Purple Heartbreakers-Former Reagan Navy Sec. Webb Slams Repubs

[kpete]

Purple Heartbreakers


By JAMES WEBB
Published: January 18, 2006
Arlington, Va.

IT should come as no surprise that an arch-conservative Web site is questioning whether Representative John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has been critical of the war in Iraq, deserved the combat awards he received in Vietnam.

After all, in recent years extremist Republican operatives have inverted a longstanding principle: that our combat veterans be accorded a place of honor in political circles. This trend began with the ugly insinuations leveled at Senator John McCain during the 2000 Republican primaries and continued with the slurs against Senators Max Cleland and John Kerry, and now Mr. Murtha.

Military people past and present have good reason to wonder if the current administration truly values their service beyond its immediate effect on its battlefield of choice. The casting of suspicion and doubt about the actions of veterans who have run against President Bush or opposed his policies has been a constant theme of his career. This pattern of denigrating the service of those with whom they disagree risks cheapening the public's appreciation of what it means to serve, and in the long term may hurt the Republicans themselves.

..........

The political tactic of playing up the soldiers on the battlefield while tearing down the reputations of veterans who oppose them could eventually cost the Republicans dearly. It may be one reason that a preponderance of the Iraq war veterans who thus far have decided to run for office are doing so as Democrats.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/18/opinion/18webb.html?ex=1295240400&en=f3e1d4cd5b25ed71&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[Itchinjim]

1. K and R

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. Ohh, boy... Webby's next

mark my words.

[MADem]

5. They'll have a tough time of it

That bastard is connected. And he actually knows how to land an aircraft on a carrier....he used to do his reserve time, while he was SECNAV, doing carrier quals.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. I know. He was the only bright spot in the

Regan admin.

[MADem]

12. Not entirely a bright spot, though--he was absolutely neanderthal where

females were concerned, and it caused a lot of angst within DON. I got the sense that he was targeting them, almost putting the blame on them, and they didn't take too kindly to it, but were not in a position to do much about it.

But hey, everything is relative--he may have benefitted from the wisdom that comes with age. Especially when females like Rhonda Cornum demonstrated so ably what courage is all about...

[Jack from Charlotte]

10. Webb slamed the AWOL/Moron during the election. Might have even ...

supported Kerry. I've got an article around somewhere in which he just destroys the Moron Administration for their military incompetence.

[dogday]

3. Tell it like it is

Anyone standing up to this administration gets trashed by this administration. I hope it will backfire on them, especially with Murtha...

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. Maybe it's time for all purple heart recepients to stand together

against this chickenhawk administration? It would be a battle worth fighting.

[MADem]

4. This is VERY, VERY SIGNIFICANT

Webb has a reputation as being somewhere politically to the right of Attila the Hun. He was a strong opponent of women doing any sort of meaningful work in the Services, to the point where he was booed at a gathering of female military officers--even the senior ones, who got where they were by putting up with a load of shit, had had enough.

And his stark, spelling out of GOP triangulation policy will have to resonate: Not unlike the Clinton "triangulation" strategy, the approach has been to attack an opponent's greatest perceived strength in order to diminish his overall credibility. To no one's surprise, surrogates carry out the attacks, leaving President Bush and other Republican leaders to benefit from the results while publicly distancing themselves from the actual remarks.

This is gonna cause a SHITLOAD of heartburn. But hey, Webb OWES Murtha. Murtha was always there for the Department of the Navy, even when others were eager to slash their manpower allocations and their shipbuilding funding, and it is high time some former Secretaries, even one as pompous as Webb, stepped up to the plate on Murtha's behalf.

[Straight Shooter]

7. "Support the troops who support bush." That's the real Repub motto.

The rest of them can go Cheney themselves.

If more of these military men would just show some political courage and come out and say what's on their mind, the rove machine could not smear them all. The only reason it's worked so far is because of the intimidation process, that people have seen what happened to McCain and Kerry and don't want to be smeared like that.

