Speaking Of MSNBC...

Tonight, with MSNBC’s Hardball* broadcasting from Penn State, Chris Matthews was talking to Rudy Giuliani about the upcoming war on Iraq.

As Matthews has been doing whenever this topic comes up on the Hardball college shows, he turned to the audience, and asked, “how many of you in the audience would support a war on Iraq?”

About 60% of the audience claps politely. This was far higher than any other time he asked it at other schools (except when they were at the Citadel). Is Penn somehow less pinko?

“And how many of you oppose it?”

The other 40% loudly made their presence known.

“Ok, of those who supported the war, how many of you are actually planning to join the military and fight?”

This was the Matthews moneyshot. About a dozen or so young men stood up. Matthews seemed surprised the number was even that high. Of course, what followed was the standard “Chickenhawk” accusation applied to the rest of the pro-war men in the audience. Implied in this little poll, was that the rich kids going to these elite colleges would support a war, as long as it’s only the poor folks’ kids who were gonna go off and get killed in it. Apparently, I had just learned, the bile-like rhetorical scent of class-warfare travels efficiently through coax cable.

Now, as a healthy young man who recently graduated from university, supports military action against the Hussein regime, and never joined the armed forces, Matthews' finger is pointing directly at me. The charge is either cowardice, or reckless disregard for other people’s lives.

Never mind that this little poll would probably look the same if you moved it to an economically mixed high-school, rather than the “elite” campuses Hardball is visiting. The simple fact of the matter is that, when considering the military as a possible future career path as a high-schooler (an option I took seriously), I decided the military didn’t need me, and I’d better serve my nation as a source of revenue for the IRS to tax in order to support the armed forces. Besides, I didn’t think they needed any overweight, dorky, long-haired, juvenile alcoholics to deal with.

Aside from the brief urge to sign up immediately following 9-11, I stand by my high-school decision. I’d make a lousy soldier. However, if I ever thought I was really needed in the armed forces, I would join immediately. I love my country, and know that sometimes young men like myself must go off to foreign lands to protect it. But, so far, I haven’t been asked to do anything more than shop.

If there was anything near a draft going on, I’d sign-up in a heartbeat. But there isn’t, and there isn’t going to be anytime soon. Standard Libertarian dogma says the draft is inherently wrong, and perhaps this is true, but it is sometimes very necessary for the national survival. If a World War II type situation developed tomorrow, a draft would be necessary. The draft is never coming back, though, because nuclear weapons make large ground armies obsolete.

A professional volunteer military, however, like the one we have now, is vastly superior to any conscript army. Our fighting men have chosen to be in the military, with all the risk that involves. Military personnel are paid far less than they would be in private sector, and they do it because they want to defend the nation. Any serious weaknesses in our current military stem more from material, transport, and funding issues, rather than manpower shortages.

All that being said, the American military is still subservient to the civilian government. Generals don’t decide whether or not the nation goes to war, the congress does. Of course, ignoring the advice of your generals is idiotic, but the nation’s strategic goals must always be decided by the politicians. And I expect those politicians to use the military to defend the nation’s security, which is what getting rid of Saddam is all about. Whether those politicians have combat experience is irrelevant, in my mind, to the strategic concerns involved with the decision to go to war.

It doesn’t take combat experience to know that life is precious, and that the decisions made regarding military action will put those we send at grave risk. But there is a macabre moral calculus involved in the process. How many soldiers might die if we invade Iraq? How many civilians might die (both Americans and foreigners) if Saddam acquires more effective WMD. This simple equation should be at the core of any decision regarding Iraq. I believe the risks to our troops are far outweighed by the potential for millions of civilian caualities should Saddam use his soon to be developed WMDs, or if said weapons get into the hands of Al Qaeda-like organizations. This is why I favor taking Saddam out before it’s too late.

Do I want the young men in uniform to go die for me (or anyone else for that matter)? Absolutely not. I’d much prefer an outcome where Saddam is done in by his own people, Mussolini style. But if that doesn’t happen, the military has its job, and a peaceful outcome is far more likely to occur if we show we’re willing to attack. You’re not going to be hearing servicemen bitching and moaning about going into combat, because that’s what the majority of them signed up to do. They will do what’s needed, and they’ll do it without complaint.

As for Matthews’ insinuation that us “chickenhawks” are foisting our war on the sons and daughters of the working man, I can only reply by saying: Chrissy baby, the 60’s were three decades ago. The military is no longer the drugged out, poor conscript-filled force you grew up with. Our conventional armed forces today are all-volunteer, and without a doubt the best-trained and most effective (i.e. deadly) force man has ever seen. The people who will be fighting this war for us are exactly the kind of men who need to be there: determined, disciplined, and well-trained, with the most advanced equipment in the world. As much as I want to put a bullet in a certain Iraqi dictator’s head, I’d just get in these good people’s way.

*Despite tonight’s ranting, I do like Chris Matthews and Hardball. It’s one of the few debate type shows on cable TV I can stomach.

 

Posted by Captain Mojo at October 31, 2002 12:06 AM | TrackBack