(Actually, all who support the war have a moral obligation to enlist.
If they believe it is a true and just cause they should be first in
line to go. Of course they are phoney, just like all the war
mongers/leaders in D.C. who never served either.)


The Young Chickenhawks

Clarisse Profilett, The Nation, October 12, 2005

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051031/the_young_chickenhawks

The cheeky website buzzflash.com recently posted a petition calling for
Jenna and Barbara Bush to serve in Iraq. But the famously private Bush
twins have never disclosed their views on the war; they may even be
opposed. So calling for them to serve might not be fair. But there are
young and prominent Bush-backers who deserve to be targets of such a
petition: The assorted leaders of the College Republicans and Young
Americans for Freedom (YAF) are cheerleaders for a war they are
unwilling to fight.

Both YAF and College Republicans have staged prowar demonstrations on
college campuses across the country. Prior to the invasion of Iraq, the
College Republican National Committee released a statement proclaiming,
"As our troops prepare for battle, the College Republican National
Committee and its 100,000 members are prepared to show the world that
the majority of students support the efforts of the president and our
troops to liberate the people of Iraq and to rid the world of this
murderous dictator and his weapons of mass destruction." The CRNC's
website praises George W. Bush for "defending the peace by taking the
fight to the terrorists."

The even more zealous YAFers have made it clear that they not only
support the war but are openly hostile to those who oppose it. Their
rowdy prowar rallies have attracted plenty of press. In March 2003, CBS
news reported on a YAF event held in Minnesota at which the chapter's
executive director Chris Hill had strong words for antiwar activists:
"The top of the antiwar movement is led by communists, and I will call
them that," he said. "Unlike these communists, we have truth on our
side.... We say to those who oppose this war, Go to France." Hill's YAF
chapter has also publicly denigrated antiwar demonstrators as "cowards."
All of this raises the question: If opponents of the war should go to
France, shouldn't Hill--and other members of YAF and College
Republicans--go to Iraq? In response to a query by The Nation about
whether any leaders have volunteered to fight the war in Iraq, Shauna
Moser, the chairman of Penn State YAF, said only that information on YAF
officials could be found with a simple "search in a search engine."

Indeed, YAF chairman Erik Johnson, vice chairman Darren Marks and
fourteen other national officials have posted brief autobiographies on
YAF's website. According to these bios, not one of them has served in
the military or has any intention to do so in the future. YAF official
Chris Hill told The Nation that he had been a member of his university's
Navy ROTC prgram and the moderator of a blog where he offered advice to
aspiring soldiers on how to obtain a military commission. But he chose
to seek a master's degree rather than join the armed forces. Asked about
this decision, he said, "But I know people over there, and that's a
fact." Does it undermine his group's prowar position if all the YAF
higher-ups are unwilling to participate directly in the war? "I don't
think so," Hill replied. "You don't have to be involved in something to
believe in it."

When The Nation queried the College Republicans about the military
record of its senior officers, it received a similar reaction. In fact,
the assistant to executive director Michael Krueger--who identified
herself only as "Amanda"--went on the defensive, dodging the question
and maintaining that at the CRNC, "we don't have a power structure like
a national board." That was a strange response, considering the group's
website promotes a "National Board." And none of these board members--
the controversial chairman Paul Gourley, and officers Jess Beeson,
Nathaniel Harding, Britton Alexander, Dan Schuberth, and Tom
Robins--boast any military experience. Their posted bios do not refer to
any past, present or future military service, though they do describe in
detail the postgraduate work and political aspirations of these young
right-wingers.

Conservative campus groups like YAF and College Republicans are growing
in strength and numbers. And since the start of the Iraq War, these
outfits have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Bush to support the war,
but they have not stood alongside the soldiers doing the actual fighting
and dying. They want someone else to do the hard work.

I have noted that most of the younger kids ( ages say 18-25 ) who I know that are pro-war have not gone and signed up, yet have all sorts of ideas about how we should be kicking more ass all over the globe.

See Aunty, we agree on some things.

I read a newspaper article the other day about the difficulty the army and national guard are having enlisting new recruits. It got me to thinking about the 60's anti-war slogan of "hell no, we won't go!" Of course, with the draft in effect, recruiting wasn't so much of a problem. In this all volunteer era, perhaps the ability of the nation to wage war will be decided by those who are the prospective cannon fodder, instead of chickenhawk administrations. I cannot think of a more democratic outcome. Beautiful.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.