This article is full of the truth that will set us free forever from
the clutches of insanely men, their corrupt politicians and their
horrific wars.
On Apr 14, 11:33=A0pm, kb <know_bud...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Published on Monday, April 14, 2008 by The Christian Science Monitor
> What Does It Mean To Call McCain A 'War Hero' Candidate?
> McCain is running as one, but those who oppose dishonorable wars are
> also heroes.
> by Charles Derber and Yale Magrass
>
> "624787." In his first national campaign ad for president, John McCain
> is shown reciting his rank and serial number as he lies in a
> Vietnamese hospital bed as a prisoner of war. The ad describes him as
> "a real hero."
>
> Let's be clear; Senator McCain is running for president as a war hero
> who plans to win the campaign based on character and honor. On the
> surface, it seems churlish to critique the idea of a war hero. And
> criticizing a tribute to courageous and self-sacrificing soldiers
> would be disrespectful.
>
> But inextricably tied to the idea of the war hero for president is a
> discussion that goes beyond individual soldiers or prisoners of war,
> such as McCain, to the wars they fight and what their role in the war
> says about their moral merits as national leaders. This turns out to
> be surprisingly problematic.
>
> We need to distinguish the war hero from the war. Fixed ideas about
> war heroes get into what we call "morality wars," crucial struggles
> about which values should prevail, who should be admired and for what
> qualities.
>
> When we call McCain a war hero, we engage in moral discourse about the
> Vietnam War and now Iraq. We also give McCain - currently the
> country's most celebrated war hero - the ultimate political weapon:
> power by virtue of heroism and the ability to discredit opponents as
> weak or unpatriotic.
>
> The public has treated McCain's record in Vietnam and his status as a
> war hero as something unchangeable. But placing his sacrifice beyond
> the pale of criticism also implicitly places the cause he served
> beyond the pale, and that hushes im****tant dialogue.
>
> McCain's heroism stems entirely from Vietnam. McCain was brave in
> captivity, but he and his fellow pilots dropped more bombs on Vietnam
> than all those dropped in World War II, leading to the conclusion that
> "we had to destroy Vietnam in order to save it." But he did not
> acknowledge the war itself as immoral. Had he engaged in such
> "straight talk" about the war itself, or if we had a more enlightened
> concept of heroism, he might not be getting so close to becoming the
> next president.
>
> This language of war heroism is used unfairly to confuse unjust wars
> and their architects with the honor of brave soldiers. By promoting
> the idea that Vietnam was an honorable war and denigrating antiwar
> Democrats as too weak to "stay the course," Richard Nixon won the
> election in 1968. He then kept the war going for another five futile
> years, sustained by that myth.
>
> Playing the war hero card has long been a political strategy to elect
> Republicans; legitimize imperial wars; and ****tray Democrats and peace
> activists as weak, cowardly, or traitorous. John Kerry, also a
> courageous soldier, was swift-boated as a traitor because he became a
> peace activist in Vietnam.
>
> Republicans even did the same to Daniel Ellsberg, a real hero of the
> Vietnam era. Ellsberg was a war planner who turned against the war and
> in 1971, at great personal risk, released to The New York Times the
> "Pentagon Papers," the military's internal and damning history of the
> war. But as there are no peace heroes, only war heroes in the American
> moral discourse, President Nixon tried to indict him and many still
> brand him as a traitor.
>
> Ten out of 11 presidents after the Civil War were Republicans, the
> majority of whom were generals who ran as war heroes. In the 20th
> century, Republicans continued to serve up war-hero candidates like
> Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, George H.W. Bush, a strategy that
> has worked for tens of decades. And now we have John McCain.
>
> If the Democrats are to win elections in the 21st century, the key is
> to finally engage in straight talk about war and war heroes.
>
> First, they must renounce the morality of militarism.
>
> Second, they must be clear that the architects of unjust wars are not
> honorable or heroic but immoral moralists, those who wage evil in the
> name of good.
>
> Third, they must create a new language of heroism. Brave soldiers in
> just and unjust wars may be heroes, if we refer purely to personal
> courage and sacrifice in battle. But it is critical that we recognize
> that those who oppose dishonorable wars are also heroes. Surely, their
> courage should also qualify as a character virtue for the highest
> office in the land.
>
> The peace hero - even more than the war hero - should be the ultimate
> moral force in the world we now inhabit.
>
> Charles Derber and Yale Magrass are coauthors of "Morality Wars: How
> Empires, the Born Again, and the Politically Correct Do Evil in the
> Name of Good."
>
> Article copied from:http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/14/8278/
>
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>
> McCain dropped bombs on a sovereign nation, murdered innocent women &
> children & was justly imprisoned. He is not a hero, but another
> terrorist killer and criminal. He has no remorse for all the killing
> he did. He should be locked up in a nut house, not strutting around
> like he's great. He's a dummy who swallowed the lies, and began
> helping to spread them all over the globe. He represents the worst of
> America. =A0Shame on him, and shame on all the fools that call him a
> hero!
> KB
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