Politics: J'accuse!

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by sgtclub
So now we've seen the numbers for both enlisted and national guard staying strong. So much for the low-moral theory.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,118890,00.html

It is good to know that the troops understand that civilians at home asking questions about what went on in the past, and what future plans are, is a sign of a free society working. They are heartened by this, and therefore enlist/reenlist to bring this kind of democracy and freedom to the people of Iraq.

Note: I am a little scared that if I keep using these phrases, I will suddenly find that I am a registered Republican.

[Iniquity]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
Well, Hank, not all of us can sit around quoting Bukowski from memory, so we had to discuss the news. You must have spent a lot more time with Hustler magazine than most.

Just a hunch, but I'm thinking that on the big Venn diagram showing the relationship of Hustler readers and Bukowski readers, the intersection of the two is closer in size to Lichtenstein than to Russia.

[Effete Liberal Snob]

Please ignore this bozo writing today in the WSJ. He's just jealous because my wife's mainicure cost more than his car.

------
Unfit for Office

By JOHN O'NEILL
May 4, 2004; Page A20

HOUSTON -- In 1971, I debated John Kerry, then a national spokesman for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, for 90 minutes on "The Dick Cavett Show." The key issue in that debate was Mr. Kerry's claim that American troops were committing war crimes in Vietnam "on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command." Now, as Sen. Kerry emerges as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency, I've chosen to re-enter the fray.

Like John Kerry, I served in Vietnam as a Swift Boat commander. Ironically, John Kerry and I served much of our time, a full 12 months in my case and a controversial four months in his, commanding the exact same six-man boat, PCF-94, which I took over after he requested early departure. Despite our shared experience, I still believe what I believed 33 years ago -- that John Kerry slandered America's military by inventing or repeating grossly exaggerated claims of atrocities and war crimes in order to advance his own political career as an antiwar activist. His misrepresentations played a significant role in creating the negative and false image of Vietnam vets that has persisted for over three decades.

Neither I, nor any man I served with, ever committed any atrocity or war crime in Vietnam. The opposite was the truth. Rather than use excessive force, we suffered casualty after casualty because we chose to refrain from firing rather than risk injuring civilians. More than once, I saw friends die in areas we entered with loudspeakers rather than guns. John Kerry's accusations then and now were an injustice that struck at the soul of anyone who served there.

During my 1971 televised debate with John Kerry, I accused him of lying. I urged him to come forth with affidavits from the soldiers who had claimed to have committed or witnessed atrocities. To date no such affidavits have been filed. Recently, Sen. Kerry has attempted to reframe his comments as youthful or "over the top." Yet always there has been a calculated coolness to the way he has sought to destroy the record of our honorable service in the interest of promoting his political ambitions of the moment.

John Kennedy's book, "Profiles in Courage," and Dwight Eisenhower's "Crusade in Europe" inspired generations. Not so John Kerry, who has suppressed his book, "The New Soldier," prohibiting its reprinting. There is a clear reason for this. The book repeats John Kerry's insults to the American military, beginning with its front-cover image of the American flag being carried upside down by a band of bearded renegades in uniform -- a clear slap at the brave Marines in their combat gear who raised our flag at Iwo Jima. Allow me the reprint rights to your book, Sen. Kerry, and I will make sure copies of "The New Soldier" are available in bookstores throughout America.

Vietnam was a long time ago. Why does it matter today? Since the days of the Roman Empire, the concept of military loyalty up and down the chain of command has been indispensable. The commander's loyalty to the troops is the price a commander pays for the loyalty of the troops in return. How can a man be commander in chief who for over 30 years has accused his "Band of Brothers," as well as himself, of being war criminals? On a practical basis, John Kerry's breach of loyalty is a prescription of disaster for our armed forces.

John Kerry's recent admissions caused me to realize that I was most likely in Vietnam dodging enemy rockets on the very day he met in Paris with Madame Binh, the representative of the Viet Cong to the Paris Peace Conference. John Kerry returned to the U.S. to become a national spokesperson for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, a radical fringe of the antiwar movement, an organization set upon propagating the myth of war crimes through demonstrably false assertions. Who was the last American POW to die languishing in a North Vietnamese prison forced to listen to the recorded voice of John Kerry disgracing their service by his dishonest testimony before the Senate?

Since 1971, I have refused many offers from John Kerry's political opponents to speak out against him. My reluctance to become involved once again in politics is outweighed now by my profound conviction that John Kerry is simply not fit to be America's commander in chief. Nobody has recruited me to come forward. My decision is the inevitable result of my own personal beliefs and life experience.

Today, America is engaged in a new war, against the militant Islamist terrorists who attacked us on our own soil. Reasonable people may differ about how best to proceed, but I'm sure of one thing -- John Kerry is the wrong man to put in charge.

Mr. O'Neill served in Coastal Division 11 in 1969-70, earning two Bronze Stars and additional decorations for his service in Vietnam.

[Iniquity]

Originally posted by Effete Liberal Snob
Mr. O'Neill served in Coastal Division 11 in 1969-70, earning two Bronze Stars and additional decorations for his service in Vietnam.

