'The Bonus Army' Lesson

By Sean Gonsalves, AlterNet. Posted February 28, 2005.

This week's word according to Orwell is the phrase "support our troops." In popular political language it has become the rallying cry for those who supported the preventive war launched on a defenseless Iraq – a country that posed no threat to America and has since been turned into a greenhouse for the cultivation of "terrorists."

From a marketing standpoint, the phrase is an ingenious antidote to the so-called "Vietnam War syndrome" – a pseudo-psychological condition caused by Uncle Sam exiting the Vietnam War, tail between legs, because "girlie-men" Americans couldn't stomach the needless death of thousands of its young.

Apparently, the Vietnam War syndrome also gave rise to the Powell doctrine, named after retired general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, whose experience in Vietnam convinced him that when America goes to war it should do so with overwhelming force.

Though Powell was supposedly the voice of restraint in George Dubya's first administration, even those within the inner circle who disagreed with Powell bought into his war doctrine as is evidenced by the "shock and awe" campaign, which initiated a war that has killed more innocent Iraqi civilians than U.S. soldiers and those who perished in the 9/11 attacks.

And it's not that soldiers don't deserve our support. They do, namely because good soldiers are the embodiment of courage, willing to risk their lives (and those of others) in the name of national defense.

Even Gandhi gives it up for true warriors. "My nonviolence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving dear ones unprotected. Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice. I can no more preach nonviolence to a coward than I can tempt a blind man to enjoy healthy scenes ... As a coward, which I was for years, I harbored violence. I began to prize nonviolence only when I began to shed cowardice."

Though a seeming paradox, soldiers, by and large, are closer to nonviolence than the majority of the peace movement.

So yes, "support our troops" – but it doesn't logically follow that such a sentiment means supporting the policies that unnecessarily put troops in harm's way. Unfortunately, Bush-backers, many of whom claim to have a personal relationship with the "Truth" (Jesus), have somehow been convinced by the absurdity that public criticism of the policies dreamed up by privileged people in secure, plush offices is tantamount to not supporting troops.

How are troops supported? For an excellent historical reminder that soldiers are supported by organized action outside of the political process, get yourself a copy of The Bonus Army: An American Epic authored by Paul Dickson and Thomas B. Allen.

The Bonus Army tells the story of how the GI Bill came to be. In the summer of 1932, 45,000 World War I vets marched on Washington demanding bonus pay promised them before the war. But a bill that would have allayed their grievance was defeated in the Senate after it passed the House.

Sean Gonsalves is a Cape Cod Times staff reporter and a syndicated columnist.

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