Do our brave US soldiers mind being used as PR props?

I just watched footage of "Operation Swarm the Airwaves with Propaganda" and I'm sickened.

Our brave soldiers rely on our government to make military decisions that serve our nation. They have to hope that our leaders would respect their courage and never put them in harms' way, unless there was a very good reason.

It's glaringly obvious that "Operation Swarmer" is a public-relations stunt--designed to cultivate support for the war and to position the poll-sagging pResident as a "war president.

I see the DOD video (because MSM reporters were barred) of our amazing, patriotic soldiers--running in the desert and jumping out of helicopters and I am disgusted that they are being used as props in a marketing campaign that is designed to serve one person--pResident Bush.

It doesn't matter if they die. It doesn't matter if innocent civilians are killed in this bombing campaign. What matters to this administration--is that action is taken to augment Junior's polls.

If you ask me--this PR stunt is a failure from its onset. First--this administration has no credibility and most see that this is, indeed--a stunt. Secondly, the numerous helicopters in the DOD footage are reminiscent of Vietnam (both my husband and I noticed this). Thirdly--by describing this action as "the largest bombing campaign since the Iraq invasion", this administration is admitting that Iraq is a total failure. After three years, increased bombings means that the mission has failed miserable. Fourth--This action magnifies the irony of the Iraq war: How can you spread freedom and democracy to people while you're bombing the hell out of them?

I'm wondering if our soldiers realize just how much they are being used?

they are in the military, esp. while in combat.

By BOB HERBERT
"The fact that Mr. Bush is struggling in his own political purgatory (for the sin of incompetence) is bad news for the soldiers in Iraq, where the suffering and dying continues unabated. The administration that was so anxious to throw scores of thousands of healthy young Americans into the flames of war now has no idea how to get them out.

Troops are being sent into Iraq for two, three, even four combat tours by an administration in which clowns like Scooter Libby and Karl Rove were playing games with the identity of a C.I.A. agent, and the vice president has been obsessed with his twisted protect-the-torturers campaign.

Now the Bush crew, which should be focused like a laser on what to do about the war, is consumed with damage control - pumping up the poll numbers, defending its handling of prewar intelligence, fending off further indictments and staying out of prison.

The war? There's no plan for the war. The architects of this war had no idea what they were getting into, and they are just as clueless now. The war just goes on and on, which is not just tragic - it's criminal.

Opposition to the war may be mounting. But the reality of the war, especially the toll of American dead and wounded, fades in and out of the public's consciousness."

I don't think they mind at all, and I question your description of them being "amazing and patriotic". In my opinion there isn't anything amazing about what they do, I've been there, as for being patriotic, not so much, they follow orders for fear of being court martialed.

If they were patriots as some contend, they would realize that the Constitution, which they all swore to defend, the Constitution that they swore allegiance too, has been attacked and with the implementation of the Patriot Act continues to be attacked. And yet the military has so far failed to defend the Constitution.

Not exactly patriotic or amazing.

Yes they are following orders, but then again so did the Serbs, the Russians, the Germans, the Iraqis, and so many others. True courage doesn't come from following orders, it comes from being able to admit your mistakes and refusing to compound them.

You want a picture of true courage look at Sergeant Kevin Benderman, there is a soldier who is bot amazing and patriotic in every sense of those words.