Jan Steinman wrote:
> I find these views curiously hypocritical, coming as they do from
> someone with ".mil" in their address. One could say the same things
> about the military, consuming as it does over half the federal
> budget, when you include interest payments on deficits attributable
> to previous military spending. The entire EPA budget is probably less
> than that of one large military base.
>
I find this remark more than a little hypocritical and a bit offensive.
Just because a person is in the military does not mean he has given up
the right to think. If it wasn't for the terrible military we would all
be speaking german or Japanese now. Most of the evil attributed to the
service is caused by our elected officials. The services are commanded
by the President, an elected official, not by the Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs. The services do what the president tells them to do. Vietnam
was entered into by Pres Johnson, not by Gen Westmoreland. The battles
were fought because the politicians told the services to fight them. You
are free to criticise precisely because the military has followed orders
and because it has members that are intelligent and dedicated and
willing to serve in conditions you would not believe or tolerate.
Yes there are problems with the military, just like there are problems
with social security, and medicare, and Congress, and the Democrats and
Republicans, and with, Liberals, and Conservatives. Yes you have a
right to question its budget and function, but do not question a
soldier's right to think and have an opinion.
W. J. Liles
Maj MC
USAR
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|