First, an editorial, "The Roots of Prison Abuse."
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican who has shown real political courage on this issue, recently released documents showing that the military's top lawyers had warned a year before the Abu Ghraib nightmare came to light that detainee policies imposed by the White House and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld violated American and international law and undermined the standards of civilized treatment embedded in the American military tradition.
Nice to see that Graham's mojo grew back. I wonder how long before it falls off again.
And in case you've forgotten about Iraq, James Glanz reports about a suicide bomber attack on Iraqi recruits.
A suicide bomber wearing a vest laden with explosives blew himself up outside an army recruitment center in a remote northern village on the Syrian border on Friday, an official with the Iraqi Interior Ministry said. The official said the attack killed 26 people and wounded at least 30, though American military officials put the figures at 10 dead and 21 wounded.
American military officials fudging the body count?
Bogus prisoner abuse investigations, phony claims of "success" and "progress," Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch, Rummy and the Yes Men Generals...
One of the major casualties of this war--the Pentagon exposed as a five-sided echo chamber of the Rovewellian propaganda machine.
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Speaking of credibility--I keep wondering why Dubya would put Bolton in the UN given Bolton's obvious connection with Plame/Rove/Niger/Traitorgate, but hey...
If Bolton is US Ambassador to the UN, does that give him diplomatic immunity from prosecution?
Nah. This administration would never pull a stunt like that.
Would it?
Apologies for being a little late with this addition but I was catching up on my reading of Pen and Sword over the weekend and noticed someone calling the Democrats "chicken hawks". You might could argue they don't always exhibit a backbone but you cannot argue they do not answer the call to serve their country.... unlike, ahem, a certain group of PNAC neo-cons who shall NOT remain nameless. To wit:
ReplyDeleteDemocrats
* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist
in 20th Engineer Brigade.
* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam. Single amputee.
* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple
Hearts.
* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.
* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and
Soldier's Medal.
* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of
Merit.
* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with
Combat V.
* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
* Chuck Robb: Vietnam
* Howell Heflin: Silver Star
* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received
#311.
* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul
Wallenberg.
Republicans
* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve.
* Trent Lott: did not serve.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked Max Cleland's
patriotism.
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got assigned
to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate;
failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.
* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making
movies.
* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and
Distinguished Flying Cross.
* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem," although continued in NFL for 8
years.
* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.
Pundits & Preachers
* Sean Hannity: did not serve.
* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')
* Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
* Michael Savage: did not serve.
* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.
* Paul Gigot: did not serve.
* Bill Bennett: did not serve.
* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
* John Wayne: did not serve.
* Bill Kristol: did not serve.
* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
* Ralph Reed: did not serve.
* Michael Medved: did not serve.
* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that don't shoot back.)
They are also missing Dems triple amputee, Vietnam Vet Max Cleland, who was compared to Osama bin Laden by Saxby Shameless and 4-star SACEUR Wes Clark, as well as Powell on the Reps side....I didn't compile this list so the editorial comments are not mine - though I think the Ted Nugent comment was funny! :) But I just think it's incredibly revealing, esp in light of the fact that US SecState Colin Powell and all the generals were against the Iraq war - everyone who has risked their life and asked others to do the same - and all the PNAC neo-cons who had "better things to do during the Vietnam War - to quote Dick Cheney - were screaming for the war since '91....
GMC;
ReplyDeleteI'm all on board with everything you say. By a vast margin, the war supporters who never served sit on the GOP side of the aisle.
I think, however, that Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman fit this description as they're both war supporters who never served.
My greater point (if I made it) was that its difficult to see a real split in philosophy between the parties since you can find any number of Democrats who support majority positions.
Thanks for stopping by. Look forward to hearing from you again.
Best,
Jeff