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Brandon Day: A vet's measured response to Rush Limbaugh's "phony soldier" comment
Submitted by Brandon Day on September 30, 2007 - 1:03pm.
I am a two time Iraq war veteran. I was there during the initial invasion, and again in Sept. 05-Sept. 06. I am now the secretary of the Minnesota chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
I watched the Iraq people go from having hope in America to killing Americans. Midway through my second deployment I was forced to contemplate the necessity of this war as I watched my fellow soldiers being killed and injured. After much reflection, I decided for my self that this war was based on lies for the benefit of corporate America. I wasn't fighting to keep America safe, I was fighting to line the pockets of the Dick Cheney's of the world. I have a big problem with that. Duty to America compelled me to join the infantry after 9-11, and duty to America compels me to do everything I can to help end this war.
Like every other vet I know that heard Limbaugh's comment, I was angry. But I recognized it for what it was, a distraction. I didn't concern myself with putting any energy into responding. The only reason I do so now is to make a point. In the few days since his comments, my email box has been inundated with outrage from the many vet's groups I am associated with. I have seen ads put forth condemning Limbaugh. There are only so many anti-war vets, and we only have so much money and energy. Rush Limbaugh's comment was a success in two ways. It drew attention away from the issue at hand, namely ending the war. (Much like the controversy over MoveOn's NYT ad did.) It also made the vet movement use it's precious resources to respond.
We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted from the big picture. Rush Limbaugh is a draft dodger. Rush Limbaugh is a loud-mouthed syncophant of the 1984ish right-wing media. Rush Limbaugh has no understanding of the words that I hold so precious: "Duty to America." But we knew these things before he called vets like me "phony soldiers". We can not allow the likes of Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Coulter, etc... to hijack any of our precious energy that should be invested in ending this occupation for oil. So I offer Limbaugh congratulations on his investment. 15 seconds of bullshit from his mouth and the movement spent three days on something other than ending the war.
In a related note, the timing of Limbaugh's comment in relation to MoveOn's NYT ad is unfortunate on a deeper level. Since the ad is fresh in our memories, we may feel that it would be appropriate to encourage Congress to slap Limbaugh on the wrist as well in the interest of fairness. Lost in the debate over this "fairness of punishment" issue is that part of the Constitution that we call the First Amendment. We should be debating on whether Congress should be ALLOWED to slap ANYONE on the wrist for exercising their right of free speech, not on how to be "fair" in punishing people for using that right. Let's wake up.
Brandon Day
Secretary, Iraq Veterans Against the War - Minnesota Chapter
brandon@ivaw.org
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Context
Brandon-
context is everything here. MoveOn took out their ad and said everything they wanted to say in one shot. You are taking Limbaugh out of context because you are too lazy to listen to the whole conversation.
Limbaugh was talking about phony soldiers in the context of Jessie MacBeth and Scott Beauchamp. If you had paid attention, you would have seen this without jumping to conclusions.
I'd love to see some proof for your accussations that we are 'lining Cheney's pockets' in the Iraq war. Otherwise, you are simply spouting the same tired MoveOn talking points.
I think you are mistaken Dave
Dave-
I didn't notice anything about Jessie MacBeth or Scott Beauchamp in the transcript. What I read and what I heard was that anti-war soldiers are "phony soldiers". That's what Limbaugh said. He didn't say "phony soldiers like Jessie MacBeth and Scott Beauchamp". He made a broad categorization. He may have made some allusion to them in an earlier show, or tried to repair the damage he had done by re-tailoring his words after the fact. But if you read or listen to the transcript you can see it (or hear it) for yourself. On that show, at that moment, that is exactly what he said.
As long as you have been kind enough to engage me and you seem to be for staying the course in Iraq, I ask you what is America gaining from this war? Safety? I guess the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed in this war won't be hurting America anymore, not that 99.99% of them were in the first place. [My apologies for not being able to cite proof of that statistic, but I would guess its fairly accurate. Maybe 99.97%] Are we gaining protection from terrorists? Murdering innocent people is a better way to make terrorists than to protect us from them. [Again I can't cite proof of this point either, it's more of a strong intuition.] Are we obtaining justice? The people of Iraq have known no peace since we showed up, and they had nothing to do with 911. The Iraq war is almost the exact opposite of justice.
