...as long as it's not my boys
Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, has a new campaign ad chronicling his thoughts and intentions on the War on Terror (entire video below).
"It's this century's nightmare- Jihadism. Violent, radical, Islamic fundamentalism. Their goal is to unite the world under a single Jihadist caliphate. To do that they must collapse freedom loving nations, like us."
And how will candidate Romney defend Our Country from this perceived threat?
". . .increase Our Military by at least 100,000. . ."
OYE Comment: For our Military to grow by 100,000 Real Americans we anticipate Mr. Romney will have to ask the citizens to consider service or reinstate The Draft. Mitt, the man that has never sacrificed a minute of his life to protect Our Country, will be asking to send you or a loved one of yours to do what he was unwilling to do during the Vietnam War. As we've documented in the past here and here, cowardice in Mr. Romney's family doesn't end with him. His five mindless, grinning, pigeon-gut sons are eligible but unwilling to Be A Man! Enlist! When Mitt was questioned about his sons' lack of service, he responded with an answer you'd have thought was written by one of his political opponents. An answer so vile it's difficult to imagine he's ever received stitches, much less visited a wounded soldier at Walter Reed Hospital. ". . .one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected. . ." is how he characterized his boys' 'service' to the United States.
Leading by example is most powerful since it only requires those that follow to use their most trusted sense, being sight. Leading others only if they hear you is left for those that have never walked the walk. Mr. Romney, get your sons to Man Up and you'll only be 99,995 short of your goal and you might finally earn the right to ask others to do what you never had the testes for.
posted by Wek @ 10/29/2007 10:18:00 PM
24 comments
24 Comments:
What a toad.
That's not fair to criticize Mitt Romney like that! It's not that he didn't want to serve in military, he just had "other priorities."
Did you see the 60 minute interview where his sons say that they feel bad and they plan to sacrifice in other ways?
Driving around in Iowa...now that's dedication!
icarus- yes, we saw the pathetic interview. We also did a post on it- http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2007/08/romney-boys-in-their-own-words.html
This is a word to the wise, to all of the bush supporting cowards. How will you answer your kids question, what did you do during the Iraq war daddy? Did you support the Iraq war daddy? Why did you not fight in the Iraq war daddy? Kids asked the hardest questions.
Mitt Romney wants a draft? I'd like to see that chain email start haunting in the inboxes of republican voters just like the "Obama is Muslim and Muslims are Bad" email. The right would FREAK. OUT.
I am a strong supporter of President Bush and I was very much for the invasion of Iraq and I am for staying there until the job is done. I was a college student and was nominated to go to West Point, but I didn't. I dropped out of college and I enlisted in the Army Infantry. Then I took it another step and volunteered to go to Iraq with another state because I felt that as long as guys my age were going, who the hell was I not to?
But that was me. That was a decision I made. I SUPPORT MITT ROMNEY. I endorsed him on my web site. I went to Iraq, so that his sons wouldn't have to. No members of our military in Iraq or anywhere else have any room whatsoever to bitch about anything. No one put a gun to their head and made them enlist. They signed the line and raised their hand.
Oh, and when my kids ask this Bush and Romney supporter where I was during Iraq, I will say I was walking the streets of Baghdad with sand and sweat in my eyes, clutching a rifle for twelve months so that every day American's could go about their lives. That is what service is all about.
That's the whole point. That's what America is about. Get over yourselves.
Mitt Romney doesn't want a draft. He wants an increase in the volunteer military.
Let's just get that part straight.
Mark, thanks for your service. But this isn't about making other peoples' kids go to Iraq. I have always said that the civilian leadership in this country would make better choices concerning our military if their children had served or are serving.
ALSO - I not only founded the first ever Teenage Republican's club in St. Johns County, FL, but I helped start the first Young Republicans club there.
I have many friends who are YR's and Republicans who are either veterans or are serving now. While I agree we should all be encouraging people to enlist and join the military, to criticize those who don't is absurd.
This is not a Republican war, this is an American war. You should be encouraging EVERYONE of all parties and beliefs to serve OUR country.
Even if you don't agree with this war (for the record, I do) you must acknowledge that we MUST have a military. And if you acknowledge that we must have a military, then surely you acknowledge that those in the military don't dictate policy, they enforce it.
I say again: you should be encouraging all eligible members of this generation to serve their nation.
