The article in Thursday's Badger Herald "Bipartisan support" by Keegan Kyle, misrepresented what I was trying to express during my interview with the author. When I said I was "disappointed in the troop memorial event," I was specifically targeting the use of the phrase “support our troops” on a banner at the memorial. “Support our troops” is a line of political rhetoric that has been used by the politicians in our government to connect caring for our men and women in uniform with a continuation of this war. Those who truly support the troops are actively working to end the war. This includes two key activities: informing the public about the realities in Iraq and supporting the men and women in the military who are refusing to fight both here and in Iraq. I agree that supporting the troops is a nonpartisan issue, as the Democrats and Republicans demonstrated together, but correctly supporting the troops requires an understanding of the reality the situation in Iraq — that being that our politicians intend to keep troops there, using them as tools to protect corporate interests in the region. Therefore, it is our job as American citizens in a democracy to actively work to end this war and get our troops out of Iraq. This is why I am a member of the Campus Antiwar Network.
Rob Lewis
UW junior, anthropology
