More Democrat Support For The Troops

August 14, 2007

First, we had John ‘F’in Kerry, freshly home from his extremely abbreviated tour in Viet Nam and embroiled in anti-war movement, “testifying” before the Fulbright Commission with his call of, “They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war….,” followed by, “The country doesn't know it yet, but it has created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence…..,” ending with, “there will be some recrimination but far, far less than the 200,000 a year who are murdered by the United States of America…..”

In 1971, when Kerry told these fabrications of stories from mostly non-Veterans he associated with and had “testify” in the bogus “Winter Soldier Investigation followed by a very public chucking of what was claimed to be his medals earned combat, one could be left thinking that he wanted nothing to do with the Military any longer.

In fact, seeing those of us served in Viet Nam referred to as “Murderers” and “Monsters” leaves me feeling that he held much disdain for the Military. Not so, according to him, as he accepted the nod for the 2004 Democrat candidate for President with his I’m John Kerry and I’m Reporting For Duty, complete with medals he once claimed to throw away.

All through the campaign he declared his undying Support for the Troops. Maybe that is why I was taken aback when he later stated on CBS’s Face The Nation in December 2005, "And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the – of – the historical customs, religious customs…"

Of course, seeing what he really felt of the Troops, it was no surprise when, just before the 2006 elections, he said at Pasadena City College, “You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Indignant that true supporters of the Troops, Veterans and Active Duty Military took offense at this, he first stated, “Let me make it crystal clear, as crystal clear as I know how: I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy,” followed a few days later by, “I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended,” now categorizing the comment as merely a “botched joke.”

If you believe those must be isolated incidents, read on.

In a 1969 letter written to Colonel Eugene Holmes, Commander of the University of Arkansas ROTC unit that former Democrat President, B.J. Clinton used to dodge the draft, the 23 year old Clinton said, “I am writing too in the hope that my telling this one story will help you to understand more clearly how so many fine people have come to find themselves still loving their country but loathing the military, to which you and other good men have devoted years, lifetimes, of the best service you could give.”

Apologists for the Clinton presidency claim he was only speaking of what others felt, but they neglect the very next sentence of that letter where he adds, “To many of us, it is no longer clear what is service and what is disservice, or if it is clear, the conclusion is likely to be illegal.”

Clearly, young B.J. Clinton included himself in those “Loathing” the Military.
During the Clinton administration, it was reported by an Air Force Aid to the President, that former first lady, current New York Senator and candidate for president herself, Hillary tried to ban the wearing of Military Uniforms within the White House, that she had Marines in Dress Blues serving cheese and crackers to White House “guests,” and she and her aids showed rudeness often to members of the Military on the White House staff, one reportedly once saying, “We don't talk to people in military uniforms in this office.” Senator Clinton denies all of the reports.

However, she did cast a vote of NO on funding the Troops in harms way this past May.

Yet another example of the Support shown the Troops, we need only look back at the words of Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who, after reading off a long list of abuses against detainees at Guantanamo Bay said, “If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have happened by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.”

I fail to see how comparing our brave Troops to “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others … with no concern for human beings” is supportive of our Troops.

After coming under fire for these comments from several angles for more than a week, he stated, “More than most people, a senator lives by his words ... occasionally words fail us, occasionally we will fail words. I am sorry if anything I said caused any offense or pain to those who have such bitter memories of the Holocaust, the greatest moral tragedy of our time. Nothing, nothing should ever be said to demean or diminish that moral tragedy. I am also sorry if anything I said cast a negative light on our fine men and women in the military. ... I never ever intended any disrespect for them. Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line. To them I extend my heartfelt apology.”

Had he thought about what he decided to say instead of just launching into the reading of his prepared comments, he wouldn’t have needed to apologize on the Senate Floor.

Near the top of the Democrats Hall of Shame in showing Support for our Troops would be former vice-president Al Gores actions in desperatly trying to deny Military Absentee Ballots be counted due to technicalities as he was demnding "every vote should be counted." I guess that is for everyone except our Brave Troops serving overseas where the Clinton/Gore administration had sent them.

We cannot forget the many gaffs of Representative and ex-Marine, Jack Murtha, from Pennsylvania. He said of our Troops, "They've been there too long. We have to bring them home before they kill more babies." As word of the alleged massacre in Haditha came out, he blurted out, “"there was no firefight, there was no IED (improvised explosive device) that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.”

Being accused of killing babies and murdering in cold blood isn’t what I see as ‘supportive.’

After referring to our Troops in Iraq as “the enemy” in Iraq, he was asked in another interview "Would you join (the military) today?" He replied, “NO!” The interviewer continued with, "And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve'," to which Murtha replied, "Exactly right!"

Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts said of the Abu Ghraib scandal, "On March 19, 2004, President Bush asked, 'Who would prefer that Saddam's torture chambers still be open?’ Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management: U.S. management."

Does the senior Senator forget that is out Troops in charge of that prison and that the handful that mistreated Iraq prisoners were prosecuted? Regardless, he accuses the Troops of torturing when the mistreatment, wrong as it was, amounted to little more than college hazing incidents, mostly.

As our Troops were in need of reinforcements, Kennedy introduced legislation denying any funds for our Troops to be reinforced as President Bush was preparing to send them in. It was defeated.

As if those aren’t enough, and I’m sure there are several more out there, we now have the junior Senator from Illinois and also presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, as he tries to justify his call for abandonment of the Iraq theater of the War on Terror, after saying he would attack an ally, Pakistan, should their leadership not act in the manner he felt was appropriate, should some intelligence say Osama Bin Laden were there, calling on more Troops to Afghanistan saying, "We've got to get the job done there (Afghanistan) and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there."

Once again, we have a Democrat adding his demeaning words against our Brave Troops who placed themselves between our enemies and us.

More pitiful than that is the work of Newsvine.com as they justify Obama’s claim by saying it is true that “WESTERN” forces have been killing civilians at a faster rate than the insurgents have been killing civilians.

In this spin effort they slyly mention “WESTERN” forces instead of the “TROOPS” Obama was speaking of. Very disingenuous, I’d say.

If this is what the Democrats feel is ‘supportive’ of our Troops in harm’s way, I’d hate to see what they feel would be considered bashing the Troops.

Lew