MG Jeffrey Schloesser, who took command of the Fort Campbell-based division last year, said Tuesday that the politics of the war must be separate from those who fight its battles. He fears that the importance of the fight may be lost because Americans don’t support the troops.

"The last thing that you want to have happen is an Army in combat with people saying that we really question what our government is having them do," Schloesser told reporters.

This may come as a shock to General Schloesser, but the essence of democracy is questioning the government. When citizens blindly accept whatever their rulers tell them it’s not democracy.

While no sane American questions the dedication, motivation and desires of our Army, many do question its current mission. I know General Schloesser may find this unbelievable but a CBS poll released yesterday indicate that 77% of Americans feel the war is going badly. Perhaps General Schlosser should take note of the fact that most Americans get their information from TV news, which is notorious for taking any press release the Pentagon spews out and parroting it unquestioningly.

So, General Schloesser, if Americans no longer support an ill-conceived, poorly-planned, failing occupation of a country that did us no harm, and has suffered close to one million civilian casualties in our attempted conquest and occupation, I would suggest that the fault lies not with the American public but rather with the Pentagon which is massaging managing the news from that country.

The 101st returned last fall from a yearlong deployment to train Iraqi security forces in urban areas, including Baghdad and Tikrit.

The Pentagon announced this spring that the division would deploy again in September, with units splitting between Iraq and Afghanistan.

With that deployment approaching, Schloesser said soldiers do not want their efforts to be lost amid questions that cut to the heart of a "social contract" the military shares with the civilians it protects.

"What they (soldiers) do want is the acknowledgment that what they're doing is important," Schloesser said.

We’re sorry “your” troops are having a problem with basic logic. As CG it’s your duty to explain the situation to them properly. They’re actually our sons, daughter, husband and wives – not yours. I’m a bit surprised you have forgotten this, since you were once an enlisted man.

I think I speak for most Americans when I say that we know how important the job of soldiering is. Quite a few of us in fact have done that job. Some of us have done it in combat, too. We know our sons and daughters, husbands and wives accept orders and go out and fight and die over there, but more and more, Americans don’t believe spending the next 30 years in Iraq is worth the price. So, if your argument is that the “social contract” is so important, we’ve decided we want the soldiers home. Now. Today, or at least as soon as is possible. So let’s start upholding your end of that social contract, OK?

So please don’t tell us we don’t support the troops. When the Army failed to give them adequate food and water we dug into our own pockets and sent it to them. When we learned their helmets were defective we held bake sales and garage sales to raise money to buy helmet pads, in an attempt to lessen the horrendous traumatic brain injuries that the Pentagon has just now realized were a problem.

Four years after the problem arose, General Schloesser. I guess you were all in staff meetings, and missed the memo.

And by the way, you’re not protecting me over there, and neither are the troops of the 101st that you’re commanding.