Who is John O'Neill? Former Rehnquist clerk, and law partner of Margaret Wilson, who was General Counsel to Governor George W. Bush from 1998-2000. Kos has more about how Nixon used O'Neill to attack Kerry.

[LessinSF]

Originally posted by bilmore
I'm sorry, but I think I must have a higher threshhold for using the phrase "war crimes" than do you.

Our own military has charged six soldiers with crimes against what I am assuming are POWs. I suspect that number will grow. What part of "war" and "crimes" am I missing?

[The Larry Davis Experience]

Originally posted by sgtclub
So now we've seen the numbers for both enlisted and national guard staying strong. So much for the low-moral theory.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,118890,00.html

That is a pleasant surprise. I do note that despite the tone of the article the country's overall recruitment numbers are "slightly down" though. Even so, it sounds better than I thought it would be. I agree with that Kojac guy quoted in the article (I wish I had a cool name like that): the real hit on the NG will come if things continue in a similar fashion as today and Guard units are called up for repeated tours.

The NG "deal" was always the opportunity for a side income (and for many, service time towards benefits) by making a limited time commitment. If the Guard is treated as more of an active military asset I would think that some folks would want to either avoid active or NG mil service entirely or to cut out the middle NG step (and the uncertainty of when the callup would happen) and go directly into the active service.

I have read the complaint of many NG personnel that their jobs aren't here when they get back from their callup, and the current laws don't provide them any protection or asistance in getting reemployed once their NG tour is over. That is one area that could use help right away...

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by LessinSF
Our own military has charged six soldiers with crimes against what I am assuming are POWs. I suspect that number will grow. What part of "war" and "crimes" am I missing?

It's not like we are involved in genocide. Therefore, it's all OK.

[Iniquity]

George Will's column rips Bush a new one. Ouch, but dead on the money.

"[I]f any Americans want to be governed by politicians who short-circuit complex discussions by recklessly imputing racism to those who differ with them, such Americans do not usually turn to the Republican choice in our two-party system."

Will seems like he's mailing it in so much lately that wnen he actually writes something that expresses an opinion, it's almost shocking.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Iniquity
Who is John O'Neill? Former Rehnquist clerk, and law partner of Margaret Wilson, who was General Counsel to Governor George W. Bush from 1998-2000. Kos has more about how Nixon used O'Neill to attack Kerry.

Uh, Posner clerked for Brennan, and I'm sure there are any number of examples of partners *in the same firm* having different political bents.

Which is not to say I think that O'Neill is not leaning one way or another, or is not wacko from PTSD.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by Iniquity
Will seems like he's mailing it in so much lately that wnen he actually writes something that expresses an opinion, it's almost shocking.

You missed the very best line:

"This administration cannot be trusted to govern if it cannot be counted on to think and, having thought, to have second thoughts."

He's a little pissed by Bush's implication over the weekend that those who doubt the wisdom of trying to build democracy in Iraq may be motivated by racism.

[eta: Oh wait, here's a good one:

"Being steadfast in defense of carefully considered convictions is a virtue. Being blankly incapable of distinguishing cherished hopes from disappointing facts, or of reassessing comforting doctrines in face of contrary evidence, is a crippling political vice."]


S_A_M

[Iniquity]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
Uh, Posner clerked for Brennan, and I'm sure there are any number of examples of partners *in the same firm* having different political bents.

Quick, name a lefty former Rehnquist clerk.

And on the firm thing -- maybe so, but this is a small firm. And another partner who died earlier this year listed the following in his bio:

• Staff Assistant and Speechwriter to the President of the United States, 1971-1974. General Counsel to the Texas Secretary of State, 1979-1980. U.S. Department of Justice: Special Counsel to the Attorney General, 1981-1983; Counselor to the Attorney General, 1983-1985; Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Legal Policy, 1984-1985. Vice-Chairman, U.S. Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, 1985-1986; Member, Federal Judiciary Advisory Group, 1985—. U.S. Delegate to U.N. International Conference on African Refugee Assistance II, 1984.

[Iniquity]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
You missed the very best line:

Maybe that zinger worked best for you, but from the other side of the aisle, the lowest blow was accusing Bush of crying "racism" like a >gasp< Democrat.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by LessinSF
Our own military has charged six soldiers with crimes against what I am assuming are POWs. I suspect that number will grow. What part of "war" and "crimes" am I missing?

The common usage, and the horrified way of saying it that brings to mind death, and despair, and the end of civilization, and not a speeding ticket in a war zone.

Treblinka was a war crime. My Lai was a war crime. The shooting of the Koreans under the bridge was a war crime. Executions of POWs are war crimes. Beatings and tortures and starvations and freezings are war crimes.

By your technical reliance, commenting critically on the fit of a prisoner's yarmulka would be a war crime.

If, by "war crime", you mean "acts prohibited by the Conventions", I'll buy it. But that's not what I, and most, think of when we hear it.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Iniquity
Quick, name a lefty former Rehnquist clerk.

If you could provide a list and a short bio of each of his clerks, that would be helpful. Thanks. By 5 pm my time.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Other Wapo op-eds

"In Nasiriyah: Hopeful Pockets of Pragmatism." ( David Ignatius)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2004May3.html

But Richard Cohen is not as upbeat in "The Fallacies of Fallujah".

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2004May3.html