Dan Rather to Pundits Calling for War: Send Your Own Kids or ‘Don’t Even Talk to Me’

[babylonsister]

Dan Rather to Pundits Calling for War: Send Your Own Kids or ‘Don’t Even Talk to Me’
by Evan McMurry | 12:24 pm, August 24th, 2014


Veteran journalist Dan Rather told Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter that the scores of pundits calling for action in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere were reminiscent of the buildup to the 2003 Iraq War, which Rather called a blunder of “historic proportions,” and that hawks needed to be prepared to send their own kids to battle before they so cavalierly recommend it for others.

Quoth Rather:

“All of these people on television, some of whom I have enormous respect for, it unsettles me to hear them say, listen, we the United States have to ‘do something’ in Ukraine, we have to ‘do something’ in Syria, we have to ‘do something’ in the waters around China, we have to ‘do something’ in Iraq, we have to ‘do something’ about ISIS. What they’re talking about are combat operations.

“My first question to anyone who’s on television saying ‘We have to get tough, we have to put boots on the ground, we have to go to war in one of these places’ is: I will hear you out if you tell me you are prepared to send your son, your daughter, your grandson, your granddaughter to that war for which you are beating the drums. If you aren’t I have no patience with you, and don’t even talk to me.”

Rather also called upon the press corps to more forcefully prosecute the case against military action as expiation for the Beltway media’s complicity in the last Iraq War:

“Those of us in journalism, and I include myself in this, we have a lot to answer for about what we did do and what we didn’t do in the run up to the war in Iraq. We didn’t ask the right questions, we didn’t ask enough questions, we didn’t ask the followup questions. We did not challenge power. I am concerned that once again as the war drums begin to beat and get louder and louder that there will be a herd mentality of saying, ‘Well, we have to go to war in Syria, we have to go to war in Ukraine.’ I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that we need to be thinking very very carefully and seriously about this, and journalists have a special responsibility to at least ask the right questions.”

Watch the clip, at link, via CNN:

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/dan-rather-to-pundits-calling-for-war-send-your-own-kids-or-dont-even-talk-to-me/

[daleanime]

1. K&R....

[BaggersRDumb]

2. AGREED I say this all the time, when you institute the draft and you require Prez family,

senate and house family to be first on the list, shit will change in a hurry

[LeftyMom]

30. I don't see what the homophobia adds to your argument.

[rurallib]

22. I would take it down to county and city officials

and even judges

[markmyword]

39. Don't Count on It!

Don't count on the politicians kids going. Remember George Bush, he got in the Texas National Guard and couldn't even fullfill that training. He was guaranteed NOT to go overseas to fight and STILL went AWOL!

What about Dick Cheney and his FIVE, DEFERMENTS?????

This guy had no business telling us to go to war, when he had a chance to serve his country,he chose to skip out, not once BUT five times!!!

Now he and the other Republicans are at it again.

These kids, sons, daughters, brothers, nephews, nieces NEVER. EVER see a WAR ZONE, EVER!!!!!!!
War is for everyone else, but their kin.

We should have a Cabinet post for Peace and pour money into that and REDUCE funding for the Defense Department or better yet ELIMINATE Defense altogether and let the U.N. Police the world.

[BaggersRDumb]

40. WE would have to strengthen deferments making it ONLY possible on medical reasons

It will never happen, so we will send young poor kids to die for rich assholes

[BuelahWitch]

52. I predict the amount of rich, young assholes with holes in their feet will increase dramatically

Will make it damn hard for them to wear their 5 inch designer heels...

[Hoppy]

48. WhatdahelzamaterU? Dick Cheney had more imporrtant things to do than respond to a draft notice.

[tblue37]

53. Yep--He actually said publicly, "I had other priorities."

Meanwhile, Romney's 5 healthy young sons "served" their country by working on Romney's political campaigns.

Blech!

[aggiesal]

54. During the run up to the war in 2003 ...

whenever a friend would advocate for the war,
I'd carry an army recruiting application with me, and I
would pull it out and say, "Here you go, sign up"

They always came up with an excuse.

Amazing.

BTW, the application was online. Just print one out.

[Perseus]

63. Fantastic idea...

I will do that...what a way to shut them up...

[JaydenD]

3. I seem to recall all the heavyweights, including Rather, wearing pins and standing with the Presiden

when Bush Jr. declared war on Iraq. Dissenting voices were scarce, military personnell were invited on shows by overwhelming factors compared to people who opposed the war.

Am I forgetting things or is Rather? Truly, no one, not one big shot yapper, stood up like Phil Donahue did against that messed up murder mission, and Donahue lost his job for doing that.

Does Rather suddenly have that affliction that Hillary seemed to when she thought she could lie about Bosnia, and not figure there is recorded tapes and transcipts with the truth.

Amiwrong?

[Jackpine Radical]

6. He's not giving himself a pass.

"Those of us in journalism, and I include myself in this, we have a lot to answer for about what we did do and what we didn’t do in the run up to the war in Iraq."

