Pap

Gary Kurpius adressing the audience, Paul Morin flanking him

Mr. Kurpius is the National Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Mr. Morin is the National Commander of The American Legion. Together the VFW and Legion have 4.5 million members. Recently I resigned from the American Legion, and this article prompts my withdrawal from the VFW.

Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City
--Ya Got Trouble, Meredith Wilson

''Show Our Troops the Money,'' an article co-authored by the national commanders of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion (AL), is historically misleading, emotional and basically a bucket of slop.

Both the AL and the VFW have vested interests in supporting this phony War on Terror. It is a major source of new members, with no end in sight. Large membership allows the fat cats at corporate to enjoy executive perks.

Forget the concept of the ''Long War;'' for them it is the ''Long Membership Recruiting Drive.''

AL, VFW and all fraternal military organizations should get their fingers out of the political spectrum and get back on track, which is serving as watchdogs for veterans' rights.

In this shameless screed they say,

''(T)roop withdrawal timelines will tie the hands of our battlefield commanders to maneuver their forces, and that will break the morale of our troops in the field.''

There is no battlefield in Iraq; our soldiers are functioning in lieu of a national Iraqi police force. My Army is not intended to be deployed as officer friendlies'' on a police beat. Screw Baghdad--secure the battlefield on the streets of American cities.

''Our troops operate in a world of ideals known as service, commitment and sacrifice. They don't do politics...''

Nor should the AL or VFW do politics. The AL/VFW leadership were not elected, and they are not part of the body politic, so Quit endorsing candidates (especially those without campaign ribbons or the qualifications to join your organizations.) Hint: GWB and Cheney are not VFW types.

(T)hey know that not being allowed to take the fight directly to the enemy is exactly what happened in Korea and Vietnam. They don't want to repeat history.

Surely this is emotive pablum that has no basis in historical fact. In Korea and Vetnam, the U.S. Army, Air Force and USMC employed more ordnance than was expended during WW II. Does the AL/VFW suggest that U.S. forces should have expanded Korea into a general war against China? (If they did, we wouldn't have WalMart today, nor would China be able to support our deficit spending so well.) What are these fools suggesting?

Korea was a UN Police Action, without a U.S. declaration of war. Restraint in such a situation is realistic leadership, a concept which thus far has escaped GWB and his policies. Same/same in RVN. Were the Commanders of AL and VFW in line signing up to invade the North?

Militarily, the U.S. bombed North Vietnam more heavily than WW II Germany, and killed or wounded 20% of the people in South Vietnam. The entire South was bombed, artied and defoliated. Strange half-measures if you ask me.

But [Iraq] can't be bullied into forming a democracy by an American Congress, and American troops can't speed up a process that has taken our own country 231 years to nurture.

Excellent point. Let the Iraqis alone for the next 231 years and see if they develop into a working democracy. If they don't, who cares, since their oil reserves will be depleted by then anyway.

We need a little Civics lesson here, and I'm not talking Honda.

Congressional legislation is not based upon Presidential hopes, or General Petraeus's wishes, or even progress in Iraq. The Congress is responsible for the welfare of America. The streets of Baghdad are not a U.S. taxpayer responsibility.

Finally,

This issue is about American men and women who we sent to war and who now some want to pull back before they finish their job.

What do they mean by, ''we sent to war''? The U.S. military was sent to war by GWB on the flimsiest of pretexts, and the American people are paying for his incredibly poor judgment.

American policy must benefit the average American taxpayer, and not the Shias of Iraq. This article is an insult to all thinking Americans, be they veterans or Republicans.