The daily gripe

We hear it every day. We read it in the letters to the editors. If it weren't for the soldiers who defended our country (and by extension, they imply, our right of free speech) we wouldn't be able to criticize the war. So we should just shut up.

I beg to differ. No soldier has defended our country since World War II.

Was there ever a chance that tiny Korea would launch a successful attack on the U.S.? How was our country threatened by the little third-world nation of Vietnam? Was Panama a threat? How about Grenada? I don't think the folks in Kosovo were coming to get us. Afghanistan? Laughable, though there were some people IN Afghanistan who were a threat to us. Too bad we didn't go after THEM.

Even I knew that there were no nukes in Iraq. But suppose there were? What would Saddam gain by attacking us with those nukes, even if he had missiles capable of reaching us?

Iran? The people who rule Iran want to keep on ruling Iran, not be obliterated by the certain response from the U.S. and Israel if they dared to unleash their hypothetical nukes on anyone.

While there are plenty of individuals who might give their lives to destroy the U.S., no sovereign nation on earth is anywhere near that foolish.

Meanwhile, most nations have learned from our adventures that we only attack countries that don't have nukes. (Yes, Virginia, our government knew there were no nukes in Iraq.) So the choice for them is to either pretend they have nukes when they don't (Saddam, even though he couldn't disguise his lack of nukes from the IAEA), or do their best to get the nukes before we attack them (Iran and North Korea). Can you blame them? After all, this is what the U.S. Soviet arms race was about--deterrence, not a desire to out-bomb the other country.

Does this mean I hate soldiers or think they're not honorable people? Not at all. Soldiers sign up for the military for the most honorable of reasons: they want to protect our country.

But they are lied to from day one. Their honor is betrayed by the governments who send them to battle on the false pretext that they are "defending our freedoms." The soldiers are not there to protect our rights or sovereignty or democracy or freedom or apple pie.

We have seen that all wars of the last 60 years have been about nothing more than stuffing the pockets of war profiteers.

Our young people are our national treasure. Imagine their bitterness when they finally realize they've been duped. Aside from the terrible mental damage war inflicts on them, they will have to live with this betrayal all their lives. When will we stop throwing their future away so heartlessly?