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| Fifth Column |
| McDermott: ''Maybe I overstated...'' |
| 2002-10-03 |
| Rep. Jim McDermott yesterday defended his patriotism and his trip to Iraq, dismissing charges that he betrayed his country. He also likened a pre-emptive military attack on Iraq to "the Old West, where you hang them first and ask questions later." Unlike Iraq, where they torture 'em first, hang 'em, and then ask questions later... But in his first comments since returning from a tumultuous three-day visit to Iraq, McDermott retreated from a remark he made in Baghdad that charged President Bush would "mislead the American public" to earn support for military action. "I perhaps overstated my case," McDermott said. You might say that... McDermott held firm, however, in his criticism of a unilateral attack on Iraq and implored Bush and Congress to slow down "the rush to war" to allow diplomacy to work. And to critics who condemned him for raising questions about U.S. policy and his loyalty to the United States, he offered a blunt retort: "They wouldn't say that to my face. I would. Yup. Sure would... "Democracy requires dissent," he said. "It requires all opinions being heard. Dissent for the mere sake of dissent is stupidity — or siding with the enemy. Take yer pick. Sometimes The Powers That Be are correct in their assessment of the situation. "I'm somebody who loves my country who's speaking up for what he believes. That's what I'm elected to do." Apparently he's elected to oppose what Bush does: Breaking bipartisan solidarity on Capitol Hill, Rep. Jim McDermott yesterday criticized the U.S.-led attacks on military targets in Afghanistan, questioning whether President Bush had "thought this action out completely or fully examined America's cause." The Seattle Democrat issued a two-paragraph statement that suggested Bush and his military advisers reacted too quickly to the Sept. 11 suicide jet attacks against the Pentagon and World Trade Center. The statement was the first public criticism of the retaliatory strikes by a federal lawmaker...Oh, and their service "in" Vietnam? They've been pushing that, but it wasn't, quite. From Best of the Web: An Associated Press dispatch today describes them as "Vietnam-era veterans," which is a bit of a dodge, since it describes when but not where they served. Visits to both men's Web sites show that they did indeed serve--in California. McDermott was chief psychiatrist at the Long Beach Naval Station in 1968-70; Bonior "joined the Air Force and was stationed in California. There he worked as a cook, slinging hash."I kinda got the feeling that might have been the case when I read the first paragraph of that article... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |