Letters to the Editor
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An impertinent observation
With all the evidence here that the echoes of what the Viet Nam war did to us as a country have never really died away completely, I wonder if in the end, the people who stayed here didn't do more to defend freedom and democracy than those who went where the government asked them to go.
Was General Westmoreland's contribution really more honorable than Daniel Ellsberg's? In the present context of Iraq and Iran, could we not also ask if General Petraeus' contribution is more honorable, or more valuable to the cause of freedom than Glenn Greenwald's? Whatever conclusion you come to, the question doesn't seem a frivolous one.
Before anyone denounces me for callousness toward veterans of either war, let me say that these questions are strictly political. They're not intended as a condemnation of men and women who fought in our wars in good faith, and who tried then, as most are trying now, to do the right thing.
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Answering History's Call
I was alive and well during the 1960s. I did not hear history calling me to travel halfway around the world to kill people or die, whichever came last, in Vietnam. My best friend did and he joined the Marine Corps where he served for slightly more than 12 years.
We did not see each other again until we were in our early 30s. One fall afternoon while sitting around my kitchen table he shared with me some horrifying stories about what he had seen in Vietnam. He also told me that I had been right about the war and that it was a costly and foolish mistake that had cost millions of lives.
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Why do they hate us?
An ongoing series of posts and commentary over at Firedoglake provides a searing indictment of the so-called "9/11 Generation" and the results of that "generation's" actions in Iraq.
"Stop telling lies to yourself American," pretty well sums it up. This from an Iraqi Dr. Maryam, who cares for war orphans and who posted at FDL from Europe, where she was trying to acquire supplies for her facility outside of Baghdad. A place where, she says, large sections of the city have had no electricity for 10 days, and where there is electricity it's on for an hour or two a day.
"Stop telling lies to yourself American. We know that your racist brutal murdering war criminal troops came from your society and reflect its values. we know that because we see how they behave and have to bury their victims. If you are stupid enough to think we feel anything but hatred and contempt for your soldiers and the country that sent them to make war on my people then you are a fool.
As to Saddam bad though he was your country is far worse.
And then this:
Irak is a better transliteration. The quote you are referring to is this:
“The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I’m about to introduce them to it.”
And is from a senior American officer. It is a perfect example of how your troops regard us. Which is why we highlight it.
Start here: http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/07/22/focus-groups-anyone/
but try to follow the roiling of the waters at FDL over the subsequent days, for Dr. Maryam bitchslapped the lot of us, for our ignorance, our complicity, our ammorality, our self-satified smugness at American Goodness, whether we are thumping our chests and dragging our knuckles over the Glorious Military Triumph in Iraq or we have been trying our damnedest to get it to stop.
To her or somebody in the middle of it, it doesn't much matter. We're all the source of her anguish and the anguish of her people.
Why do they hate us?
One of the Great Myths of Neocon Fabulous Thinking is that they have no excuse for their rage. We have done nothing to provoke these silly brown people. They should be grateful. That they are not is their own fault, it's a flaw in their character, and their lack of gratitude simply justifies the harshest treatment we use against them.
Yes. Well...
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PC Fanatics
While technically illegal, only a PC fanatic would harp about such things. PC fanatics are illegal? But I hate MAC's!!! I LOVE Windows!!!!?????? What's a girl to DO!!!!!???????
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PTCruiser @ 6: 33 AM
My request.
Please say thanks for your friends good and wise counsel. I agree. At every opportunity I have gone out of my way to say thanks to people like you and the various William Sloan Coffin's. I once thanked Phil Berrigan, Daniel Ellsberg etc.,
And of course, W.T. knows I punch him softly in the nose and give him a brotherly peck on the facial cheek. My grandfather was a stern West Pointer. The youngins had to sit with backs straight, no nose blowing in the hunky, no fighting over the tatter peals, and no throwing mashed potatoes when grandpa bebop came to dinner.
I know my bebop grandad and Uncle Bernard, who died in a freak plane crash while assigned as a West Point, who was excellent stateside teacher...would thank all the peaceniks out here who know the Iraq quagmire is horrible. I am certain of that!
PTCruiser. Say to your friend... a fellow sufferer gives him a hearty love bow. Love those kinds of people, forever. They tell you what is...truly...What's Happening.
Che Pasa. Thanks. u-#-uno.
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Crazier than a four-peckered billy goat...
9/11 generation! jeebers creepers.
You read some very strange stuff, Glenn. I am barely aware of 'The Weekly Standard', and have a mere passing awareness of Hugh Hewitt and Mr. Barnett.
Words fall short...
But why go to the Standard when Michael Gordon, our pal, is reporting front and center on the New York Times? Todays front page article explains (exclusively?) how military planners are saying it will be 2009 before things will... well, you know.
Dead skunk in the middle of the road... and I can't get a straight piece of news.
I come here to get some news on the dead skunk(nyt, etc. el) and defend the Constituion, Glenn. (...and play with bebop.) Not, to endlessly endure the ravings of people crazier than our four-peckered billy goat.
all the words fit for print,
Bah.