Published: October 03, 2008 06:29 pm            

MAIL CALL: Obama and McCain have both failed me

Obama and McCain

have both failed me

I could not sleep after watching the (McCain-Obama) debate. I’m angry at them both.

It was Senator McCain using our allegedly “gung ho” military force in Iraq to make his point, recounting a reenlistment ceremony of 688 soldiers sounding as if our men and women over there are really backing this war. He knows or should that our “volunteer” army has to pay thousands of dollars in bonus money to get an enlistment, uses many thousands of national guard troops and forces many (if memory serves me, over 58,000) to stay in after their term has expired to be used again (involuntarily). He did not mention the bonuses for the reenlistment the probably 688 received. Our forces there closely resemble a mercenary “force,” especially if you count the Haliburton and Blackwater people. I could go on and on and on.

I was mad at Senator Obama for not calling him on it, or maybe he doesn’t know. Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL) began at best from bad judgement; at worst from lies. Iraqi occupation be honorable? We are ashamed of our dead. Abraham Lincoln’s “get away” from the White House was adjacent a military cemetery that was busy. How can either of them use a war fatality to say by implication ... you died for it ... you must have been for it.

Our government is managing the information the people get, and, let’s not discuss the near million Iraqi casualties. It was worth them all, we’re democratized now, they will say. You can’t talk to the “mountain yards” of Vietnam that were so vital to our special operations forces there, because after telling them we would not abandon them, we left and they were killed. Regardless of when we leave; the same will be true in Iraq. Talk about blood feuds.

Vietnam and Iraq are examples of why our Constitution designates that the U.S. Congress (the people) vote a declaration of war and sends it to the president. The president has ample authority to act in an emergency. When we declare war (any kind of war), it is the people doing it and we become as one engaged 100 percent till victory is ours. “Live free or die” is the Army Special Forces mission. The Bible says “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

The president has a dual role: Commander in Chief of the military and Chief Executive ... two roles, it could be said that he said that he is the leader of both the military and industrial complex. As CIC he can then turn to the relevant cabinet member(s) and the Joint Chiefs to be prepared for and prosecute war(s). They do this 24/7/365 ad infinitum whether we wage them or not, at great cost.

I am ashamed of us. Osama is chuckling, but he will find he has bitten into something he can’t chew up. Pray.

Allan Coker

Former U.S. Army Sp. Forces

Eustace

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.