Hawks

http://wvgazette.com/section/Editorials/2004020611

Hawks
# War advocates didn’t fight

Strangely, many conservative Washington “hawks” who are strong advocates
of war contrived to duck combat duty when they were young. The label
“chickenhawk” is applied to such leaders.

In fall 2002, after the Bush administration began beating the war drums
against Iraq, retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, President Bush’s
special envoy to the Middle East, gave a speech in Florida pointing out
this odd contradiction.

Zinni noted that former generals Norman Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell, Brent
Scowcroft and the like were doubtful about invading Iraq — “and all
those who never fired a shot in anger are really hellbent to go to war.”

At that time, columnist Jan Russell noted that Vice President Dick
Cheney, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, adviser Karl Rove,
Attorney General John Ashcroft, war adviser Richard Perle and various
other Republican war advocates personally had arranged to avoid military
service.

The New Hampshire Gazette, America’s oldest newspaper, and other groups
have posted GOP chickenhawk lists on the Internet. Newt Gingrich, Dan
Quayle, Trent Lott, Tom DeLay, William Bennett, Elliott Abrams, George
Will, Rush Limbaugh, Kenneth Starr, Bob Barr, Ari Fleischer, Antonin
Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Bill O’Reilly, Phil Gramm, Jeb Bush, Steve
Forbes, Jerry Falwell — these and many others are cited for ducking wars.

President Bush himself managed to avoid Vietnam combat. After he
graduated from Yale in 1968, his father’s political friends got him a
rare billet in the Texas Air National Guard. Although he signed up for a
six-year enlistment, he left in 1972 to work in a Republican political
campaign in Alabama. Supposedly, he was to report to an Alabama Guard
unit, but the commander of that unit has no memory of him. Allegations
of “going AWOL” have been raised.

This week, Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry, a decorated
Vietnam War hero (Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts),
suggested that Bush and the military should open records “to answer
those questions” about his Alabama duty.

Meanwhile, everyone should ponder the disturbing pattern of Washington
hawks — leaders eager to send young soldiers into killing fields — who
wriggled out of that dangerous duty themselves.
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