CHICKEN HAWK II
Congress Should Repeal the Iraq War Powers Act
Support the Troops - Bring Them Home
Prior to the U.S. war against the sovereign nation of Iraq, I criticized the rush to war exhibited by this administration. Not only did most of my predictions come true, many came true with a vengeance, exceeding even my wildest expectations of failure. You may wish to consult “www.nteu280.org” for the original “Chicken Hawk” article. The subsequent history of the conflict, revelations about no WMDs, etc. bear out the fact that we were mislead or even lied to.
The name “Chicken Hawk” was coined by some of my Viet Nam brothers to describe those in the Administration and Congress, who while dodging the Viet Nam war, seem to have no compunction about sending the children of others off to die in an ill conceived and unnecessary war.
This Administration and their Congressional supporters are about as incompetent as they come. They didn’t know Shi’ite from Shinola, al Qaeda from Al Sharpton. With decades old Cold War thinking, they tried to take on a new style of warfare. They label a military tactic asymmetrical warfare (“Terrorism”) as if it were some kind of political movement. (Actually, Charlie Cong used asymmetrical warfare against us in
Viet Nam, complete with suicide bombings, and generals like George Washington and Frances Marion (the Swamp Fox) used such tactics successfully against the British in our own revolution more than 200 years ago. So it’s not really a new tactic or strategy at all.) They mislead the public by lumping in nerve gas and biologicals with nuclear weapons as Weapons of Mass Destruction as if they were even any sort of equivalence. They don’t seem to know basic science like the fact that aluminum tubes cannot withstand the high RPM (13,500 RPM) of uranium hexafluoride centrifuging. They didn’t understand that Osama and al Qaeda were enemies of Saddam, regarding him as an infidel, secular puppet of the U.S. (And he was up until he invaded Kuwait.) They ignored Osama bin Laden’s threats to retaliate against mainland U.S. for our occupation of the holy land of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. They ignored previous al Qaeda attacks against U.S. interests, including a previous attack on the World Trade Center. We’ve now killed and displaced more
Iraqiis than Saddam ever did, and we created a training ground for terrorism and just an out and out mess of a country which was no real threat to the U.S. I could go on, but this is old hat for anyone who keeps up with the news.
The money wasted on the invasion of Iraq could have been more readily spent on things that WOULD make us safer, instead of acting to recruit jihadiis from all over the world to attack us and our interests. For instance part of it should have been used to nail Osama bin Laden when we knew where is was. Part of this money could have been used for real Homeland Security. A number of the 9/11 hijackers were here illegally, yet we do nothing to track visitors to our country both legal and illegal. People cross our border illegally, others overstay tourist and student visas, etc. and we have a clue as to who they are, where they are, and what they are doing here. Actual terrorists have actually been captured (somehow) at our porous borders, the ports are unsecured, and so much of our National Guard resources are tied up in Iraq, that if we did have another attack on the Homeland, we would be hard pressed to deal with it. Finally, if the last portion of this wasted money were used to develop alternative energy sources, we wouldn’t have to be dependent on hostile countries for oil.
But this Memorial Day, the worst of the burden is on the troops and their families. We need to support our troops, not with some bogus magnetic ribbon attached to our car, but bringing them home from this futile and suicidal mission. Back during the Viet Nam era, except for officers, one generally served only one 12 month tour. Like many, when I arrived “in country” someone gave me a “short-timer” calendar. As you marked off each day, you knew exactly how many days you had left. Ask anyone there how many days they had left and 95% plus could give you the exact number. President Nixon, for all his flaws, at least never reneged on this “deal” with the troops. There would have been open revolt had Mr. Nixon tried extending tours for 3 to 5 months, asked people to serve, two, three, four tours of duty. While most in Viet Nam were draftees, and our Armed Forces are now all volunteer, this is no excuse. These young people volunteered to defend our country, not die needlessly.
The last election was about ending the war. Both parties have ignored the democratic will of the people. No defunding, no benchmarks, no date for withdrawal. Declare victory (Saddam and his sons are dead, Iraq has an elected government and constitution) and leave. More war is not a solution to this mess. We need to negotiate regionally a plan to stabilize the region and bring our troops home to defend America and not create new enemies of America.
