Supporting the troops and opposing the war aren't mutually exclusive

You can support the troops and oppose the war.

It's a touchy notion here, where there are so many military families - many of whom have either lost loved ones or have seen them wounded. Some equate opposition to the Iraq war with betrayal; those who won't go with the flow are labeled traitors.

It happens every time. Those old enough to remember the Vietnam era may recall the bumper stickers aimed at war protesters: "America: Love it or leave it."

Without any anger Monday night, about 40 peace activists from a handful of local organizations held a candlelight vigil at Acacia Park, quietly circling around on the sidewalk. The most racket came from passing cars responding to a "honk for peace" sign.

The protesters' purpose: to honor the 4,000 soldiers who have been killed overseas in the past five years.

Their belief: that protesting the Iraq war is the patriotic thing to do.

"We're pacifists," said Pete Haney of the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission. "We're opposed to war and collective violence."

Yet the group supports soldiers, Haney said. "We realize that military service, even though it goes against our beliefs, is a sacrifice. We realize people who join the military feel that they want to make a difference."

Responding to the suggestion that some deem it impossible to support the troops unless the war also is supported, event organizer Mark Lewis replied, "That's their conflict, not ours. We're not conflicted about it at all."

Casie Breeden, a 20-year-old Army brat who isn't a member of any peace group, personified a mainstream America that has grown disenchanted with the war as she walked around the park with a candle.

"I've never done this kind of thing before," she said. "I think you can support the troops and oppose the war. Our government controls them. They don't necessarily want to be there."

Bill and Genie Durland were more strident.

"The war was sold to the nation untruthfully," Genie Durland said. "The best way to support the troops is to bring them home."

Bill Durland, an Army veteran, said that historically "we have interpreted support for our troops in only one way."

That's true, yet liberals and conservatives both tend to draw value from the life of Henry David Thoreau, who celebrated frugality and limited government and who also went to jail for not paying taxes in protest of the war with Mexico. If Thoreau were alive, he might be savaged on country radio or Fox News, where the line between patriotism and jingoism is routinely blurred.

American politics once included the concept of the loyal opposition - the idea that a minority viewpoint could exist without being smeared with the "traitor" label.

It's time we shed the talk radio polarity. Minority viewpoints have a way of becoming the majority ones.

There is more than one reason to support the troops. As Haney put it: "Peace has to include all of us."

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Contact Noreen at 636-0363 or noreen@gazette.com. He appears every other Friday on KOAA's Comcast Channel 9 at 4 p.m.