Imagine my surprise, being called “an obvious Socialist” by Mr. [Thomas] Euell, in his letter published Dec. 20.
Sadly, Mr. Euell hasn’t read Rousseau’s A Social Contract, or even the dictionary meaning of the word “socialist.” He reminds me of the blustering McCarthyism of (thank goodness) bygone days where name calling, persecution and blacklisting were the order of the day.
This name calling is supposed to conjure up fear, and sadly, amongst the ignorant, it does. Yet Social Security and Medicare are socialist concepts of which millions of Americans count on, as are FEMA, the ICC, the CDC, the FAA, the FCC and hundreds of other government regulatory agencies meant to protect and help us. Would he abolish them as “socialist?”
Mr. Euell goes on to compare American “killed in action” statistics from Bush’s presidency (575) to Obama’s (577) in Afghanistan.
Of course, he leaves out completely the Iraq War initiated by Bush that drew troops out of Afghanistan to start yet another war in Iraq. Did I mention it was started by Bush to address “weapons of mass destruction” after parading in front of us, proof positive of these weapons, that ultimately never existed?
Also, he has forgotten that it was under President Obama that Bin Laden was dispatched.
I am dismayed that Mr. Euell uses partisan politics here. Our combat deaths should not be fodder for partisan discussion, especially when the war that Mr. Euell forgot to mention cost us thousands of American lives, caused us to take our eye off of the Taliban (who were not in Iraq) and was the causation of a “surge” that the generals requested in Afghanistan as the Iraq War was ending, which caused an up-tick in American casualties.
I guess Obama deserves nothing for ending the bigger war (Iraq) and has set a timetable for ending Afghanistan in 2014.
In summation, Bush and the Republican party called Americans against the war traitors, treasonous and unpatriotic, yet Mr. Euell states “he had six years” and “get us out” when his ilk fought Obama on every issue, including the wars. This is precisely Mr. Euell’s tactics, most especially calling our president names.
As a combat-wounded veteran, I am ashamed that Mr. Euell would try to defame President Obama using casualties or deaths as fodder, leaving out the bigger war completely, and then would proceed to call me names at the same time.
It’s amazing to me that those who were so ready to go to war and exclaimed continuously that we were winning are now strangely quiet and even blaming Obama for more casualties.
As individuals, and as a country, we should be beyond that. But I’m afraid that we have learned little from our mistakes, and partisan politics have worsened.
George Unger, Wellington
