Mike Royko Who Died In 1997 Wrote A Great Column About War In Iraq

[kpete]

Be like Mike


Mike Royko, arguably the greatest American journalist of the 20th Century, died in 1997, but before he left this world, he wrote a great column about the war in Iraq:

If we insist on looking for something of value in this war, then maybe it is this:

Maybe we finally have the painful knowledge that we can never again believe everything our leaders tell us. For years they told us one thing while they did another. They said we were winning while we were losing. They said we were getting out while we were going in. They said the end was near when it was far.

Maybe the next time somebody says that our young men must fight and die somewhere we will not take their word that it is for a worthy cause. Maybe we will ask them to spell it out for us, nice and slow, nice and clear.

And maybe the people in power will have learned that the people of this country are no longer willing to go marching off without having their questions answered first...

If we haven't, then we are as empty and as cold as the intersection of Madison and State.

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/7/23/235853/864
http://www.attytood.com/archives/003573.html

[ixion]

1. I miss Royko... I read his columns for years

and met him once.

He's a credit to journalism, and an example of days gone by.

[Frustratedlady]

2. I also miss Royko

Royko and Donald Kaul from the Des Moines Register were my favorites. They could both zing their subjects with their one liners. I shouldn't put that in past tense, as Kaul is still alive and writing. Sorry, Don. RIP, Mike.

[CanSocDem]

4. Me too!!

One of the columns he wrote that made me laugh out loud was when he called California "...the world's largest outdoor mental asylum..." and Jerry Brown was "...a political moonbeam...".

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I assume that this was written during Viet Nam?