[babylonsister]

8. Reading is FUNdamental. nt

[kentauros]

58. It's also "fundaMENTAL"

in that you have to use your brain to comprehend what you read

Thanks for the thread, by the way

[pipoman]

4. Why isn't there a humanitarian/public works corps...

I know, the peace corps....it has become an elite force, there are many young people who would put their back into humanitarian projects for room and board plus free schooling like the GI bill...seems a much better psychological outcome than sending them to war.

[JDPriestly]

12. Good question.

[BrotherIvan]

18. But then how will the MIC make scads of cash?

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

47. Precisely! You know, if they weren't so enthralled with war and imperialism,

it seems they could come up with a way to make scads of cash on building rather than destroying.

But where's the fun in that?

[AlbertCat]

25. Why not require EVERY CITIZEN

to do some civil service... a year or two.

It doesn't have to be the armed forces or anything like that for everyone (not everyone is cut out for that) it could be community stuff. Or even licking stamps at the City Hall.

I don't find this notion unreasonable. And maybe more people would feel like they participated in America.

[VA_Jill]

50. I have said this for years

and people just shake their heads and say "it's Communism." I don't see anything communistic about it at all. Young people could have their choice of several branches…..military, Peace Corps, police or fire cadets, conservation corps, VISTA, etc…..but it should be for 2 years, not just one, and serious MEDICAL conditions should be the only deferments. No Mitt Romney missions! Universal national service, and everybody does it.

[LittleGirl]

62. I think mandatory voting

would serve everyone better instead.

[Dems to Win]

5. Kick!

[spanone]

7. k&r... thank you mr rather

[CJCRANE]

9. Just Say No

to Warfare Addicts.

[flamingdem]

11. Better late than never

Dan

[Iliyah]

13. K & R

This interview won't hit the light of day. Corporate media too busy beating war drums and telling Americans that ISIS is coming.

[MissDeeds]

14. Thank you, Dan

Spot on. The warmongers are alway in full attack mode when it's someone else, or someone else's kid, who has to fight their wars. Damn them all to hell.

[cantbeserious]

15. On Point

eom

[flt rsk]

16. At least he tried.

Unlike the majority of the people calling for action, Rather has, at least, seen war. He reported from Viet Nam. I recall a video where the troops were loading onto a chopper. Some shots were heard and Rather ran to the chopper dove head first into the bay. He seemed to be going fast enough that he would have shot out the other side if it had been empty. Rather joined the Marine Corps in 1954 but washed out due to a childhood bout of rheumatic fever. At least he tried.

[calimary]

72. Welcome to DU, flt rsk!

Glad you're here! Good little tidbit you pointed out, too, about Dan Rather. He joined the Marines. Offered to put his own ass in harm's way. Let's see bill kristol and dick cheney and the rest of their miserable little fellow neocon members of the "YOU FIRST Club" do that. If I were in charge, I'd make it mandatory. You start mouthing off about how we HAVE TO go to war, war, war, war, war, on TV, cable, radio, blogs, video, personal appearances, interviews, speeches, on the floor of the Senate or in the House, or whatever, and you are thereby REQUIRED to enlist, and go see real live combat for yourself, Up Close 'n' Personal. And you wouldn't be allowed to advocate for war unless you personally had done active duty in one. Our current Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, is GOP. But he's still walking around with shrapnel in his body from his tour of duty in Vietnam, so him I can respect.

[indepat]

17. Dan is spot-on when he calls the 2003 Iraq war a blunder of historic proportions and when he says

the chicken-shit chicken-hawks who beat the war drums should be prepared to send their progeny to a war for which they beat the drums. Sadly Dan's statements will no be well-received by TPTB.

[Dustlawyer]

26. TPTB consider Rather mostly toothless now and are not worried. They can count on the majority of

Americans will never see or hear these words. Even hit with this truth the people choose to view it as BS because they have gotten used to war without the apparent sacrifice. They all pretend America is #1, but they don't want to do the things necessary to be #1. Things like a great public and secondary education system!
They have been trained to accept the USA as the "world's policeman" but not to connect budget deficits and higher taxes with these wars and huge military with virtually no spending oversight for anything related to the MIC.
The MSM have Americans by the cojones!

[indepat]

36. Amurika is number 1 in sacrificing the general welfare of rank and file Americans to ginormous

MIC and health-care for profit apparatuses with ginormous appetites, promoting an enormously mal-distribution of income and wealth, and otherwise allowing large corporations and a growing plutocracy to slop mightily at the public trough, all courtesy of a virulently rabid right-wing public policy which is flourishing to the extreme detriment of society.

[GoneFishin]

19. Awesome job Dan. My respect for Dan just shot throught the roof. nt

[calimary]

20. INDEED. THEIRS FIRST! I'd go even farther. THEM FIRST.

Sign up, suit up, and ship out. That means YOU bill kristol. That means YOU george will. That means YOU lindsey graham. That means YOU charles krauthammer. That means YOU dick cheney. That means YOU john mccain. If you're not too old to saber-rattle that vigorously all the time, then you're not too old to go suit up and put your money and your ass where your mouth is. YOU FIRST. AND your kids. THEM FIRST, too.

