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Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 10:46 p.m. EST
Columnist: I Don't Support the Troops
A Los Angeles Times columnist has precipitated a firestorm of outrage by proclaiming that he doesn't support the troops serving in Iraq because they've become "a fighting tool of American imperialism."
On Tuesday, LA Times columnist Joel Stein began his screed with the words: "I DON'T SUPPORT our troops . . .
"Being against the war and saying you support the troops is one of the wussiest positions the pacifists have ever taken . . . It's as if the one lesson they took away from Vietnam wasn't to avoid foreign conflicts with no pressing national interest but to remember to throw a parade afterward."
Stein argues that the troops knew what they were getting into when they joined up, so they don't deserve any special sympathy.
"When you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you're not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse. Sometimes you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times it's Vietnam. . . . "
Stein says that it's the troops themselves - and not the civilian leadership back home - who bear the responsibility for the "immorality" of the war.
"The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not. An army of people making individual moral choices may be inefficient, but an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying."
Stein says that he wouldn't go so far as to advocate spitting on returning Iraq war vets, but adds, "we shouldn't be celebrating people for doing something we don't think was a good idea."
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 10:46 p.m. EST
Columnist: I Don't Support the Troops
A Los Angeles Times columnist has precipitated a firestorm of outrage by proclaiming that he doesn't support the troops serving in Iraq because they've become "a fighting tool of American imperialism."
On Tuesday, LA Times columnist Joel Stein began his screed with the words: "I DON'T SUPPORT our troops . . .
"Being against the war and saying you support the troops is one of the wussiest positions the pacifists have ever taken . . . It's as if the one lesson they took away from Vietnam wasn't to avoid foreign conflicts with no pressing national interest but to remember to throw a parade afterward."
Stein argues that the troops knew what they were getting into when they joined up, so they don't deserve any special sympathy.
"When you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you're not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse. Sometimes you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times it's Vietnam. . . . "
Stein says that it's the troops themselves - and not the civilian leadership back home - who bear the responsibility for the "immorality" of the war.
"The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not. An army of people making individual moral choices may be inefficient, but an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying."
Stein says that he wouldn't go so far as to advocate spitting on returning Iraq war vets, but adds, "we shouldn't be celebrating people for doing something we don't think was a good idea."