Letter in today's Stripes: Undeserving commander

[lebkuchen]

Undeserving commander

Following the Florida debate last Thursday, President Bush said at a Columbus, Ohio, rally: “I will never submit America’s national security to an international test.” He was deriding Sen. John Kerry’s commitment to consulting our allies before rushing headlong into an avoidable catastrophe.

But hold on! What about Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon? Or one-time Iraqi exile and former neoconservative darling Ahmad Chalabi? Or Iraq’s interim prime minister and suspected CIA asset Iyad Allawi? Or the oil-rich House of Saud? If we are looking for our national security being submitted to an international test, need we look any further? Didn’t Bush take quite a few cues from these cueballs? Why criticize “Old Europe” when a handful of neoconservative favorites have disastrously driven U.S. foreign policy for the last 3½ years?

Clearly, Bush has flip-flopped on the “international test” and, in so doing, has failed the test. How can anyone take Bush seriously?

During this presidential campaign we’ve seen plenty of smoke and mirrors, tons of mud, constant fear-mongering and the untiring efforts by rich Republicans to keep the real issues — and the truth — out of sight and out of mind from America’s voters. When the smoke clears and the mirrors lay shattered, these facts will remain: Kerry volunteered while Bush vanished; Kerry supports the middle class while Bush supports the ultra-wealthy; and Kerry is a statesman while Bush plays one, badly, on TV.

Ultimately, the Bush administration is about making the world a cushy place for its rich friends — at the expense of our troops, who are willing to risk their lives for their undeserving commander in chief.

Ed Thornburg
Würzburg, Germany

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=24789

[Zuni]

1. Damn

That was tough

[lebkuchen]

2. Had to be

Wolfowitz was here yesterday. He's still around. Why be shy?

[Killarney]

3. Wow, that was fantastic.

[TahitiNut]

4. Excellent letter.

It must be the fine pilsner. :evilgrin:

[pacalo]

5. Well said!

[BeFree]

6. Global test?

Ya got your Global war on terror, your Globalization of capitalism and your global control of the high seas, but you don't think we should act globally?

Everything is global, ie international. Our oil comes from abroad, most of our TVs, electronics, automobiles. We feed at the global troff.

America pretends we are the world. The way Clinton ran things, we got away with it. The way B*sh is running things, it won't be long before we are run into the ground.