In a perfect world, everyone who had the money,
the time off, the resources, and the ability to make it to Iraq to visit
our troops and encourage their morale would do so, wouldn't they?
Well, okay, in a perfect world, we wouldn't be there in the first
place. But just why is it that people in the public spotlight
feel so comfortable endorsing presidential candidates, but don't feel it
necessary to consult with our troops that are fighting right
now? At least two of our beloved American actresses,
though - Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson - have made the trip
and opened their ears.
At the beginning of this
month, Angelina Jolie visited Iraq for the second time,
and met with our troops, with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, and U.S. General David Petraeus, as
well as top Iraqi migration officials.
She spoke of nearly 2
million "internally displaced" Iraqi civilians, 58% of whom are children
under the age of 12. CNN followed it up by asking her if she was pregnant.
Scarlett
Johansson, who has voiced her support for Democratic presidential
candidate Barack Obama, went on a five-day tour in the
Persian Gulf in January as part of the United
Service Organization's Army Welfare
Recreation Tour. She visited and spoke with our military, signed
autographs and took photos with them, and was sweet as American apple pie
to our service men and women. She listened.
American Idol
contestant Kellie Pickler also went on a
USO tour to the Middle East, in December of '07, where she visit half a
dozen military bases and isolated combat outposts in
Iraq.
We're not trying to say that this should be a mandatory stipulation for
voting or anything crazy like that. But why aren't
more people doing it? Or at least talking to them? As we
published yesterday, Ron Paul's campaign
announced
that his top three campaign contributors are the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy,
and the U.S. Air Force. What does that tell us? We have had
multiple U.S. Army servicemen contact us voicing support for the
Republican Congressman.
And you usually don't have to listen to
RPRRadio for more than a day
or two to hear a proud soldier call in.
It isn't that they all support Paul - they have
a full spectrum of opinions on each candidate, of course. But the stats
on his #1 supporters don't lie.
Our U.S. military service people
are much closer to the truth of where our country stands
in foreign relations and what we are doing in the Middle East than the average person,
and their opinions on the candidates' stances on the war are very
relevant.
Come on, actors and actresses, singers, politicians, and
all of us regular 8-5 American citizens: we may not all have the
ability to fly to Baghdad, but we could at least open our
ears...couldn't we? (Though if we do have the ability to go, and lend a helping
hand or two, see the story unfolding before our eyes, pat our men and
women in the Armed Services on the back...wouldn't it be great to
challenge ourselves?)
If these three women can be brave enough to do it - two actresses
and a petite country/pop singer - where are all the famous men, that so
love to commandeer politics? If you know of any that have already
gone, please list them in our comments section, we'd love to publish it!
1. Listen to what our troops have
to say, from the U.S. Army to the Marine Corps to the Navy to the
Air Force, Coast Guard, and more, on a wide variety of topics, here.
2. If you can afford to
assist our military personnel via funds, care packages, or letters, please
visit SoldiersAngels.com.
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