Cheney: Insulting to our troops
In an interview conducted by ABC News on March 24, Vice President and Sith Lord Dick Cheney said, in reference to the ongoing unnecessary and illegal war in Iraq, that “The President carries the biggest burden, obviously.”
Really, Mr. Cheney?
What about the 4012 American men and women who volunteered to serve their country and who have laid down their lives because their trust and faith was misused, abused and finally betrayed by their Commander in Chief? Have they not carried the bigger burden?
What about the estimated ~85,000 documented civilian deaths since the invasion began in Iraq? Do these men, women, and children not bear a larger burden than the man whose lies caused bombs to rain down on these innocents? If Saddam Hussein oppressed his population (and he did — brutally), he at least has the distinction of killing at a slower rate than the US invasion.
What about the families of those serving in Iraq? The daily stress on relationships of separation, the financial burdens created by service, the daily worry for the safety of those you love — are these not greater burdens than those carried by this President?
Mr. Cheney, for shame.
You use the troops as backdrops for your political events. You use their lives in order to advance the ideologically driven goals of the “New American Century.” You sneer at those who would call your blood thirsty and shameful hawkishness for what it is: vile and evil and fundamentally unAmerican. You attempt to stand behind the uniform of the Armed Services while never having worn one. But when you let your guard down… when you show your true thinking, in that moment you show the truth of your concern for the young Americans whose lives you have so casually risked and wasted. You believe that the real burden of war is carried by those who merely have to face the Press Corps ever six months or so.
Mr. Cheney, you are unworthy of the office that you hold and unworthy of the respect of ordinary Americans. If American politics were baseball, as analogy would so often have it, yours would be a term of service ended with an asterisk.
To the troops, to the families of those who have lost a loved one in this conflict, to the Iraqi people who have suffered so greatly… to all those whose burden in this war has been greater than that of a President who can’t be bothered to attend the funeral of a single fallen solider… to all of you, I apologize on behalf of the American people for the words of Dick Cheney. He may have been appointed to represent us, but he does so very poorly indeed.
Your turn to snark!
