ONE TRICK PONY
Presidential hopeful John McCain is not a war hero.
He is a former military warrior who rained death on civilians from his bomber five miles up, fighting our unnecessary and self destructive war in Vietnam over 40 years ago. He was a skilled pilot possessing incredible courage and determination, surviving five years of imprisonment and torture by the North Vietnamese following their shoot-down during his 23rd mission in 1967.
While that shows his toughness, it does not show his fitness for the presidency. Quite the opposite - it shows deficiency of character unable to recognize the waste of senseless war that makes him unfit for the presidency.
McCain has spent his entire career since his release in 1972 parlaying his tough, John Wayne image pursuing political prizes. In McCain's world view, our catastrophic Iraq war is as noble and winnable as the Vietnam War. McCain never analyzes why or how we lie and bumble our way into wars which cost hundreds of billions and create millions of needless casualties. He is left with the mantra WIN, WIN, WIN.
The real heroes of Vietnam are the folks who risked their careers and freedom resisting the draft to fight a wrong-headed president's war. We don't have many heroes today because the folks fighting this wrong-headed president's war are paid mercenaries. Now we learn that 20 percent of those not killed or wounded are coming home with post traumatic stress disorder, which will push the cost of this never-ending nightmare over the trillion-dollar mark.
We should not be comforted by McCain's remarks that we can stay in Iraq for a hundred years or that we are going to have more wars. We should instead send him to a long-overdue retirement.
Originally published in Glen Ellyn Sun, April 25, 2008
He is a former military warrior who rained death on civilians from his bomber five miles up, fighting our unnecessary and self destructive war in Vietnam over 40 years ago. He was a skilled pilot possessing incredible courage and determination, surviving five years of imprisonment and torture by the North Vietnamese following their shoot-down during his 23rd mission in 1967.
While that shows his toughness, it does not show his fitness for the presidency. Quite the opposite - it shows deficiency of character unable to recognize the waste of senseless war that makes him unfit for the presidency.
McCain has spent his entire career since his release in 1972 parlaying his tough, John Wayne image pursuing political prizes. In McCain's world view, our catastrophic Iraq war is as noble and winnable as the Vietnam War. McCain never analyzes why or how we lie and bumble our way into wars which cost hundreds of billions and create millions of needless casualties. He is left with the mantra WIN, WIN, WIN.
The real heroes of Vietnam are the folks who risked their careers and freedom resisting the draft to fight a wrong-headed president's war. We don't have many heroes today because the folks fighting this wrong-headed president's war are paid mercenaries. Now we learn that 20 percent of those not killed or wounded are coming home with post traumatic stress disorder, which will push the cost of this never-ending nightmare over the trillion-dollar mark.
We should not be comforted by McCain's remarks that we can stay in Iraq for a hundred years or that we are going to have more wars. We should instead send him to a long-overdue retirement.
Originally published in Glen Ellyn Sun, April 25, 2008
posted by Walt Zlotow at 11:32 AM
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