http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13971524&BRD=2271&PAG=461&dept_id=462943&rfi=6As old as the presidency itself
Lyman Flinn's Feb. 4 letter concerning President Bush's inaugural parade was long on hyperbole and mean-spirited demagoguery while being short on facts and comprehension. As a military police officer assigned to the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, I had the great privilege to help plan and participate in President Reagan's second inaugural, so I have a different perspective.
The military-themed Inaugural Parade is as old as the presidency itself. George Washington had a military escort from his Inauguration ceremony. It highlights one of the president's key roles as Commander-in-Chief of the nation's military forces. While the world situation forced the planners to make the security preparations for this event much more apparent, (and undoubtedly to increase those measures), the law enforcement organizations that serve the nation's capital and surrounding area have always been deeply involved in planning and executing Inaugural activities. I personally coordinated the activities of over 18 civilian and military police organizations in my 1984-85 assignment. Virtually without exception, those agencies maximized the number of officers on duty by freezing leaves of absence, reducing administrative activities and working 12-hour shifts.
Only someone with a visceral hatred of George Bush and the freedom and democracy for which America stands, could come to Mr. Flinn's conclusions. Like it or not, the United States is the preeminent democracy in the world today, and if we recognize our freedoms to be the divinely-bestowed gifts that they are, we must also recognize that it is our duty to be a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world, in the same way that Christ is a beacon of love and divine grace for all of mankind.
Indeed, in making war against Islamofacist terrorism, George Bush is making good on John F. Kennedy's Inaugural promises of 1960, when he said, "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty." We can fight the terrorists on our territory, as we were forced to do on September 11, 2001, or we can take the battle to the spider holes and caves that they inhabit, (certainly my preference), but Mr. Flinn should make no mistake, they are every bit the threat to America and the free world as was Nikita Kruschev when he threatened, "we will bury you." As I've said before in these columns and I'll say it again, I get down on my knees every night and thank God that He gave us a man with the wisdom and courage that George Bush has, to be President of the United States.
Bob Haugh
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