This letter is in response to columnist Debra Saunders’ Feb. 12 article, “Playing the veteran card carries risks for Democrats.” Regarding her claim that Democrats want to play the veteran card, I would say that many of us get sick seeing Bush in his flight jacket, playing veteran fighter pilot. We all know that knowing how to fly a fighter does not a veteran make. Bush was truly a fortunate son. Simply put, Dubya is not the people’s president.
Like Debra Saunders, I never served in the military. But unlike her, I don’t remember not trusting a man “with a chest full of medals.” I come from a Marine Corps family and there were plenty of medals to go around. However, the way I remember it, it was the government we mistrusted, not the men who carried out their dubious policies. Many of us had uncles and brothers in Vietnam and many of them came back in body bags. It was an ugly time. But for Saunders to claim that Bush took some risk simply by flying an F-102 is a slap in the face to those men who actually put their lives on the line. C’mon Debra, Bush was having fun flying his jet. He just wasn’t willing to use it to do the job it was designed to do.
The Right believes that there is no difference between draft-dodging and deserting. However, to many of us there is a clear difference between one who disagrees with and avoids policies of war and one who agrees, signs the papers and then shirks his duty. It is about integrity and being good for your word. We will undoubtedly find that Dubya fulfilled his “obligation,” but we will know that this required much less of him than those who gave their lives, their souls and their minds.
Edmonds
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