The recent event in Washington
honoring vets and their valor reflected all that has gone wrong in this
country. Let me state at outset that I
am veteran. I served in the
military. That doesn’t give me any
special dispensation about what I am about to say. It does, however, allow me to express my
opinions without condemnation from anyone who hasn’t served. Patriotism, in this country, has become little
more than a label attached to harebrained positions that in the extreme are
jingoistic rants serving an agenda of bias and hate. Let me state, that the men and women who have
served in the armed forces have given much, some their lives, others limbs,
even more of them their minds to actions that have done more to serve special
interests and neo cons who profess freedom while feeding a machinery that seeks
to profit on misfortune and human tragedies.
The political leaders who have sent
young men to war have been to a one blinded by ill-conceived beliefs that some
nefarious force was attacking our system of government and was a threat to our
national security. That all of these
wars were fought in lands many thousands of miles away from America with large
bodies of waters separating us from them negates the national security issue. Certainly
911 was cause for concern but the fools in charge were asleep at the wheel and intelligent
sources were tripping over one another. As for the threat to our democracy, no force
has eroded the foundation of our democracy more than our own Supreme
Court. Local and state hacks who created
barriers to voting strike death blows to the very foundation of a democratic
form of government. So if we are really
going to protect our way of life let’s start addressing our real threats as
opposed to bogeymen.
Hypocrisy is all I could hear as
the pleas went out to phone your donation to various and sundry organizations that
help the vets. Let us be reminded that
every vet that needs help is a product of a misadventure. The very politicians who endorsed the
deployment of troops, who heartily passed legislation to spend vast amount of treasure
to support military action fight like hell any attempt at a fair and balance
tax code. While vets have to wait for
services, these chicken hawks feed their faces on graft from corporations who
benefit most from these excursions into madness.
Most disturbing was the fact not a
whisper was uttered calling out the buffoons and nefarious bastards who
recklessly sent so many youngsters to their heart rendering fate and who set
the stage for all of the mess that we now face.
How can we ever expect to truly honor these men and women if we don’t
bring to justice those who wantonly dispatched so many in the pursuit of folly?
At the very least while honoring those
who served, there should have been a condemnation of those who advocated war by
wrapping themselves in flags while turning a blind eye to the needs of the citizenry. What is truly ironic is that Osama was taken out
with three choppers and a Seal team. The guilty parties who created the mess in the
Middle East now pontificate about what to do.
Rumsfeld who arrogantly condemned so many young men with the flippant
response, “You go to war with army you have” still can’t see the error of his
ways. Smug and confident he ignores any
question of blame. His leader, Bush,
still can’t see how wrong he was. Of
course, one can only conjecture what lurks in the evil of mind of Dick Cheney.
So here we are facing another
threat, certainly a more serious and real threat than Iraq’s weapons of mass
destruction or chemical stockpile. We
have squandered billions in Iraq only to have another tyrant abuse his power
and create a truly heinous force which is a real threat. Funny that most of ISIL’s equipment was
gotten by deserters of an army more concerned with petty corruption rather than
their national security. As for the
other hell hole, Afghanistan will revert back to the same prehistoric state it
was when we arrive oh so many years ago.
Of course its corrupt leaders will be found enjoying the luxury of their
ill-gotten gains.
It is fitting to honor our men and
women who gave so much, but it is equally fitting to call out every scoundrel
who has put those folk in harm’s way.
Without equal measure of blame and praise, we will eventually fall into the
same cycle propelled by ignorance and greed.
Above all else, we must ensure that the vets who gave so much receive
their just due. We must demand that
corporations and individuals pony up for the freedom and opportunities they
enjoy. Wearing a pin and waving a flag
will never replace action.
