My friend John Feehery touched on this earlier today, but MoveOn.org just astounds me with their shrill rhetoric and inflammatory nonsense. In case you haven’t seen it (and please don’t do them the favor), MoveOn took out an ad in The New York Times this morning in advance of Gen. David Petraeus’s testimony before the House of Representatives today.
“General Betray Us,” the ad proclaims. Gen. Petraeus has repeatedly had his character and credibility attacked in the days running up to today’s hearing. Many have found fault with the military and political progress in Iraq. At the same time, this is a man who has served his country with valor, bravery and distinction for decades. Rather than being a political “stooge,” Gen. Petraeus was asked to come to Capitol Hill to offer an independent assessment of progress in Iraq, along with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. Rather than show bias or seek to curry favor with a particular audience as a United States military officer, Petraeus is bound to a code that is as old and as special as the United States itself: Duty. Honor. Country.
I should not be surprised, but to question the duty, honor and service to the United States that Gen. Petraeus has shown in decades of service to us is just sickening. Have we returned to the era of Vietnam, where left-wing fanatics choose to treat the brave men and women in uniform with scorn rather than our thanks, praise and admiration? It takes guts to wear the uniform of our country and even more guts to put it all on the line in some forsaken place overseas to defend the freedom, liberty and rights of those who would accuse Gen. Petraeus of “cooking the books” for the White House. I only wish those who would hide behind such a cowardly advertisement would put their names out for one and every American to see who they are. What a disgrace.
Thank you, Gen. Petraeus, for your duty, honor and service to the United States of America.