What are the people in Iraq gaining from this war? Democracy? Security?
Now riddle me this: How much money is Halliburton making from this war? How much money is the military industrial complex making off of this war? And Blackwater? And Triple Canopy? And all the other mercenaries? Or do you think that those companies are doing volunteer work over there? I hope I didn't leave the impression that Cheney was the only criminal involved in the perpetuation of this illegal and immoral war.
I can't speak to MoveOn's talking points, I don't know them. I am my own man, and I have come to accept the horrible truth that those in charge of our country care nothing for decency or humanity. This war is a manifestation of their madness, and they are indeed gaining from it. They have gained too much power. If you understand the idea of too much power being in too few hands, you should at least be mildly concerned about that. Power is a dangerous thing to have strongly concentrated in one place, unless you're the one with the power. In fact, that was part of what the Constitution was trying to prevent by separating our government into three distinct branches and instituting a system of checks and balances.
I am more afraid of this administration than I am of any terrorist. The odds of a terrorist attack affecting any one of us are almost infinitely smaller than the odds of poor government policy affecting us. Personally, I like having civil liberties. I like not invading countries under false pretenses.
Concern troll away ... we don't mind
Dave,
I was wondering if you were a concern troll or not. I guess your colors have come out with this comment. Dick Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton and has many, many ties in the defense industry. Once he's out, who do you think will be paying him $50-100K per speech? His buddies in the defense industry and among the Iraqi war profiteers like Halliburton and Blackwater.
So you think its okay for conservatives to attack soldiers whose opinions they don't agree with?
What about all the generals that they conservatives have been insulting, calling traitors and etc.?
I understand that the MoveOn
I understand that the MoveOn ad was annoying to people from a variety of backgrounds. But I want to give two reasons why I view this ad with unalloyed joy. First, I personally agree with it. I believe that Petraeus is a political sockpuppet who needs a hard kick in the political pants.
But even if you disagree with me on that item, you should listen to my second reason: this kerfluffle forced a lot of our secret enemies out of cover. Now we have discovered that, when push comes to shove, Amy Klobuchar will stand up for the Republican propaganda line. She will never get us out of Iraq. She will never resist the push to war with Iran. Klobuchar is a core part of the problem, and Klobuchar is my political enemy. I suspected that before, but I did not know it with such clarity. This is very helpful.
Sure, the ad was a distraction. But the Republicans would have manufactured some fake distraction anyway. What is interesting and important is to see who helped them do it!
Attacking vets
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you don't know the MoveOn talking points. But you are replying with them perfectly, so please pardon me for being a little suspicious.
'Murdering innocent people', which is from your own words, your take on our mission in Iraq, is a dead bang giveaway that I can't take you seriously. Since your real claim to fame here is your two tours in Iraq (the very first sentance of your post, by the way), I have to assume that you are drawing on that experience when you claim that the US is committing war crimes in Iraq. So that gives me two options to pursue-
Either A-you comitted those war crimes in contravention to the ROE, or B-you witnessed those war crimes, and didn't report them. Please feel free to correct me if you have any 15-6 or general article 15 proceedings ongoing that I'm not aware of or that you can't talk about.
I'll even give you the benefit of the doubt that you were a grunt, outside the wire every day on mission, rather than a Fobbit in charge of driving the unit mini-bus. Please give me some proof, or even a real good story about how we are 'murdering innocent people' in Iraq, so I will know where you are coming from. Because in all of the 16 months I spent in Iraq, I never saw one instance of US troops committing war crimes, nor did I ever see a unit that would have permitted such actions.
You are accusing the entire US military of murder, becuase nothing in Iraq goes uninvestigated. So please, Brandon, regale me with your story. Show me your proof of what you are accusing me of being a part of. Give me some reason to believe that, even though you may have been to Iraq, you aren't the next Jessie MacBeth.
Very different
Actually, progressives are not a top down anything, we unite in coming to the same conclusions from different perspectives and different backgrounds. So I don't even know the MoveOn talking points. And I would not care if I disagreed with them or happened to come up with the same ones.
I think your accusations are really a mirror of who you are and what you do.
I think there is plenty of proof and testimony, if you wished to actually look. That is why war is something to be avoided, not a political tool.
