I want to re-iterate a position I have always held, which is that I have found no reason to “support the troops.” All soldiers currently deployed are volunteers (none were conscripted against their will) which means they can and should be accountable not only for the crimes of the war, but the war itself.
While I can feel empathy for soldiers who fight for righteous (or at least legal) wars, or those in illegal actions conscripted against their will, I still hold firmly to the position that soldiers volunteering for illegal or unjust wars are committing treason. I just hope that these traitors have enough self-respect to kill themselves or at least speak the honest truth of their crimes and subject themselves to punishment rather than fleeing from it.
While I think most soldiers in Iraq do have mercenary aspirations, that is, they fight for a prize rather than to perform a constitutional duty, that is not really central to the issue I am raising.
My argument is that those who volunteer to enable, support or finance an illegal or unjust action are responsible for it and thus, if they have true honor, kill themselves, or at least admit themselves to public judgment.
I am suggesting that a more functional way to live is to take responsibility for one’s own actions. Why should we respect men who volunteer to kill other men in an undeclared war, for no intelligible reason, and who often do so for a prize of college money or job training. These are not men at all, and “supporting” them is unethical. I have had enough with tolerating mediocre and criminal men.
I have yet to see anyone comment on the pictures from the American prisons in Iraq. Abu Gharib was one of dozens of American secret prisons where torture, massacre, summary execution and illegal imprisonment take place on a daily basis. How can you pay taxes or remain silent during times like this?