Those who know me know me as a dove, generally. I believe war to be morally reprehensible, and live in the hope that we can one day find ourselves able to find a less utterly stupid way to solve our problems by training our young men of unknown political affiliations to get out on a field and point lethal weapons at others in the hopes of terminating their life.

But I live in a world of reality, not idealism, and that's just not the way things work.

I have nothing but respect for the soldiers that are on the front lines fighting, directly or indirectly, for a government that grants me the right to post articles like this without fear of being seized by an official of said government for holding these ideals.

But a small contingent of soldiers has repeatedly used the public sympathies to whine and complain about their conditions overseas, giving detailed information on the specs of their equipment in order to confirm that they are, indeed, in a position to know about these inadequacies. A diligent enemy force (as al-Qaeda appears to be), it seems, would monitor each and every one of these releases to gain a more adequate picture of the placement of troops, as well as their respective strengths and weaknesses. At the very least, the low morale of the troops coupled with the dismal picture painted of our military strength, harbors great potential to offer military resolve to insurgents, and prolong the conflicts and casualties in this war torn area.

All of this put together adds up to one of the ugliest words of American politics: treason.

These soldiers swore an oath to their country, and were well advised of the risks (or had every opportunity to be so) before enlisting in the US Armed Forces. The very name and nature of these units is clear: for good or bad, they exist for the business of war, or at least, as in peacetime, the preparation for war.So, no matter when you enlist, or how, enlistment in the armed forces carries with it the very real possibility of being involved in combat at sometime during your military tenure. Combat involves risk; if we were to wait until we had enough armored vehicles to hold an area, for instance, we would have a war zone full of soldiers who are undermanned and undersupplied, and casualties would be greater than they already are.

So, instead of buying into the hype that the media seems all too eager to feed us, let us remember the resolve that we carried forth from that day in September, 2001, and support our troops by turning our TV's off of the sensationalistic news articles that fill the airwaves and realize that war carries with it the grim reality of death. Whether President Bush's motives in entering this conflict were just or not is a matter that will be debated among historians long after his death (see: Spanish-American War; we're still working on that one), but the fact is, we are there, and we MUST prevail.

To do any less would be a dishonor to those who have already died.

Respectfully submitted,

Gideon MacLeish