What Does 'Support the Troops' Mean?

by weebies

In light of the fact that over 1,000 US troops have been sacrificed to the god of state, it is time to again ask what does “support the troops” mean. Does “support the troops” mean 100% unconditional support? The warmongers who sacrifice the blood of others to advance their criminal activities want all people to accept this view. Should people who oppose the state give any support to the troops of the state?

The sad truth is that these people who say support the troops unconditionally, what they really mean is support the murder, rape, torture, genocide, destruction, and theft that the troops perform for the state. These people approve of genocide and view non-Americans as sub-humans who deserve any horror inflicted upon them by the US empire. While the over 1,000 US troops who have died is a tragedy, an even greater tragedy is the tens of thousands of innocent people--men, women, and children--who have been slaughtered by these troops.

What of the hundred of thousands, maybe even millions, of innocent civilians, who have been maimed, who have had loved ones slain and maimed, whose lives are a living hell, whose only crime is to live in a country that the xenophobic megalomaniacs of the US empire despise. They don't even exist to the “support the troops” crowd. How can anyone, especially those that love freedom and the free market, support such senseless criminal carnage?

If you want to know what war is all about, read “War is a Racket” by General Smedley Butler. General Butler served in the Marines and was part of the military industrial complex for most of his life. After being a highly decorated hero, two Congressional Medals of Honor and other awards, late in his life he came to the conclusion that war was a criminal enterprise. He determined it is the blood of many for the profit of a few. He understood the military is NOT used to defend the country or Constitution, but to defend the profits of corporations. His conclusion: "TO HELL WITH WAR!"  This is from a Marine, a general, and a highly decorated veteran. He stood against the false “support the troops” crowd.

When a war supporter asks you: "Don't you think we should support the troops?", ask them to read General Smedley's article “War is a Racket” and ask them this: "You don't think that the blood and lives of your fellow citizens should be sacrificed so that a few elites can grow rich, do you?"

What people need to understand is that the state does not have the right to murder and steal. The state encourages a false "patriotism" where murdering and stealing for the state is considered legal. Soldiers are just hit men for the state. Some can handle this. Most realize that what they are doing is wrong, and this leads to mental problems. All the people who approve of war, and shout "support the troops," what they really mean is to support them as cannon fodder, to accumulate wealth for a few elites, and then discard them after their usefulness to the criminal activities of the state is over.

I used to believe in "support the troops" while opposing the government policy. I changed my mind when I realized that the military troops are just the hit men for carrying out the state's murder and theft. Saying "support the troops" while opposing the government is equivalent to saying, “I oppose the mafia but support the mafia's hit men.”

The Iraqi freedom fighters battling the imperial troops are really the ones fighting for liberty. They are the ones who more closely resemble the American revolutionaries who fought a foreign power for independence. As their actions hasten the demise of the American empire, they are also indirectly fighting for our liberty too.

Is it this black and white?

No issue is black and white, especially one as complex as this. I myself was caught up in the deceit of the state when I was a young man and was drafted and thought it was my "patriotic duty" to "serve my country." My views have changed drastically since then as my eyes have been opened to the evils of the state.

Though individuals may have good intentions when working for the state, they are just cogs in the machinery of state that accomplishes evil. Most people who are in the military are too young to actually know what they are getting involved with. They have been fully indoctrinated that it is their patriotic duty to murder and steal for the state. While I cannot condone any of their criminal activities for the state, I do understand that most are the victims of the state and its deception.

The problem is that people who should know better don't speak out and set the record straight. They give legitimacy to these activities that are not warranted or in our best interest. It is no wonder that so many young people are taken in by the lies of the state because they see no one telling them that it is wrong to be paid murders and thieves for the state. These young people, who would be shocked if we told them to join the mafia, are told it is their patriotic duty to join the state mafia.

Everywhere we see the media spreading state propaganda on the war, preachers preaching about the glories of killing for Jesus, celebrities and entertainers endorsing the lie that the troops are defending our freedom. The truth is the opposite, the troops are not defending our freedom, protecting us, or making our lives safer.  Because of the war and the military, our freedom is being threatened in America , as we move closer and closer to a complete totalitarian police state. Because of the policies of the state, and the military that carries out these policies, terrorism and hatred of America thrives, and our lives are put in more danger. Then there are the lying politicians who use the deaths and maiming of the troops to justify more bloodshed so that their sacrifice will not be in vain. Unless one considers the looting of the US treasury and the looting of Iraq for Bush, Cheney, Halliburton, and their bloodstained supporters something to give your life for, all the death and destruction has been a complete waste.

I wonder if our legacy (if we have one) will be the same as the German legacy of supporting the Nazis. Will people look back and wonder why Americans supported world domination by their leaders? Will they ask why Americans so readily sacrificed their sons and daughters to die for their government in foreign wars? Will they wonder why a people who espoused freedom denied it to so many and became the greatest threat to civilization?

Conclusion

The best way to support these young people who make the tragic mistake of enlisting in the military of the state is to help them see the error of their ways. We need to show them that the state is a criminal enterprise, and that it is not right to murder and steal for the state. Hopefully we can convince them that the state is a completely obsolete, unnecessary evil, that they need to resist the state, and embrace the free market and the true freedom it provides.

Those warmongers who ask for 100% unconditional support for their barbaric crimes against humanity are the true enemies of the troops. They are the ones who willingly sacrifice the blood of their countrymen to advance their own personal agenda. They are the most dangerous threat to humanity.

When a war supporter tells you that we need to "support the troops," tell them that is exactly what we need. Then explain to them what you do and don't support so that there can be no doubt about the meaning of "support the troops." I suggest the following:

I do NOT support the troops carrying out illegal and immoral imperial conquests for an unelected regime that stole political power.

I do NOT support the troops shedding their blood so that Bush, Cheney, Rice and their corporate cronies can pillage the resources of the conquered colonies.

I do NOT support the troops dying for the security of foreign powers.

I do NOT support the troops being butchered for some private neo-con agenda.

I do NOT support the troops being used as cannon fodder to advance the political agenda of the criminal Cheney/Bush junta.

I do SUPPORT THE TROOPS coming home so that they can be with their loved ones, and be taken out of harm’s way.

I do SUPPORT THE TROOPS deserting their posts just as the deserter-in-chief did during the Vietnam War.

I do SUPPORT THE TROOPS ignoring illegal and immoral commands to commit acts of aggression against innocent civilians.

I do SUPPORT THE TROOPS complying with all international laws regarding the occupation of a foreign country.

I do SUPPORT THE TROOPS getting all the medical support they require, to be paid for by the criminal people and corporations who put them in harm’s way, to help them overcome the tremendous physical and emotional scars this needless, unnecessary, illegal, and immoral war has caused to their lives.

SUPPORT THE TROOPS! Anything less is un-patriotic and un-American!

END THE WAR! BRING THE TROOPS HOME!