Sumner Rosen, retired from Columbia and a friend through the University Seminar on Human Rights sent along the following. Ed Kent
More on our discussion:
In Word War II I was wounded twice, earning a purple heart with "oak leaf cluster" as well as a bronze star for bravery. It's impossible to overstate my anger at the effort to denigrate John Kerry's purple hearts at the Republican convention, especially when it was planned and orchestrated on behalf of unelected national leaders who evaded their military responsibilities in the Vietnam War. This episode insults every man and women who served in the military whether or not they were in combat; every soldier, sailor, marine or air force member assumes the risk of death or injury in the performance of their duties.
Military leaders who win political office know this because they bring with them first-hand experience with the face and "fog" of war. If they have achieved command levels - as Eisenhower did - they know how the military mind works, how the appetite for ever newer, more destructive and more costly instruments of destruction grows, and how difficult it is to slow or stop the momentum of the military-industrial complex. Their experience gives them both insight into this process and standing to subject it to critical analysis. Because the MIC has systematically built a base of support in many states and communities, it can turn for support to the Senators and Congressmen who represent these areas. And it's especially hard to make the case when times are hard and jobs are scarce, i.e. when those in power have failed to manage economic policy effectively.
I'm one of many who find it a scandal and outrage that unelected leaders who evaded their military responsibility were so cavalier in their rush to war in Iraq, without a shred of credible rationale. Their expressions of grief and empathy with the families of those killed or wounded are sheer hypocrisy. Their suppression of the pictures of body bags and coffins adds insult to injury; the message to the families of these victims is that the killed and wounded cannot be acknowledged because to do so might strengthen the ranks of those opposed to this war of occupation and exploitation. Their failure to plan for the post-military period in Iraq has imposed hardship on families and communities where members of the reserve live and work. And the prospect of perpetual "war" on terrorism puts in jeopardy not only our constitutional protections but our ability as a nation to address a wide range of economic and social challenges that only government can deal with; a military budget that grows without limit penalizes and downgrades every domestic need, however important.
Indeed a cynic could argue credibly that in addition to the drive to control scarce oil reserves the principal rationale for this war is, as some conservatives advocate, to erode, marginalize and ultimately discredit the concept of a protective and active government that achieved fruition, after decades of struggle, in the New Deal.
New York played a central role in the development of the New Deal (Mike Wallace's "New New Deal" book provides eloquent evidence). The social democratic politics of New York after World War II empowered, educated, cared for and housed the city's working class, a historic achievement (Joshua Freeman's "Working Class New York" documents it). The fiscal crisis of the 1970s marked the beginning of the process that has systematically eroded the foundations of this era. And because New York was the site of the 9/11 tragedy it again assumes center stage in the struggle now under way to determine the future of the nation.
smr
Sumner M. Rosen -- "A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy) -- Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
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