And somebody wake fuck turd up (I mean - chuck todd) too. Whether that lazy entitled piece of shit believes it or not, "journalists have a special responsibility." He should listen. Dan Rather could still wipe the floor with that little weasel, even at his advanced age. Dan Rather WAS wiping the floor with the likes of chuck todd before chuck todd was even born.

[sheshe2]

51. +1!

[AlbertCat]

21. If we're at war somewhere.... or just fighting somewhere...

... there should be a draft and rationing and a 95% tax rate. (If not... then none of those things are necessary)

We need to stop pretending we're not fighting when we are.

Of course if these things were law, we might not rush in to every situation so fast.

[Ishoutandscream2]

24. That's exactly what I tell my extreme right wing friends

You can't fight war on the cheap if you want to be successful. Are you ready for your taxes to go up? And "so and so", are you willing to let your son go and fight in these wars?

And I say this having a fourteen year old son myself.

[JaydenD]

28. I would like to see Chelsea camo up the next time Mom suggests a war.

[ChazInAz]

41. Another suggestion.

Fund the damned war with war bonds, in denominations starting at $1000.00. Too high for we, the plebes, so Lord Plutocrat will have to cough up or shut up.

[kairos12]

23. Great thought. Never will happen. Cannon fodder is for the 99%.

I speak as true fodder--Airborne Ranger Infantry Officer.

[grahamhgreen]

55. Any of your buddies think it's a good idea to escalate in Iraq?

[kairos12]

60. No one I know.

I run into Teabagger Patriots who want to bomb everything. They, like their hero Cheney, have no interest in serving.

[Politicalboi]

27. I agree Dan but

Why didn't you say this oh 50 years ago? You were right there seeing the action yourself.

[Paladin]

29. K&R.

[Doc_Technical]

31. Thanks for speaking out, Dan.

The thing is,
you're 24 years too late.

[samsingh]

32. i agree with Dan

[WinkyDink]

33. Send THEMSELVES, I say!

[grahamhgreen]

56. That too:)

[Nye Bevan]

34. If Sasha and Malia Obama were a little older, would everyone here be arguing that they should enlist

in the armed services, based upon the military actions that their father has ordered?

[NaturalHigh]

45. Well, that depends on whether they thought Dad should send other kids to war.

[LloydS of New London]

35. Starts at 4:16

[mike dub]

37. I actually saw Dan Rather saying this on CNN cable this morning

And thought --- Yes!---exactly what I've been thinking these last 12 years! Well-said by Mr. Rather
Late is better than never

[99Forever]

38. Exactly n/t

[Enthusiast]

42. Kicked and recommended!

Yay, Dan Rather!

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

43. We the people on the streets, on the run up to the war

were asking those questions but they were falling on deaf ears.

[NaturalHigh]

44. Great idea.

Since there is no way I am letting the war machine have my kids, I vote no for war.

That said, I'm a veteran, and proudly so. I have great respect for those wearing the uniform, which is why I don't want to see them thrown into another meat grinder.

[Purveyor]

46. Hear, hear...indeed!

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

49. Masters of War.

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned
But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
’Til I’m sure that you’re dead

Read more: http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/masters-war#ixzz3BMmzyBoA

[nikto]

57. Americans pray together...

[Hotler]

59. A draft and a war tax. n/t

[wordpix]

64. Agree the 1% want their wars without paying either way so the poor/middle class will shoulder all

Totally agree with you

[oberliner]

61. 18-19 year olds get to make their own decisions

Parents no longer have the right to "send" them anywhere.

[jen63]

73. Yep.

My son decided he wanted an appointment to the Naval Academy and got one. I happen to think he's more the Peace Corps type, but all I can do is support his decision. He's third class this year, so I'll have about three more years of relative peace where he's concerned before I start freaking out.

[BlueMTexpat]

65. Absolutely. Spot. On. nt

[jwirr]

66. That is the Dan I remember. Good for him.

[denverbill]

67. Hell, I'd be satisfied with this. 'Pay for the war or don't talk to me'.

Not one of these motherfuckers would be willing to start a war if it meant they actually had to sacrifice anything for it.

[1Greensix]

68. Kill your own first

To conservative pundits: When YOUR children have Died fighting in one of your constantly demanded wars, then you have a right to ask for my children to fight your wars, and Not Before. But, I want to see YOUR children dragged behind a pickup truck, Your children's bodies burned beyond recognition, Your child's body laying disfigured and blown apart limb from limb. Then you can ask and NOT until then.

[Boomerproud]

69. We at DU have been saying this for years.

I want ONE "journalist" to say this to McCain or Graham. Oops...times up-never gonna happen. Guess what guys-you aren't listening to me and I'm not listening to you either.

[99th_Monkey]

70. Rather is a gem. Bless him. ~nt

[onecent]

71. I ALSO LOVE HIM. 60 minutes has never been the same.

[Rex]

74. Dan Rather is owed a huge apology that will never come.

[stevenleser]

75. If it's an air campaign only, that doesn't make much sense.

It's pretty difficult to get accepted to any combat flying spot in the armed forces. It takes years of training, etc.

I get where he is coming from, and it would make sense for a proposed ground war.

[SummerSnow]

76. You tell them Dan Rather.

kiss Dan Rather's ass you warmongers