I was reading Rick Francona's blog this morning and I have to wonder if this guy is as serious about his military career as he would have us believe. It seems to me that if he is, why is he such a shameless Bush administration yes-man saying things he has to know are simply not true?

5 years down the road, people are going to remember how he kissed Bush's ass unhesitatingly and sang all the songs Bush wanted him to and changed the lyrics where indicated by Bush and his cronies in the Pentagon (of which Francona is a major one anyway). It will affect him because 5 years from now Bush will be the most hated name in the world and that will include for most Americans, and anyone who danced with Bush in this thing are going to get touched by that tarbrush. That's why so many pubs in Congress are already distancing themselves and Francona appears to me to be a deluded individual who honestly believes that Bush knows what he's doing and that we will eventually win this thing.

Francona would have to believe Bush is wrong about Iran in order to
hold this belief but he backs Bush about Iran and has already written blogs supporting Bush's charges. So Francona is an idiot and if he's the best Bush has, we're in big trouble.

What set me off was the old song-and-dance Francona gave in his blog
that a non-binding resolution opposing Bush and this stupid surge are demoralizing to the troops. To hear this from a military man makes me sick--the same miltary guys who actually tack up slogans as "Hey liberals! SHUT UP!"--are now crying?? Anyone who says this is a liar and that includes any soldier. A lot of rightwing soldiers are using this ridiculous god-like status our cowardly society is heaping on them out of guilt to advance their sorry, stupid politics as though they were inviolable utterances of a saint and I'm sick of it. As veteran, I can state with perfect honesty that no soldier gives a damn what people back home think for two reasons:

1. Most of them are so isolated to begin with that they simply have no idea what the public thinks.

2. They have their orders and their job is to carry them out and that is what they're focused on as soldiers and they don't care what anyone else thinks about it. It doesn't matter. It doesn't relieve them of their duties or lessen the punishment they will receive for failing to carry them out. What's public opinion got to do with it? And let him just try to use demoralization as an excuse for dereliction.

Is Francona seriously saying soldiers will throw down their weapons and refuse to follow orders? This much-vaunted brave, selfless, volunteer army they praise from the ground up? It's garbage being advanced by guys shamelessly using their newfound status as heroes to push their stupid rightwing bullshit politics and that's all it is and it needs to be seen for what it is--garbage. Shows you how far adrift this country is when we're too scared to disagree with military people because we feel so guilty for refusing to help them fight this war, too scared to be painted as a terrorist sympathizer by rightwing cretins for exercising our freedom of speech arguing against this embarrassing posturing of the military that says the grunts in the field who are getting maimed or killed everyday are actually MORE weakened by public opposition to the war than they are by lack of responsible, knowledgeable leadership and infrastructure to help them readjust to civilian life once they come home (IF they come home).

If Francona is to be believed, American soldiers in Iraq are pussies. Whining, little, spoiled brats who cry when they don't get their way. I'm not being mean or harsh--that is the implication of Francona's words when he says that the American fighting man can't take anyone questioning the necessity of his mission or he will become demoralized and jeopardize our efforts. If he's that fragile, either he or the mission or both need to be thoroughly reviewed.

What demoralizes a soldier is to lose an arm or a leg or an eye or to be burned over 90% of his body, to be bed-ridden for the rest of his life, to be housed in a crumbling, decaying govt building while receiving treatment because the army has no place else to put them, to come back home with PTSD and receive no help because the military doesn't se this as a real disease, to be given a 0% disability rating because the govt doesn't want to pay for your treatments (if Iraq duty ruined your back, for example, but your medical records showed you had a shaky back before you went in, the military will deny you benefits)--that's the reality and that is what demoralizes a soldier. After all he's sacrificed, he's finally told, "Iraq didn't hurt you none so we're not going to give you anything for your PTSD and loss of hearing but thanks for your time."

So just let me conclude with, "Hey, Francona!! SHUT UP!"