Pacific Views

Shameless Leaders

Joe Galloway was absolutely right in calling out Dick Cheney for his callous disregard for the American soldiers who toil wearily in his war of choice.

Vice President Cheney again stuck both feet in his mouth by saying and then repeating that we should remember that our military is composed entirely of volunteers; that our troops all volunteered for this duty, this burden, this sacrifice.

What's your point, Mr. Vice President? That because they volunteered to serve our country in uniform it’s okay to squander their lives in a war of choice, your choice and your president’s, and that it somehow matters less than if they'd been dragooned into service by press gangs or a draft like the one you dodged with five deferments during the Vietnam War because, you said, you had “better things to do”?

The 58,249 Americans who were killed in the war of your youth had better things to do than rest under their white marble, government-issue tombstones. I’m certain, too, that the 4,000 Americans who've died in the war that you and President Bush launched five years ago for no good reason and several that weren't true had better things to do than die under your command.

What's even more outrageous, is Cheney thinks that the person who carries the biggest burden is the mad-cap Bush who famously jokes that "those WMD must be somewhere".

"The president carries the biggest burden, obviously," Cheney said. "He's the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."

And what's Bush's attitude? He's all sad that he can't join the boys in their fun war. For someone who also decided to sit out the war of his generation, I suspect if it came to that, he'd find a reason to sit it out. Unless, that is, he had a chance to participate in a little harsh interrogation, obviously an activity that really turns him on.