Posted on 02/16/2007 7:04:48 PM PST by neverdem
(Note: The following is the text of remarks delivered by Rep. Johnson on the floor of the House of Representatives today.)
You know, I flew 62 combat missions in the Korean War and 25 missions in the Vietnam War before being shot down.
I had the privilege of serving in the United States Air Force for 29 years, attending the prestigious National War College, and commanding two air bases, among other things.
I mention these stories because I view the debate on the floor not just as a U.S. Congressman elected to serve the good people of the Third District in Texas, but also through the lens of a life-long fighter pilot, student of war, a combat warrior, a leader of men, and a Prisoner of War.
Ironically, this week marks the anniversary that I started a new life - and my freedom from prison in Hanoi.
I spent nearly seven years as a Prisoner of War in Vietnam, more than half of that time in solitary confinement. I flew out of Hanoi on February 12, 1973 with other long-held Prisoners of War - weighing just 140 pounds. And tomorrow - 34 years ago, I had my homecoming to Texas - a truly unspeakable blessing of freedom.
While in solitary confinement, my captors kept me in leg stocks, like the pilgrims... for 72 days....
As you can imagine, they had to carry me out of the stocks because I couldn't walk. The following day, they put me in leg irons... for 2 ½ years. That's when you have a tight metal cuff around each ankle - with a foot-long bar connecting the legs.
I still have little feeling in my right arm and...
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
God Bless Rep Sam Johnson.
There were a lot of good speeches in the house today.
And this courageous man had the dignity to say these words to the biggest collection of scum ever to infest the halls of government
Bless you Sam Johnson, for your service and what should have been a reminder to learn from the past.
Must read
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1786151/posts
Sam Johnson, former POW: "the pain inflicted by your country's indifference...(Today on House floor)
Here's the video of his speech. As the mother of two deployed soldiers, it did my heart good to hear this gentleman speak in support for our military.
http://campbell.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfmgpiv=1999959571.2144.114&gen=1
oops didn't work - let me try again...
http://campbell.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=1999959571.2144.114&gen=1
It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope.
We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth,
and listen to the song of that siren
till she transforms us into beasts.
Is this the part of wise men,
engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty?
Are we disposed to be the number of those
who, having eyes, see not,
and having ears, hear not,
the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?
For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost,
I am willing to know the whole truth;
to know the worst, and to provide for it.
--Patrick Henry
God give us men. The time demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and willing hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And dam his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking.
-- Josiah Gilbert Holland. 1819-1881
Thanks for the link.
I can't believe that new conservative site doesn't have the speech up:
http://thevanguard.org/
Maybe the blogger that you posted can get his blog tracked into their blog.
The Belmont Club....
The Truce is Over
The Joe Lieberman website says the nonbinding resolution opposing the US presence in Iraq has created the potential for a Constitutional crisis. "The potential for a constitutional crisis here and now is real, with congressional interventions, presidential vetoes, and Supreme Court decisions. If there was ever a moment for nonpartisan cooperation to agree on a process that will respect both our personal opinions about this war and our nation's interests over the long term, this is it."
Commentary
When people describes themselves as Anti-War; that they want to end the War, the unasked question is which one. During the 1960s America engaged in two wars. One overseas and the other at home. One may have ceased but the second has never ended. Nor will the "anti-War" crowd ever end it until they achieve final and unconditional victory.
That's why the outcome of the "Vietnam War" doesn't refer to the resolution of foreign conflict forty years old but to a perceived -- and permanent -- domestic outcome in America. Just as the Civil War abolished slavery, "Vietnam" was regarded as having abolished American "imperialism" overseas forever. And even though this "outcome" was never the explicit war aim of the Peace Movement; nor even did they claim it a victory, it remained at least within a minority, the Legacy of the 1960s. The antipathy of the Left towards Ronald Reagan and George Bush cannot be rationally explained without appreciating that, in their eyes at least, the conservatives were embarked on a "rolling back" of the gains of history; that they were trying to undo the results of the Civil Rights Movement and the Legacy of Vietnam.
Iraq may be a cultural and physical world away from Vietnam, but the domestic landscape of that earlier conflict resembles what it is today. Lieberman correctly characterized the Democratic resolution as a footstomping yell of "no".
Senator Lieberman argued that the non binding resolution, "proposes nothing. It contains no plan for victory or retreat... It is a strategy of "no," while our soldiers are saying, "yes, sir" to their commanding officers as they go forward into battle."
But it is a "no" to everything. A yell of outrage and pain that "their" world has been destroyed by George W. Bush. One might timidly point out that Osama Bin Laden and radical Islam might have had something to do with it, but that will be ruled out of order because the crime -- and you have to understand the crime -- could only have been committed domestically. By Republicans. By enemy Americans.
Senator Lieberman closed with a call for unity, "Whatever our differences here in this chamber, about this war, let us never forget the values of freedom and democracy that unite us and for which our troops have given and today give the last full measure of their devotion. Yes, we should vigorously debate and deliberate. That is not only our right, it is our responsibility. But at this difficult juncture, at this moment when a real battle, a critical battle is being waged in Baghdad, as we face a brutal enemy who attacked us on 9/11 and wants to do it again, let us not just shout at one another, but let us reach out to one another to find that measure of unity that can look beyond today's disagreements and secure the nation's future and the future of all who will follow us as Americans."
Fat chance. The Peace Movement doesn't want unity. It wants war. War until the world it is fighting for is unconditionally and irreversibly established. That a government for the masses, of the masses and by the masses, should briefly flicker on the face of the earth.
Now here's a POW that ought to be President.
Thanks for the link.
Maybe the blogger that you posted can get his blog tracked into their blog.
I wouldn't consider RealClearPolitics.com a blog. If you haven't gone there, check it out.
The 17 GOP votes were less than half than expected. Take heart, have faith.
I've seen Johnson speak on the House floor. He has a quiet dignity which is impressive if observed closely.
It is ironic that a non-democratic body of citizen soldiers exercising the true tradition of the American spirit will one day have to save the republic from those who weaken it at every turn. I guess Mills was right all along. (Even though he was a liberal!)
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)
God bless the men & women of the US military
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