This is how the "distinguished" Senator Edward Kennedy has described the war with Islamic fascists in Iraq. I'm certain he would have characterized action in Afghanistan (Asskickedistan) the same way had that action been further removed from the horror of 9/11 and closer to the presidential campaign season, as the occupation of Iraq now is.
The Berkeley Square Blog has a new friend in Phoenix who has offered "more about the comparison to Vietnam on another post as I served in that war during the TET of 1969 with the 1st Cav." (I look forward to his input in the comments below.) In '69 I was still watching Captain Kangaroo and marveling at the grainy black-and-white TV images of Armstrong and Aldrin's historic moonwalk. I do remember nightly news broadcasts showing combat in Vietnam but my lack of a pre-war reference, outspoken opinion from my parents, or intellectual capability beyond the level of a six-year-old made it seem normal to me. It was a horrific realization when I finally came to understand, decades later, that there was a war on and there were people in this country who didn't support our troops, their mission, our government, or even our capitalist way of life.
My dad has told me stories about life during "the big one," WWII. There was a tremendous effort on the "home front" to support the war effort. Robert A. Heinlein wrote (in 'Time Enough for Love') about popular sentiment during WWI that any able-bodied young man who didn't volunteer for military service felt shame. What a difference two-decades makes. Going to the aid of a free nation invaded by a totalitarian neighbor (that was backed by a worldwide collectivist ideology) was opposed by post-modern intellectuals with Marxist ideals. Whether their treasonous acts had any effect on the outcome of the war, it is undisputable that they caused great psychological harm to our veterans.
The most visible champion of the communist sympathy crowd was Jane Fonda. Another prominent leader among them, John F. Kerry, is now campaigning to be President and Commander in Chief of the armed forces he did so much psychological damage to. This is particularly significant because we are once again engaged in military occupation to liberate a peace-loving population from the tyranny of a merciless worldwide collectivist ideology - Islamic fascism. The Marxists, welfare-staters, anti-capitalists, environmentalists, and anti-globalists in this country, collectively known as modern liberals and effectively represented by the modern Democrat party have a philosophical opposition to such a liberation on several fronts. I won't get into the specifics now but they aren't just anti-Bush, they are anti-Iraqi liberty. They aren't so much anti-war as they are anti-victory. How insane would it be to put their leader in charge of the nation and the armed forces? Thoroughly.
Posted by JohnGalt at April 11, 2004 11:41 AM