I see your point. I don't agree that we have our freedoms or liberties b/c of the military. We have those b/c of the constitution.
And it can be argued that the military protects the entity that executes the constitution. Also the Military has been responsible for stopping aggression abraod that might have changed the course of world history for the worst and protecting our interests as well as our borders.
Our country's philosophy and morality for war is predicated on self-defense and not on brutal, unprovoked and discretionary attacks.
The war machine can be used for good (defense) and for evil (conquering).
No disagreement here.
We can shield ourselves from criticism by heaping heroic accolades on the men and women of our military--and they do deserve that when they deserve it--but that's a dodge in this case.
I don't think so. In my mind giving the those serving their due credit in no way interferes with the criticism of the war.
A man, who believes he is serving his country and fighting terrorists goes to voluntarily and puts himself in harms way, IS a hero in my eyes. The fact the war was wrongly justified is irrelevant regarding his due respect for what he's sacrificed. And to call him a murder is appalling and disgraceful.
Or we can integrate the reason for the US's attack into an analysis of the actions of the military soldiers.
Maybe the actions of the commanding Generals, but I'm talking about the common soldier who has no say in policy or military decisions. Like HH6. Fact is the Generals, maybe for the wrong reasons, do what they can to limit the death of innocent people. I don't think anyone of them are so Evil as to believe they are justified by killing children. (Unless of course you are the Jews committing Genocide by Killing Amalikites)
Are the US soldiers defending america? I think that's a fairly obvious 'no.'
Are the US soldiers defending an ally? No. Iraq attacked no one.
How can we still view the soldiers's actions in Iraq as heroic or moral or the like?
Simple, they are doing what they are ordered to do and doing what they believe is defending America. Your point however is well taken, but remember, this is about calling them murderers.
Now the tactfulness with which someone tells a soldier or his family that they are doing wrong in Iraq is a different story all together.
At this point, in the war, i really believe if they leave so many will die as Iraq plunges into civil war. They are needed there becuase our president made the worse foriegn policy decision in the history of America and we cannot just leave our mess and see hundreds of thousands die as a result.