Today, Mitt "I Like To Veto, Veto" Romney outdid himself in the "things candidates say" category of hysterical stupidity. After Mitt called for a "surge of support" for the war in Iraq at an Iowa campaign stop today, he took some questions. One of the questioners asked him why none of his five sons served in the military. His answer:
"The good news is, we have a volunteer Army and that's the way we're going to keep it. My sons are adults. They've chosen not to serve in the military in active duty and I respect their decision in that regard.
That's a good answer - or at least as close to one as he could reasonably come up with. Unfortunately, he didn't remember to quit while he was ahead. He continued:
... And one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president."
Gotta give the man credit for one thing - he's got ego. Brains, not so much, but he definitely has ego.
It's always funny to watch spoiled frat-boys extol the virtues of military service while translucently doing everything they can to avoid it. It's not so funny when one of them gets into office and gets us stuck in a pointless war. Hopefully we won't make the mistake of electing one twice in a row.
Unfortunately we have already elected one twice in a row. In this case it was exactly the same one. It makes me wonder if we really deserve to survive.
Taylor and Mark P.,
Granted, avoiding military service is something a majority of people are doing these days. As a veteran of the United States Army, I have a great appreciation as does my fellow soldiers, that we are called upon to serve our nation in time of need. It is a great honor to us.
I for one am glad our troops are in Iraq. While I don't agree with the original cause of our deployment, I do agree that we should be there now. Iran is highly unstable as a jihadist nation developing nuclear capability at their own admitance. The government of Iraq is having difficulty maintaining any resemblance of order. Afghanistan has 2 million orphans on the street that are being prepared to become suicide bombers according to UNICEF with nearly 470,000 of them missing body parts because of nearly 30 years of war from the Allies and the Russian invasion in the 1970s.
As far as Mitt Romney and his children being rich little frat boys, Mitt was not always rich. My inlaws who have known Mitt for over thirty years recall a time when he used to drive around in a rusted volkswagon affectionately called the siv because it had rust holes in the roof, body, and floor. Whenever it rained, everyone in the car would get wet. This happened while going to business/law school at Harvard. This does not sound like a rich frat boy to me.
AmericanMan,
The Iraqi government is having a hard time maintain order because it has no legitimacy and is only being propped up by our military presence. Yes, leaving will likely cause the collapse of the provisional authority there, but we can't prevent that state of affairs. Nor will we be likely to prevent the almost inevitable secession of Kurdistan. It will happen whether we withdraw 6 months or ten years from now.
And yes, Iran is going to have influence in Iraq. Being surprised about that is much like being surprised that we have influence in Canada and Mexico. If we had any brains, we would seek reproachment with Iran so as to induce them to help contain the violence (it is against their interests as well to have a region-wide sectarian war break out). Negotiations would probably involve something along the lines of stopping our support for and containing PKK attacks in Iran and Turkey (the latter being one of our closest mid-east allies).
And if you're worried about the mullahcracy in Iran, remember that the main thing propping it up is our belligerence and occupation of their Western neighbor. Iran has one of the most vibrant democratic cultures in the middle-east with a large democratic secularist and pro-American contingency. They're being sidelines right now because they are easily made out to be stooges of an imperial power (which, like it or not, is how we're viewed in the middle-east right now, making "changing hearts and minds" rather difficult).
We can all agree that the situation in Iraq is complicated and the situation after our withdrawal won't be pretty. But perpetual occupation of the country is simply not an option, and pretending it is helps no one.