Murtha is a different story. He has major clout and apparently friends in high places. A lot of people will shrug off the politics of personal destruction when it's happening to someone they don't care about, but when it happens to a friend or respected professional, they become involved and stand up for the truth.

I still cannot fathom how the military allowed the purple heart bandages to go unrebuked.

[Chef]

8. Veterans

As a veteran of Viet Nam I can hardly contain my anger and amazement at this vile tactic of the bush government and its minions. How any veteran's organization can ever entertain any one of these scumbags speaking before them is beyond human understanding. How any veteran can ever support any one of these criminal chicken hawks makes my head explode. A besmirchment of anyone who served (who just went, alone get a purple heart!) should relegate these bums to the ashcan of history. Webb is right. I can only hope that someday other vets will wise up to this insult and prove to me that there is a just God in heaven.

[Number9Dream]

18. Don't remember the VFW or Legion ever criticizing the chickenhawks

First, ditto with what Chef said!
Second, I don't remember the VFW or Legion ever criticizing this chickenhawk administration for any and all of the rotten shit they've pulled on us vets. If they won't speak out on veterans issues, what good are they?

[Jack from Charlotte]

9. The reply to this Republican attack on war heros decprations is....

simple, IMO. My Father-in-law who, I love like a father, is a 3 war retired AF Col. with a Silver Star from Nam. And a right wing Rush Limbaugh lover though he knows not to say anything political around me. And I don't say anything political around him. He made a crack about Kerry's Silver Star and Purple Heart at dinner once. I replied to him.... Col. did you award your Silver Star to yourself? He said no, of course not and told me of the process. Someone puts you in for a decoration. Someone else higher up reviews the nomination and someone approves and awards. So I said..... how can you possibly villify someone for their medals..... they did not AWARD TO THEMSELVES?

Admiral Zumwalt signed the award or whatever it's called for Sen. Kerry. As, I told my Father-in-law... if you have a bitch about Kerry's award, why aren't you bitching about (The late) Admiral Zumwalt? He's reponsible, not Kerry.

And BTW, I have the description of the action that got Kerry his purple heart. It was much more impressive than the action my father-in-law's was. In comparison.... Kerry should have gotten the Medal of Honor.

[Bandit]

13. Kerry has three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star & Bronze Star w/V

He was a real honest to goodness War Hero and yet these scum were allowed to belittle his contribution to America. Truly they are the scum of the Earth.

[raysr]

27. Kerry has had a LONG time

to sink O'Neill, how come he hasn't? I don't get it. Maybe I'm just a vengeful fuck, but if I had Kerry's means and connections there would've been no such thing as "Swift Boaters" much less O'Nell.

[karynnj]

16. In some of the news reports, it was said that Zumwalt has said that there

was cause to award Kerry the medal of honor - but that would have taken linger as it needed to approved (I think by Congress) and he wanted to lift morale which was very low and he was able to approve himself the silver star.

The Rood (the conservative Chicago Tribune editor who was one of the other two skippers) description showed Kerry was both very courageous and that the action was something he had come up with to have a chance of surviving ambushes of much greater force. That he had talked to both some of his crew and his peers - asking their opinion and what they thought of it - shows someone seriously using his intelligence to protect his men and the others on the mission.

What is funny is that everyone concedes McCain is a hero - but it's for being a POW. In the classic sense of the word, Kerry far more easily fits the word.

[connecticut yankee]

14. Yes, but

will the message get through to the "average" voter who has voted Repub in the last two elections?

Or will the right-wing slander machine destroy it first?

[tblue37]

15. They are also questioning Murtha's bronze star,

as well as his "V" for valor.

