On Chickenhawks

When Kathleen M. Sheridan expressed her agreement with Ron Paul on the war and chickenhawk question, neocon talk show host Avi Nelson wrote her to say, "I'm curious, Kathleen, did you go?"

She replied:

No, Avi*. I did not. My Irish immigrant grandfather returned to "the continent" shortly after arriving in America to fight in WWI**, sustaining injuries from which he never fully recovered, dying in his early 50's in the Bronx VA hospital. Later that same year, my mother's brother who had just turned 20 in November was killed at the Battle of the Bulge in WWII. These two catastrophic losses in one year left my grandmother distraught beyond description--losses from which she never fully recovered. This left my 18 year old mother who'd quit high school to help support her family after her father died to support herself, my grandmother and my mother's 12 year brother. The man my mother married--my father--served in the Pacific during WWII, along with his three brothers. Amazingly, all four returned, but my father with an injury sustained on board ship that plagued him his whole life. The "government" recalled him for Korea--and he went. I watched the Viet Nam war "lottery" to which my two older brothers were subject. My mother stated flatly--"I don't care what your number is--you're not going." Thankfully, both had numbers way too high for them to be called into "service". And I am married to a Viet Nam vet...And now we know, of course, the event that precipitated our entrance into full-blown war in Viet Nam--the Gulf of Tonkin "incident"--never happened.

People in "high" places in the government and military lied then and continue doing so today. Between Viet Nam and our multiple ongoing wars on "terrorism", we had our "little" invasions--you know, like Grenada. And now we have Afghanistan--illegal and ongoing for ten years now for what, exactly? Based on what, exactly? To get bin Laden? The F.B.I. said they had no hard evidence against bin Laden for 9/11. That was the reason, right? And Iraq? Illegal and based on lies--flat-out ones. And now the "boys" are waving their little you-know-what's (and I don't mean swords) over Iran. Why, exactly? We couldn't manage Iran if they decided to do something stupid? Hmmm, maybe not, given the catastrophic failure of the military on 9/11...Anyway, we've finished up with Libya, too, destroying a country that did what to us, exactly? And we've got troops in Uganda now, I believe, for what, exactly?

Oh, but I'm digressing, Avi. Did I answer your question?

Yes, I believe I did.

Exactly.

* Avi Nelson is a radio talk show host for WRKO, Boston
** Recommend F. William Engdahl's A Century of War for the real reason we went to war against Germany--and it wasn't to make the world "safe for democracy".