Max Cleland (HuffPost): Speaking the Truth (in defense of Kerry)

The angry rhetoric on Fox News Monday night seemed all too familiar. John O'Neill, when questioned about the situation in Iraq, used the politics of personal destruction to attack a decorated veteran -- my brother John Kerry. O'Neill's arguments are a repeat of Republican politics during the last five years. We saw the same tactics used against John McCain in 2000, John Kerry last year with the Swift Boat ads, and most recently against John Murtha, one of the most respected Congressional voices on military affairs.

I am disappointed, less about the dire situation in Iraq, but more about the other side's reluctance to see anything but silver linings. They cannot bear to hear the truth about what is happening in Iraq.

O'Neill's complaints were brought on by Senator Kerry's appearance on Face the Nation last weekend. Senator Kerry said on the show that he does not want to see American soldiers put in needless danger on missions that are counterproductive and ignite the insurgency. He believes Iraqis should police their own streets and search their fellow citizens' homes. Eventually, he wants them to defend their country without American assistance. He is not calling for an all-out immediate withdrawal, but says that our government needs to tell the Iraqis that we will not be there forever.

<snip>

I've known John Kerry for a long time. He speaks out of love for our troops and out of an understanding of what it's like to be an American soldier fighting in a distant land. He speaks with the same candor today that he spoke with 34 years ago when he came home from the Vietnam War.

Like many other Vietnam veterans, John Kerry does not want to see the same movie replayed over again. It is time to focus on a redeployment plan which guarantees the safety and stability of Iraq and brings our troops home.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-cleland/speaking-the-truth_b_11800.html

We miss you in the senate!

As is John Kerry.

:patriot:

Great post by Max, always there to back up his brothers. That's a true hero.

I got to see him speak several times at my university since he is an alum, and even got to meet him in person once, and every time I see him I am in awe of his intellect and integrity. I wish he was back in the senate where he belongs.

I love Max Cleland. He is wonderful!

the lies and twisted accusations.

Max Cleland is a true American hero and he knows something about patriotism, honor and loyalty.

It makes me absolutely furious to see that perfidious, worm-meat O'Neill using the tragedy of the war to get his bloated, onion-eyed face back on national television.

The Department of Defense’s proposed National Security Personnel System of rewarding employees considered “worthy” threatens to undermine workers’ collective bargaining and due process rights in the name of “national security.” This is Bush cronyism at its finest, designed to promote a system of amiable sock puppets, like those coached by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Allison Barber during President Bush’s scripted videoconference propaganda stunt last month. It’s a system reminiscent of 1933 Berlin, when Adolf Hitler held a massive May Day celebration for workers as a ruse to outlaw free labor unions.

Let’s apply the NSPS to Bush, evaluating his administration on its goal to end “the politics of personal destruction,” unite the country with compassion, and bring honor and dignity to the White House. In fact, the Bush administration has smeared those with opposing views, a foreshadow of the NSPS’s hidden agenda — conformity or else. Recipients of Bush’s smear campaign include Rep. John Murtha, Joseph Wilson, CIA agent Valerie Plame, John McCain, Max Cleland, Richard Clarke, Eric Shinseki, Anthony Zinni, John Kerry, the National Education Association, Gold Star Mothers and residents of New Orleans. So much for unity and “Christian” compassion.

Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby Jr., remained on the federal payroll up until his indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice during a war that resulted from the worst national security breach in U.S. history — Sept. 11. Karl Rove, under investigation for passing classified information about Plame to the media — information that goes to the heart of America’s security — remains Bush’s most trusted adviser.

As a retired veteran and civilian employee, I’m treated as a national security threat, yet Libby and Rove aren’t. Cheney can advocate the torturing away of America’s national security, Bush can make “a mistake” of killing/maiming more than 100,000 innocent people — Iraqi and “coalition” — while I’m either to march in lock step or find work elsewhere.

Just as the Patriot Act has nothing to do with patriotism, Bush’s regressive labor proposal, the NSPS, has nothing to do with national security. Furthermore, it is unjust and un-American, and must be rejected.

Edwin Thornburg
Würzburg, Germany

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=33244