Ben Shapiro really, really doesn’t want to go to Iraq:
Richard Bradley, one of the many cynical Sheehan-users over at Arianna Huffington’s website, expresses the “chickenhawk” argument this way: “Thanks in large part to Cindy Sheehan, people are starting to raise the issue of why Jenna and Barbara Bush aren’t serving in the military. It’s a tough question, but I think it’s a fair one.” This isn’t a fair question – in fact, it’s an un-American question….
And convenience is what the “chickenhawk” argument is really about. Pacifists don’t want to discuss real foreign policy issues – they want to call names. If you can’t win over the populace at large, the only solution left is to stifle the argument. That’s what “chickenhawk” is about. At the end of the day, “chickenhawk” is morally and intellectually chicken.
No, my young lawyerly WND colleague, that is a perfectly fair question and it is most certainly not an “un-American” one. Both you and President Bush have asserted that it is a matter of absolute priority for Americans to fight and die in Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet you seem to feel that it’s even more important for you to get a law degree from Harvard than to serve your country in its hour of dire need.
I am more than happy to debate real foreign policy issues with you. I would be delighted to discuss how the Bush administration’s handling of The Struggle violates the precepts of classic military tacticians such as Sun Tzu, Caesar and Clausewitz. Nor am I a pacificist, a liberal or anti-American.
And yet, I agree with those liberal, anti-American pacifists in labeling you a chickenhawk. Because, my young, cowardly WND colleague, regardless of who happens to be pointing it out, you most certainly are one.
PS: Lest anyone feel inclined to wonder about the pot calling the kettle black, on first day of Desert Shield, Big Chilly and I went down to the Marine recruiter’s office in the Pavilion Place and expressed our wish to enlist. We were thanked for our willingness to serve our country and were informed that our services were not required for the incipient hostilities as The Corps was looking for career officers, not patriotic one-term wonders.