In every war there is always a group of people who yammer shrilly and incessantly for the need to spill blood, yet those very same people are the last ones to pick up a gun and fight.
The flimsier the reasons for war, the louder they shout, and the further they are from the front lines.
Who can forget the commander in chief’s bold challenge (“bring’em on”) to the insurgents of Iraq, 6000 miles behind the front lines?
Republicans, having mastered rear-echelon bravado, like to promote their party’s sole dominion over patriotism. Only Republicans support the troops. Yet, what could be more unpatriotic than lying to the troops about the reason for going to war?
Every week, a Republican talking head gives us a new rationale for being in Iraq. Never mind if it contradicts the reason given the week before.
Watching conservative pundits has become a grotesque exercise in truthiness, much like watching the pigs of Orwell’s Animal Farm editing the Ten Commandments.
But the lies that started the war are in the past. No use crying over spilled milk, right? Perhaps it’s time to stop betraying America (by stating the obvious truth) and get on the war bandwagon. That means supporting the troops no questions asked.
So here’s a question (sue me). Are the president and the Republican-controlled bodies of Congress doing everything in their power to support the troops? Are they giving them everything they need to fight off the insurgents who are, in fact, bringing it on?
Perhaps the easiest way to answer that question is to look at a specific example. On Jan. 6, 2006, The New York Times published a recent Pentagon study which found that 80 percent of the Marines killed in Iraq from upper body wounds could have been saved if they had been provided with adequate body armor body armor available since 2003, the year the Iraq war started.
Did Bush, our “war president,” make sure every soldier had body armor? Nope. In fact, according to the Star Telegram the only way many troops can get body armor is to buy it themselves.
Some families are so desperate to obtain body armor for loved ones they’re actually holding bake sales to raise money to purchase the protective gear. Don’t believe me? See for yourself at www.bakesalesforbodyarmor.org
It’s been three years since the war started. Three years! Why, in three years time, are there still troops lacking body armor? It obviously isn’t due to a lack of production, because families are still able to buy the armor for their sons and daughters in Iraq.
Aren’t we paying the producers of body armor, DHB Industries, enough money? According to The New York Times, DHB has been awarded three body armor contracts worth $455 million. According to the Star Telegram, a complete set of upper body armor runs around $1,800. Assuming that $1,800 covers the cost of production, the $455 million should be enough for around 250,000 troops. There are approximately 150,000 US troops in Iraq.
Doesn’t add up, does it? If that $455 million of taxpayer money isn’t going toward buying body armor, where is it going?
According to salary.com, some of that money is going to the CEO of DHB, David Brooks, who raked in over $3.6 million in 2004.
Here’s an idea. What if the no-bid contracts negotiated by Republicans contained stipulations that limited the amount of profit a CEO could make, thereby maximizing production of essential war equipment.
How about if we limited Mr. Brooks annual pay to $400,000 and used the rest to make more body armor? At $1,800 a set, that would buy around 1,750 sets of upper body armor. The death toll of Americans killed in Iraq is at 2,267. How many of them could have been saved by a government contract that placed more weight on saving lives and less weight on making CEOs wealthy?
Maybe if Republicans spent more time on the front lines and less time on the golf course with lobbyists from companies like DHB, we would have contracts with some semblance of morality.
As bad as the cronyism sounds in this example, DHB is a bit player when it comes to defense contracting. The no-bid contracts awarded to companies like Halliburton, Lockheed and Boeing dwarf those received by DHB, and so do the salaries and bonuses of their owners.
Say you support the decision to go to war if you like. Say you support the rationale for war (what was this week’s reason again?), but if you’re a Bush supporter and you really want to show you support the troops, stop flaunting your Republican voting record as a badge of loyalty.
Try something that will have more a tangible effect, like maybe a bake sale. A few good men and women overseas could use the help.

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