Veteran Veritas has been devoted to veteran advocacy since the inception of TC.com. Seldom do I enter the editorial fray and ongoing polemic.
Advocacy in its focus on veterans affairs can be a rather large tent.
In this instance I am breaking rank with a self imposed policy.
I am in a state of high dudgeon over the deafening silence from the speakers at the RNC who are clearly under strict marching orders to not emit a word or a breath about War.
Our men and women in uniform, in sync with the combat veterans of this nation, should be indignant, and not allow this convention nor the DNC Convention coming up, to skate on a situation that both parties obligated our nation to for a period now exceeding the length of all American wars.
Not a peep of war. Is not the shame of this a stain that is akin to a national “Scarlett Letter?”
How in God’s name can we balance a budget when we are paying for a wars on two fronts?
Billions of dollars a month are flowing to privateers who are essentially serving as mercenaries in a growing shadow government. Blackwater, simply changed their name, and we the taxpayers are paying their salaries. Does no one care? Can you not see the red herring tactic being fostered on America?
The level of distraction that is being fostered on the American people is unmatched in our history.
I have viewed every Presidential campaign since 1956. None were so absent of content at this one. All rhetoric, no plan. I suspect the DNC will ditto this mentality of avoidance. Would you want the Armed Forces to operate in this fashion?
A suicide a day in the military, with no solution in sight. Worse yet, there is no concrete explanatory narrative.
I am offering one. I believe this disjunctive, disconnected, dysfunctional set of legislators is creating an environment that is so toxic and so pervasive that these multiple tour soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, are classic canaries in absorbing this negative radioactivity that has permeated the entire nation. While struggling with their own transition issues, they do not identify with the nation they just defended, and elect to bow out.
We have a collective responsibility to address every aspect of war, financial and spiritual. Peacocking on stage in a state of denial only exacerbates the problem, and furthers the mythological fog that has enveloped these electeds in a way that mimics a Greek tragedy.
These are the most perilous times of my adult life. This will not end with the election of a President.
This is a distraction racket with an end- game that transcends politics, all paid for with the booty from Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Finding veritas, will, from this point onward, be like Diogenes going out with a lantern looking for an honest man.
How many men died in Afghanistan this week?
We the public bear responsibility as long as we allow our representatives not to go on the record a declaration of war would require.
Glad you hung around to add this wisdom, you honor all the survivors of war. Aho Mitakuye Oyasin! (All My Relations!)
Nicely done.
“How many men died in Afghanistan this week?”
Well to put it in somewhat of a perspective, not near as many as died during the average week in Vietnam where in less time than this latest war has dragged out, more than Fifty-eight THOUSAND(58,200+) Americans died in a war that was begun on a bogus Gulf of Tonkin resolution perpetrated on the U.S. public by President Lyndon Johnson(D). The politicians may have changed names and the parties in power may have changed, but the end results remain very similar.
You are so correct Ado. But lets not go to far with the numbers game or we will be like Westmoreland! I am a Vietnam Veteran also. Statistics show that Quang Nam province where I fought in the Marine Corps, had a 50% casualty ratio for grunts. Indeed the numbers were high. But as you point out the topic is one of ‘arrangement” Read the document, “The World Effectively Controlled by the Untied Nations,” a 1962 State Department-commissioned study written by Dr. Lincoln P. Bloomfield of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We have been slavishly following this modus operandi of “wars of assimilation,” ever since. Chalabi in Iraq juked the entire western world with his phony “iraq National Congress” INC defectors. Not a one was real. All paid actors. Columbia Journalism Review outed him, and all the major media outlets retracted their stories. Not a word, and worse yet, no remembrance of this with our epidemic national amnesia for accurate history. Yet just like the Gulf of Tonkin incident, now documented by retired Admirals, to have never happened, we continue to provide freedom fighters for the world. Might someone help us some day? Or is our war machine too profitable to want allies? King Koch has now replaced King George before the Revolution.
McCain has been pontificating that Obama isn’t bombing enough people.
McCain never met a war he didn’t like. He complained loudly about Obama “only” allowed aircraft into the Libyan civil war, he wanted boots on the ground. He would have long ago bomb, bomb, bombed Iran and doubt have us in a war with them. He’s outraged were aren’t in the middle of the Syrian civil war. Thank goodness he wasn’t elected President.
It’s is long past time we stop acting as policeman for the world, and do some nation building here at home.
great article! McCain does want to involve us in conflicts that are maybe we should not be. As with Syria there are players in the region that can supply the rebels with lots of equipment. And of course how do you know that the CIA isnt already? I have found on the Web photos of knocked out Syria tanks that have been blown to bits. You dont do that with RPG-7’s My guess is that there is some heavier weapons out there that nobody is talking about. Guess where the rebels got them???
Yeah. Drones are on duty as we sleep. I know two operators. Thanks Fraser. I write about no mention of war and the world remains mute. I think I will vote for canceling the election and force them to legislate. We need deal makers not ideologues and a Spin and Marty show. You gotta finish your homework before going to the drive in. All economic cycles throughout history are in the range of 8 years. So is not this 4 year mutual masturbation game ridiculous? ( If Clint can be risque, so can I, lol!) I guess my voter registration that reads non-partisan since my seminary formation days now tags us as the “persuadeables” I am not persuaded by anyone at this junction. And the job issue is just ludicrous. Between 2000- 2008, 28% of our workforce was exported overseas. They are not coming back. Lets call Caterpillar and ask them. No computer, not one brand is made in the U.S. Not one set of underwear is from any American textile company.This is never going to change. A global economy is here and we did not prepare for it…period. We have allowed ourselves to be morphed into full time consumers.The rest is a charade
How on Earth can the Republican/Tea Party nominate a career corporate
criminal and tax cheat for the highest office in the land? The only
house he should be in is The Big House. Will he finally reveal tonight
how he was able to stash away a quarter of a billion dollars without
paying federal income taxes for nearly 15 years? No, he will blame Obama
for not completely cleaning up after Mitt’s hero, George Bush Jr. By
the way, where are they hiding Bush Jr. these days? They’re not ashamed
of the Worst President Ever, are they? Because we know they have no
shame.
IMO, the worst president ever is still holding the office. It’s all a matter of who you believe can best spend the money you earn(Assuming of course you in fact are one of us working jerks), are you better able to decide where your money is best spent, or are the liberal Washington bureaucrats better at it than you? Obama is spending everyone’s children’s and grandchildren’s money like a drunken sailor on shore leave in a house of prostitution. The educated electorate needs to rein him in and take away his American Express card while the country’s credit rating is still in the B range(Before Obama it was always triple A). Better yet, let him seek employment where he isn’t supported by taxpayer dollars. He needs an education in how real people make their money.
Where did you get the heading for this article? You have one sentence regarding the RNC and the words “War Dodging Chicken Hawks” is not mentioned. If you are suffering from PTSD and are given 100% disability, why should anyone listen to you, let alone be a mentor. If you are 100% disabled with a mental/emotional condition, she should not even be involved with advice or help.
The one thing I really don’t like about the current administration is it’s like they are pretending we are not at war. The fact that America is fighting a war should be front and center on everyones table.
And yes, the rich need to pay for their wars!