Ted Rall has struck again - this time with words instead of his little cartoons. In his Dec. 6, 2005 editorial, "We're Looking for a Few Good Refuseniks", Rall attacks the US military and veterans again. Rall credits the "unelected" President Bush for the military turning its back on its once "honorable calling". Rall then blames the US soldiers for "torturing, maiming and murdering POWs, robbing and subjecting civilians to collective punishment, dropping white phosphorus and depleted uranium bombs on civilian targets."
Pooh-poohing the "they are just following orders" excuse, Rall reminds his readers that the illegal, immoral and unjust war could not have been waged without a "compliant and complicit US military". He calls for the "men and women of our armed forces" to be "held individually accountable for the carnage". Rall continues that our "government's poorly paid contract killers" do not deserve our support for blindly following orders. So much for "we support the troops but not their mission".
Rall holds up Darrell Anderson, the 22 year old deserter, as a role model for the soldiers serving their country. Anderson ran and hid in Canada because he "couldn't kill women and children." Rall said that Anderson made the "right choice".
In the closing of his anti-military screed, Rall could not resist attacking another group of military veterans - the Vietnam Veterans. The reports of Vietnam Veterans being spit on and being called baby-killers was nothing more than fiction in Rall's warped little world. Contrary to what the world actually witnessed, Rall said it was the first Rambo movie that spurred all the spitting and baby-killer claims. Instead of treating our returning veterans like gum on the bottom of their shoe, Rall recounts Chris Clarke's take of the anti-Vietnam activists "opening coffee houses near the military bases and sending the GI's care packages and letters."
Ted Rall does have the right to free speech - thanks to the soldiers that he hates. What he does not have the right to do is offer aid and comfort to our enemies by undermining our soldiers. Some of the Democrats are distancing themselves from Howard Dean and his "we're gonna lose" attitude. When will the media, especially Yahoo, start distancing themselves and stop publishing hate from the anti-American, anti-military scum, Ted Rall?
