oyuki

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Dead As Props

Okay I will be frank and blunt about this. I am totally every-freakin cheesed off by this ill-conceived and cowardly decision by Secretary of Defense Gates. For all his warts and bad calls, I wish Rumsfeld was back.

What am I talking about? Gates has allowed, at the discretion of the families involved, access to the KIAs returning to Dover from Iraq and Afghanistan. Discretion of the families my horse's posterior, this was a dodge to escape blame for this fiasco waiting to happen.

News flash Mr. Secretary. When they come off the plane at Dover, they have to be taken to mortuary affairs and processed. Go watch Taking Chance or read the story to learn what the people at Dover AFB do for each of our heroes. There is NO family involvement at Dover. As one of the guys at BlackFive said, Dover is the last chance for the big military family to say goodbye. to make sure everything is perfect and in order to lessen the burden on the families. 'Dover is ours,' he said.

Secretary Gates, this decision will come back to haunt you and you will have deserved it. You caved so someone else could fulfill a campaign promise. Pitiful.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gates must be fired. The stinky b.o. must be impeached. That is that.

Anonymous said...

What if, like Atlas Shrugged, those willing to defend, finally decide they've had enough, and say "no more!"

Men and women of this nation are too honorable for that, but when the Commander-in-Chief decides their death is to a thing of derision and mockery, he will see the consequences.

I predict he will always be treated respectfully, but never warmly in any military setting. The respect due the office will always be there, the respect for the man will never be.

Ed Rasimus said...

The only way this could ever have a positive aspect is if the main-stream-media (may the dung of a thousand camels rain upon their work stations) were to spontaneously and voluntarily balance every gratuitous photo of a fallen warrior's casket with a parallel story of returning, live, heroic warriors being honored upon return from their mission and being reunited with their families.

Unlikely.

Anna said...

Legios, first need a truly impeachable offense, this aint it.

Xformed, it may warm the heart to think that. But for the US to descend into civil war now, might as well surrender to Russia, Iran, North korea, and other evil actors on the world stage.

Ed, it would be nice. If that happened then we truly would have unicorns. In fact such a perfect world would no longer require brave people willing to face hardship like meglomaniacs.

All we can do is muddle through, stay faithful, and be ready.