»
»

Your Arrogant Screed Of The Day

I have never been one to criticize an entire media organization for the opinion of one of their journalists, bloggers or writers. Free speech is indeed a wonderful thing, and one worth fighting for.

I do, however, take offense when some members of the media get a planet-sized brain fart and mistake free speech for offensive, driveling libel. One might say that the line between both is thin and tenuous, but it is one that William M. Arkin has managed to cross deftly in the columns of the Washington Post by committing a turd of a text titled “The Troops Also Need To Support The American People.”

Mr. Arkin obviously has a bone to pick with our men and women in uniform, particularly with their frustration at the lack of public support for their operations in Iraq:

I’m all for everyone expressing their opinion, even those who wear the
uniform of the United States Army. But I also hope that military
commanders took the soldiers aside after the story and explained to
them why it wasn’t for them to disapprove of the American people.

In other words, everyone has a right to their opinion, but if you’re in the military, you better just think it, not express it.

Arkin could have stopped right there and already raised eyebrows as to the Orwellian stupidity of that “all men are equal, but some are more equal than others” statement. But, as would be expected from most pontificating blowhards, he decides to continue digging his own grave.

These soldiers should be grateful that the American public, which by
all polls overwhelmingly disapproves of the Iraq war and the
President’s handling of it, do still offer their support to them, and
their respect.

Through every Abu Ghraib and Haditha, through every rape and murder,
the American public has indulged those in uniform, accepting that the
incidents were the product of bad apples or even of some administration
or command order.

Sure it is the junior enlisted men who go to jail, but even at
anti-war protests, the focus is firmly on the White House and the
policy. We just don’t see very man “baby killer” epithets being thrown
around these days, no one in uniform is being spit upon.

To be honest, it took me a while to be able to put the words together to respond to such a lowly insult. What can I say, it is really difficult for me to formulate an answer to a man (and in this case, I
use that word loosely) who would paint hundreds of thousands of members of the military with the brushes of rape, murder and torture. No, they do not owe anyone thanks for taking the risk of coming home with missing limbs; their families should not be begging for sympathy when their loved one comes back from a combat zone in a body bag, an no, a thousand times no, no Soldier, Airman, Marine or Sailor should be grateful for making it home without being spit on by some salivating worm because he or she has obeyed an order form their civilian leaders, an order which by the way has not been officially rescinded as of now.

Shame on you, sir, for daring to even think for one second, even less make public, the fact that service members should beg for what every civilian is entitled to not by law, but by human nature: respect.

So, we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families,
provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support
systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we
support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we
should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and
the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and
responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?

Amazing: military members should be paid peanuts, their families left to fend for themselves while they are deployed, and they should be denied basic social services for them to be allowed to practice their First Amendment rights? And what are those obscene amenities thjat are so flippantly mentioned? Forgive the folks in Iraq for having a DVD player and a TV to watch a movie after a day of risking their hides; thank you for tolerating the presence of a Burger King or a Pizza Hut on a base in Iraq so these worthless grunts can have a Whopper of a slice of stuffed crust pepperoni pizza after making alive through another day of IEDs and RPGs intended to keep them from one day hugging their kids who are thousands of miles away. How’s life in one of the most expensive cities in America, by the way? Is your Starbucks latte at the right temperature?

And yes, you’re right. Shut up and let those who know – and who, by the way are those putting their lives on the line – take care of business. The blabber out of Washington these days is not really about the “surge”, it’s about basely crass politics. While you sit in your chair huffing and puffing about how your opinion on the war and how it should be conducted (if it should be conducted at all, in your eyes), what the boys and girls in the field demand and deserve are the means to come back alive and in one piece. They certainly have no lessons to receive from someone whose closest proximity to combat is most probably watching the aftermath of a bombing attack on the evening news.

I can imagine some post-9/11 moment, when the American people say
enough already with the wars against terrorism and those in the
national security establishment feel these same frustrations. In my
little parable, those in leadership positions shake their heads that
the people don’t get it, that they don’t understand that the threat
from terrorism, while difficult to defeat, demands commitment and
sacrifice and is very real because it is so shadowy, that the very
survival of the United States is at stake. Those Hoover’s and Nixon’s
will use these kids in uniform as their soldiers. If I weren’t the
United States, I’d say the story end with a military coup where those
in the know, and those with fire in their bellies, save the nation from
the people.

But it is the United States and instead this NBC report is just an
ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary – oops sorry,
volunteer – force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.

The notion of dirty work is that, like laundry, it is something that
has to be done but no one else wants to do it. But Iraq is not dirty
work: it is not some necessary endeavor; the people just don’t believe
that anymore.

I’ll accept that the soldiers, in order to soldier on, have to
believe that they are manning the parapet, and that’s where their
frustrations come in. I’ll accept as well that they are young and naïve
and are frustrated with their own lack of progress and the never
changing situation in Iraq. Cut off from society and constantly told
that everyone supports them, no wonder the debate back home confuses
them.

America needs to ponder what it is we really owe those in uniform. I
don’t believe America needs a draft though I imagine we’d be having a
different discussion if we had one.

You owe them nothing over the top really, even though you’re not capable of even giving them what they deserve. You owe them the respect of not calling them mercenaries; you owe them the dignity that you yourself seem to be lacking if you cannot pound someone else into the ground; you owe them recognition that their career hazards are more than missing a newspaper deadline; you owe them a certain amount of recognition for the risks they are voluntarily taking, beyond the contemptuous belief that a kid would volunteer to get killed overseas because is the only way for him to get out of a life of racial oppression and social injustice; you owe them the openness of mind to accept that some choose a career based on the “greater than self” ideal even though you don’t seem to grasp it yourself.

