The shame of the chicken hawks

[OhioChick]

By Uwe E. Reinhardt
Princetonian Columnist

"Strains on the Army from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan become so severe that Army officials say they may be forced to make greater use of the National Guard to provide enough troops for overseas deployments," reported The New York Times on its front page Sept. 21. That step would break an earlier promise to allow five years at home between foreign deployments so as not to disrupt the family life and careers of its citizen soldiers. Earlier this summer, on July 26, President Bush authorized an "involuntary recall" of Marines on inactive reserve. "Involuntary recall" is delicate Washington speak for effectively a draft of Marines who have already served their country well on active duty and now would like to get on with their civilian lives.

Here, then, we have the most telling portrait of what passes as American "patriotism" these days. Unable to make more young Americans put their bodies where their mouths are, the Army and the Marines are forced to draft back into service the few Americans who actually have borne great sacrifices for their nation, while the rest of Americans, whose only sacrifice so far has been to accept a series of tax cuts, talk bravely about how "we (speak: "others") must stay the course in Iraq and Afghanistan until victory is achieved."

Young people who cheered on the invasion of Iraq in 2003 or who now proclaim boldly that we must "stay the course" in Iraq and Afghanistan — and possibly take on Iran — are known as "chicken hawks." Sean Hannity, chief "patriotic" bloviator on "Fox Channel News," is the quintessential species of this genre. He seems young and strong enough at least to drive a supply truck in Iraq but prefers to leave that task to other men and women. But every American college campus is home to legions of chicken hawks as well — students who wear the American flag in their lapel and wax romantic about America's epic struggle against evil in the world, but who steadfastly refuse to pick up an M-16 to do their share of the fighting. What is one to think of these ones?

After years of tilting lances with elite chicken hawks, I know their rationale by heart.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/09/25/opinion/15905.shtml