Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Another cowardly, cut-and-run hippie?

To hear some people tell it, the only Americans who want to pull our troops out of Iraq forthwith are limp-wristers, hippies, women and people who hate our military and our country.

The truth, of course, is something else. For example, check this video for a strong antiwar statement from retired Gen. John Batiste (pictured on the left), a former Army commander in Iraq. It's part of a TV ad campaign sponsored by VoteVets.org.

And check this stuff from The National Security Network, wherein a bunch of retired generals denounce President Bush's recent veto of the war-spending bill with its non-binding timeline for withdrawal of our troops.

The ultimate irony in all of this is that so many of the people who impugn the patriotism of the so-called cut-and-run crowd have never served in the military themselves. Many of them also refuse to acknowledge that the ranks of the war critics include lots of veterans, these aforementioned generals among them. This uncomfortable truth doesn't fit the stereotypes peddled by these chickenhawks.

(Disclaimer: The Rascal hasn't served in the military, either, but neither have I been a cheerleader for either the Vietnam War or this current misadventure.)

2 comments:

UCrawford said...

I served in the Army for 10 years, proudly did a tour in Afghanistan, and have an utter contempt for anti-war activists who try to claim that war is unjustified under any circumstances.

That said, I've been opposed to the Iraq war from the start and frankly I think anyone who can't recognize what a horrible job Bush has done and/or hasn't turned on him for it is either a) an idiot, b) one of your aforementioned chickenhawks, or c) an utter loon who also probably thought back in 2000 that Y2K meant the doom of all mankind. So there's at least one example of a non-cowardly anti-war type to validate your theory.

I also can't help but notice that most of the Bush Cabinet appears to be made up of the pro-war idiot chickenhawk loons. Your other readers can check out their bios on the official White House site if they don't want to take my word for it.

UCrawford said...

And Batiste isn't the first former general to come out against the Bush administration's Iraq policies.