Chickenhawks ! The Last Time For Sure
A Bird Lover's Guide to Chickenhawks
or Chickenhawk a la Mode by BEN TRIPP
George W. Bush couldn't cement the handle back on a shaving mug. He served some of a tour of duty defending Alabama from the Viet Cong, but the only scalp he ever saw was firmly affixed to George McGovern's head. Yet Bush has a hunger for war (or at least Karl Rumsfeld does, which amounts to the same thing, as Rumsfeld rents the basement apartment in Bush's head). The war in Afghanistan doesn't count as a chickenhawk action, because we didn't pick the fight, it picked us. It was a defensive action, like burning a forest down because there's a beehive in it. But this war on Iraq is a chickenhawk's war, through-and-through. It's all about rattling sabers and being a Big Man (forget about the oil- let's do).
Note: with apologies to Vinny
Comments
Apologies to me?
How come?
Vinny, in a previous post entitled "the final word on chickenhawks", you wrote in the comments: "Thank God it's the final word.
Nothing like beating a dead horse mercilessly."
and since it turned out not to be the final word I thought I should apologize to you in advance, but since I'm on the topic of Chickenhawks let me clarify my postion a little bit. I don't think a lack of military service should disqualify anyone from suggesting that military action may be necessary that would be absurd. I take it a little bit personally when someone avoided military service, not that they got a deferment of some sort, but rather that they pulled strings to get in the National Guard like George W. Bush did. Many of us joined the Guard to make our lives more predictable. I joined in 1963 before getting drafted was an issue, but that it appeared to be a possibility in the future and I found it easier to plan my life around 6 months of active duty and monthly meetings than spending a couple of years on active duty. In 1965 when the hell of Vietnam was really breaking loose many were trying to get into the Guard many of them friends of mine. Some made it some did not and several of those that didn't ended up in Vietnam and lost their lives. I resent the George Bushes who pulled strings to get in and then didn't even bother to attend meetings. He used his clout to stay out and friends of mine died perhaps in his place. You may think that going to war in Iraq is a good idea or you many think it is a bad idea, but it really fucking pisses me off that the person deciding is the same one that avoided service in the way he did.
In your case, calling someone "chickenhawk" is very different, but unless I am misinformed, which is possible, most people who fling the term around have never and would never serve the military in any fashion.
I can appreciate your feelings, and understand them a whole lot more clearly now.
By the way, you never owe anyone an apology for what you write, symbolically or otherwise. I do greatly appreciate your explanation and the thought you put into it.
Glad to be a reader. Even gladder that you read me and don't agree with me ;-)