My Strange Kinship

In spite of President Bush and the interim President of Iraq's recent 
speeches saying that things are progressing nicely in Iraq, I have to 
disagree.  That place is a tragic mess.  Call me unpatriotic if you must.

I think I know why the mess got started.  And I won't even charge you 
Halliburton rates to tell you the answer.  

But first let me ask you a question.  
Would you take my advice as to whether we should
or shouldn't go to war?  
OK, OK, OK, OK.  I hear the shouting, "NO, FOOL!"

That because I'm clueless about real war.  I admit it.  Sure, I've 
read a few articles in TIME mag but I've never been to war.  I admit it.
You would be stupid to take my advice as to whether we should
or shouldn't go to war.

I'm glad we got that out of the way.

Now (free of charge), the reason we're in the mess:  Many of people 
who designed and advocated this war are clueless about real war.

I was surprised to find out how much I have in common with many of the
important "minds" who have lead us into this war and still support it
with religious zeal.  An incredible amount of these people have the same
military credentials that I have.  That is to say, they have absolutely no 
military experience at all.  None.  Like me, their butt was never in a 
quagmire.  No wonder they didn't anticipate this mess.

Fortunately there are a few in this administration with military experience.
Our Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell
have considerable military experience.  However inspite of being the most 
experienced military person in the top level of this administration, 
Secretary Powell's job wasn't in the military planning of this war.

Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld - served 4 yrs in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) 
as an aviator and flight instructor. So he has military experience and 
of course alot of government experience.  For instance, he served as 
President Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East and met with Saddam 
Hussein twice in 1983 and 1984.  You can find a picture of one of the 
meetings with Hussein at this web page:

It is ironic to see a younger Rumsfeld and a younger Hussein during 
earlier times, when Hussein was our surrogate army against Iran.  We gave 
him all sorts of "assistance" in killing Iranians during the Iran/Iraq war 
of the 80s (Reagan administration).

Of course, we've all heard about the President's military service:
President Bush - served most of a six-year Nat'l Guard commitment.

BUT THE FOLLOWING IS THE REAL TROUBLE WITH THE CURRENT WAR PLANNERS:
(Secretary Rumsfeld's upper eschelon at the Dept of Defense)

Paul Wolfowitz, did not serve 

Richard Perle, did not serve (I'm not sure he is officially with
this administration anymore, due to some conflict of interest)

Douglas Feith, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy - did not serve.

The above trio are some of the important minds who thought this Iraq war would
be a great idea.  Like me, they've never fought in a war.  But I'll bet
they've read ALL about in books.  They've probably even written books about
war.  I think Wolfowitz might have a PhD in WAR.  I suspect that reading about 
WAR and actually being in WAR are very different.  Just a guess, maybe I'm wrong.

Of course the cynical name for these guys is "Chicken Hawks".
I'm cynical, so I do call them Chicken Hawks.  They're plenty quick to 
start a war as long as they aren't involved personally.

Other non-military men who I (reluctantly) must identify with:
- Vice President Cheney - did not serve, several deferments, 
 (in his own words, "had other priorities than military service")
 I suspect he was busy working on his "gravitas".
- Att'y Gen. John Ashcroft - did not serve, received seven deferments to 
 teach business ed at SW Missouri State [sweet gig, I'm jealous]
- Karl Rove - did not serve. 

Way to go guys!, no way you're gonna let THE MAN make YOU go to war,
that's for someone else to do.  But they are all for war, just as long
as someone else does the fighting.  And when things get really tough,
they'll scurry away to their safe undisclosed location.  Their bravery
is truly inspiring, don't you think?

They'd prefer sending your loved ones instead.  Do you mind?  They'd really 
appreciate it.  And if your loved one dies?  Well, they'd be happy to give 
you an American Flag as long as you don't take any pictures of the casket.  
That seems fair.

*** Media TOUGH guys ***
Bill O'Reilly, did not serve. 
Rush Limbaugh, did not serve.  
George Will, did not serve. 
Chris Matthews, did not serve. 
Paul Gigot, did not serve. 
Bill Bennett, did not serve. 
Michael Savage, did not serve. 
Bill Kristol, did not serve. 
Sean Hannity, did not serve. 

Need I go on?

Jeez, they're all just like me.  total military slackers.
But they all talk so tough, you'd think they were Marines.  NOPE.  
Hey guys, that's putting your money where your mouth is.
Oops, wait, I'm sorry, that's wrong isn't it?
Oh gosh, I think that means they're all a bunch
of ..... hmm, what is that word I'm looking for?

...

Oh by the way -
Mike Sult, did not serve, had draft lottery number 240, which didn't get 
called.  And like the Vice-President, I was really glad I didn't have to go 
to the Viet Nam war.

Kind of weird, me and all my non-serving kinship.
None of us were in any wars.

Yet these non-serving guys are considered some big authority on war 
and advocate war.  But I'm not and I don't.

Tell me that isn't weird. 

My conclusion: Don't allow people with no military experience
make the decision to go to war.  Bring in more people who have
a clue.

Either that or let me decide, I'm equally (not) qualified.

the source for these assertions can be found at