July 06, 2005
WarLover Pataki does not want son to serve in Iraq
by Liza Sabater
Note: I published this yesterday at The Daily Gotham
It is time we put operation Yellow Elephant into action here in New York State.
I got this heads up via DailyKos:
New York Press : Fortunate Son
During the run-up to the invasion, Pataki was one of Bush's biggest war whores in the Northeast, taking his pro-war stump speech on the road to warn New Yorkers about the imminent threat posed by Saddam Hussein. Since the governor's support for the war has yet to waver, it is more than a little annoying to hear him publicly wishing for his son's deferral.
Sheryl McCarty, who I admire and think of as one of the best editorial writers this city has, ranted away about this issue back on June 30th:
Newsday.com: Ship young Pataki straight to Iraq
I'm sure Teddy Pataki is a nice young man. And the fact that he signed up for the Marine Corps' officers training program while he was still an undergraduate at Yale suggests a willingness to serve his country.But I would be really mad if 22-year-old Pataki, whose father is Gov. George Pataki, got to skate through the next three years of the Iraq conflict in law school.
The governor, who proudly announced last week that his son has been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marines, also noted that Teddy Pataki hopes to defer his military service for three years until he finishes law school.
Coming only days after 20-year-old Marine Cpl. Ramona Valdez of the Bronx was killed by a suicide bomber in Fallujah, to suggest that Lt. Pataki be allowed to pass the next three years studying torts and contracts seemed positively obscene.
It was another example of how politicians wage war but expect other people's children to fight them.
Pataki's son is of serving age. So are Michael Bloomberg's daughters. What other politicos who supported the war have children of serving age who can go and fight this war they so wanted, so needed and are so hell bent on not letting go?
The US Armed Forces have not been able to reach their quota for recruitment. They were down by 42% back in April. I am sure there are more than a few warmongering banana Repuglicans with kids of serving age, able bodied and just itching to go and finish the job in Iraq.
So who else should we add to the list?
Posted by Liza Sabater in Accountability, New York City, Parody, Propaganda, Republicans, War
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Say it loud, say it proud!
YEAH!! I've seen this idea raised on various other blogs, and maybe it's just the day or just the mood I'm in right now, but YEAH!!! Oh, yeah!! Let's start with the Bush girls! My daughter was "drafted" for a two-year stint in Iraq after having honorable completed all but two months of a six-year commitment to the Minnesota National Guard - but an "internal draft" is just one more thing wrong to throw on the growing mountain of violations being committed by this administration. I'll see my daughter again in March 2006, and until then, she's the woman in charge of the gate at a base just ten miles northwest of Baghdad. Tommi tells her own story (when she can) from a blog called "Sentinel 47: Keeping the Gate." She talks about thinning ranks and increasing opposition to the American presence ... it's not a pretty place, especially when you have to do your looking from outside the Green Zone. So, while we're building the list, let's remember that we can add the names of daughters as well as sons. Oh, yeah!
2
Comment by: lorraine at July 6, 2005 09:11 PM
This is a class issue, don't you think? They're not going to send their sons and daughters because, just as they wouldn't expect to clean up after themselves--that's what maids and gardeners and other service people are for--they can't be expected to get their hands dirty with fighting this war. The rich declare war, but it's the rest of us who fight it. Unless, of course, you're a College Republican hoping to become rich.
3
Comment by: liza at July 6, 2005 09:19 PM
ABSOLUTELY!
Read McCarthy's editorial --it's a total kick in the teeth about exactly that.
4
Comment by: Kyra at July 10, 2005 11:54 PM
Before you send Michael Bloomberg's daughters to Iraq, would you please confirm that THEY are pro-war too? This theory of punishing politicians by punishing their children is not fair to those children. It's much like that case in Pakistan about the woman who was gang-raped in retribution for something her brother did.
My position is, the people who are pro-war can do the fighting. Send Michael Bloomberg to Iraq. Send various conservative armchair pundits to Iraq. But I don't ever want to see any anti-war young person sent to Iraq because her father happens to be pro-war.
5
Comment by: liza at July 11, 2005 12:02 AM
The army is only taking men of his age if they have already served in the military. The fact of the matter is, the US needs personnel desperately. So I say, if you voted for the war, send your kids, not the ready to retire personnel who are being sent to Iraq against their will and under the threat of sedition.
1
Comment by: Mary Godwin at July 6, 2005 08:45 PM