We have failed our duty...

When I speak about how I feel about the war in Iraq, I am told I dishonor the military and my own fallen hero with my "lack of support for the troops". I'm told that our troops feel betrayed and insulted by people like me. I'm told that our military believes in this "noble cause" and any criticism of the war or our president is "unpatriotic" and "treasonous" to our country.

I've tried to explain my belief that our troops have no other choice but to obey their commander-in-chief. They are not allowed to disagree with their orders or express contrasting opinions or criticize their commanding officer. That is how the military is designed, that is how it should be, and that is why we have the best military in the world. Our troops have pledged loyalty to our country and they are willing to sacrifice their lives for us. Their job is to protect America and its citizens.

It is OUR job to protect THEM. It is our duty to protect them by intelligently and diligently electing ethical and diligent public servants to run our government. It is our responsibility to hold these officials accountable for their decisions and to demand honesty from them.

I named my blog "We have failed our duty as citizens..." because I believe WE HAVE FAILED OUR DUTY to protect our troops. We have failed to demand responsible decisions from our government. We have failed to demand accountability from their commander-in-chief and his administration. We failed by allowing our government to get our country into this war, by allowing them to lie to us, and by being too stupid and lazy to demand honesty and accountability. As a result, our troops are left without OUR protection while they sacrifice their lives for us. I had hoped that the election in 2004 would provide some hope for our men and women in Iraq but Americans let them down.

Now, two years after I started my blog, two years after Bush was supposedly re-elected, two years after Cindy Sheehan went public with her questions... our military men and women have finally ended up in not only fighting "them over there" but having to defend themselves from our own government here at home.

We have failed Kyle Snyder, Ivan Brobeck, Agustin Aguayo, Suzanne Swift, Ricky Clousing, Lt. Ehren Watada, Darrell Anderson, Mark Wilkerson, and Katherine Jashinski. These brave and honorable men and women depended on Americans to protect them... and we failed. Now some are AWOL and some are being court-martialed. Whether or not you support their actions, it still remains that WE HAVE FAILED OUR DUTY to protect them by allowing Bush to "stay the course" despite all efforts to influence him to make changes (increase troops, etc.).

There is now An Appeal for Redress from the War in Iraq which states that:

"Many active duty, reserve, and guard service members are concerned about the war in Iraq and support the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual service members can appeal to their Congressional Representative and US Senators to urge an end to the U.S. military occupation. The Appeal messages will be delivered to members of Congress at the time of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January 2007."

The wording of the Appeal for Redress is short and simple. It is patriotic and respectful in tone:

As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq . Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home.

Americans should be ashamed of themselves... we have deserted our troops, and "there is no more serious crime in the law of war".

We have failed our duty...