Please don’t take the obviously well-intentioned advice of George McGovern. Please!
In today’s Washington Post, the former Senator and the vanquished Democratic standard-bearer in 1972 wrote, “As you settle into the Oval Office, Mr. President, may I offer a suggestion? Please do not try to put Afghanistan right with the U.S. military. To send our troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan would be a near-perfect example of going from the frying pan into the fire. There is reason to believe some of our top military commanders privately share this view. And so does a broad and growing swath of your party and your supporters.”
Well, at least George McGovern’s consistent. Peace at any cost...on our knees, begging for mercy from merciless enemies, folks like McGovern would seem to prefer even the deafening quietude of slavery over war.
Of course he argues, “I don't oppose all wars. I risked my life in World War II to protect our country against genuine danger. But it is the vivid memory of my fellow airmen being shot out of the sky on all sides of me in a war that I believe we had to fight that makes me cautious about sending our youth into needless conflicts that weaken us at home and abroad, and may even weaken us in the eyes of God.”
But he misses the point.
The world has shrunk since his generation fought Hitler and Tojo and today Mujahadim in the mountains of Afghanistan plan, coordinate and train cells that are operating within our own borders.
In the end, Mr. McGovern asks, “How about a five-year time-out on war - unless, of course, there is a genuine threat to the nation?”
The correct response, from President Obama would be, “Thank you, no.”
In today’s Washington Post, the former Senator and the vanquished Democratic standard-bearer in 1972 wrote, “As you settle into the Oval Office, Mr. President, may I offer a suggestion? Please do not try to put Afghanistan right with the U.S. military. To send our troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan would be a near-perfect example of going from the frying pan into the fire. There is reason to believe some of our top military commanders privately share this view. And so does a broad and growing swath of your party and your supporters.”
Well, at least George McGovern’s consistent. Peace at any cost...on our knees, begging for mercy from merciless enemies, folks like McGovern would seem to prefer even the deafening quietude of slavery over war.
Of course he argues, “I don't oppose all wars. I risked my life in World War II to protect our country against genuine danger. But it is the vivid memory of my fellow airmen being shot out of the sky on all sides of me in a war that I believe we had to fight that makes me cautious about sending our youth into needless conflicts that weaken us at home and abroad, and may even weaken us in the eyes of God.”
But he misses the point.
The world has shrunk since his generation fought Hitler and Tojo and today Mujahadim in the mountains of Afghanistan plan, coordinate and train cells that are operating within our own borders.
In the end, Mr. McGovern asks, “How about a five-year time-out on war - unless, of course, there is a genuine threat to the nation?”
The correct response, from President Obama would be, “Thank you, no.”
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