Posted on 04/09/2003 8:49:10 AM PDT by steplock
| Charlie Reese - Anti-American Poison Date Wednesday, April 09 @ 08:08:34 |
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LIES - RUMORS - and REESE
reeseking A mixture of Outright Lies, leftist Psychological babble talk, half-truths, and rumor mongering. Charlie Reese is trying his best to destroy the morale of the United States military and make the Americans feel that they are the "evil-doers" of the world. "...a mercenary Army, and that's what an all-volunteer Army is, despite all the rhetoric used to disguise that fact." "Today we have a large standing Army of paid professionals whose profession is killing whomever they are ordered to kill." The war in Iraq is like all the wars since 1945. The burden is being borne entirely by members of the military and their families. The rest of us go right on with the good life as if no war was even taking place. This is wrong, though I'm not exactly sure how to fix it. It has always seemed to me that when soldiers go to war, the whole country ought to go to war. In other words, each of us should do something to contribute. Instead of cutting taxes, Congress ought to levy a war tax. That would be a novel idea — to actually pay for a war as we fight it, instead of adding the cost to the already-unpayable public debt. That would also disconcert the chicken hawks and other neoconservatives who want tax cuts and a war, too. Years ago, an old Marine general by the name of Smedley Butler suggested that the minute war breaks out, all of the defense and armaments industries should be nationalized and all of their owners and workers drafted and paid the same wages that are paid the military. There is a great deal of merit in that idea, because it's repulsive to think that some Americans are making big profits out of a war that is killing young men who, even if they lived, could never hope to be rich as the CEOs of the war industries. I've always had to part company with my libertarian brothers and sisters on this issue, because I think we made a big mistake in going to an all-volunteer Army. Granted, the old system — with plenty of outs for rich kids and those with influential parents — was no good. What I've always advocated is universal military training, with no exceptions for anybody. In other words, I prefer the good old citizen Army. Nobody in Washington favors that, except perhaps Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. They like the all-volunteer Army because it becomes, so to speak, a Roman legion of mercenaries. The politicians can send these legions anywhere, and most people back home don't give a damn, because their loved ones aren't in uniform. It is much easier for the politicians to abuse and misuse a mercenary army than it would be for them to do so with a citizen army. There are, nevertheless, certain dangers of employing a mercenary Army, and that's what an all-volunteer Army is, despite all the rhetoric used to disguise that fact. History shows that it is conceivable that soldiers, loyal only to their own, could turn against the citizens who employ them. One man took a survey of Marines in California, and, if I remember the number correctly, 27 percent answered "yes" to the question "Would you fire on American civilians who refused a government order to give up their firearms?" Think about that, my friends. Those were military tanks that knocked down the walls and pumped tear gas into the compound at Waco, Texas. More than 90 American civilians died in that assault by the U.S. government. And think, too, about the fact that America never suffered from a military coup because, until relatively recently, we never had an all-volunteer force. The military could seize control of the American government any time it wished to do so. One battalion of Rangers could make short work of the Washington police and Secret Service. One should never fall into the trap of thinking that just because something has not happened, it can't happen. When Jimmy Carter was president and had practically dismantled our armed forces, I was working closely with a retired four-star general, Lewis Walt, a man justly called a Marine's Marine. Gen. Walt still had all of his clearances and was frequently in and out of Washington. He confided to me one day in a very worried tone of voice that for the first time in his long career, he had heard scuttlebutt about the possibility of a coup if Carter were re-elected. He wasn't, so we will never know if there was anything to the scuttlebutt. Just remember that the most intelligent people ever to run the American government — our Founding Fathers — were bitterly opposed to a large standing Army. Today we have a large standing Army of paid professionals whose profession is killing whomever they are ordered to kill. |
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And the problem is?
I've read some outstanding columns by this guy in the past, he must have had a lobotomy or stroke.
Yes
He's....a nobody, a 'has been'....an overindulged, spoiled 'use to be' columnist for the Orlando Sentinel.
Years ago, he wrote well......I guess perception of power can & does corrupt, because now he's just a blow-hard angry old man, who thinks he's somewhat important.
The importance lies in his own corrupted mind.
I use to read him faithfully.........after a number of years, became aware of an abrupt change in his thinking.....
..too bad, he use to have a clear perception of the world as he knew it.
Now I can't stand to see his smirky fact the rare times he's on TV.
Mine too!
One of these "things" is that the "mercenary soldiers" he is describing are Americans, and not only that, but some of our best young citizens. Not a gang of bloodthirsty killers, or a Foreign Legion that will do ANYTHING it is caommanded to do (look up the FFL record in Algeria- I don't recommend looking at many of the pictures of their victims).
Any Army can be abused and misued- as I think the Army was by Clinton. It makes no real difference if the soldiers are conscripts or volunteers. "Scuttlebutt" about a military coup was just that- morose griping by an Officer Corps that had been betrayed. But I was in a Ranger Battalion around then, and there is no way on God's green Earth that we would have accepted any order to overthrow civilian authority. These conspiracies exist in the minds of folks on the lunatic fringe. Also, I might point out that Rep. Rangel is not serious about resuming the draft (or UMT, either)- he just wants to generate more war protests by raising this dire possibility. A typical Commie-Democrat move.
I quit reading Sobran after 911 also! Great minds think alike. Ha-ha
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