If you don’t love America, then get the hell out!”

Thank goodness we do not hear that phrase very often anymore. Still, I have noticed that sort of mindset since Sept. 11. In spite of social conservatives being in power, and taking full advantage of that fact, there exists a degree of insecurity in their ranks, as if perhaps the “liberal left” might suddenly take over and destroy us all.

Most recently I have seen this mindset manifest itself in social conservatives who support the war in Iraq. They are insecure in their support of the war and for good reason: There is no reason to be in Iraq in the first place, aside from the fact that the U.S. is a militarily powerful, oil-hungry nation that will unseat any U.N.-recognized authority to get to that sweet crude.

If someone can think of a more practical reason for us being there, I would certainly like to hear it.

Contrary to the belief of some, it is possible to support our nation’s soldiers, sailors and Marines while at the same time being opposed to the war they are forced to fight. Still, some say that those of us who do not support the war must hate the soldiers fighting it.

This argument falls on especially deaf ears in my case, as I am an Army veteran. I have been there, done that, and although I never served in combat, it does not mean that I was not ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Those of us who are veterans have one very special thing in common: We have all sworn an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. It is an oath I take as seriously today as I did back then.

So when I hear veterans insulting those who have not served and are opposed to the war, it makes me think that the indoctrination process of our armed forces has fallen short on one very critical factor: The armed forces exist to defend the very rights these veterans do not want people with opposing views to exercise. It is called “the service” because it is exactly that; it is a service to our nation and the values we hold most dear, not the least of which is the right to speak one’s mind and protest government action.

In response to those veterans who think we should follow blindly in lockstep with the likes of George W. Bush and his insane, unilateral crusade, I am reminded of Theodore Roosevelt, who said, “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

Those who oppose the war are perhaps the only people that actually support the troops. We are the only ones who recognize that if we must put our nation’s finest in harm’s way, it must be for a just cause, such as our military effort in Afghanistan.

It is at times like these that I am reminded of the words of a friend of mine who, while I was in the Army, said, “Oehlert, don’t die for a politician’s lies.” How true these words have become as if they were a prophecy!

How could any of us have known back then how our future president would deceive the American public in an effort to unseat an admittedly unruly, but nonetheless containable threat, in the name of smoke screens like “weapons of mass destruction.”

As the world’s largest stockpiler of nuclear and chemical weapons, the hypocrisy of such logic is blinding to all but a few Americans who cannot seem to understand that this war is unjust, should never have been fought in this manner, and that the greatest love for the troops is among those who want to ensure that they do not, as my friend so prophetically stated, die for a politician’s lies.