Greenwald On The Next Generation of Chickenhawks

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

In a way, it's too bad Glenn Greenwald is now behind the curtain at Salon Magazine. I'm sure he's better compensated for his work now, which is good, but it's too bad that it's now more difficult to look at what he writes.

Take today's article on "The 9/11 Generation", as The Weekly Standard's Dean Barnett has referred to them:

The article is being hailed in all of the predictable right-wing precincts, even though its reasoning highlights (unintentionally) exactly what is so corrupt, ignoble and deceitful about that political movement.
...
How does one even begin counting the myths laid on top of more myths on which these claims are based? To begin with, while Barnett contrasts two significant groups of the Vietnam era -- those who bravely volunteered for combat and/or who were drafted (Jim Webb and John McCain and Chuck Hagel and John Kerry) and those who protested the war -- he revealingly whitewashes from history the other major group, the most ignoble one, the one which happens to include virtually all of the individuals who lead Barnett's political movement: namely, those who claimed to support the war but did everything possible to evade military service, sending their fellow citizens off to die instead in a war they urged.

The Weekly Standard's "9/11 Generation"

What I despise about this part of that generation, as with the chickenhawk portion of my own, is that they are plenty brave when other people are fighting wars, being imprisoned for the rest of their lives, or being tortured, but anything that causes them to be marginally more imperiled is something to be opposed vociferously, not to mention courageously. They'd rather slaughter tens of thousands of people in a foreign country than be infinitesimally more imperiled at home.

These people like to think of themselves as courageous. Many proudly display that ridiculous "101st Fighting Keyboardists" logo as though it were some badge of honor to lay the intellectual foundation for sending other people to fight a war. No doubt I just don't understand true courage, but I don't see what's courageous about hiding in the corner, pissing in your pants, and telling someone else "You. Go handle it".

Reading any more of my words on the subject is a waste of time when Greenwald's done such a marvelous job on them. Just go pull back the curtain and read Glenn's essay.

UPDATE: When you're done with that, go read this. Eli found a terrific essay by Jimmy Breslin on Bush, Iraq, impeachment, and the relationship between them. As Eli observes, Breslin's mind is in much better shape than David Broder's.