Don't Call It a War

by shamanic

Jim Webb wanted to legislate mandatory time off for soldiers and Marines between their deployments, which sounds like a nice idea but in reality, isn't.

While I think everyone would like to see our troops in Iraq get ample rest and time with their families between recurring and extended deployments, we can also all agree (and this is why Iraq is such a loser as an issue today) that if we were in a real war, we couldn't possibly afford that kind of luxury.

In fact, (and this is why barely a third of Americans support their president anymore) if we were in a real war, one where America's future was really at stake, we would all be clamoring to make the kinds of sacrifices that Americans have always made when our nation is really threatened.

But no sacrifice has been asked of us at all. Gas, while certainly much more expensive than it was when Bush took over, isn't rationed. The roads are still cluttered with SUVs carting their sole occupant in the driver's seat. There is no draft. Taxes, rather than being raised to pay for the spiraling cost of the war, have been cut repeatedly since it began. And I, like so many of my friends, pass my free hours being entertained by the myriad cheap electronic gadgets imported from all over the globe for my amusement. Not tending my victory garden to supplement my food rations. Not doing my part for the boys over there. And God bless America. But don't call us a nation at war.

Our soldiers are at war. The rest of us are just wondering why.