Post by Moses on Jan 23, 2006 9:17:16 GMT -5
Bradley: Until today I was a coward
By Joe Bradley/ Local Columnist
Monday, January 23, 2006 - Updated: 01:07 AM EST
The war in Iraq affects most of us on a daily basis about as much as medical bills affect those of us who have a good health insurance plan. As long as the services rendered are covered by a third party payer we don’t care what the costs are.
Most of us experience the war in Iraq on a second or third hand basis. My wife Loetta’scousin is an Apache helicopter pilot in Iraq and whenever word of a copter crash comes we always turn up the radio until we hear the type of chopper that went down. A sigh of relief when we hear it’s another Blackhawk and we turn the news back down and go back to our conversation. Other than that occasional personal touch from the war, our lives go on unaffected by the events in Iraq.
That’s the way it is for most Americans because President Bush, never a strong believer in universal health insurance for our citizens, has ingeniously put together a national war insurance plan so that most of us never feel the true costs of this horrid war. The president and his military strategists, through an avoidance of the draft and creative use of our reservists and National Guard, have kept Americans direct involvement low since most of us have no family members serving in the war.
Short of a national mobilization, and lacking any nationwide sacrifice on all our parts, the war goes on, leaving most of us untouched. In contrast rather than asking for any nationwide sacrifice the president and his Congress have given us tax cut after tax cut, ensuring that not only will we not feel the economic costs of the war today but we are passing those costs on to future generations. And, even more morally reprehensible, we are allowing Congress and the president to cut and gut all of our social service programs for the most needy among us.
During Vietnam, President Johnson tried to have both guns and butter -- a war on poverty and a war in Vietnam -- and he failed. President Bush has so far succeeded in having a war on the poor and a war in Iraq. Leave it to a compassionate conservative to finally figure out the pain-free economics of a military war; take it out on the poor and pass the costs on to the grandkids.
The president has also stifled much of the media coverage of the war. We saw a sanitized invasion brought to us by embedded reporters. We very rarely see any pictures of Iraqi civilian wounded and the destruction of the Iraqi neighborhoods from our increasing air war. President Bush also protected us from having to view pictures of flag-draped coffins returning home. It would apparently be too much for us to bear to see more than 2,200 flag-draped coffins; or perhaps would those pictures undermine support for this painless war.
Next time you’re shopping along Route 9 in the Golden Triangle imagine those 2,200 flag-draped coffins laid end to end along the middle of Route 9 stretching for more than three miles. If you include the coffins of the Iraqi civilians and military killed, a low estimate of approximately 40,000, the coffins draped with American and Iraqi flags would stretch from Boston past Worcester to the town of Spencer along Route 9. Yes, we can thank the president for providing us with national war insurance so we don’t have to experience the pain and costs of this badly mishandled war.
I served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. I was lucky enough never to have had to go to Vietnam, but my experiences in the Marine Corps were enough to make me a pacifist. I respect all those who serve our country whether in military uniform or not. I may be opposed to war, but I am not opposed to the warriors, the men and women who serve our country putting their lives in peril everyday.
I have been opposed to this war from the beginning, but because of George Bush’s national war insurance I was shielded from the true costs of the war and able to put the war in the background. I have yet to march in a peace demonstration, and I have yet to do anything as an activist to stop this war. Whether you agree with me or not, whether you support the war or not, we are all deluding ourselves with our painless positions because President Bush has allowed us to carry on a war without daily costs to all of us.
Abraham Lincoln said, "To sin by silence when they should protest, makes cowards of human beings." Because of Bush’s war insurance plan and my own lack of convictions I have remained silent on this war. Reading this quote from Lincoln last night made me realize that until today I was a coward.
By Joe Bradley/ Local Columnist
Monday, January 23, 2006 - Updated: 01:07 AM EST
The war in Iraq affects most of us on a daily basis about as much as medical bills affect those of us who have a good health insurance plan. As long as the services rendered are covered by a third party payer we don’t care what the costs are.
Most of us experience the war in Iraq on a second or third hand basis. My wife Loetta’scousin is an Apache helicopter pilot in Iraq and whenever word of a copter crash comes we always turn up the radio until we hear the type of chopper that went down. A sigh of relief when we hear it’s another Blackhawk and we turn the news back down and go back to our conversation. Other than that occasional personal touch from the war, our lives go on unaffected by the events in Iraq.
That’s the way it is for most Americans because President Bush, never a strong believer in universal health insurance for our citizens, has ingeniously put together a national war insurance plan so that most of us never feel the true costs of this horrid war. The president and his military strategists, through an avoidance of the draft and creative use of our reservists and National Guard, have kept Americans direct involvement low since most of us have no family members serving in the war.
Short of a national mobilization, and lacking any nationwide sacrifice on all our parts, the war goes on, leaving most of us untouched. In contrast rather than asking for any nationwide sacrifice the president and his Congress have given us tax cut after tax cut, ensuring that not only will we not feel the economic costs of the war today but we are passing those costs on to future generations. And, even more morally reprehensible, we are allowing Congress and the president to cut and gut all of our social service programs for the most needy among us.
During Vietnam, President Johnson tried to have both guns and butter -- a war on poverty and a war in Vietnam -- and he failed. President Bush has so far succeeded in having a war on the poor and a war in Iraq. Leave it to a compassionate conservative to finally figure out the pain-free economics of a military war; take it out on the poor and pass the costs on to the grandkids.
The president has also stifled much of the media coverage of the war. We saw a sanitized invasion brought to us by embedded reporters. We very rarely see any pictures of Iraqi civilian wounded and the destruction of the Iraqi neighborhoods from our increasing air war. President Bush also protected us from having to view pictures of flag-draped coffins returning home. It would apparently be too much for us to bear to see more than 2,200 flag-draped coffins; or perhaps would those pictures undermine support for this painless war.
Next time you’re shopping along Route 9 in the Golden Triangle imagine those 2,200 flag-draped coffins laid end to end along the middle of Route 9 stretching for more than three miles. If you include the coffins of the Iraqi civilians and military killed, a low estimate of approximately 40,000, the coffins draped with American and Iraqi flags would stretch from Boston past Worcester to the town of Spencer along Route 9. Yes, we can thank the president for providing us with national war insurance so we don’t have to experience the pain and costs of this badly mishandled war.
I served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. I was lucky enough never to have had to go to Vietnam, but my experiences in the Marine Corps were enough to make me a pacifist. I respect all those who serve our country whether in military uniform or not. I may be opposed to war, but I am not opposed to the warriors, the men and women who serve our country putting their lives in peril everyday.
I have been opposed to this war from the beginning, but because of George Bush’s national war insurance I was shielded from the true costs of the war and able to put the war in the background. I have yet to march in a peace demonstration, and I have yet to do anything as an activist to stop this war. Whether you agree with me or not, whether you support the war or not, we are all deluding ourselves with our painless positions because President Bush has allowed us to carry on a war without daily costs to all of us.
Abraham Lincoln said, "To sin by silence when they should protest, makes cowards of human beings." Because of Bush’s war insurance plan and my own lack of convictions I have remained silent on this war. Reading this quote from Lincoln last night made me realize that until today I was a coward.