by James Glaser
March 1, 2006

It seems like every time President Bush goes out on the road to speak to the American people, he ends up at some military base. I would guess that is because of the response he gets from the troops. They cheer his talks about the war, and they laugh at any line that is remotely funny.

Now we know why the troops feel so strongly for their Commander-in-Chief. According to the Financial Times, "Despite the fact that Mr. Bush has acknowledged that Iraq played no role in the September 2001 attacks, 85% of the troops said the US mission was mainly 'to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9/11 attacks.'"

Those 85% are troops who are in Iraq today. Somehow American troops have been taught that they are in Iraq because Iraq attacked us. That isn't true, but you can bet that if our troops really believe that, it would be a great motivating tool. It is a shame the Commander-in-Chief has never told the troops the truth of why we are there.

Another thing that seems strange is that according to this poll just taken of our troops in combat, by Zobgy International/LeMoyne College, 72% of the troops want us out of Iraq within 12 months, and 29% want us to leave right now. Washington is always holding up some Soldier or Marine who says he just wants to finish the job... of course chances are that trooper thinks the "job" is to get back at those who attacked the World Trade Center.

Some day the troops will catch on to what the truth is, and the war will end. In Vietnam American troops finally figured out what was what in their war, and both morale and performance suffered to the point that Washington had to pull the plug or lose the Army as any sort of fighting force. When today's troops figure out that they have been had by President Bush and the Pentagon, the same thing will happen. The Commander-in-Chief can only lie so long to his Army before they catch on.

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