A letter to BC on Memorial Day:
The TAMPA TRIBUNE
May 31--Memorial Day J.D. Wetterling
TELL ME, MR. PRESIDENT
Mr. President:
I'm an ardent patriot and former Vietnam fighter
pilot, and I believe that British statesman
Edmund Burke was right on when he said,
''All that is necessary for the forces of evil to
prevail in the world is for enough good men
to do nothing.''
Daring to criticize your disheartening leadership
is a task not equal to the deeds of those
good men we honor this Memorial Day, but an
obedient combat vet and passionate lover of
America can do no less.
BOD: In Vietnam I served under a commander in
chief whom history rightfully judges harshly.
You, too, for good cause, are concerned
about how history will judge you, yet you're
making the same egregious errors as LBJ,
ignoring the advice of military experts and
waging your version of war with all the conceit
of a political demagogue, telegraphing punches
and publicizing strategy.
Mr. President, using America's courageous
aviators and their fabulous flying machines
for ''Star Wars'' visual effects on the
evening news is frightfully frivolous warfare.
Employing America's awesome air power
as cheap grace under the command of General
Gallup Poll will not put you among the great
leaders of history.
Hypothetically, sir, if England responded to the
rebels in Ireland as Israel and Milosevic respond
to theirs, would you announce bombing attacks
on the United Kingdom? Why is the quarrel in
Kosovo so much more important to American
interests than the infinitely worse genocide in
Rwanda? Why should the Serbs believe
what a highly respected Democrat calls ''an
unusually good liar''?
And tell me, Mr. President, why should the
citizenry cut you more slack in moral rectitude
than you demand of the soldiers you command?
Back when you were doing your best to avoid
becoming a vet, patriots of my generation
willingly answered our country's call to
help defend a small nation of farmers from
communist aggression. Thanks to your efforts
and others', America abandoned an ally on
the battlefield for the first time in its history,
leading to genocide of holocaust proportions.
What did you learn from that experience?
On The Mall in Washington, D.C., 58,200 souls,
including eight of my friends, are memorialized
for doing what you lacked the courage and
patriotism to do. What, sir, is your rationale
for asking today's young men to do what you
would not? How do you justify casting
America's fighter pilots in harm's way in an
internal conflict far less clear-cut than the
one you considered ''immoral'' in your draft-age
years? On this Memorial Day, if the heroes listed
on that granite wall were to rise from their graves,
how would you explain to them your concept of
duty, honor and country?
Sir, history will be hard on leaders who use wars
to divert attention from vile behavior and alarming
legal questions. Fortunately for America, the
soldiers you ''loathed'' in other times still follow your
orders, but they're not dolts. They're leaving the
service in droves, forcing your ''stop-loss'' order
to bolt the exits.
In the twilight of the last century, Rudyard Kipling
spoke to this issue when he cast his acute poetic
eye on the relationship between the soldier and
a self-absorbed British society. In ''Tommy,'' a ballad
about a private in the British Army, he concluded:
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' ''chuck
him out, the brute''
But it's ''Saviour of 'is country'' when the guns
begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything
you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that
Tommy sees!
Sir Rudyard's reasoned rhymes still rule in
America. If Kipling were now in the Colonies,
he might add these verses to his classic:
When Billy was of draft age, Southeast Asia was
the cause;
Tho' Uncle called, he ducked it without a
moment's pause.
Now 'e's safe within the White House, the artful
dodger yet,
Impeachment proof an' O so brave, when Kosovo's
the bet.
For it's Tommy this an' Tommy that, but when
Billy needs a boost,
'E throws Tommy to the lions, to keep the
chickens off the roost.
An' it's Tommy this an' Tommy that an' any war's
OK
As long as it's not Billy boy they're chuckin' in
harm's way.
The good men we venerate today put God, duty,
honor and country ahead of self. History will
reward you if you do likewise, sir. If not,
perhaps it will be said of us, as of
Old Testament Israel in Jeremiah's day, that
we deserved you. |
