Is it wrong to support troops?

[AnonymousPoster]

Hi all i have a friend who is a revert. she has been doing the adopt a soldier program for years in which you "adopt" a soldier based in various locations who rarely if ever receives mail from friends or family. she has been supporting two soldiers. they never talk about war or military stuff or religion (except for when she told them that she converted-which they both supported her) but talk about stuff in the u.s. like news about random things and just chit chat about life in general and their families. is it wrong for her to write to them?

 

[Mohamed M]

Personally i think its wrong to support troops, and i guess many people agree. i assume your friend is a muslim again? well think about it like this, those 2 soldiers whom she took care of, will kill innocent muslim brothers and sisters. which is more important, your religion and everyone who follows it or this programm and everything else in the world.

dont support anyone who harms muslims and who has no respect for our religion

 

[aurealnour]

The soldiers havent chosen to be where they are. But they are, what's wrong with showing another human that they care? Why does this bother you anyway?! I can understand the conflict you are probably feeling. I dont support the war, I never have. But they are there and like others in similar position belive what they are doing is for the greater good.

 

[AlbanianMuslim]

tough one...........

 

[CosmicPathos]

such a fatalistic attitude does not exist in Islam. These revert soldiers can choose to leave the army. No ONE is FORCING them to work in a kaafir army. Its not for a Muslim to fight along with the kaafirs.

Allah guided these soldiers to Islam. Now its their duty to find out what Islam says about working in a kaafir army which mounts attacks on Muslims.

 

[AlbanianMuslim]

I thought it was far more difficult to get out of the army once youre in it, but who knows, maybe there is a way out for religious purposes..does anyone know?

 

[CosmicPathos]

I thought it was far more difficult to get out of the army once youre in it, but who knows, maybe there is a way out for religious purposes..does anyone know?

I do not think it should be difficult unless you signed up for a contract? These institutions do try to lure young people to join em by offering them free tuition for medical schools and colleges, very evil and in return, they will have to be army doctor for probably 5 years or whatever is in the contract.

 

[AlbanianMuslim]

Yea you may be right I had no idea. I was always under the impression that to get out was almost impossible unless you got hurt or did something "heroic"
Tough one.

 

[S<Chowdhury]

I do not think it should be difficult unless you signed up for a contract? These institutions do try to lure young people to join em by offering them free tuition for medical schools and colleges, very evil and in return, they will have to be army doctor for probably 5 years or whatever is in the contract.

There is a way out but its quite difficult, my friends father was in the army did a tour of Iraq and things, he wanted out after this. As soon as he lodged his notice of resignation, all his benefits he received stopped etc, his father was pressured from all angles to make him stay, thankfully his father just applied to be a guard at a RAF base. His father couldn't get a job outside of the army aswell he didn't have many qualification, and i think thats the sad story many infantry and lower rank soldiers don't have many qualifications the army is the only occupation with decent benefits. You could say he could retrain and get better qualification when you got 4 mouths to feed and trying to keep a roof of there heads it becomes quite difficult to leave the army.

 

[AlbanianMuslim]

Wow I figured as much. I remember when my brothers reached graduation, for each one of them we got constant phone calls for them to join. The recruiters were so persistent that my father lodged a complaint with the local recruiting station that took us off their lists.
I can imagine theyd be even worse if you go in and then you decide to get out.


P.s. chowdhury, i love your malcom x quote!

 

[S<Chowdhury]

Wow I figured as much. I remember when my brothers reached graduation, for each one of them we got constant phone calls for them to join. The recruiters were so persistent that my father lodged a complaint with the local recruiting station that took us off their lists.
I can imagine theyd be even worse if you go in and then you decide to get out.


P.s. chowdhury, i love your malcom x quote!

Thank you

Yeah I'm getting the same treatment now from the Army aswell, I'm gonna start Uni and i got a bombardment of leaflets and email to join the army instead, yeah right ;D. I have to admit when i was young (age 6) i thought the army was the best thing in the world, its rather attractive to kids especially with action figures like Action Man and this whole idea of guns and fighting to be just a bit of fun, and the comradeship. But my father was in the army and when he told me his experiences it gave a more bleak perspective of life in the army put me off at least.

 

[zakirs]

Is she is showing compassion/support to some soldiers who are in need then may be its ok.Again i am not sure of this

 

[سيف الله]

aurealnour

The soldiers havent chosen to be where they are. But they are, what's wrong with showing another human that they care? Why does this bother you anyway?! I can understand the conflict you are probably feeling. I dont support the war, I never have. But they are there and like others in similar position belive what they are doing is for the greater good.

Salaam

Some consider the phrase 'Support our troops' a meaningless phrase

Political analyst Noam Chomsky has criticized the slogan, saying,

"[...] the point of public relations slogans like "Support Our Troops" is that they don't mean anything [...] that's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody is going to be against and I suppose everybody will be for, because nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything. But its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something, do you support our policy? And that's the one you're not allowed to talk about."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Support_our_troops

He talks about it here for the first few minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7DdWmWUa_8

Myself personally, I dont give public backing to what British troops are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan and campaign for them to be withdrawn. No way do I buy into the rhetoric that there doing 'good'. However the troops are in a difficult position and its hard for them practically to disobey. Many of them privately say dont know what exactly they are fighting for and want to come home.

