalf of all of us.
Thank you.
Unlike Cheney who spoke recently to graduates at the United States Military Academy commencement, referred to the soldier’s oath, and did not even know the words to it.
http://antiwar.com/henderson/?articleid=11047
Make no mistake, the Soldiers do not support Cheney.
They are doing their own investigations too.
Just look who is still supporting Cheney - and they will find some more co-conspirators to the worst policy and event disasters in American History; Blackwater, American Enterprise Inst, Pat Robertson, Family Research Council, Project For a New Century, etc…
Heres “another one” to add to the list
Cheney is preparing to speak to a fake political front christian group in Utah on Friday
The Council for National Policy was founded in 1981 by
–> Rev. Tim LaHaye (author of the “Left Behind” War Killing Game series)
and Paul Weyrich (who helped found the Heritage Foundation).
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/26/cheney-bunker/
Just a quick note to say thank you to Logan and C&L. Since this post went up we have received 13 new donations and are currently sitting at $1,440. We could not have gotten to this point without your help. Thank you.
Domino @ 16:
You can’t start a war without propaganda. Spoonfulls of lies and distortion about phony 9/11-Saddam links fed to our nation’s soldiers who signed up to protect the country. They never wanted to be foreign occupiers. Most of them don’t want to be in Iraq. They don’t have a choice. Don’t you understand that?
joe @ 21:
Where did Lt. Watada’s choice come from?
equilibrio @ 22:
Ok you have a point.
He had a choice to either serve his mission in Iraq or face 10 years behind bars, have his honor stripped from the military, and be shamed for life by all the people who ever knew him and respected him.
Choosing on whether to finance or mortgage your estate is a choice. You could say he pretty much threw his life away to stand up for what he believed in. It’s disengenuous to say he had simply had a choice.
Domino @ 16:
I must say that I’m surprised, happily surprised to see so many C&Lers not just biting onto this nationalistic @ull#hit. You guys just gave me a little hopeful lift for hump day. Thanks!
kudos to the bloggers
I do not wish to honor their service, nor do I feel compelled to do so. I am however ashamed to admit that I carry no moral authority to do such a thing, and I am compelled to offer my deepest and sincerest apologies to these soldiers and their brethren at home and abroad for this failure. I am deeply sorry to admit that I am among the throngs of American Civilians who have failed to muster the kind intelligence, courage, and commitment that would even come close to earning theirs.
Had I personally committed to this country on that level, had the vast majority of peace-loving and truth loving Americans committed to this country, we would have found a way to stop the madness of this war before it started. It was obvious that the entire charade was based on lies from the start, and had I/we recognized and admitted that, and committed to doing something loud, forceful, and risky to stop it, perhaps this sad thread would not exist.
This failure is not limited to this war; it did not even start in this century — it goes back at least 40 years, and amounts to a voluntary abdication of responsibility and authority to the rich and powerful in exchange for a shrinking dole of creature comforts, the illusion of security, and a temporary reprieve from the “heavy lifting” of democracy. We have fallen for the same lies over and over, then acted surprised when we can no longer run fast enough to avoid the truth — if we can even muster the courage to admit that, even to ourselves.
I am saddened deeply by the loss of these young soldiers, and the death and disfigurement of so many others in this illegal and immoral war into which we allowed “our” leaders to throw them. I am sickened and ashamed to say that I am not worthy of their devotion.
But I am compelled to state publicly that I will keep trying and I hope one day to earn that sacrifice by restoring the idea and reality of the nation they were so committed to.
It all starts with asking myself — asking ourselves — am I doing enough? If soldiers willingly put their lives on the line, is it too much to ask that I risk making people uncomfortable at a dinner party, or losing a little business, by making my own commitment clear and unambiguous in all facets of life?
Am I willing to make it clear to those who seek my vote that not only does the cost of “a little bit of liberty for a little more security” not fly with me, but it is repulsive in the extreme?
Am I willing to make a statement with my wallet, with my travel, with my own activities that reflects sufficient honor to warrant this gift?
Am I willing to exercise the kind of intellectual discipline necessary to relentlessly pursue these goals, and do I have enough courage to confront power with the truths that discipline unveils, without flinching? Do I have the attention span necessary to keep my eye on the ball, and help others do the same while the oppositions seeks to obfuscate, intimidate, and distract me with non-sequitirs, threats, and all the various tools of the trade?
To put it in perspective, if we allow soldiers to die ostensibly for our freedoms, is it too much to ask that we live, eat, and breathe with a commitment to those freedoms every day, and to take small risks in our lives toward making and/or keeping them real?
It is not, and I will.
Deighved H Stern MD @ 26:
did you write that yourself?? it sent chills down my spine..
awesome post
joe @ 27:
Yes - on the fly with feeling, which is why it kind of rambles And thanks.
I’ll keep trying to find a way to help better than I have been.
Deighved H Stern MD @ 28:
The way it reads sounds like speaking out of the heart instead of the ego. I think only a dying breed who can harness that ability anymore. You should be a writer, that’s for sure. C&L needs to post that on the homepage!
joe @ 29:
Thank you again, very much.
If they choose to do so, ANYONE may repost the comment, in its entirety and unchanged, with attribution. (I guess it wasn’t TOTALLY free of ego ;) )
Perhaps I’ll work to polish it up later. I’m still 4 months behind in responding to a challenge I accepted — I hope this is a resurgence of my long-dormant “writing bug”
I don’t support the troops. If they protected and defending the U.S. Constitution by bringing every Republican and Democrat in the Tyrannical U.S. Govenment to justice, then I would support them. There is no freedom without the freedom to say no. regards
Joe @#22-
You claim that Lt. Watada will “… be shamed for life by all the people who ever knew and respected him.” That statement, my friend, is simply garbage. You may want to try doing a little research before spouting such fiction. You can begin by reading David Cortright’s classic work “Soldiers in Revolt-GI Resistance During the Vietnam War” which, as the title and subtitle state, details how and why the GI Movement took place and by whom. Those who took part in that most noble activity were chronicled in the 2006 documentary Sir! No Sir! which explained how the Movement began and what motivated those courageous military personnel to speak out against that illegal and immoral war.
If you had actually bothered to see this incredibly moving film, which undoubtedly inspired Lt. Watada to speak out, you would have seen and heard former Green Beret Donald Duncan quietly state that “I was doing it right but I wasn’t doing right.” You would have seen and heard David Cline, who just recently passed away from the effects of Agent Orange which he suffered from while in the jungles of Vietnam in 1967 [Dave was also a long time member of the VVAW-Vietnam Veterans Against the War and former president of Veterans for Peace] say “Your silence [referring to those in the military] is keeping that lie going.” One would have seen and heard Dr. Howard Levy explain why he served three years in jail rather than be part of American militarism. It is extremely doubtful if he would believe your drivel that “… he pretty much threw his life away for what he believed in.” You would have seen and heard other courageous soldiers and sailors, marines and airmen explain why they had the bravery to act upon their convictions. You would have seen and heard from a former black soldier why he and other black soldiers were beaten outside a military installation for extremely specious reasons because they had the audacity to question authority.
You seem to naively and bizarrely believe that Lt. Watada is not somehow aware of what may happen to him because of the stand that he has taken. You may try reading the speech that he had given in front of myself and other veterans in Seattle in 2006 at the Veterans for Peace convention who, despite your misguided belief, had nothing but respect and admiration for the lieutenant for speaking out against this idiotic, illegal and immoral war. As the lieutenant told the veterans that night: