http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/07/04/by-what-standard-shall-we-judge-barack-obama/ World news, political analysis, and opinion commentary Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:22:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/07/04/by-what-standard-shall-we-judge-barack-obama/comment-page-1/#comment-700 99 Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:21:43 +0000 http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/?p=1552#comment-700 Not to defend Franken in particular, but there is a distinction you miss. The troops, most of them, believe [wrongly, but righteously] that they have enlisted to protect their country. The troops' motives are not those of the war pigs who send them to blast out superhighways for plutocrats to loot other countries. I'm very sorry most of them aren't smart enough to recognize when their missions actually are in breach of their oaths, or become too cowed in boot camp to remember them, but they <i>are</i> in the military to protect us and the Constitution. They go in thinking they are swearing to die to protect us, and the major cause of so many more suicides and cases of PTSD in these adventures is testament to the fact that they are learning the hard way how deluded was their altruistic intent. So trying to benefit them, buoy their spirits, isn't supporting war; it really is supporting the troops. Not to defend Franken in particular, but there is a distinction you miss. The troops, most of them, believe [wrongly, but righteously] that they have enlisted to protect their country. The troops’ motives are not those of the war pigs who send them to blast out superhighways for plutocrats to loot other countries. I’m very sorry most of them aren’t smart enough to recognize when their missions actually are in breach of their oaths, or become too cowed in boot camp to remember them, but they are in the military to protect us and the Constitution. They go in thinking they are swearing to die to protect us, and the major cause of so many more suicides and cases of PTSD in these adventures is testament to the fact that they are learning the hard way how deluded was their altruistic intent. So trying to benefit them, buoy their spirits, isn’t supporting war; it really is supporting the troops.

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