by Peter Beolingus

Created on: June 27, 2008   Last Updated: September 09, 2008

In WWII and the Korean War, the media and entertainment industry supported our troops and recognized the necessary and honorable career of the military person. Since Vietnam, a war started by politicians (Democrats)with no intention to win, the liberal media and entertainment industry have tried to paint all men and women who join the military as either losers who could not get jobs in civilian life, sociopaths wanting an excuse to kill with sanction, or cowards hiding behind uniforms and desks while they send their subordinates to die. Vietnam was a debacle not because of the military but the armchair politicians who drafted law-breakers and college kids while leaving our more experienced National Guard alone. It was planned by cynics like LBJ who did not care how many young men died as long as he could appear "tough on communism" like his rival, Richard Nixon (the Republican who got us out of the mess).

Oliver Stone and his narcissistic generation "came of age" with Vietnam, and today's media and entertainment industry are stuck in that period with arrested development-like Dan Rather, it was their glory day, and they view all subsequent wars as identical to that time and place. These people suffer arrested development for no two military engagements are absolutely alike. (The term "quagmire", incidentally, was coined by President Charles DeGaulle to President John F. Kennedy when JFK tripled the number of military advisers in South Vietnam. Kennedy, the liberal icon, ignored DeGaulle's warning and liberals like to brand any and all American military interventions as "quagmires", forgetting the source of that term.)

The suicide rate of American vets,especially those back from Iraq & Afghanistan, much exaggerated by the left-wing NY Times and other papers, is actually lower than that of many other civilian professions, including Ivy League educated psychiatrists. The liberal media wants to paint military service as emotionally and mentally ruining people. On the other hand, it seems the liberals only despise the UNITED STATES MILITARY; when it comes to blood-stained communist revolutionaries like Fidel Castro or Che Guvera, they have nothing but praise for these murderous "freedom fighters".

A basic problem with liberals regarding the U.S. military (which Bill & Hilary Clinton admitted to "loathing" back in the 60s)is that in their world view, EVIL does not really exist and the social "wrong doings" of the world can be undone by right reason, patience, tolerance, and sufficient good will. Jimmy Carter thought he could thwart terrorism by dint of his sincerity, and we all know what his legacy is-everyone except him, perhaps. The fact that we NEED a military force to combat evil in the world juggles the utopian dreams of the Left that soft words and hard cash will change the world for the better, and we can all hold hands and sing John Lennon songs.

President Bush the First said it best: "There is no negotiating with terrorists". And please let us remember that the word "utopia" is Greek for "nowhere".

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