In a nutshell, you owe them your silence in a debate of which you have understood nothing, and in which you only have succeeded in making a fool of yourself.

One last thing: thank you, Mr. Arkin. I have served 8 years in the Army as a paratrooper, and now I know why I miss it so much: it was my sworn duty, as it is for those who serve today, to step up to the plate to protect even people like you. It was indeed an honor to keep even people like you free to spew their filth. We dind’t, and still do not today, make the difference between those who are deserving or not.

Lucky for you. And you’re welcome.

(Crossposted at Veni, vidi, Bloggi)

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Ping.fm Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Email This Email This

Posted by RagingAnura on February 1, 2007 10:19 am

» Filed Under Uncategorized

Trackback URL:

Links

Comments

2 Responses to “Your Arrogant Screed Of The Day”

  1. Greg on February 1st, 2007 11:12 am

    “In other words, everyone has a right to their opinion, but if you’re in the military, you better just think it, not express it.”

    That is, technically, the rules under which the military works. You should know this, having served in the Army. Article 88 of the UCMJ and DOD Directive 1344.10 limit the things that military members can say, officers cannot criticize elected officials and active duty enlisted men cannot express opinions on behalf of the military.

    I disagree with the WP author, however, since it is important to listen to the voices of the men serving our country. For example, in the last attempt at a randomized poll of soldiers in Iraq, only 23% supported staying the course.

  2. Mark R. Taylor on February 2nd, 2007 2:34 pm

    From http://www.greatmindsthinkright.com

    William Arkin – A Mere Rectal Parasite on a Sewer Rat’s Flea

    By Mark R. Taylor on Feb 01, 07

    On January 30, 2007, William Arkin wrote a commentary titled “The Troops Also Need to Support the American People”, which appears on the Washington Post’s website.

    Arkin ponders the thoughts of our American heroes – our soldiers in battle in Iraq – in an NBC Nightly News story in which soldiers from Ft. Lewis, Washington, now stationed in Iraq, expressed frustration at the American media and the left-wing, anti-American protesters hell-bent on undermining their mission.

    Every night for eighteen months, I, along with hundreds of other civilian truckers, put my life on the line to deliver mail, fuel and supplies to our troops. While I cannot speak for each of them, I personally did this because I live what I believe. It is a belief my wife and I know was worth my life.

    I would like to state that while I was in Iraq, I had the honor of working side by side with the 497th Transportation Company, Ft. Lewis, Washington. They were our dedicated military escorts for our mail missions after the demobilization of the 1544th Transportation Company, Illinois National Guard. Arkin, you are not fit to wipe the Iraq muck off their combat boots.

    In 2003, I made a decision to live what I believe – support the troops and their mission. Too old to join the military, I took a job with KBR as a truck driver/convoy commander in Iraq. I served in that capacity for eighteen months. Arkin uses the term “mercenary” to describe our troops. I am sure he will use it to describe me. One only needs to look up “mercenary” in the dictionary; you know that big book that sits on his shelf, obviously unopened, to find the definition fits neither circumstance. The soldiers volunteered – they do not have to enlist. They can take their talents to the private sector. There are those of us who would have been honored to serve in the military. We took the alternate route and have lived for four years with the ignorance and stupidity in the media that the article conveys. I know firsthand how disturbing and demoralizing it can be to be serving in a war zone while clueless, spineless cowards spout such nonsense unchallenged to the masses. I will not tolerate this for our troops.

    To quote Arkin, “So, we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?” Excuse me? This is almost too asinine to comment on. Our troops deserve much more than what they are paid and/or “given”. Unlike those who have made a living collecting a welfare check or the illegal aliens choking our government “gimme” programs, these heroic men and women earn everything they receive and more. Seven of these heroes I had the honor of serving with died in Iraq. No matter what we do as Americans, it will never be enough for the skill, honor and courage found in our troops.

    Arkin further states “But Iraq is not dirty work.” I doubt that Arkin has done clean up and recovery after a convoy ambush, much less clean up his own office. I challenge him to walk five minutes in the combat boots of a soldier or civilian trucker in Iraq. I doubt he would make it outside the wire.

    This piece of human debris is an embarrassment and a coward – a mere rectal parasite in a sewer rat’s flea. He is too ignorant to realize that if it were not for these heroes, he would be in the stockade or dead by now.

    In Iraq, I had the opportunity to put my life on the line for what I believe and what I write. I would do it again in a minute. A coward like Arkin hasn’t the courage or honor to do the same.

    Reference:
    http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/01/the_troops_also_need_to_suppor.html

    Mark R. Taylor is a former Bradley County, Arkansas, auxiliary deputy sheriff and volunteer firefighter. Currently a long-haul truck driver, he served in Iraq from January 2004 to May 2005 as a civilian convoy commander. He has appeared on The Captains America and other radio programs and his commentary has appeared in Landline Magazine, American Daily, Family Security Matters and Townhall.Com. The Taylors live in South Arkansas. Mark’s websites are http://www.greatmindsthinkright.com and http://www.americantruckersatwar.com

»
»

  • Advertise

  • Donate

  • Our Store

    • ACLU Bulldozer
    • Click the design to visit our store and help Stop the ACLU!

  • Syndicate Me