Here’s a story about a GI about to be shipped out to Iraq, losing custody of his son to his ex-wife. I’m sorry for his troubles, truly, but look at what he says about it:

“This is a big slap in the face,” Wertz said. “I’m defending the country, and right behind my back, they’re taking things from me.”

Before this man gets on the plane, somebody needs to square him away with the truth: he’s not going over there to defend America. He’s going to enforce American foreign policy. Iraq was never a threat to America, and certainly we don’t need to be defended from Iraq now. There weren’t any WMD, and Saddam Hussein said several times that he had none. He made no threatening moves towards America.

Somehow, American Newspeak has come to call any action by the Military a defense of our country. That’s simply stupid, and apart from giving disingenuous credit to our present armed forces, it demeans the service of those that went before them, fought and died when America and its allies really were at risk.

I am absolutely not suggesting that this reality lessens the service and sacrifice of our people in harm’s way, their families and loved ones. They deserve all our respect for doing their duty. I hope to God that none of them comes back to the cold scorn shown to too many soldiers back from Vietnam. I just think that the Truth deserves respect too. For example, if we forget that this was a war of choice – in which neither the method nor the timing were forced on the president — how can history record that our troops were sent into battle without proper armor and before any real plans for counter-insurgency, nation-building and exit were developed?

There may be some who say that some of the people we’re fighting are Al Queda terrorists. Right. They came for the fight we started with their neighbors. There was no reason to attack Iraq to fight Al Queda. Over 100,000 Iraqis are dead; many times more than the terrorists we were supposedly after. Does anybody really think that 1300 Americans would have died if we went after a few thousand Al Queda? Plus, the war in Iraq has done wonders for their recruitment. Not so great for ours.

These misconceptions help no one, least of all the troops, and they hurt everyone, most of all the next generation of “defenders.” … Pray for peace.