Nancy W. Shebish – 9/14/05

This page was last updated on September 15, 2005.

Of history and hypocrites; Nancy W. Shebish; Beaver County Times; September 14, 2005.

Regarding the quotes Ms. Shebish cites, I don’t know if they’re true or urban legends. I say that because I did a quick Google search on a couple of them and the only places I could find them were on left-leaning websites and they tended to be grouped together. I would have expected to find some of them on news sites, like CNN, etc. I also have my doubts because they are not consistent with our actual involvement in Bosnia.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I recently read some comments that were made by some politicians when President Clinton committed troops to Bosnia. These comments are very enlightening. Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, said, ‘You can support the troops but not the president.’

“Sean Hannity of Fox News said, ‘Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?’

“My favorite is from that bastion of wisdom, Rick Santorum, R-Penn Hills, who said, ‘The president is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation’s armed forces how long they will be away from home.’

“But my favorites are from Karen Hughes on behalf of then-Gov. George Bush, who said, ‘If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy’ and Gov. George Bush said, ‘Victory means an exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is.’

“Well there you have it. How do you spell hypocrite? B-U-S-H. Oh, by the way, we won that war in Bosnia without a single person killed in action. History always speaks for itself.”

[RWC] Yes, Ms. Shebish, history does speak for itself. U.S. ground troops never entered the Bosnia War. Until a peace agreement was signed, the U.S. – as part of NATO – only participated in bombing of Bosnia. The U.S. – as part of NATO – sent ground troops to Bosnia for peacekeeping purposes (IFOR) only after the 1995 Bosnia peace agreement was in effect. Ms. Shebish failed to note we still have troops in the Balkans.

Further, “we” didn’t win the war. The war was among Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and they were the signers of the pace agreement.