America's war zeroes

Whiny Guardian columnist Gary Younge sees a bleak future for many American veterans of the Iraq war. According to his Special Report, there are already 67 homeless veterans – 40 in metropolitan New York alone – out of the some 130,000 who have returned from Iraq. It is possible the number of homeless veterans will increase dramatically. Time will tell.

Younge devotes much of the Special Report to the plight of two recently homeless veterans, Herold and Nicole. Both went into the army looking for a better life. Neither expected to fight in a war. Both have been traumatized by their experiences. Neither was a combat soldier: Nicole's job isn't stated; Herold was a fuel handler. Apparently both are black. Nicole is the mother of one and apparently single. Herold is married with four children. Neither had steady work after leaving the military. Both suffer PTSD. Both still believe in the American dream. Both want help.

Younge's Special Report is typical liberal smoke and mirrors reporting from start to finish. He focuses on two people – Nicole and Herold – who probably weren't going to climb very high on the ladder of success, no matter what. The fact that these two joned the military but didn't expect to fight in a war tells me they're not much on thinking. Now that they have served in a combat zone, even though they weren't engaged in combat, they expect to be rewarded. And when they aren't given whatever it is they're expecting to be given they're upset. Sorry Nicole and Herold, if you want to participate in the American dream get a job and work your way up the ladder. Oh yeah, one more thing, children are an economic disadvantage, you should have put off having them until you could afford them.

In recounting these personal tales of woe this is the most dramatic event Younge can come up with:

More than once, something bad nearly did happen to Herold. One time, he was filling a fuel tank when he came under fire. The tank fell on its side. It would have taken one good shot to pierce the tank and blow him up. "I couldn't see anything. One of the other soldiers broke my window and got me out of there. I thought I wasn't going to see my kids or nothing. I went through all that.

Great stuff Herold, you're nearly killed and you can't be bothered naming the fellow who saved your life.

So, to fill up some space Younge drags in as many liberal talking points as he can fit in. The war's about money for Hallibuton. The US Army is disproportionately made up of minorities. The American dream is just that, a dream. Many veterans will suffer mental illness as a result of the war. The government doesn't care about veterans. There were no WMD. We were lied to. Bush is a war-monger. And so on.

Perhaps the best way to convey the thrust of Younge's report is to let Herold and Nicole do it:

"I was fighting for freedom for the Iraqi people," says Herold, " but I never had that decent life myself."

"I think it's ironic that I could go and fight for freedom abroad and cannot find this kind of freedom in my own city," says Nicole. "What America thinks of as freedom and what I think of as freedom are two different things. I want to get a house, day care and go to school. My freedoms are small. But I can't give up," she adds. "That's what I learned when I was getting shot at - if millions of Iraqis couldn't stop me, my own country's not going to stop me."

Sorry Nicole and Herold, military service doesn't automatically turn a zero into a hero. Stop whining and get on with it.