Defend The Guard รีทวีตแล้ว
The truth?
I used to be pro-war.
I was a teenager when 9/11 happened. We watched live as the towers fell. We were terrified and confused. We had no idea why anyone would want to hurt America. “Why?!” Was the question on almost every Americans lips.
“Because you are rich and free,” said the Bush Administration.
“Oh,” we replied, still confused.
Then they said we had to defend America. And that questioning the wars was anti-soldier. And that Bush needed us to unite behind him to ensure 9/11 would never happen again.
I voted for Bush — first time voting. I thought it was okay that we invaded Iraq. I believed my president when he said it must be done.
I watched boys from my high school go to war. I saw Bush make not finding weapons a joke… I saw them hang Saddam, and felt shame when the torture pictures were leaked…
And through it all, the question still lingered, why?
During Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, I heard him talk about “blowback” and how our current foreign policy was making us more unsafe, less free, and bankrupting us. That message resonated more than “they hate us because we’re rich and free.” I was gripped and spent weeks of my life researching our foreign policy.
Now, I speak up against the wars that are plundering my nation. And I resolutely support the Defend the Guard movement, a fast - growing coalition that is trying to make it so our Montana guardsmen CANNOT be sent to war unless Congress votes for it … something they haven’t done since the 1940s.
Every time the Defend the Guard bill is at the Capitol I’ve gone down to testify. Often, it’s discouraging.
-We’re given, at most, 2 minutes to talk.
-The war machine is always two steps ahead of us.
-Very old men cuss at us because they think we’re dishonoring the sacrifice of the soldiers by trying to stop the bleeding.
-Young soldiers beg to be heard while our legislators ignore them in favor of the military brass and big business.
We haven’t been able to pass it yet… and, now I wonder, if we had, would have other states followed suit? Would we have succeeded in crippling our corrupt foreign policy that is making old war profiteers rich off the blood of our soldiers? Would we have been able to stop the next Vietnam or Iraq… or, dare I say, Iranian War?
I don’t know. I can’t go back and change the past. But I know I will be at the Capitol supporting this bill every time it’s presented.
Hopefully this next time as a Senator, who will be given more than two minutes to stop a war.
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