No, it wasn't me that died and like I said, I know my Mother would not blame someone else for my death when it wasn't that persons fault. My Mother would know that I went in the military for a reason and it wasn't for getting a college degree. My mother would know that there was a chance that I would fight and be killed. She would NOT have protested for that reason and even if there was a 1% chance of her doing that, my Father, Brother, cats and the rest of the family would stap her down to the bed just to make sure she didn't.
I think this is a rather egregious misunderstanding of why many people join the military. I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of military enlistees join because the military provides a steady paycheck, fantastic training, and an opportunity to increase quality of life through continued education and military structure. I'm sure many military enlistees would invoke a grander sense of defending the country that lines up with the principles of our armed services, but I think ultimately the decision to join the military is preempted by self advancement and necessity - just like any other career decision that any person makes.
More like someone dumb enough to sign up for the military calling someone trailer trash reeks of impropriety.
Because ultimately, if you're so stupid that you VOLUNTARILY sign up for the military, you deserve whatever war your government sends you into.
Again, this isn't very fair. Sure, there are some people who join the military who have plenty of other avenues open to them; they do it for patriotism, or family tradition, or because they want to see the world. But what about the people who join because they don't have other career paths available to them? The kids who grow up in the inner city who want to get out and do something more than work as a mechanic, or enlist to escape gangs and violence? The mothers and fathers whose best opportunity to support their children and families is through the job security afforded by the military?
I doubt you'd find many military folks who joined for the express reason of going to war with Iraq. Of course, when you join the military there is a chance that you will go to fight, and with that chance, the chance that you will die. But the ultimate truth about our military is that the troops themselves do not decide where it is that they go, and what they are required to do. You said:
I know my Mother would not blame someone else for my death when it wasn't that persons fault.
Perhaps you are right in saying that it isn't the direct fault of the Bush administration, or of the government, for the deaths of our troops in Iraq. But like it or not, they are our decision makers - they decided that the war in Iraq was a national priority. And consequently, as the decision makers, they are the ones held accountable for the decisions that they've made.
So tell me, if the government doesn't have the answers for Cindy Sheehan and the other military families who have lost relatives, who does? It seems as though a simple question has been posed - what is the reason our soldiers continue to fight and die in Iraq? And what is the evidence for that reason?
That isn't an unreasonable question for anybody to ask this government; and it is especially reasonable if you're a grieving parent, husband, wife, brother, sister, son or daughter.
