"I'd Like To Forget"
 

I sat in a movie theater watching "Behind Enemy Lines" and asked myself, "Why is war is so glorified?"

I sat in a movie theater watching "Pearl Harbor" and asked myself, "Why does a bad actor like Ben Affleck get so many starring roles?"

I fear I'll never understand why.

I'd like to forget the election of 2000, otherwise known as the Supreme Court Justices' Family Full-Employment Act (SCJFFEA)

I'd like to forget that the same arrogance displayed today by the Bush Bullies to the world-at-large also existed when they ignored terrorist security warnings by the outgoing Clinton administration.

I'd like to forget that right-wing conservative "reverends" make idiotic public statements like the Reverend Falwell's "The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.", relating to the 9/11 attacks. The Reverend Robinson publicly agreed with that brain cramp.

I'd like to forget the facts relating to a previous controversial and flawed military endeavor, such as former Vietnam advisors Robert McNamarra and Henry Kissenger self-servingly acknowledging they were aware at the time that their Vietnam policies were doomed to fail, but kept quiet. Thanks guys. We really appreciate you coming clean so many years later. The mind reels thinking of potential future Mia culpas trying to explain a preemption policy to fight "evil"? I bet motor mouth Rumsfeld will be one of the first.

I'd like to forget that fifty percent of voters in 2000 chose as leader of the free world, a man who made smirked remarks about being a "C" student in a college he could never dream of attending if his last name was Billingsley instead of Bush; a man who couldn't find oil in Texas, and a commander-in-chief whose military claim-to-fame is a part-time weekend warrior gig ensuring Texas was not invaded by Oklahoma.

I'd like to forget that in two short years, the value of my retirement portfolios have been cut in half, but Kenny Boy Lay is still a free man, and Martha Stewart still awaits comeuppance.

I'd like to forget our military's support for, to offer just one example, the "education" president who is proposing to cut education funding for many children of military families. His federal budget's plan would eliminate funding for military students who live in apartments or homes off base, a proposal that has incensed educators who say the timing couldn't be worse.

I'd like to forget that North Korea is firing missiles over the Sea of Japan, and our own "mother-of-all bombs" are creating mushroom clouds over Northwest Florida.

I'd like to forget that our foreign policy has done very little to help ease tensions throughout the world; not just between Israelis and Palestinians, Northern Ireland, Iran, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, but also in Central Africa, Indonesian Borneo, Burundi, East Timor, Fiji, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, and hey, how about those Solomon Islands. But a third rate sand castle of a country deserves all of our attention. Why not invade Granada again while we are at it?

I'd like to forget the reality of what columnist Thomas Friedman wrote in yesterday's New York Times about this administration; "...the president has hyped the threat and asserted that this is a war of no choice, then combined it all with his worst pre-9/11 business as usual: budget-busting tax cuts, indifference to global environmental concerns, a gas-guzzling energy policy, neglect of the Arab-Israeli peace process and bullying diplomacy." Better be careful Tom; your patriotism may be questioned.

And finally, speaking of questioned patriotism, I'd like to forget that seemingly every time anyone from the loyal opposition dares criticize the current regime, dumb-down patriotism is often used to rhetorically ask, "How dare you?" Enough already. I served my country.

I will not forget coming home from a thirteen month tour of duty on the Korean DMZ, only to have Vietnam War protesters make fun of the uniform. The first amendment gave them the right...peace and love brother during the Age of Aquarius.

I watched a presidential press conference last week and asked myself, "Why exactly are we going to war with Iraq?"

Now I know.

Now that I know however, it is not very comforting to know weapons of mass destruction are really, really, really evil and really, really, really bad, and nobody should ever use them, unless they belong to us, and then it's OK to use them first even if the other guy doesn't do anything to us first.

No, I will not be comforted, nor appeased, nor influenced, nor softened, nor silenced. There's too much at stake.

Alan "George" Billingsley
Sergeant, 3rd Infantry Division
1967-1970
Not As Cool, Nobody's Fool, But Still A Liberal