And perhaps you could start encouraging Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Jack Murtha, John Kerry and their friends to quit condemning the troops and the war.
It is hard enough going door to door in downtown Baghdad as a rifleman, trying to convince local Iraqi's to trust us and work with us, but to then have members of the US Congress demanding us to pull out makes it nearly impossible.
If I were an Iraqi man and some American showed up at my doorstep asking for information or help, if I have the faintest doubt about them staying I am not going to work with them at all, because I know as soon as they leave me and my family are dead.
Then John Kerry accuses us of going into Iraqi homes and terrorizing families in the middle of the night.
Well in case anyone doesn’t know, our Rules of Engagement are so tight you practically have to have a warrant to conduct a hard entry on a home. So when we kick in a door in the middle of the night, we know who is in there.
Maybe Kerry would have us go in mid afternoon when all the kids are playing soccer in the streets??? I am sure that would work out great.
John Murtha is the worst of them all. Convicting US Marines before he has any idea what the hell is going on. That guy is a disgrace to the uniform. I am glad he is getting sued and I hope he is held accountable.
All the branches of service have been meeting their recruiting numbers. I think anyone who is interested and is eligible should join the military. It is an incredible experience. The best days and the worst days of your life.
What we need is for the MSM to be held accountable for their misrepresentation of this war. We need Democrats in Congress to be held accountable for the damage they cause the mission in Iraq. I don’t know whether you people are veterans or not. I don’t know if you have ever been to Iraq. I don’t really care.
I do know that if you have, you know how much damage the reckless rhetoric of people like Kerry, Murtha, Reid and their counterparts cause those of us with boots on death ground. Their political feces spewing from their mouths gets carried over and over again in insurgent propaganda videos and Arabic TV networks all over Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ve seen them.
If you would put as much energy into holding people like that accountable, on both sides of the isle, you just might be able to make a difference in this war.
But what do I know? I’m just an Infantry Sergeant in the National Guard. You people obviously have the whole world figured out.
Mark, the ground branches have been meeting their recruiting goal by lowering their standards. The Army has raised the age limit and has allowed recruits without high school diplomas and with prior criminal convictions.
As for John Kerry, yes, while his post-Vietnam activities may have been questionable regarding the anti-war movement, he has never stated that American troops are the bad guys in Iraq. US military policy in Iraq has been flawed. I think that's what his argument was. You have to read his statements in the context in which they were said.
When American Soldiers and Marines knock on doors or raid homes in the middle of the night if they think it's a hideout for insurgents, and they awaken a family, it is in fact terrorizing... Now, this does not mean that American warriors are doing this out of malicious intent. The policy in Iraq gives them no other choice but to do what they do.
And yes, I have served in Iraq during the invasion phase.
And it's better to be truthful than to worry if your statements will be misconstrued as propaganda for the enemy.
Thank you for your service as well. I volunteered with the Louisiana Guard because my state, Florida, was coming home from the invasion as I was getting done with Infantry school. You all did a great job.
The Army has increased the age limit. I’m not so sure that was a lowering of standards. I know in the Guard we’ve gotten a lot of very experienced NCO’s coming back in and exercising incredible leadership.
The Army continues to require a High School diploma or a GED. I’m not sure if they previously didn’t accept GED’s. They are also allowing more people with criminal convictions in.
However, they aren’t taken anyone with a record that is indicative of character flaws. If some kid was arrested for getting in a bar fight or shop lifting five years ago, I think it is fair to assume they may be a perfectly good person who exercised poop judgment earlier in life. I’m not perfect either.
So I don’t really agree with calling it “lowering” standards. If a young American wants to serve their country, knowing what a career in the military consists of these days, then we absolutely need to look at it on a case by case basis.
The context of John Kerry’s remarks has been the implication on more than one occasion that military personnel are violating Geneva conventions, violating rules of engagement, or violating the personal compass of individual ethics. I don’t think you can honestly argue that.
Military policy in every war that has ever been and ever will be has flaws. That is the nature of combat. That is the nature of war. It is never easy and it never goes as planned. I will be the first to tell you that Bush has made several colossal mistakes with this war… just like every other American President in every other war America has participated in.
I sustain that what is so damaging to America at this stage is the reckless rhetoric of those I have previously mentioned.