[ClintonTyree]

17. Great article......

and unfortunately, all too true. These chickenhawks, these "men" that denigrate and belittle the MEN who actually HAVE gone to war for this country should be put in front of a firing squad. They don't deserve the freedom that MEN like McCain, Kerry, Cleland and Murtha preserved for their chickenhawk asses.

bush ran from serving his country, but all we ever hear about from the Corporate Media is the chicken-shit slime that attack REAL MEN that DIDN'T run from service. As Webb stated, there has been a pattern of this type of smear following bush throughout his entire political "career". What an odd coincidence, don't you think? :grr:

[Number9Dream]

19. Help find link for Cleland smear by Coulter?

Can anyone provide me with a link to Coulter's slimey attack on Max Cleland's war injuries? I'd like to keep it handy.

[blue neen]

20. Here's a link describing it:

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=42941

Try googling Ann Coulter/Max Cleland.

Thanks for your service to our country. :patriot:

[rasputin1952]

21. This goes back a long ways, but when Bob Kerrey was

contemplating running in the 2000 race, he was assailed by the Chickenhawks as being somewhat less that heroic...in fact, they tried to brand him a LW nut and a coward.

Bob Kerrey, for those who don't recall was awarded the Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam as a Navy SEAL. He lost his leg in the in the action he was recommended for a Senator from Nebraska.

These people, who have never served, or have served as cooks or mechanics, not seeing combat, nor knowing the horrors of war from the fighting man's perspective, are not worthy to be scraped off of the shoes of those who have served this nation through peace and war.

But of course, it was fine for bush to just walk away from his obligation in the TXANG...if the cretin had any sense of dignity, he would have at least finished his tour...and if he had the testosterone he thinks he has, he would have signed up and gone to fight for the "freedom" he is willing to send others to die for.

Just like all of the young R's that think this war is good, and somehow never tell recruiters that, (kind of hard to do when you avoid a recruiter as if he/she had the plague); these Chickenhawks have nothing to proud of, and yet seem to have no sense of shame. It sickens me to no end.

[TahitiNut]

25. A lot of "cooks or mechanics" died in Viet Nam.

While I fully understand the impulse, please do not malign the different roles of servicemen in war zones. I may jokingly refer to myself as a REMF, but it's my own facetious misuse of the term which was flung at Pentagon cocktail circuit cowboys, not guys honorably doing their part in a war zone.

[rasputin1952]

28. I agree w/you...everyone who wears a uniform is of equal importance

in my eyes. My use of "Cooks and mechanics" was a refelx action that I have become accustomed to, if for the only reason being...that there are many of them in the VFW Post I was a member of. The reason behind this was somewhat simple...Combat Arms, especially the Infantry, were hewn down in battle far more often than other MOS's.

Let it be known though, that I hold Servicemembers in the highest regard, they are my brothers and sisters in arms. Just about the only person in the service that I would hold a grudge against is the SOB Mess Sgt that for some reason, known but to the Almighty, thought I should be fed that gastonomic delight known as Chili Mac, virtually every time I came back from either a patrol, or an ambush. Jeez...I hated that guy!

[Voltaire99]

22. If you volunteered for Vietnam and haven't repudiated it...

...as the hawk Murtha hasn't done, then too bad.

I'm glad Murtha has come to his senses of late--very late in life, actually--but his lifelong devotion to imperialism makes me care not one whit about web sites attacking the validity of his "service" awards.

The dispute over which mass murderers get stars upon thars is a stupid distraction; Democrats can surely find better fights to fight.

[TahitiNut]

26. It's not the people who served who sent this country to war.

That's the responsibility of the Congress ... and We The People who elect them. The buck stops at our feet, not the feet of those who serve so others don't have to or so they can hopefully escape the trap of the impoverishment in which our society enmeshes those born there.

[FreedomAngel82]

23. Nice article

and I hope who reads it makes them think about when Bush hides behind the military. And they probably don't know he's cutting them too. :(

[upi402]

24. * exploits service members, doesn't honor them in real terms

They are Machiavellian. They exploit religion, troops, and hate our freedom.