Arizona joins Operation Yellow Elephant

From the student newspaper at the University of Arizona. Money quote:

[ . . . . ]
Are you serious about supporting our troops? Then go to Iraq and help them. Desperate to bolster its numbers, the Army is offering significant incentives. A new program allows recruits to serve only 15 months on active duty. Coincidentally, that is how long soldiers are spending in Iraq these days, if they are lucky enough to avoid an early trip to Walter Reed Army Medical Center or Arlington National Cemetery.

You have no excuse for not going. Sign up now, and you will be done in three semesters. This university will still be here when you get back. You will return with a sweet scholarship and the pride of knowing you stood up for what you believe in. No prospective employers will look down on you for taking a break from college to serve your country. Quite the opposite, I assure you.

You know who you are. You feel the weight of your own cowardice and hypocrisy every time you hear about an IED cutting short yet another young life. You know you should be there, but you just can't bring yourself to enlist. You probably think I am rude for bringing your dishonor out into the open.

You need not feel ashamed. If you don't think this war is worth fighting, then stop saying so. If you do think it is worth fighting [OYE Comment: and are eligible to serve], go fight. If you do neither, then you can live with the knowledge that your fellow Americans are dying to protect someone who doesn't deserve it. No amount of pro-war cheerleading can drown out that shame.