War on Terrorism? Really?

Barack Obama campaigned last year on getting out of the wars and bringing our troops home. According to a WSJ article on Aug 10, The Obama administration is in the midst of an Afghan buildup that will push U.S. troop levels here to a record 68,000 by year end. Now, 8 months after taking office, the war in Afghanistan is going so poorly that America's top military commander Admiral Mike Mullen was grimly preparing a war-weary public Sunday for the possibility that many more U.S soldiers (upwards of 20,000) may soon be needed.

Casualties are up 50 per cent over last year and roughly five times the levels in 2004. Casualties this year stand at 289. Last year’s 12 month total was 294. 42 Americans died in July, the highest number in a single month since the 2001 invasion. 9 U.S. Army soldiers, five Marines and one U.S. Navy sailor were killed between July 25 and August 7, 2009.

Our allies are pulling their troops out due to citizen opposition to this war and the result will be more endangerment of our troops.

Is our American public so gullible that we believe that this war is against terrorism? If we were really concerned about terrorism in our own country, wouldn’t we be shutting our borders, making it more difficult to get into America? But, no, our borders are porous.

If I am worried about someone breaking into my house, I would not leave the doors and windows open while I went down to the local doper hangout looking for someone that might someday try to break into my house. I would lock my doors and windows and perhaps put alarms up. Likewise, we should be closing our borders and putting our troops in place to protect them.

Furthermore, when our vets come home, we must take care of them. Our current troops as well as our vets from previous wars should be allowed to go to any healthcare provider of their choice at taxpayer expense. We owe them the best healthcare possible for service related injuries and illnesses.

Rather than that, though, there are those in our government that want to publish a booklet for our vets entitled “Your Life, Your Choices”. This book includes a checklist to help determine whether a veteran’s life is worth living. Two statements in the document are "I am a severe financial burden on my family," and "My situation causes severe emotional burden for my family."

Is this how we thank our vets and their families for the sacrifices they have made? I am disgusted!