A True Patriot

I read today about a U.S. soldier wounded in Iraq and his refusal to meet President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and Secretary of State Rice. As far as I can tell from reading the news piece this soldier, Mr. Terry Rodgers, is a true American Patriot of the first order. Just like so many others, he chose to serve his country by taking a job in defense of our country which could very well kill him and actually did severely injure him. At least based upon the article it appears that he didn't join the military in response to the politics of the time. He went for much more rational and realistic reasons:

"It was something I always wanted to do," he says. "I thought it looked fun. I just wanted to get out on my own for a while. I got kind of bored being around here. I wanted to try something new."

Mr. Rodgers was severely injured a few months ago as a result of an improvised explosive device. While recovering in the hospital he was visited by a few celebrities. But he refused to meet with the President when the President came by the hospital for another photo opportunity. This soldier did the right thing by not allowing our President to use his sacrifice for political aims. Considering that our President still has not produced a true and reasonable explanation for why Americans need die in Iraq, I can only speculate that the reason we are there is for purely political reasons. There was no threat. And isn't the threat of attack or the actual attack the only justifiable reason for sending our soldiers to die??

So thank goodness for patriots like Mr. Rodgers who could so easily accept the role of wounded soldier being comforted by a grateful president. Instead he chose to speak out by not allowing his presence with the president to further a cause which he no longer supports.

Mr. Rodger's comments on the future of the war are extremely disheartening and at the same time they sound like they could have come from a soldier stuck in another truly political war, Vietnam:

"It's gonna go on as long as we're there," he says. "There's always gonna be insurgents trying to blow us up. There's just too many of 'em that are willing to do it. You're never gonna catch all of 'em. And it seems like they have unlimited amounts of ammunition. So I don't think it's ever gonna end."

When will all Americans stand up and refuse to let our leaders send Americans to their deaths for something (who knows what the reason is this week) far less important than the defense of our country and our freedom?