You remarked in your column that John McCain demonstrated courage for enduring a prison camp.
Endurance and survival are of biological programming, and we can no more will ourselves to die, or survive, than can a tree in hurricane winds. There is no courage or bravery or "character" involved.
This man also, by his own admission in his book, broke the Military Code in respect to providing information to the enemy. He cooperated in televised propaganda, and he received separate and better treatment than the other prisoners by virtue of being an important person's son.
As the unfortunate Arizona constituent of Sen. McCain, I have watched in appalled amazement for years as such glorious though misplaced praise is heaped upon him.
K. Landry
Tempe, Ariz.
What an interesting point you make about "biological programming" and human survival. Nevertheless, John McCain did endure terrible suffering and permanent disability in the service of his country. Though we should show due respect for that sacrifice, I certainly do not believe that McCain's traumatic experiences as a prisoner have any bearing whatsoever on his suitability to be president.
On the contrary, from what little I know of him via television, McCain strikes me as a glib, irascible hot dog temperamentally unfitted for the Oval Office. The camera is McCain's enemy: The closer it comes, the more ghoulish he looks. There's way too much subtext boiling there. And McCain's weirdly retro Stepford wife is no asset. I'll take the stylish, feisty, bare-knuckles Michelle Obama for first lady any day.
I could not help noticing that in spite of your complaining about Bush and Cheney you offered no alternative "plan" for Iraq. So I assume you simply want to pack up tomorrow and leave. Is not hindsight such a 20-20 proposition? Life is not as simple as the liberals would like it to be. This is a table you just can't decide like Vietnam to walk away from. Ever read about Fort Dix a day or so back? Do you think if we bailed out, these Islamo-fascists would suddenly give you a pass on being an infidel? Think about it. If that's possible.
Lt. Col. Patrick Turner
U.S. Army
Camp Liberty, Iraq
Thank you very much for your question. Yes, alas, I do simply want to pack up and leave Iraq tomorrow -- though logistically the withdrawal of troops and equipment would take a year or more. In my case, there is no "hindsight": I repeatedly and publicly denounced the Iraq incursion before it occurred, and I believe that events have proved me right.
We have not defeated the "Islamo-fascists" in Iraq; we have simply created more of them around the world by radicalizing an entire generation of young Muslims. There is no finite number of terrorists whom we can neutralize through conventional warfare or a humiliating occupation. Neither do I believe that a genuinely stable democracy is in the near future for Iraq. The murderous ethnic and religious rivalries will seethe on and on, as they have in that region for 5,000 years. Let's get our troops out of the way and back home where they belong.
Our military should not be misused for neighborhood policing -- particularly in a treacherous arena where so few of our soldiers speak the native language. If we pull out our ground forces, we can and should reserve the option of aerial bombardment. Satellite surveillance can read the label on a tin can, for heaven's sake. The Iraq debacle is not worth another American life. And the billions of dollars going down that rathole should be invested instead in American infrastructure, education and healthcare.
I do not minimize the larger danger to Western culture and liberty: I believe that our conflicts with radical jihadists will drag on intermittently for a century or more. But like mercury, which splatters into tiny particles when you hit it, today's terrorism is too elusive for the cumbersome and outdated military tactics employed by the shortsighted Bush administration in Iraq.
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