Every time I hear of another American casualty I am reminded of the last verse of The Saga Of The Floundering 446th. The Saga Of The Floundering 446th sung to the tune of The Wabash Cannon Ball is a ballad composed by two B-24 pilots in 1943. The composers made an attempt at humor and levity while describing the anxieties and SNAFUs that off times go along with a combat mission but the last few lines are as serious as a stroke.
No matter boy how brave you are,
No matter friend how bold.
A flyer's one ambition
Is to die from getting old.
When the flak is thick around you
And the fighters by you pass,
The place you would like to be
Is back home on your ass.
Change "flyer" to "ground combatant" "flak" to "suicide bomber" "fighters" to "sniper's bullets" and the message is as true today as it was in 1943.
Joe Hays
Friday, September 21, 2007
Letter to the Editor:
September 6, 2007
Dear Star Telegram Editor:
Get out of Iraq now!
The surge is working. Give it more time.
No matter how long it takes, we must stay until the job is finished.
Good patriotic Americans are passionately making these arguments everyday around the water coolers, on the street corners, and over the back fence. I have my opinion but very truthfully I am as ignorant as everyone else. How could I or any other mere citizens know when or how to get out with the best interest of the United States of America being served? None of us know why we bombed a restaurant in the heart of Baghdad and advised the tanks in Kuwait to stop warming your engines and roll. If we did, a consensus would form overnight and arguments about when and how to get out would cease.
The knowledge of why we went in is known by only a few of our leaders in the executive branch of our government and they aren’t talking any more. All of their original excuses have been proven to be lies. They won’t consider telling the truth unless force is exercised.
What legal force is available? Impeachment is all that comes to my mind. If our President really cooperates during the impeachment and afterwards maybe he can avoid being tried and convicted as a war criminal.
Sincerely,
Joe Hays
Dear Star Telegram Editor:
Get out of Iraq now!
The surge is working. Give it more time.
No matter how long it takes, we must stay until the job is finished.
Good patriotic Americans are passionately making these arguments everyday around the water coolers, on the street corners, and over the back fence. I have my opinion but very truthfully I am as ignorant as everyone else. How could I or any other mere citizens know when or how to get out with the best interest of the United States of America being served? None of us know why we bombed a restaurant in the heart of Baghdad and advised the tanks in Kuwait to stop warming your engines and roll. If we did, a consensus would form overnight and arguments about when and how to get out would cease.
The knowledge of why we went in is known by only a few of our leaders in the executive branch of our government and they aren’t talking any more. All of their original excuses have been proven to be lies. They won’t consider telling the truth unless force is exercised.
What legal force is available? Impeachment is all that comes to my mind. If our President really cooperates during the impeachment and afterwards maybe he can avoid being tried and convicted as a war criminal.
Sincerely,
Joe Hays
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