Support our troops!

s I walk the streets of Bloomington, I'm constantly encouraged by diverse social agents to "support our troops." There are generally two opposing camps in this argument, one which says to send more troops and more money, the other that says to support them by bringing them home. Both of these arguments, however, are knee-jerk reactions to the continuing deaths of our soldiers and are ineffective in practice. \nIn light of October's particularly high American death toll, it's time to reconsider exactly what it means to support our troops. To send more troops and money is obviously not the answer because, despite a substantial increase in defense spending since the invasion of Iraq, our military is still being slaughtered by an unconventional foe. A sudden withdrawal from Iraq is not the answer either because to fail in completion of what we began would show the ultimate disrespect to those who have died for its cause. We have a volunteer military that believes deeply in the defense of our country. The soldiers don't want to be withdrawn immediately but desire the tools necessary to finish the job at hand. It's obvious that our methods of conflict resolution must adapt if we are truly concerned with the welfare of our soldiers and the securing of peace in Iraq.\nWhat we fail to realize now in Iraq is that the modern enemy isn't a government's army, i.e. World War II-era Japan or Germany; neither are they para-military forces demarcating themselves differently from the general population. We went into Iraq expecting the visible enemy of the past with a swastika on their collars, but what our desperately unprepared troops were faced with instead was an invisible enemy, and the lack of preparation resulting from our idealism is proving deadly.\nThe groups combatting our presence in Iraq utilize small-scale ambush tactics based on intelligence, deception and espionage, not overt, wide-scale destruction. With the majority of the American casualties in the past year being the result of homemade explosives, including roadside bombs and car bombs, it's obvious that our military was inadequately prepared for urban guerilla warfare. Even after more than three and a half years of conflict with the ever-reorganizing insurgency, our soldiers continue to lack the information to protect themselves and to promote peace. In response, our government must revise its commitment to the utilization of covert operatives and infiltration techniques. Our volunteer military deserves the best intelligence before sacrificing itself at the hands of a brutal and invisible enemy. To withhold the investment in intelligence necessary for our military to make informed strategic decisions is to essentially be accessory to murder. \nIn the coming months, I would urge the constituency to put pressure on the new congressional incumbents to support legislation diverting funds from large-scale weapons development to the provision of more intelligence for our troops. The question of support is not in bringing them home or sending more there, but lies in adequately preparing our men and women to succeed against an invisible enemy. We must give them the eyes they deserve, otherwise victory and peace will never be secured.