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Originally Posted by irateplatypus
that was weak shakran.
this letter could have been written just as sincerely from any number of veterans... yet you attack the messenger and use it to rationalize discounting the entire letter. north's iran contra ordeal does nothing to assuage the pain of the POW experience of the soldiers cited in the letter.
i know you can do a better job of rebutting than that.
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Well first off, I don't really put much stock in it when a liar and a crook calls someone a liar. But if you want better than that, here goes:
Kerry went off and did what he was told to do - he fought in Viet Nam, even though he didn't believe in the war. He's not alone there - my dad was drafted and did the exact same thing even though he KNEW it was not our fight and it was not our business to be there. But his country told him to go fight and fight he did.
Kerry then came back and spoke up about what he felt - that we shouldn't be there. He also said that some soldiers (he did NOT say all of them, he's not that big of a moron) committed war crimes. I fail to see what is wrong with what Kerry did. He served his country, then came back and said that his country made him serve in an immoral action. i.e. he stood up for his principles.
Yet the republicans want to make it out like Kerry's some godawful traitor for daring to speak out against the actions of our country - not that this should surprise us since they are now trying to tell us that anyone who speaks out against the war in Iraq is "unpatriotic" at best.
Let's be totally up front about what is happening here. The republicans are telling us that we have the first amendment right to freedom of speech unless we disagree with them, in which case we are tratorious troublemakers.
They are also attempting to tell us that disagreeing with and/or criticizing our Commander in Chief is unpatriotic (didn't seem to stop them when Clinton was in office, but I guess that's different. Right?)
And the worst part is, many of us are buying that line of bullshit. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to that have said things like "I wish we weren't at war but we have to support the president."
Folks, NO, you do NOT have to support the president. If the president is doing something that you think is wrong, you not only have the right, but the moral responsibility to speak up about it. Our country was founded on the principle that if the leadership is screwing up, we should speak out against that leadership and get it changed. That's what Kerry did 3 decades ago.
The republicans want you to forget all about that principle, however. They want you to believe that we should support our leadership no matter what. This is very convenient considering there is a republican in the white house right now. I'll be VERY interested to see if they hold themselves to that requirement when a democrat is again president.