General Wesley Clarke Was Right

So General Clarke spoke a rather obvious truth on one of the Sunday morning "news" shows, and now the Republican sycophants and their corporate media shills are having a cow over it.

• Merely wearing the uniform does not qualify one to be President. Just as NOT wearing one doesn't automatically disqualify you.

• The military itself is not a monolith. People have many different jobs within the military, and most positions are not relevant to the type of work required of a President.

• It is merely a truism that McCain's particular military experience did not include EXECUTIVE experience of the kind required of a President (such as meeting with other world leaders, commanding large groups of people, strategic policy planning), and that is all General Clarke said.

• It is also an objective truth that McCain finished near the bottom of his class at the Academy, and much like George Bush, due to his father's role as an Admiral, McCain was given opportunities that despite his poor performance, others would not have -- such as becoming a Navy pilot, a coveted position which typically REQUIRES not just good, but extraordinary performance.

• Those simple observations of objective truths, do not in ANY WAY diminish the service or sacrifice McCain DID give, or that what he experienced might have taught him other lessons that would be useful as President.

• It is also true that since the END of his military service, John McCain has seemingly forgotten most of those lessons of Vietnam, as he has since supported an illegal war, torture, and worked AGAINST securing the same benefits for young soldiers today that he once enjoyed himself -- which, to me at least, is infinitely more important and relevant than anything McCain did 40 years ago. I am far more concerned with the crap he pulled just within the last year.

The military was part of my daily life for 24 years, and the fact is, not every man or woman who serves is good, or just, or honorable, or smart, or brave, or righteous, or even serves for the sake of anyone or anything but their own advancement.

They deserve respect not merely for being willing to wear the uniform, but ONLY for how they behaved while wearing it.

A lot of standards in the service have gone lax of late, but that last one should never be allowed to wane.

I'm sorry, but merely putting on the uniform is no more measure of your character, than putting on a PRIEST'S collar.

This country is developing a soldier fetish, and it's beginning to weird me out.

Even the blind, knee-jerk, "Thank you for your service," thing that people spew now is beginning to piss me off. I'm sorry, but how do you know he deserves your thanks? Without knowing the quality of his or her service, it has about as much meaning as those stupid yellow ribbon magnets on the backs of people's gas-guzzling SUV's. Worthless symbolism.

• Should you give a man or woman that you meet the benefit of the doubt initially because you find out they've served in the military? Abso-fraggin-lutely.

• Should you thank them for being willing to serve? Yes -- if the conversation actually merits it, not simply because it's something you're "supposed" to say, because the culture has told you to. Otherwise, it's just fake patriotism.

• Should all soldiers be given the best care and support possible to help them reintegrate into civilian society after their service is over? YES.

• Should you judge them harshly if they weren't perfect models of human behavior while in combat? Nope, because you have no idea how you'd react under the same circumstances.

• Should they be held responsible if they engaged in illegal behavior that violated the Rules of War such as rape, prisoner torture, or intentionally murdering unarmed civilians? Yup.

• If they follow illegal orders in contravention of their conscience, should they be held responsible? Yes.

• Should their commanding officers or those in the civilian high command who gave those orders face even harsher punishments? DAMN SKIPPY.

• Should you give every soldier a universal pass on all behavior forever in the future simply because they wore that uniform at one time? FUCK NO.

Secondarily, enough with the stupid apologies. You don't see Republicans apologizing when they tell bald-faced lies - even AFTER they get caught - so why are we apologizing for telling the truth? The statement Wesley Clarke made was completely correct, why is he expected to apologize for it? That's just daft. You heard no such calls for apology from the corporate media while the Republicans were making BLATANT, PROVEN FALSEHOODS about John Kerry's service, and running around with ridiculous Purple Heart bandages slapped to their epidermis like a bunch of loons....

And I don't give a shit what somebody else says, why in hell is Barack Obama somehow obliged to apologize for something HE DIDN'T EVEN SAY?!

More broadly, as Liberals, we should NEVER apologize for speaking the truth -- even if it's a hard truth. Perhaps even ESPECIALLY then.

Furthermore, when you are President, even if you did serve in the past, you shouldn't be wearing the uniform. That is a CIVILIAN office for a reason. This is not a military dictatorship, and we are not supposed to be run by some General De Chimichanga like so much of the Third World regrettably is, or has been (thanks often to us).

