-= Hunter S. Thompson, August 2002, ABC Radio Network
When Harry S. Truman was president, he had a problem with one of his commanding generals, Douglas MacArthur. It seems Gen. MacArthur had a problem with taking orders. It seems that Gen. MacArthur may have, in fact, been mad as a hatter, not unlike Jack D. Ripper in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. In 1950, without consulting the president, MacArthur asked that 26 atomic bombs be dropped on North Korea and Red China (fortunately, this did not happen). And, by April 1951, Truman had had enough of MacArthur's insubordination. Truman relieved the general of duty and recalled him from the Far East to Washington. Before reporting to the White House, MacArthur went before Congress and gave his famous speech about "Old soldiers never die." Upholding a tradition of moral cowardice that continues to this day, Congress interrupted MacArthur's speech 30 times for standing ovations, even when he reiterated his belief that Manchuria should be bombed and China blockaded. Truman rightly called the scene "a bunch of damn bullshit."
It's a pity we don't have someone in a leadership role in this country to stand up and say the same thing right now. What we do have going on right now, to borrow Truman's assessment, is a bunch of damn bullshit. It is the reverse of what Truman had on his hands. We have a renegade president and vice president, neither of whom ever wore a military uniform in combat -- and neither of whom was duly elected by the majority of America's voters -- lumbering drunkenly around the globe looking to kick some ass. Well, looking for surrogates -- yours and my sons and daughters -- to kick some ass for them. They are openly suggesting a "first strike" and the use of nuclear weapons. The pretext for these unprecedented, MacArthur-like actions are non-existent, save perhaps to seize the oil fields of Iraq, and the dangers are beyond comprehension (a 9/11-style attack on a regular basis?). Think about it: these madmen are actually considering going into the heart of the Muslim world, 1.2 billion strong with wannabe suicidal nut-case martyrs, with no allies except Israel. And the only person who seems to stand between them and World War III is a former commanding general, Colin Powell, who has worn a uniform in battle and knows better. Bush and Cheney suddenly got this Iraq bug up their collective ass about the time the media finally got off its knees to bust Bush's Harken crimes and Cheney's Halliburton crimes (among which were doing $32 million worth of business with Saddam Hussein as the company's CEO).
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