Well they just voted on the Webb/Hagel amendment. There were 56 yea votes and 44 nay votes. Kudos to Boxer and Feinstein for voting in the affirmative. This amendment would require that for every day a service member serves in the war zone they get an equal amount of time stateside.

What is so wrong with that? Do we really want our troops broken by the stress of 15 month tours of duty, interrupted only by far-too-brief visits back stateside? Does DC even have a clue as to the stress this puts on families and communities? Better yet, do you think they even care? In a democracy 56 to 44 would appear to be a victory – not a political victory but one for our sons and daughters. Not in Bushworld.

 

There were lots of rumbling about “can't pull them out now, it will disrupt units,” blah blah blah. I would think having members of a unit shot, blown up, etc., would be rather disrupting also, yet it continues.

Throw in a couple of “can't complete the mission if we bring them home now” – what is the mission? I fried my brain watching CSPAN last week and I have no idea what the mission is. No WMDs. No more Saddam. Was it to create a cohesive Iraqi government?

Too bad, so sad, that is crumbling before our eyes. The Kurds walked away from the table. Moqtada Al Sadr is pulling his parliamentarian members on Friday. Al Qaeda in Iraq wasn't on the run, they were only biding their time as we all read last week with the assassination of one of Bush's key allies. Heads up, Iraqis – a photo op with Georgie Boy will get ya killed. Here in American you only have to donate money to get a pic with him, apparently in a war zone you pay with blood and tears. No oil revenues to pay for the mess there, only tremendous debt for all of us and tremendous personal loss for to many families and communities.

 

So come on, Republicans, tell me, what is wrong with equal time for our troops? What is wrong with treating them with the respect and dignity they have earned and deserve? Tell me why they are so expendable. Tell me how you sleep at night. I sure as hell can't.

Donna Christopher lives in Lucerne.

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