As the three contenders for the Office of the President of the United States come closer to that hallowed Tuesday contest, there is an 800 lb gorilla in the room. And it’s sitting next to the Republican nominee, who is quite comfortable with that notion. It’s the war. Not simply the war in Iraq, but the Global War on Terror.
Let’s not forget that while the bloodiest and therefore most objectionable portion of this war is taking place in Iraq, it has other theaters. The obvious other hot spot is Afghanistan, which has received little press attention since the rise of the Iraqi insurgency. Then there’s Pakistan, where non-uniformed special forces and CIA operatives are working alongside the Pakistani army seeking to expel Taliban militants, often without anyone realizing that they’re American. More than a few hundred US Army Rangers and Special Forces teams are stationed in the Philippines advising and engaging in direct action operations against al-Qaeda backed Abu Sayaff militants. A half-strength-sized battallion of US Marines are in Djibouti at the US Central Command headquarters that is operating out of a former French Foreign Legion facility leased by the Djibouti government. In Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Yemen, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Thailand, Columbia and Panama (to name a few), rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us*. The 800 lb gorilla has a long reach that for six years has kept a very determined enemy occupied while US intelligence services have foiled every skilled attempt to bring Islamofascist violence into the heart of America.
Both Democrat contenders for their party’s nomination oppose the war on some level. (The degree of their opposition and their dedication to ending the war on terror changes on a month-to-month and audience-to-audience basis.) Their willingness to champion an end to the war has taken the back burner to safer issues because each one of them knows two facts: the first is that the rhetoric of disengagement is far easier than the act of disengagement. If either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton become President, they will face hard choices and the very real possibility that we are now inextricably engaged in a fight for the survival of the American way of life. Whether by unwillingness or incapability, if either candidate fails to bring the promised swift-end to the war, they not only lose their credibility but do irreparable harm to their own party, a party which almost as old as the country itself. In ’staying the course’, they then face issues of their suitability (or lack thereof) to function as Commander in Chief not only because of their glaring lack of any military connection (by service or relation to a service member), but their historical disdain for the military**.
The gorilla is sitting next to McCain for a reason. McCain has respect for the gorilla. McCain is old friends with the gorilla. As a pilot who ’successfully intercepted a surface-to-air missile with his A4′, then was captured, tortured and held during the Viet Nam war, nobody can argue that he has first-hand experience of the horrors of war. With one son having returned from Iraq where he served as an enlisted Marine, and a second son due to graduate from the US Naval Academy and head to Iraq, McCain also knows the pain of being a parent who faces losing a child to the war. This makes his stance on Iraq credible and unassailable by critics.
For Democrats, now is the time to forget the war and hope that if they ignore it, the 800 lb gorilla will leave the room before the convention.
*With all due deference to George Orwell.
**Hillary’s recent slander of the Marines with her bogus “I went to a recruiter” story is trumped by a 1996 account where she ordered Marines from HMX squadron (responsible for maintaining the Presidential helicopter) to act as waiters at a fundraiser given at the White House… in full dress uniform.
Entries (RSS)