Enough of the Bush "Patriot Act"
True Patriotism is Demonstrated Through Service

by Dave Christner

As a veteran, nothing offends me more than to see a politician pull
on a flight jacket, combat fatigues or a ball cap emblazoned with the
symbol of some legitimate military organization and mingle with young men
and women serving our country in a war zone. Vice President ***** Cheney
recently played out the Bush administration's version of this "patriot
act" by joining the troops in Baghdad to drum up support for our
misadventure in Iraq.

Cheney's act gets no rave review in my book. His act of patriotism
has little substance and no historical justification. This is the same
Cheney who in 1989 told The Washington Post, in explaining his avoidance
of the draft during the Vietnam era: "I had other priorities in the '60s
than military service." So did I. So did, I have no doubt, the 55,000-plus
young patriots who gave their lives in Vietnam.

I cannot help but think that if Cheney were 20 years old today, the
last place on this planet that either he or George W. Bush would be is in
Iraq. Even so, there he is, a man a step away from being
commander-in-chief, sitting down to a Halliburton-provided meal with some
true patriots and urging them to sacrifice their young lives for Iraqi
freedom and Halliburton's bottom line. How ironic is it that Cheney is
sequestered safely within the fortifications of the Green Zone in besieged
Baghdad?

Just how green the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys have been for
Halliburton and Cheney remains a matter of some conjecture. In 2003,
Cheney stated on NBC's "Meet the Press": "I have no financial interest in
Halliburton of any kind and haven't had, now, for over three years."
Without boring you with the details, let me say that it has been verified
that Cheney's statement was not entirely true.

As we are all well aware, Cheney also claimed that Saddam Hussein
possessed weapons of mass destruction. This did not turn out to be true
either. Now, while I don't want to accuse the vice president of being a
liar, I would advise him if he were the protagonist in Pinocchio to steer
clear of any lumber companies in the great Northwest. Cheney should
instead concentrate more fully on the facts in Iraq. While it is highly
unlikely that he would risk life or limb for Iraqi freedom, he is more
than willing to sacrifice your sons and daughters to fulfill the
administration's pipedream of democracy in the Mideast. Lyndon Johnson had
a similar dream for Southeast Asia; that too turned into a nightmare. But
not just for him.

The drums of Washington's Beltway warriors sound all too familiar; in
my case the call was to defend the freedom of the people of South Vietnam
from the red peril; or was it that we were defending ourselves from the
yellow peril? Or were the North Vietnamese defending themselves from the
white peril? I don't recall. I just know it was a perilous world we lived
in, and if Vietnam fell, so too would Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and all the
rest, like dominoes. That theory, I'm sorry to say, is alive and well
today in the Mideast. If Iraq falls, so too will Iran, Lebanon, Syria,
etc. Dominoes déjà vu. The beat goes on.

How many times have we heard that Iraq is not like Vietnam? I agree;
it's not. It's much worse. And the guys who got us in there have no idea
of how to get us out. This administration cannot comprehend that democracy
is a process; it cannot be imposed on another country by military force.
The will of the people must provide the foundation for a democratic
government; the people who want it must be as willing to die for it as the
people who so vehemently oppose it. We cannot do the killing and the dying
for Iraqi freedom; Iraqi patriots must do it for themselves.

Our failure in Vietnam was inevitable because we did not have the
support of the people. When we pulled out of Vietnam under the Nixon
administration's banner of "Peace with Honor," we left South Vietnam with
a well trained and well equipped, albeit poorly led, army. However, that
army, that government, did not have the support of the people. Did we
learn nothing from the fall of Saigon in 1975? Did the loss of 55,000-plus
American and millions of Vietnamese lives teach us nothing? Are elections
supervised by an occupying army truly democratic?

One can already sense, in spite of the spin by Bush administration,
that their resolve to stay the course in Iraq is weakening. This month,
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld announced that a gradual reduction in force
levels would begin immediately. These cuts are more the result of politics
that military success in Iraq. Because of political pressure and unrest at
home, the administration is looking for a way out that can somehow justify
to the wives and parents and children and husbands of American casualties
that their lives were not wasted. Bush's admission that his decision to go
to war was based on faulty intelligence in no way diminishes his poor
judgment; nor does it excuse the senseless loss of life - military and
civilian, American and Iraqi. This administration will never - indeed it
cannot - admit that invading Iraq was a horrible mistake. This war has
made neither Iraq nor our country safer; Bush's lack of foresight has only
strengthened the resolve of our enemies.

But what's a president to do? Tell the families of the causalities
that he made a mistake? No way. Not with his legacy at risk. Bush wants to
pawn his failure and bad judgment in Iraq off on the next administration;
he and Cheney want to be let off the hook for the causalities suffered in
Iraq. That way, their patriot act might be recorded more favorably by
historians.

This country had a revolution because the people would no longer
tolerate the abuses of King George. That is how the world works; that is
how a democracy is born; democracy is not imposed at gunpoint by an
occupying army. Political change must come from within, not from without.
And the Iraqi people will never be truly free until they are free from us
as well as their own history.

That having been said, I still urge those young Americans of both
parties who support the war to become patriots rather than just give lip
service to the Iraqi cause-enlist, get a commission, sign up for the
National Guard. Then if you enter politics at some time in the future, you
can run on your military record rather than from it. You'll be able to sit
down with your troops in a war zone knowing you're one of them; you won't
have to fabricate a patriot act because you will have already demonstrated
your patriotism through service.

Dave Christner is a Newport, R.I., playwright. He fought in Vietnam
aboard the USS Carronade from 1966-1969. He was awarded the Navy
Commendation Medal with a combat V, a Gold Star in lieu of a second Navy
Commendation Medal, and a Combat Action Ribbon. Christner is also the
author of an award-winning trilogy of Vietnam plays. His newest play,
"Free Shot," will premiere in Broomfield in May.

Copyright © 2006 The Daily Camera and Boulder Publishing, LLC

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