Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

Memorial Day is set aside for the remembrance of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Those brave men and women deserve our respect and our admiration for their unselfish service to their country.

We now find ourselves at war again in Iraq.

Without belaboring the reasons we find ourselves there, it is enough to know that over 1,600 young men and woman have given their lives with no end in sight.

While I am not a pacifist, I do not support this war. However, I do believe our actions in Afganistan were justified and largely successful, but unfortunately hampered by our commitment of personel and resources to the Iraq invasion. We had the moral high ground there.

It is, by now, no secret to many of you that the U.S. Army is having grave difficulties meeting its recruitment goals. This report from Reuters:

“The U.S. Army missed its April recruiting goal by a whopping 42 percent and the Army Reserve fell short by 37 percent, officials said on Tuesday, showing the depth of the military's wartime recruiting woes.

With the Iraq war straining the U.S. military, the active-duty Army has now missed its recruiting goals in three straight months, with April being by far the worst of the three, and officials are forecasting that it will fall short again in May.”

Where are the Republicans? 

So, why aren’t young Republicans of military age, who ardently support this war, rushing to their nearest recruitment office and enlisting? Could it be that their leadership as evidenced in the following list has set a poor example? Please note that many of those named below were highly instrumental in leading our nation to war. I will let their service records, or more precisely their lack thereof, speak for themselves:

* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve.
* Trent Lott: did not serve.
* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Five deferments, the last by
marriage.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." (This is the man
who attacked Max Cleland`s patriotism.)
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard service; assigned to Alabama to campaign for a family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam; AWOL
* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role
making movies.
* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* John McCain: Lt. Commander, USN; Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit,
Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem," although continued
playing in the NFL for 8 years.
* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.

Prominent Rightwing Pundits & Preachers & Posers or otherwise known as "the cheerleaders"

* Sean Hannity: did not serve.
* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a `pilonidal cyst.`)
* Bill O`Reilly: did not serve.
* Michael Savage: did not serve.
* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.
* Paul Gigot: did not serve.
* Bill Bennett: did not serve.
* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
* John Wayne: did not serve.
* Bill Kristol: did not serve.
* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
* Ralph Reed: did not serve.
* Michael Medved: did not serve.
* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that can’t
shoot back.)

Could it be that Eugene V. Debs was right when he said that “wars are fought to make rich men richer and poor men die”

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori...indeed!

(Trans. “It is sweet and glorious to die for one's country.”)