Declining support of war hurts troops

I've read with great disappointment the latest round of headlines suggesting support for the war in Afghanistan is waning. One would think that I, as a military spouse, would consider this good news, but I don't. It's irresponsible for our politicians to start suggesting the president's war is losing support.

It's not the president's war, it is America's war. The sorrow it causes military families nightly to hear this rhetoric is unforgivable. The visions of war we see nightly from Afghanistan are horrific, they are scary and they make us angry. However, what we don't see is the nation building. Our own Illinois soldiers have trained the Afghan citizens of remote and desperately poor villages to develop agriculture; build roads so they have access to life's essentials such as water; and enhanced education and economic opportunities so the citizens are not prey for the Taliban.

Is this war winnable? Is Osama bin Laden alive or dead? I don't have any answers. As a military spouse I don't spend time debating the leadership's flawed or cogent war strategy. What I do know is the enemy doesn't quit. Centuries of history have taught us this, yet we conveniently forget during election cycles.

For every Afghan citizen who considers us the enemy, there are two who see us as their friend. To the Afghan child who just wanted to go to school, the U.S. soldier who paved their way to do just that is a hero. That is not defeat, my cowardly elected official - that is victory.

The Vietnam era taught us that a nation that sits on the sidelines of an unpopular war diminishes the strength of its ability to lead, gives credibility to the enemy, and destroys the valiant soldier left behind by a government that quit on them. Quitting isn't an option.

Danette Hayes

Buffalo Grove