http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20110602/OPINION02/306029996/0/opinion
THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2011
Now is the time to bring our troops home and take care of them, before
we destroy a generation of the few Americans willing to fight for our
country. Our three wars are creating an at-risk population of 1.6
million people who've endured combat over the last decade. No modern
volunteer military has been at war this long. Repeat combat tours now
far exceed those of the Vietnam era. Our veterans' suicide,
incarceration, homelessness and unemployment rates exceed civilian rates
for the same period. Our troops can't survive their current casualty
rates* for another decade, but it looks like our politicians and
generals may expect this of them. Then what? If we eventually leave our
GIs as damaged as we've left the terrorists now, will we be back to
square one?
The death of bin Laden proved that nobody in al-Qaida is safe, and the
documents seized in his lair mean we now have al-Qaida's playbook and
Rolodex. Their days are numbered, and their capacity to surprise us is
greatly diminished. So why do we still need 140,000 U.S. troops in
Afghanistan to go after 80 or so al-Qaida the CIA tells us are left in
that country? The Pentagon only plans to take out 5,000 in July and
another 5,000 by end of the year. That's public relations, not
withdrawal.
The American people can blindly follow leaders who have no exit strategy
from our three wars, or listen to organizations like Veterans For
Peace. We honor warriors, not wars, helping 85,000 Iraqis get safe
drinking water, delivering 54,000 free phone cards to patients in 148 VA
hospitals, and supporting schools and clinics in Afghanistan and
Vietnam. Most of our 120 chapters nationwide do something with homeless
veterans, PTSD, etc.