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<DIV>You are absolutely right about supporting the troops Rev. Ev.</DIV>
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<DIV>It is a lot easier to do if we are all behind the mission they are sent on,
but it is equally sound if the mission is completely bogus. We can take that out
on the leaders who got us into the mess, but not on the troops sent into
battle.</DIV>
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<DIV>Few people would deny that we need to have armed forces to insure our
survival.</DIV>
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<DIV>Therefore, someone has to be in the armed forces.</DIV>
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<DIV>Whoever that is, they are serving in place of and on behalf of all of
us.</DIV>
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<DIV>(The alternative is a <EM>grand levee</EM>, or, every able bodied citizen
in the army.)</DIV>
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<DIV>As long as we have armed forces, whatever government we have is going to be
directing their use. If our government gets us into a tangled mess for poor
reasons or wrong motives, until that is corrected, someone is going to be on the
line. All of us, or some of us. If it is only some of us, all the rest of us owe
them support and respect.</DIV>
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<DIV>Siarlys</DIV>
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<DIV>P.S. I do believe that what our troops need more than anything else is a
competent commander in chief with some minimum of strategic understanding, and
anyone who met that description would not have gotten us into the position we
are in with Iraq. But they still deserve our prayers regardless.</DIV>
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