The People Speak: Congress wimps out, brings shame to all
Muskogee Phoenix

Many members of Congress and cartoonist Walt Kelly’s Pogo could easily use the same theme — “I have met the enemy and he is me.”

Instead of standing behind the commander-in-chief and our military, most politicians are running for cover and re-election. Let’s face it, after the oath of office, career politicians start running full bore for re-election. That is most politicians. Sen. Tom Coburn is a refreshing exception, but then Coburn is not a career politician, but a true conservative.

Three score and three years ago upon returning from the Southwest Pacific, I docked in San Francisco. There were hundreds of people on the pier plus a band playing patriotic songs. They were expressing gratitude to those of us who came back. This made us happy but many of us were thinking of the two sea burials during our return.

It’s a very somber, chilling sight for your ship to come to a halt while each person able to stand was on deck paying homage, while “Taps” was blown for these two men who were encased in cement and buried at sea. The stop was brief as we were unescorted and Jap subs were still a menace. Yes, these grateful people made me happy to be an American and proud to have served my country.

A generation later when my plane landed at Travis Air Force Base returning from Vietnam, I wasn’t nearly so proud. The tarmac was littered with pot-headed, cowardly, draft-dodging hippies carrying signs that proclaimed, “Hell no, we won’t go.” A sad welcome for a person trying to do his duty.

Now three generations later with our troops in harm’s way in Iraq, Congress reminds me so much of those cowards that greeted me when I came home from Vietnam.

Don’t ask a pollster or a left-wing biased reporter but ask a returnee from Iraq just how happy he or she is with Congress for their crumbling under pressure and bringing shame not only to the military but the entire American community.

Paul G. Becker
Webbers Falls