Bush And Joe McCarthy

    If you haven't seen "Good Night, Good Luck," well, it's time to rush out to the theaters and check it out because it's loyalty oath time in America. George Clooney's quite good portrayal of Edward R. Murrow's exposure of Sen. Joe McCarthy's vile campaign against people the nutty senator accused of being Communists is chilling as much because it has such a remarkable similarity to what's happening in America today.
   
And, indeed, yesterday the president showed us his version of the loyalty oath. In a Veteran's Day speech, Bush attacked critics of the immoral and disastrous war in Iraq: "The stakes in the global war on terror are too high, and the national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out false charges. These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will. As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them."

    In other words, criticize the war and you are being unpatriotic and undermining our troops. I have to give credit, though, to Sen. Harry Reid and Ted Kennedy, neither of whom backed down in the face of this truly remarkable smear. Reid said: "Attacking those patriotic Americans who have raised serious questions about the case the Bush administration made to take our country to war does not provide us a plan for success that will bring our troops home. Americans seek the truth about how the nation committed our troops to war because the decision to go to war is too serious to be entered into under faulty pretenses."

    I found it pathetic that Bush would use Veteran's Day to launch a political assault on his critics. I can't swear this has been true throughout history, but I can't recall a Commander-in-Chief using Veteran's Day as an overtly political stage. It's typically a day to honor the men and women who have served in the military and particularly those who have given their lives in armed conflict. Indeed, Bush preferred his nasty salvo against his critics to laying the traditional wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a task he gave to Dick Cheney. Now, there's irony for you...the guy laying a wreath to honor the fallen is pretty clearly the fellow who was at the center of the Valerie Plame affair, which exposed a secret agent of the government.

    Yesterday, as part of the traditional Veteran's Day parade, I marched in New York City with the Veterans For Peace and Military Families Speak Out; the latter is an organization of 2,700 military families whose sons, daughters, husbands and wives are serving in the armed forces--many of whom on the front lines in Iraq. One of the woman who I spoke with carried a large picture of her son, a 30-year-old member of the Pennsylvania National Guard who was killed in Iraq in 2004.

    The parade organizers stuck the contingent at the very end and this band of perhaps 125 people were held at bay by a contingent of cops for three hours in fairly cold weather. I thought it was pretty classless of the parade organizers to treat this small group with such disrespect--these are the people whose family members are risking their lives today. On the other hand, when we finally marched, chanting "Bring Them Home Now," there was huge support from the crowds lining the streers...true, this is NYC.

    So, Mr. President, are those families who oppose your policy also giving the troops the wrong message and being unpatriotic?

Comments

[pw]

Veterans Day-- what is it? Where does it come from?

America fought a war in Europe almost a hundred years ago-- called the Great War-- millions and millions and millions of people died. No one can quite say now what the war in Europe was about, or why it made sense for our country to send troops there-- American forces plunged through the entrenched opposing forces-- literally, facing off against each other in trenches, for years at a time--and reached Chateau Thierry, in France, broke the back of our enemies, whoever they were.

The VFW headquarters on Capitol Hill has a bas-relief out front justifying each of America's major wars (up to the time the building was opened). For the Great War, there are soldiers being waved to advance, and the phrase "Lafayette-- We Are Here". The Great War was finally ended with an Armistice, rather than a surrender. The Armistice was signed in the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, for dramatic effect.

In the aftermath of the Great War, there was a great world wide search for meaning in the many many deaths. America tried to start a League of Nations, to stop further inexplicable wars. Armistice Day was started then, to remind everyone of their solemn commitment not to be drawn into another stupid and unjustifiable war. When war-mongering fascism came to power in important European countries just a few years later, the war to beat them back had to be called "World War Two"-- in recogntion of the huge Great War, which was supposed to have been the "War to End All Wars". Armistice Day had to be abandoned-- and the name was changed to Veterans Day.