War as it should be, politics in terms if international relations:
“We see, therefore, that war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means. War in general, and the commander in any specific instance, is entitled to require that the trend and designs of policy shall not be inconsistent with these means. That, of course, is no small demand; but however much it may affect political aims in a given case, it will never do more than modify them. The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purpose.” – Carl Von Clasewitz
The Iraq War as it is now because of poor leadership in Congress and an apathetic populace in terms of domestic politics:
“The less involved the population and the less serious the strains within states and between them, the more political requirements in themselves will dominate and tend to be decisive. Situations can thus exist in which the political object will almost be the sole determinant.” – Clausewitz
Further…
“The less intense the motives, the less will the military element's natural tendency to violence coincide with political directives. As a result, war will be driven further from its natural course, the political object will be more and more at variance with the aim of ideal war, and the conflict will seem increasingly political in character.” – Clausewitz
At what point did this become a Republican war rather than an American one? Can you really tell me that if we pull out of Iraq prematurely, Iran or Syria or Al Qeida in Iraq are going to just walk away?
And back to your statement advising me to look at Kerry’s comments within the context he meant; of course people are terrorized in war. From the witnesses to the participants, that is what happens in war. He didn’t stand up and declare that to the world because he just figured that out.
He wanted the everyday American who learns of this war in 15 second sound bites to become dejected from the “Republican” war.
Their comments aren’t about being truthful. Murtha wasn’t truthful when he publicly convicted the Marines. Unless he was there, he couldn’t have been. The investigation hadn’t happened yet.
No one is asking anyone to lie about anything. But in the name of Operational Security, you don’t run around making unfounded declarations with the intentions of leveraging domestic political clout, just like you don’t advertise to the enemy your Operation Order.
I’m sorry, but no one, yourself included, can make a legitimate defense of that type of behavior. When you lay it out and examine it all in logical and objective terms, you can’t deny what Kerry and Murtha were aiming for.
mark partridge miner-
Thank you for your service, and for your comments.
You need to know that this blog has not taken a position on the war.
There's a very simple reason why we focused initially on the future leaders President Bush's party, the Republicans:
Through January 3, 2007, the American people chose the Republican Party to govern our country, giving it control of both Houses of Congress as well as the White House. President Bush has vetoed only a handful of bills (and none in his first term). The buck stops there.
You are quite correct that bipartisan control of our national government means bipartisan responsibility, which is why we are Asking The Question of you-know-who, but that certainly does NOT mean letting the Republicans off the hook.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney chose to run for re-election in 2004; the American people agreed, for four more years, ending January 20, 2009. And we expect them to do their jobs for their entire (second) term.
There are far too many influential people and families in our society, of both parties, in and out of government, who do not personally know any enlisted servicemembers or junior officers. This trend leads to mis-use of our military [e.g., enough troops, proper equipment, Walter Reed] because our national elites don't know and don't care - because they don't have to.
One little example:
Media interest is always a Commander's Critical Information Requirement (CCIR). But . . . two Washington Post reporters spent weeks or months at Walter Reed, and not a single person tipped off the brass.
Think about it.
mark partridge miner (01 November, 2007 18:39)-
Thank you again for your service.
We certainly appreciate many of your contributions to the discussion, and welcome them.
However, this blog has a very narrow topic, namely, the responsibility of our national leaders, of both parties, in and out of government, to set a good example for the rest of us.
Right now, that's very simple:
Those eligible to serve [healthy heterosexuals 41-or-under] who support the war have an obligation to consider volunteering for military service, and
those not personally eligible to serve have an obligation to encourage their eligible relatives and friends, their circles of influence, to consider military service.
You can take it from there, but a lot of what you have said in your latest comment is simply off-topic and, therefore, not relevant.
Thank you for your cooperation.
mark partridge miner (01 November, 2007 18:39)-
At what point did this become a Republican war rather than an American one?
When President Bush decided NOT to call upon eligible young Americans, if healthy, heterosexual and 41-or-under, who agree with him, to volunteer for military service in the Global War on Terrorism, even if they plan other careers later in life, and
When President Bush decided NOT to ask Congress to get rid of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which has kicked out a significant number of needed volunteers from protecting America, and discouraged many others from considering military service.
I agree that President Bush should have asked all eligible young Americans to volunteer for military service.
He also should have asked every American to get involved in their communities; neighborhood watches, emergency preparedeness, etc.
But that didn't make this war a Republican war.