I've immense admiration for those who refuse to serve, that does take a lot of guts and they should be supported for their stand.

 

[Mohamed M]

''The soldiers havent chosen to be where they are. But they are, what's wrong with showing another human that they care?''

The soldies chose to go in the army fully aware about what ther are going to do. they have a choice, and they chose to join, no one forced them to.

 

[Woodrow]

The soldies chose to go in the army fully aware about what ther are going to do. they have a choice, and they chose to join, no one forced them to.

Young people are naive. Right now, since congress has not declared a state of war the president can only deploy 20% maximum of the US military to points outside US territories or areas of combat. At present he is deploying less then 10% so that means an ingoing soldier has a 1 out 10 chance of going to Afganistan or Iraq. Most youngsters look at it in the light they will be in the 90% that will never see Afghanistan or Iraq. Many of the young GIs enlist under the belief they will never be sent into combat and their primary role will be to protect the USA against invasion.

However, once a soldier has completed basic training, it is virtually impossible to get out of the service before completion of the enlistment agreement which is normally from 2 to 4 years depending on the branch of service.

The strongest incentive for young people to join the military is the current job market for people without a college degree or specialized training. Either of which can be gotten by enlisting in the military.

The next strongest incentive is some young people who have gotten arrested several times for minor offenses can often have their record wiped clean by serving in the military. An arrest record here can prevent a person from getting employment, housing loans, higher education, and even health care.

The only ones who know specifically they will be deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq are those who specifically request that as an assignment, and they are few. The Majority of GIs in those countries never expected they would be sent there, although they knew there was a possibility.

 

[cat eyes]

YES it is wrong and she should stop it immediately everybody knows even young kids know that they kill muslims... she should stop it at once and sincerely repent for it before Allah takes her soul and she will be held accounted for the lives that were lost

 

[S<Chowdhury]

YES it is wrong and she should stop it immediately everybody knows even young kids know that they kill muslims... she should stop it at once and sincerely repent for it before Allah takes her soul and she will be held accounted for the lives that were lost

Life in the army isn't all about killing innocent children, some of the army officers try to good out of the occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, shouldn't generalise the whole army as baby murderers.

 

[Mohamed M]

Life in the army isn't all about killing innocent children, some of the army officers try to good out of the occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, shouldn't generalise the whole army as baby murderers.

the iraq and afghanistan people dont need the soldiers help, sympathy or anything for that matter. People dont know what goes on in those countries, what you are basing your judgment is on what you see on t.v, the media fabricates the whole story making it seem like the soldiers are doing the locals a favour where as what the soldiers are doing is causeing more harm than good. Why are the soldiers still in those countries now?

 

[Woodrow]

the iraq and afghanistan people dont need the soldiers help, sympathy or anything for that matter. People dont know what goes on in those countries, what you are basing your judgment is on what you see on t.v, the media fabricates the whole story making it seem like the soldiers are doing the locals a favour where as what the soldiers are doing is causeing more harm than good. Why are the soldiers still in those countries now?

Just my opinion. I believe the main reason is because there is an economic war between China and the USA. To keep China from getting the mechanical means to engage in a physical war with the USA, China needs oil. China has already signed some of the largest oil leases in history with Iran and Iraq. To get the oil to China, they will need to make pipelines and railroads through Afghanistan. The USA does not want China to have access to the oil. The easiest way is to either assist the aid of the Taliban to keep China out, like they did for 10 years with Russia. However, it looks like Afghanistan has also entered into a deal to sell mineral rights to China. So the next lowest cost method will be to keep American troops in Afghanistan keeping the country in turmoil and making it impossible for China to build the pipelines and railroads.

The next big lie to young Americans of military age will be to tell them we are in Afghanistan to protect Afghanistan from China.

 

[S<Chowdhury]

the iraq and afghanistan people dont need the soldiers help, sympathy or anything for that matter. People dont know what goes on in those countries, what you are basing your judgment is on what you see on t.v, the media fabricates the whole story making it seem like the soldiers are doing the locals a favour where as what the soldiers are doing is causeing more harm than good. Why are the soldiers still in those countries now?

Brother Okey i understand but my father colleagues that i know of and also i have a few friends who's father are also serving in the Iraq and Afghanistan front, so I'm not solely basing it on the media that would be silly of me. Obviously i can't speak of the war since I'm not on the front line, but neither are those who say that all soldiers are baby murderers unless they have witnessed it themselves but then we can't judge the majority on a few bad seeds. Anyway best of me not to continue with this discussion i guess we agree to disagree, because i get the feeling neither of us will change our perception of the war.

In terms of are solider doing good?....... The occupation itself is doing Afghanistan a favour as a whole, i cannot comment fully on the Taliban and its rule, there is array of mixed views some say they ruled perfectly whilst others said there rule is a dictatorship with the Taliban getting richer whilst the poor get poorer. From my reading though I am not complete and no its not all western books putting the Taliban under bad light..... i cannot distinguish fully whether there rule was one of good or bad, in a a years time i might be able to comment extensively inshallah. But from the stories I've heard from my father colleagues and my friends there seems to be a perception the Taliban rule was barbaric at times.

Anyway like i said we agree to disagree