Yellow Dog

By Bill Shein, Berkshire Eagle

"I SUPPORT the troops by remembering -- every day -- that we are at war.

I support the troops by crying at the loss of their young lives, the pain suffered by their families, and the indefensible choices my government has made.

I support the troops not by cheering the war they've been sent to wage, or celebrating the battles they've won, but instead, by joining the effort to bring them home now.

I support the troops by asking why a senior Pentagon official appeared before Congress and didn't know the number of soldiers who had lost their lives.

I support the troops by imagining a day when chants of "USA! USA!" interrupt speeches about ending poverty and hunger, not those that boast of America's ability to rain fire onto human beings.

I support the troops by fighting for quality public schools and a living wage, so the military is no longer the career of last resort for America's most vulnerable.

I support the troops by asking which "moral value" is on display when we avenge the horrific murder of 3,000 innocents by killing 100,000 more.

I support the troops by rejecting the morality of a "pre-emptive war" that turns foreign soil into a graveyard for innocent foreign civilians -- a policy whose adherents improperly claim is a legal, moral and legitimate alternative to "fighting the enemy here at home."

I support the troops by denouncing wartime "journalism" provided by embedded reporters, retired generals and partisan spinners, especially when it ignores the voices of those with the hope and idealism to suggest a better way.

I support the troops by protesting the new language of war, which labels the death of innocent children as "collateral damage"; the accidental murder of their mothers "regrettable"; the killing of journalists who seek the truth "unfortunate"; the slaughter of the wounded as a "mop-up operation"; and that reduces human beings to "targets" to be "destroyed."

I support the troops by abhorring violence against nations, people, animals and the environment -- a belief system approaching its 2,000th birthday. Because you don't have to be a Christian to know what Jesus would do."

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