It seems strange that you are willing to attack a soldier just because he disagrees with you and strongly defend a soldier for agreement. It seems that really the occupation of soldier has nothing to do with your judgment. So if you can attack a soldier's words, then MoveOn should be able to do so as well. I also think that every soldier has the right to speak and be heard. Every opinion counts.
Waiting
Since I'm still waiting for Brandon to reply to my request for info on his tour, I'll reply to something he asked. What have we gained in the Iraq war?
We have gained 4 years of no attacks on American soil. I understand that there is no empirical way to measure this, but the fact remains that since 9-11 we are terrorist attack free, aside from the 2001 anthrax attacks, but those are as yet unsolved.
Osama Bin Laden has been quite prolific in writing and speaking that it was the US retreat from Somalia, coupled with the whitewashing of terrorist attacks around the globe (Khobar towers, US embassy in Africa bombings)that convinced him that a major terrorist attack on the US would cause us to crumple. In fact, the opposite was true, but in my mind, only becuase there was no President Al Gore.
So, we are gaining security by demonstrating to radical Islam that we have the stomache to fight, even when it gets ugly.
Since we are on the subject of phony soldiers like MacBeth, who do harm to the entire US military, I'm sure you wont mind emailing me offline about your time in Iraq, so that I can see that you are not a phony soldier and I will be happy to say as such. If you are legit, then you can look me up on AKO. I will be happy to provide you with anything from my 201 file to demonstrate my bonifides, although my CIB will probably be enough.
I hate to think that I would have reason to doubt a fellow soldier, but absent any word from you, I am left to wonder.
Appologies for Putting Word's Into Mr. Day's Mouth...
...But Dave's comments above, I think, deserve a reply.
You suggest that the only way Mr. Day could assume that innocent people were being murdered in Iraq is that he was personally knowledgeable of war crimes. That's really quite an ignorant statement, Dave, ignorant of truth and reality, that is.
You accept that over 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died in this war, correct? It's likely far more, but I'll settle for that number. So, how many of these civilians were NOT innocent? If there WERE thousands of innocent civilian casualties, as the Pentagon admits in their own press briefings (multiple instances, for example, of cold-blooded killings at check points, or misdirected munitions drops), then I think Mr. Day is quiet accurate in calling what we've done, over and over again, is murder of innocent people.
Just because, as you suggest, the Rules of Engagement (ROE) were followed, does not lessen the impact of their deaths, nor of the impression by locals that what happened to their loved ones was "murder."
And there are the multiple investigations by courts martial of US troops killing civilians in retaliation for nearby attacks. And then, this whole Blackwater fiasco explodes, which shows they shot first in over 80% of their engagements, and rarely (if ever) stopped to render assistance, or even find out if those they shot were actually terrorists or not.
Before you get on your high horse, Dave, let me share with you what my dad, a Marine in China during the pre-Pearl Harbor years, told me when I was still a kid: "War's are bad. Bad things happen, and sometimes, good people do bad things." No matter what our intentions, we are making enemies of the Iraqi people every time another civilian dies at our hands. We make friends with our actions, too, but not enough to outweigh the enemies we've gained, and we're gaining more enemies from these kinds of deaths every day we're over there.
This war was a mistake from Day One, when we were misled into an occupation even this President's own father knew was unwinnable. It's best we return our troops home, ASAP, since even veterans like Colin Powell have said it'll degenerate into a civil war whether we stay ten weeks or ten years longer.
Or is Powell a phony soldier too, Dave?
-- TS
Keep Speaking Truth to Power !!!!
Keep Speaking Truth to Power Brandon !!!!
You give others hope and power. (don't feed the trolls like Dave or Rush)
You were inspiring at the Cathedral and gave hope to many Veterans that day.
The greatest fear the Repuks have is Returning Veterans Speaking out..
Still waiting
I'm still waiting for Brandon's reply, and still giving him the benefit of the doubt. But the left's refusal to condemn the MacBeth's makes me wonder. Please let me know, SPC Day, that you are who you say you are, and we can debate the issue of the war on honest terms. And on whatever ground you see fit.
PS Why do we have to answer captch questions?
Still waiting
I imagine you are hugely busy with the anti war agenda, but I am still waiting for several responses to your claims of war crimes. Hello? I'll show you my DD-214 if you show me yours. The longer you wait the more you seem to confirm my suspicions, and I would hate to believe that about you.