BCT Editorial – 9/11/08

This page was last updated on September 14, 2008.

Then and now; Editorial; Beaver County Times; September 11, 2008.

The editorial subtitle is “The Moving Wall shows that Americans have learned from the past.”

One paragraph asserts, “Fortunately, these mistakes have not been repeated regarding the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Those who are responsible for this deeply unpopular war are bearing the brunt of the criticism, and deservedly so.”

The author of this editorial apparently did so with his ears closed for the last few years. Consider the following quotes.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) on the Senate floor compared our soldiers to “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others – that had no concern for human beings?”

In 2004, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) said, “Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam’s torture chambers reopened under new management: U.S. management.”

In December 2005, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said the following on “Face the Nation.” “[T]here is no reason, Bob [Schieffer], that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the – of - the historical customs, religious customs.” As he did in 1971 and 1972, Mr. Kerry referred to our soldiers as predators for political “gain.”

In May 2006, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) judged Marines guilty of killing Haditha “innocent civilians in cold blood” more than a year before the investigation was anywhere near completion. Of the four Marines Mr. Murtha accused of killing “innocent civilians in cold blood,” all charges were dismissed for two of them. Though an investigating officer recommended dismissing charges against a third Marine, a trial took place and the Marine was acquitted. Charges are still pending for the fourth accused Marine, though a Camp Pendleton area newspaper reports the investigating officer recommends reducing the charges. Though Mr. Murtha was quite vocal and public about his guilty verdict, he hasn’t been that way when it comes to apologizing to the Marines for whom charges have been dropped. Mr. Murtha’s response to questions is now “The trials are not over yet,” even for the Marines for whom there will be no trials because the charges were dropped. A federal judge has ordered Mr. Murtha to testify in a defamation suit filed against him by one of the Marines.

Of course, I guess it’s possible the Times never reported these incidents so that could account for the author’s ignorance.

FYI, someone else who had his head buried in the sand but in a different era posted the following comment on the Times website. William G. Horter wrote, “I was tottally [sic] against the Vietnam war, and LBJ. But there never was a time I can remember when anyone was ‘against the troops’. This is an old canard that just won’t go away. like ‘spitting on the troops’, it never happened. The troops are our boys, our sons and dughters [sic], our nephews. We wanted them out of there, period.” This was so off the wall even one of Mr. Horter’s joined-at-the-hip comrades [Rich Laughlin (aka “Lock”)] corrected him.