General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm going to be honest here about what I see in Syria. [View all]The Straight Story
(48,121 posts)My son joined up during that time. Needed a job and the economy was in the tank (thanks to bush and such).
He went to Iraq. Hated it. Saw friends die. But he did the job he was sworn to do (unlike some in our government).
You said:
"If you, for instance knowingly participated in the Iraq war after it became obvious we were here for dubious reasons, you are culpable for the atrocities commited by our armed forces, up to and including the literal war itself. "
Do you have any idea how many jobs there are in the military across the globe???
Total Army: 1,097,050
We never had more than 160,000 troops in Iraq (and that is broken up by branch, so Army would be less than that). So less than 10% of people in the US army were there.
In other words, 90% of people in the army, or those who signed up for it, were certain of being there in Iraq. People didn't KNOWINGLY participate in the Iraq war (though some may have signed up for that). You didn't know where you were going. Germany, England, bases all over the world. Staying here, etc.
But all of us living and working here were paying for it. And we kept paying for it the whole time, and we were not willing to self sacrifice and find ways to not pay for it.
Our troops obeyed the law, did what they were told to do, went where they were sent. They didn't have a choice after signing up.
The rest of us did have a choice, and we chose to just complain about it while still funding it.
So lay off the troops and people who took a job when they need it most and the armed forces were hiring - because they needed the money and we were paying them.
Blame the people who used them.