> I'm thanking them for doing what the civilian government of the US
> asks them to do at a time when that is a shitty, disheartening,
> dangerous job.
The US doesn't ask them to do the "shitty, disheartening, dangerous job" -- it's the White House and Congress that do. If soldiers stopped doing the job that the White House and Congress order them to do, a majority of the American people, as well as the rest of the world, would have a great deal to thank them for. That would be a deed to be remembered in history, as a favor to humanity (and to themselves).
> As a citizen of a democracy
If the United States were a democracy, soldiers would be all back home from Iraq by now.
> the soldiers who work for my government are my responsibilty
Our responsibility to them is to make sure that their veterans' benefits, health care benefits, etc. won't be cut by the Right.
> If I disagree with the Bush administration, I can do all manner of
> things to protest. Soldiers can't.
Soldiers should protest. Their protest will be more powerful than civilians'.
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org>