When the American Embassy was bombed in Kenya, when the World Trade Center was bombed (in 1993), when the USS Cole was attacked, when Rangers were killed in Somalia... those weren't attacks on the Democratic party because Clinton was president. They were attacks on America that all linked back to Bin Laden.
When Saddam Hussein violated UN Sanctions throughout the 90's - selling prescription medication to Iran and Syria for weapons, manipulating the oil for food program, disregarding the integrity of no fly zones and plotting the assassination of an American President in Kuwait... Clinton didn't do anything.
When Clinton let the world go without consequence for their actions against America, it wasn't the problem of the Democratic party, it was the problem of the United States of America.
So I don't understand how you make this anymore Bush's war than Gore's or Clinton's or any of the other Democratic leaders who have said on multiple occasions prior to 9-11 that Saddam Hussein was an enormous threat to this nation.
I don't have a problem with your mission.
The course of action you have decided upon to work toward that mission is counterproductive.
The truth is, serving in the American Armed Forces is not the responsibility of any one group of the population. It is the responsibility of everyone.
Maybe if each of you were to post your military resume with a picture and your name, more people would take you seriously.
If you are practicing what you preach, then you should be proud.
At the end of the day, true leaders lead by example.
If you haven't served honorably, then you are worse than the people you draw attention to.
Mark, why would you disrespect, decorated vietnam veterans,we don't know that you served. If you did serve, then you can answer your kids questions. As a vet myself, I don't knock our vets, I don't knock John Mcain, although he is bat shit crazy. Now I do, knock gw bush, for disobeying a lawful order. Lowest number of recruits in history of all-volunteer Army.“The Army began its recruiting year Oct. 1 with fewer signed up for basic training than in any year since it became an all-volunteer service in 1973,” said commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command Gen. William S. Wallace. Achieving new recruiting goals is more difficult now “because the Army has decided that it must grow its active-duty force by several thousand soldiers a year in order to relieve strain on war-weary troops.” 10:38 am
Hello Mark would you like to comment?
What lawful order did the President disobey?
flight physical Mark
...and with that, I'm going to call it a night. It's been a pleasure folks. Best of luck.
mark partridge miner (01 November, 2007 21:13)-
Maybe if each of you were to post your military resume with a picture and your name, more people would take you seriously.
I'm not eligible to serve.
When I was younger and about to graduate from college, the military recruiters I contacted [Army and Marine Corps Officer Selection Officers] basically weren't interested. And more recently, I was too old; they haven't raised the maximum age enough to catch up with me.
If you read carefully OYE 101, you'll realize that the most active contributors to this blog, myself and Wek, have contacted military recruiters, been thanked for our interest, and not accepted.
We're asking those eligible who support what President Bush is trying to do to contact military recruiters to volunteer. If they are not accepted, we thank them for stepping forward.
We've already done what we're asking others to do. It's called setting an example.
mark partridge miner (01 November, 2007 21:13)-
The truth is, serving in the American Armed Forces is not the responsibility of any one group of the population. It is the responsibility of everyone.
[ . . . ]
At the end of the day, true leaders lead by example.
We agree.
You've forgotten that the American people chose President Bush and the Republican Party to run our country as of January 20, 2001.
That's why we've started with the Republican Party and why this blog is called Operation Yellow Elephant.
At the end of the day, true leaders lead by example.
It's all about Leadership, right?
And if Mitt Romney wants us to follow him, he's going to have to lead.
Mark cut and ran, when faced with facts, repugs run everytime. Hey Karl, this is freder421, I still read you guys, daily if I can.
Mark, how come George W. Bush (or Rumsfeld or Cheney or Lieberman or Kristol or Rove) never gives a speech directly encouraging people to sign up? Why isn't he making appearances at recruiting centers so they don't have to struggle to meet enlistment goals?
He wants people to join up, right? It's very important to him, right? And yet he doesn't say a word about it.
War supporters who don't sign up are not the only people who say something is very important, but never back it up with actual direct actions.
I can't help but laugh at Romney, Guiliani, and Thompson try to look so tough on military matters when they've chosen not to serve in the military when their country was at war.
yes, Romney and Guiliani both received at least 2 draft deferments. Guiliani even had the judge he was clerking for, write a letter on his behalf to the draft board to tell them that as a legal clerk Rudy was too important for the war effort.
2 draft deferments. Can you f*ckin believe that these guys want to lead our nation and our military during a time of war?
Not a chance.
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