Nicole Robinson

In a recent teleconference with 10 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, President Bush said America would not leave Iraq until “total victory” and that the American public supported troops in their efforts.

Not only was this conference between our nation’s leader and soldiers rehearsed, but also it was rubbish.

Five of the 10 soldiers were officers. Each question Bush asked them was prepared to be answered specifically by an officer appointed by the deputy assistant defense secretary, Allison Barber.

The Department of Defense coordinated this teleconference in an effort to improve Bush’s approval ratings, which are dismal.

Less than 40 percent of people in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll taken in October approved of the way Bush is handling Iraq.

While the fact that this was carefully planned and scripted is enough to cause me worry, that is not what I’m most worried about.

He told the troops twice that America was behind them. I do have a problem with what Bush said. Yes, it is true the American public supports the troops, but it was the fact that before Bush told them that, he said the United States would not pull out of Iraq until the mission was accomplished.

To say first that America will not leave Iraq, then to say we are behind the troops is very misleading. Americans supporting the war and Americans supporting the troops are two separate and completely different things.

Our support of our close friends and family is becoming Bush’s way of trying to prove that the American public stands behind the war in Iraq.

He shamelessly is trying to bolster his approval rating by targeting our vulnerable spot: our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles and friends.

I had friends who were stationed in Iraq or were going to be shipped out. They all needed to know they had support coming from their friends, but now, it’s closer to home.

My brother, Nathan, has just recently been commissioned into the U.S. Army as an officer. He took me aside before graduating from college and asked if I was OK with him having a career in the Army. No matter my feelings on Bush and the current conflict in the Middle East, he wanted to know that he had my blessing.

My whole family has given him our encouragement and approval because he loves his job and has always wanted to be in the Army.

Bush must understand that those soldiers need to have our support in order to go over there and perform the job their commander in chief is asking them to do, even if they don’t know why they are there.

I cannot imagine how it must feel to be a soldier going to fight in a country in which the language is alien to you, the terrain is dismal and it feels like no one there wants you to stay.

Imagine, if you will, you were that soldier and had to go to into combat without the support of your family or friends.

I would not be able to fight the best I could or perform my job to the best of my abilities.

Soldiers know that half of the American public does not want them there and doesn’t agree with what they are doing in Iraq.

But because of our increased efforts to show the troops we admire their courage, Bush believes our support is an incentive not to end the conflict.

In late August, the Pentagon ordered 1,500 more troops to help assist in security during the Iraqi national elections held in December. There are now 140,000 troops in the Middle East, and it does not appear they will be leaving anytime soon.

We non-soldiers already think that this conflict has gone on for too long; think about those stationed in the Middle East since it started.

“So long as I’m president,” Bush told the troops, “we’re never going to back down; we’re never going to give in; we’ll never accept anything less than total victory.”

Bush needs to realize that the public may be behind our troops, but that does not mean we are supporting the war in Iraq.

Branen is a sophomore print journalism major and a copy editor of The Spectator.