SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS….Over at National Review Online, Gabriel Ledeen got a letter from a peace activist expressing concern for our troops. Gabriel says he’s normally a temperate guy, but after thinking about this for a bit he got really pissed at the obvious duplicitousness of his correspondent and responded thusly:
“I find it disingenuous of you to claim that you support our troops now, when it is politically convenient to do so. Groups with which you identify have been railing against the military for years and years….protesting against the ‘homophobic’ and ‘sexist’ practices of the military, banning recruiters from career fairs all over the country, closing down ROTC units at Ivy League and other universities, campaigning against tax breaks for military families and against an increase in the shamefully low military salaries.”
Most of this is rhetorical fair game, but why does he include “protesting against the ‘homophobic’ and ‘sexist’ practices of the miltary” ? complete with obligatory scare quotes to indicate that it’s absurd to suggest that the military is anti-gay or less than fair to women ? as tantamount to contempt for the military itself? Might I suggest that it’s exactly the other way around?
And speaking of “politically convenient,” has Ledeen noticed that at the same time it was flogging war with Iraq, the Bush administration has been busily cutting veterans’ benefits, slashing education funding for school districts that serve military bases, and firing gay Arabic linguists? You’ll have to excuse me if this all sounds slightly less than 100% pro-military.
