National Defense And Patriotism
George McGovern wrote a column for The Nation “Patriotism Is Not Partisan”.
A World War II bomber pilot [B-24s flying from Italy], with a Distinguished Flying Cross, McGovern was attacked as unpatriotic, and weak on defense for his opinions on the Vietnam War.
Take the time to read his words and compare his experience with what is happening today, especially in light of those calling for liberal gravitas on security issues.
No one who compares the number of retired military officers who stood with John Kerry as compared to George Bush, and, more importantly, the success of the officers backing Kerry as opposed to those backing Bush, can reasonably assume a weakness on defense on behalf of the Democratic Party.
Abraham Lincoln’s advice: “It is much better to remain silent and let everybody think you are a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”, is applicable to the use of force. Bush has demonstrated the weakness of America’s military as directed by Donald Rumsfeld. US enemies now know that the US is not invulnerable, an assumption they didn’t make before Bush started his preemptive war.
Something people forget is that three people have been involved in all the US disasters in the Persian Gulf area. Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz all go back to the Ford administration.
They were there when the US policy was to introduce nuclear energy to Iran. They were there when the US provided weapons to Iran in exchange for hostages. They were there when the US jumpstarted Saddam Hussein’s WMD programs. How long and how much evidence is required to conclude that they are incompetent bunglers.
Every guy standing in line to get their traditional “scalping” on the first day in boot camp has more military experience than these three “national defense wizards” combined.
