Two Ways to Rile a Chickenhawk
1. Ask “Which branch of the military did you serve in?” And/or, when the person goes on and on about “we need to invade Iran/Syria/North Korea/Venezuela,” ask “who’s we? Oh, you mean you’re gonna enlist? Hey, that’s great.”
2. Mention the Iraq Study Group’s report. Chickenhawks are reacting to this report the way a bull reacts to a red cape. The Wall Street Journal, National Review, talk radio hosts, rightwing think tanks — all the usual suspects are having a hissyfit.
One of the Study Group’s recommendations is dialogue with Syria and Iran. A rightwing thinktanker said “It’s preposterous, period. Talking to them is not going to bring anything but a perception of American weakness.”
Richard Perle, one of America’s favorite wackos, said “The report is a monumental disappointment, for all the hype. The recommendations are either wrong or of no consequence. There is no magic bullet, but in their desire to find something, they found the wrong things.”
The New York Post had a headline calling the Iraq Study Group “surrender monkeys.”
Now, wanna hear a pin drop? Ask these self-described experts to describe their own first-hand experience with military combat. Ah, the sounds of silence…
posted by Tom Harper @ 11:52 AM
10 Comments:
Or, just ask them this, "O.K. you don't like what the ISG had to say? Well what would YOU do to solve the problem?"
Again, nothin' but crickets.
I'll never forget one day when somebody called Hannity a chickenhawk and he just absolutely lost it.
Whenever I hear one of these guys say "thank you for your service" it always makes me feel like throwing up. They're just such parasites.
Prague Twin: Yup, that’s definitely a question that’ll bring nothin’ but crickets.
J. Marquis: I could picture Hannity going off like that if somebody called him a chickenhawk. The one time I ever saw him on TV he was screaming his ass off at his “guest” just for being against the Iraqi war. I hardly ever comment at rightwing blogs any more, but when I’ve asked gung ho keyboard warriors which branch of the military they served in, I’ve gotten some pretty colorful responses.
Since I have never served in the military, I'm not sure I would be able to ask the "where did you serve" question with too much confidence, but I think it WOULD be fun to ask anyway if I knew the person was actually a chickenhawk. It is thoroughly amusing to note that those who are pushing the war the hardest, at the upper levels of government and right wing media, didn't serve... or very few of them did. Rumsfeld did, to his credit. Of course Powell is a military guy... but after learning more about his speech at the U.N. and how it was mostly lies, my estimation of him has dropped to very low levels. At least he has served his country in the military. I'm not sure Bush really served... he was enlisted anyway. But what about Perle, Rice, Wolfowitz, Bremer, Frist, Lott, Gingrich, Brownback, etc.? Maybe some of them served... But Hannity, Savage, Coulter, Limbaugh, O'Reilly? I don't think any of THEM served, and they are the squeakiest of the squeaky wheels.
PT, I would also ask them what they would do since they don't like what the ISG has to say. Tom, your two suggestions are great too.
I would ask them if they like patriotic movies, and assuming they would say "Yeah" I would ask them if they have seen the first 20 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan" and ask them if they would be willing to personally experience such fear and carnage in Iraq. They would probably get all huffy and say something like "You bet I would!" and then I would ask them "Then why haven't you? Go for it."
I would ask them if they want a safe, peaceful world, and assuming they would say "Of course!" I would ask them how they expect to achieve that through unending war. I would mention that George Orwell used the slogan "War is Peace" in 1984, and I would ask them if they have read that book.
I would ask them if they think war profiteering is o.k., and if they say "Of course not!" I would ask them why the Wall Street Journal is so gung-ho to keep the war going, and remind them of all the no-bid contracts the administration awarded to campaign contributors, the billions of dollars that have gone unaccounted for in Iraq... and then I would ask them "Don't you think people are using this war as a way to make money?" That would probably get the person flustered, and if they said people should be allowed to profit from war, I might direct them to
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=War_profiteering
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profiteering
If they bothered to go look at those links, I would ask them if they think this represents good "moral values".
Any way they argue it, they lose.
Snave: Yeah, it’s really amazing how few of these armchair warriors were ever in the military. Powell and Rumsfeld are the only 2 exceptions I can think of. Bush Sr. was a WWII hero; maybe that’s why he had enough sense to end the Persian Gulf war after Hussein was driven out of Kuwait.
They’re definitely using a lot of Orwellian methods in the names and descriptions they use. And the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about 45 years ago sure has exploded into a nightmare.
I doubt if the Wall Street Journal editor or any executives of war profiteering companies have children/nieces/nephews who are fighting in Iraq. Let somebody else’s children do it.
Thanks for the links. Interesting information.
Kvatch: Yup, they go dead silent every time.
Randi Rhodes was on a TV News channel not too long ago up against a young 20's something Republican who was a HUGE Bush and Iraq War supporter
Randi screamed at him flat out YOU SHOULD BE IN IRAQ! YOU SHOULD BE FIGHTING! HOW OLD ARE YOU? the young Republican said "25" and Randi shouted THEN GO!
The poor wingnut-boy-in-trainig...all he could muster was "just cause I'm a Yankees fans doesn't mean I'm going to put on a uniform and go play for them"
How nice it must be to view war through rose covered glasses where it's just like a game and only the "best" team wins.
I think all these NeoCons an Pro War Republicans should be forced on to mop detail in the Baghdad E.R. for a couple weeks cleaning up the emergency rooms and dumping the barrels of limbs and flesh into the garbage.
Maybe then they'll "get" that war is not a game.
PoliShifter: Yeah, I can't believe how many armchair warriors make that exact same comparison. "Oh, I guess that means I can't root for my hometown team unless I've played for them."
They really think it's just another game. You're right, I think some time on the battlefield or time in an ER in Baghdad might snap them out of their fantasy world.
Praytell, is the breaking of the Army underway right now going to give anyone the perception that America is weak? Someone like, say, a DPRK dictator, to use one example?
Jolly Roger: I think that's the least of our worries, any perception that America is "weak."
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