I can ALMOST buy into this myself! Truly, the sentiment is there. The flaws are that Kerry didn't "volunteer for combat duty". He volunteered for a unit that was solely engaged in coastal patrol, and before he got there, their mission changed to riverine patrol. So the major difference between Bush's service and Kerry's service was pretty much "luck of the draw". Second, many of us dont really CARE whether or not he really "earned" his medals or not. We only question them because they ARE questionable, and KERRY and his co-travelers continually question Bush's service. I think it's about time they started talking more about Iraq and whether or not we should be there, what we need to do there and when (or if) we should ever leave. (If everything ever settles down, it would be nice to have basiung in that region) I for one don't think it's treasonous to question policy, or even try to change it. I think it IS treasonous to negotiate with the leaders of an enemy country that we are currently in armed conflict with to accomplish this. I think it IS treasonous to give aid and succor to the enemy, confessing to warcrimes that you never actually personally witnessed, giving them ammunition with which to torture our POW's. In response to the allegations that the events are reputed to have actually occurred with some regularity, I casn say I've heard the same thing, but also heard of a sapper attack in Cam Rahn Bay that targeted primarily doctors, nurses, and wounded, NONE of whom were armed. I've heard of mass killings of Hmong tribesmen who helped American troops. So to give a unilateral "confession" to the otherside, with no accountability for their own actions forthcoming is reprehesible. I think most of the veterans heartburn with Kerry is not for his service, but what he followed it with, and how he implemented what he followed it with.
Do I think that Halliburtons dealing in Iraq are shady? Hell yes!
Do I think that the $9 BILLION contract to Forbes Constrution to upgrade port facilities in Cam Rahn Bay, immediatly following the pressure Kerry applied to get the further investigation dropped into the whereabouts of out MIA's is at LEAST as shady? HELL YES!!! (Forbes is Kerry's cousin)
Do I think Bush has flip-flopped on some issues? hell yes!
Do I consider all of the actions John Kerry perpetrated after his return from Vietnam to be "a bit excessive"? That doesn't even begin to cover it!
Could we do better than Bush? yes.
KERRY aint it!
Overall, I think the word patriot has been WAY overused to describe BOTH of these guys, but this is what we got for choices, and I'll make mine based on the lesser of two evils, thak you very much.
Now you can all go back to calling me a "blind follwer of Bush" "Who'll support him regardless of WHAT he does" and a "neocon" or whatever other labels you want to apply to me to discredit my opinions. But next year, while some of you go to LVCS, Cigar Fest, and RTDA Las Vegas, I'll be back in the Persian Gulf, for the fifth time in 11 years, the second time since the beginning of this year. If Bush (or Kerry) sends me back again and again, I'll go. Why, because overall, whether you want to ignore the prevalent intelligence reports that were circulating prior to the war, whether you want to deride this administration or any other for a lack of "WMD", whether you believe the Warren Commish, er the 911 Commission or not, we are doing (finally) what needed to be done eleven years ago, when the terms of the cease-fire were first broken. If it's a tougher row to hoe than it would have been then, then it's because we waited until many of our "allies" started trading with the enemy under the table, and resented our upsetting their scam. Sometimes the easy way isn't the right way, sometimes you have to wage war to buy peace. The thinking of the Pollyanas who think that we ought to be able to sit down and discuss with cannibals what we're all having for dinner has not worked. It's time we recognized who the real enemies are, and BUSH NOR KERRY is them! The enemy this time is a radical religeous movement, that wants to kill you, your family, your friends and any other "infidel" who won't convert to their religeon.
Let's not worry about patriotism, lets worry about long-term survival!
