I've been tossing around this sort of "down to their level" missive for a while... still undecided if it's too much, or worth submitting somewhere (other than to the chorus, of course!) as a longer letter-to-ed/local voice of the people type op-ed page submission.
Thoughts?
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The so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are engaging in nothing more than political terrorism.
An inflammatory statement, to be sure - but then, if a top Bush political advisor like Karen Hughes can lump pro-choice supporters in with terrorists, as she did on CNN on April 23 of this year; and if Bush's Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, can refer to the National Education Association as a terrorist organization, as he did in February - then a lowly voter such as myself should be entitled to the same rhetoric... especially if said allegation has some basis in logic rather than the simple "they're-not-on-MY-side" reasoning that was the foundation of both Paige and Hughes' statement.
No, the 527 Bush front hasn't murdered thousands - but their tactics reek of a hit-and-run, and the methods are rooted in the same morally repugnant thinking.
On September 11, 2001 - terrorists rammed two planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, another into the Pentagon, and another was forced into a field in Pennsylvania by the heroes of flight 93. As bloodthirsty and seemingly senseless as this attack was, we should remember that no flotilla stood poised offshore, filled with Al Queada infantry waiting to secure a beachhead in New York. No fundamentalist paratroopers dropped on northern Virginia to take control of the just-hit area around the Pentagon.
We were not and are not puzzled by this because, however ill-attentive we may have been prior to 9/11, we have always recognized the tactics and strategies of terrorists. Their goal is not to "win", not to imprint any sort of lasting stamp on our times. Osama Bin Laden (unlike our president - remember him?), even in his wildest dreams, surely wasn't waiting for America to send terms of our surrender.
The goal was - and remains - simply to inflict as much damage, as much chaos; to instill as much doubt and fear; and to cause as much pain and suffering as they could with the resources available.
The Swift Boat attackers share the same approach. One by one, the scurrilous claims of the group have fallen by the wayside, as Naval records and his own commendation in the same action sunk Larry Thurlow's slanderous attack on John Kerry's bronze star, as their own contradictory statements call in to question the veracity of George Elliott and Adrian Lonsdale, as Louis Letson, who claimed to have treated the wound that resulted in Kerry's first of three purple hearts, cannot muster even a scintilla of evidence to contradict the official records that would paint him a liar, to say nothing of his charges...and the beat goes on.
But as with 9/11 - the attackers need no follow-up. They have wreaked their havoc and caused their carnage. While the media does what it should have done before giving these Bush dead-enders their 15 minutes of fame - namely researching and "verifying" their claims, rather than now debunking them after the fact, the attack dogs can smugly lay back, their goal accomplished
For a week after the first ad aired - the Kerry/Edwards team continued to talk about health care, jobs, and national security. But then, as the plumes of smoke rose from the wreckage of this political suicide attack, they had no choice but to engage. The important discussions about the challenges facing our country fall to the background, lost in the din of conservative Michelle Malkin insinuating on MSNBC that Kerry's wounds were self-inflicted in an attempt evade service, of Bob Dole demanding on CNN to see the blood from those same wounds.
At time when our nation again finds itself involved in a questionable action falsely sold as part of a larger, real, struggle, there could have been a constructive discussion to come from Kerry's activities in the late 60s and early 70s - as retired Marine General Anthony Zinni told a gathering of marine and naval officers last year, "Many of my contemporaries had our feelings and our sensitivities forged on the battlefields of Vietnam, where we heard the garbage and the lies, and we saw the sacrifice. We swore never again would we allow it to happen. I ask you, is it happening again?"
The Swift Boat Veterans should be lauded for their service - anyone that serves our nation should be - but just as Lee Harvey Oswald's service in the military in no way lessens the assassination of President Kennedy, the flimsy charges, twisted claims, and now-debunked attacks of these character assassins deserves no less condemnation for ramming their vitriol-laden planes into the twin towers of Kerry's service and integrity.