Join veterans organization to bring change

It’s been a month since we left Iraq, a nation with less than one-tenth the population of the United States. Since that time, hundreds, if not thousands of Iraqis have been killed and wounded. Could our civilians stand such casualty percentages? Those wounded must seek help in a country where most of the doctors have left, and medical supplies are so scarce that intrusive instruments meant to be used only once are reused, risking infection. Sunnis dare not risk treatment in Shiite hospitals and vice versa, and hospitals in Baghdad, like most places in that city of 5 million, have only part-time electrical power each day. Is this what our troops sacrificed so much for? For almost nine years?

The Sunni vice president of Iraq, accused by the Shiite president of being a terrorist, has fled to neutral Kurd territory. The Sunni minority Cabinet members boycotted governmental proceedings and were expelled by the Shiite majority Cabinet members. Only Saddam Hussein’s iron fist enforced a 30-year cease-fire on what is a 400-year-old religious war. Iraq’s descent into madness would have happened if we’d left five years ago or 50 years from now, yet the hubris of our political leaders thought we could bring two simultaneous Asian land wars to successful conclusions, and our generals told their bosses what they wanted to hear. Both Bush and Obama have blood on their hands. Including our blood.

In Afghanistan Hamid Karzai recently said he might need another decade of U.S. forces propping up his government, the most corrupt on earth. But there’s no massive outcry here, because there’s no draft and only 1 percent of our populace is in uniform. I help transport ailing fellow veterans to Veterans Affairs medical care every week. Were I to fall asleep for 30 years like Rip Van Winkle, would I awake to find a river of once younger vets flooding new hospitals, a generation of “heroes” destroyed? Perhaps I’d rather not wake up then. But maybe we should all wake up now.

As we find a way out of our current wars, troop numbers will be cut, bases closed, veterans benefits slashed, promised pensions finessed into vapor. Until the next war, because we forgot. To protect themselves, GIs and vets should join the advocacy groups of their preference — Legion, VFW, Veterans For Peace, whatever. Those nonvets for whom “Support Our Troops” is more than a bumper sticker can become associate or auxiliary members. Bob Dylan once said it for all of us: “Get outta the way, if you can’t lend a hand.” This time we have to change it.

Roland Van Deusen

Clayton