Five-star General Eisenhower understood this, George Washington understood this, big stick-carrying Teddy Roosevelt understood this, Andrew Jackson understood this, Ulysses Grant understood this, war hero John Kennedy understood this, nuclear submarine Commander Jimmy Carter understood this, even Bush Sr. understood this --- but the pampered Vietnam-deserting Chimp-in-Codpiece, did not.

And if there was any military record that deserved closer critical scrutiny, it was Dubya's.....

Fact is, the Repukes are just pissed because:

A.) Clarke spoke the truth.

B.) Clarke actually won his war.

Now can we get back to talking about policy issues, and how to fix the whopping huge problems wrought by BushCo?

This nonsense about McCain's "vast experience" on security issues needed to be challenged, precisely because it's bullshit. He is no more "Mr. Security", than that idiot Rudolph Giuliani is. McCain can't even distinguish between Sunnis and Shias 5 years into a war in which those are the major players!

But ultimately, this discussion is yet another manufactured outrage distract-a-thon ("Oh, I'm so offended!" "I'm deeply offended!" That's offensive!" "Apologize, or I'll be even MORE offended!" Yadda, yadda, yadda......), because the truth of the matter is, Republicans would rather talk about A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G other than policy, because they don't have the faintest clue how to actually run the country, much less our foreign policy.

And this is half the problem. What we have here are a bunch of old men running around trying to fight the last war they were involved in, and settle old scores from that conflict, rather than fighting the one we're in now, or better yet, trying to avoid putting yet another generation through this bullshit war crap again.

Do you know this country hasn't had a single 20 year period in it's entire history when we HAVEN'T been fighting and/or invading somebody?

It's not just McCain that needs to calm down, it's America itself.

This country has a real, "I have a hammer (the military-industrial complex) and every problem is a nail" obsession going on.... Our "adolescent phase" is starting to get a bit boring/annoying. There are other ways to resolve our conflicts besides thumping people with our military.

So in the meantime, get off Wes Clarke's back simply because he told an uncomfortable truth, and at a minimum, people, pleased cut the "thank you for your service" foolishness.

It's become so reflexive, it's meaningless.

Every time I see some soldier or former soldier being interviewed on the teevee, and some hairdo network anchor pointedly interrupts them to say "Thank you for your service," it feels less like an authentic appreciation of true sacrifice, than just some nonsense they think they have to say so they won't "look too Liberal" (as if Liberals somehow hate soldiers, which is bullshit, since most of the soldiers I know ARE Liberals), or to simply just say what they've been told to say by the newly-minted fascist power structure.

It's not REAL.

And lack of authenticity always chafes with me.

The FACT is, nobody in Iraq is "defending my freedom", because that damn fool illegal war has exactly SQUAT to do with my freedom. It doesn't even have anything to do with IRAQIS freedom, since they aren't allowed to run their own country as they see fit, or even own their own oil anymore!

When our people go and kill Al Qaeda/Taliban fuckwits in Afghanistan with basically no attention from this idiot corporate media, they ARE "defending my life" and the Afghans' lives as well, and so they have my thanks for that.

But my freedom was NEVER "threatened" by Al Qaeda to begin with! My life may have been, but my freedom was not. Republicans (and any Democrat who'll join them in their efforts) who seek to eviscerate my constitutionally guaranteed rights for the sake of their fear are the REAL threat to my freedom and liberty.

I am an American. I do not fear death. I do fear the loss of my liberties, for I know the QUALITY of my life is more important than the length of it. And Republicans have been the enemies of liberty for over a hundred years. Because of this FACT, Republicans deserve nothing but our disdain.

But the guys endlessly stop-lossed in the suck of Iraq? What they get from me is my sympathy and my apologies that I wasn't able to prevent them from being pushed into that FUBAR craphole.

I am profoundly sorry that they got railroaded into doing something that doesn't have one damn thing to do with what the military is supposed to do for this country. I am profoundly sorry that they had to endure mindboggling heat, and smells of shit, rotting blood, and burnt bodies, and sights too horrific to contemplate -- for NOTHING but BushCo's rampant greed. I am profoundly sorry that they had to serve next to war-profiteering contractor/merc fuckwits making 10 times as much for the same job. I am profoundly sorry that they have been relentlessly ignored when they needed REAL help when they got back to the States.

Nobody signed up for any of that shit.

You want to say something meaningful to a soldier? Find out where they served, and if they had to go to Iraq even once, much less four times, APOLOGIZE for sending them there, and ask if you can do ANYTHING to help them make their lives a bit better.

And be REAL with them.