Left I on the News

Vetoing the war funding bill, George Bush said, "Now it is time to put politics behind us and support our troops with the funds they need." Today Republican leaders held a news conference and repeated that line, about providing the troops with the funds they need.

What nonsense! The only thing the troops need is a plane ticket (or a boat ride) home! George Bush needs the money to keep fighting his war. The ruling class needs the money to keep fighting their war. But the troops? There's probably not a single soldier who "needs" to keep fighting this war; au contraire, what they "need" is to come home, be with their families, get back to their jobs (in the case of the National Guard), and no longer have a decent probability of becoming one of thousands of fatalities or tens of thousands of casualties.

Not that the phrase "give the troops the funds they need" is any different than the more common "support the troops," which likewise means no such thing. What it means is "support the imperialist war that the poor misguided troops have been sent to fight."

Out now!