(David Ranck Update below)
"Do we have the right here in the United States to say that we're going to kill tens of thousands, and make millions of peoples, as we have, refugees, kill women and children as we have...I very seriously question whether we have that right...when we use bombs, when a village is destroyed and civilians are killed...this is a moral obligation and moral responsibility for us here in the United States."
Who said that?
Not Barak Obama. Not Hillary Clinton. Not John McCain. Not even our favourite John Edwards.
Those wise words were said on November 26, 1967, on the television show Face the Nation, by Senator Robert Kennedy.
We substituted "Bombs" for "napalm" to keep the statement current. And of course the Senator was talking about Vietnam.
It just seems like we haven't learned very much in 41 years.
Except how to kill. We've never forgotten to do that, and we certainly do it more efficiently. Our own soldiers still get killed while they are killing, but we have managed to learn how to kill hundreds of thousands of humans while limiting our own deaths to less than five thousand.
So we are more efficient killers.
It just doesn't seem something to crow about.
In the 82 days after Robert Kennedy announced his decision to challenge a sitting president from his own party, his president announced he would not run for re-election; Dr. Martin King was assassinated, our cities burned, and then Robert Kennedy was assassinated. In 82 days we buried three leaders- one figuratively and two literally, and our world was irrevocably changed.
In twice that time- in less than 180 days, we will elect a new president. We can change our world again, for the better. Lets see just how much we've learned in 41 years.
See You In Court.
Update. Mr. Ranck has published an explanation of the events surrounding how he obtained the email he published, and what has occurred since then.
RANCK UPDATE
Check out the Broward Blog: they have a picture of men with clubs killing baby seals with the caption "SAO Orientation".
ReplyDeleteI've said some dumb things in my times here, and I've wrongly offended people at times, but that picture ranks right up there with the term "controversial." It's not something I would have done, that's for sure, no matter how bad the Broward SAO treats my clients (and it is easy to say they treat defendants worse or harsher than ANY SAO in this entire state.)
Am I the only one that thinks that Barack Obama has the potential to become our generation's Al Smith? Look what happened to the country (and the economy) after that election.
ReplyDeleteYour post sounds dramatic and grandiloquent, Rumpole, but, sadly, we have no one with true leadership quality running for president this year.
ReplyDeleteTo Poster from yesterday:
ReplyDeleteGive me more about the Carlos Martinez Junta you are talking about...
Wear your bowtie next Saturday evening.
ReplyDeleteBowties for Ben.
Ranck doesn't say, but I'd still like to know why he's doing this why he's doing this now.
ReplyDeleteWise Words indeed, but hollow? Isn't that the same RFK who engineered the Bay of Pigs debacle? I prefer the quote paraphrased: "Beware the Miltary Industrial Complex", President and former Commanding General of the Allied Forces Dwight D. Eisenhower.
ReplyDeleteDella Street
This blog has truly "jumped the shark!"
ReplyDeleteThe vietnamese lost at least 4 million during the 10 years of the war. That's a little bit more than 1000 dead per day... every day for 10 years. So, in vietnamese days, the Iraq War has lasted a little bit more than 4 days for American Soldiers. Vietnamese families will be affected by the war for 100s of years.
ReplyDeleteOh my God 6:30 you are an ass. Americans lost 58,169 in the 16 years (1959 to 1970) it was involved in the war - that is almost 3,700 of ours killed per year. So if you really want to boil it down to numbers...we have a little over one "Vietnam year" under our belts - considering McCain is all for staying another 100, better get your children ready for the draft.
ReplyDeleteBut isn't the real point that Vietnam was a mistake - this war is a mistake?