chickenhawks

[Dennis Perrin]

> Israel depends upon conscription (of women as well as men), which the
> USA abolished in 1973 (selective service registration still exists,
> though, requiring almost all male US citizens and some non-citizens,
> including illegal aliens [!], to register --
> <http://www.sss.gov/FSwho.htm>), so the relation between Israeli
> citizens and the state is different from the relation between US
> citizens and residents and the state.

I cited Sharon simply because the Israeli military is an extension of the
USG. Of course there are differences on the ground.


> In the United States, we have a term "draft dodger," which is mainly
> used by the Right to make it sound as if those who object to the war
> (or even question tactics used in it) are "cowards."  The term
> obscures the distinction between those who courageously resisted the
> draft and otherwise publicly opposed the war out of moral and
> political convictions and chickenhawks who really dodged the draft
> merely for individual gains using family influence while supporting
> the war and even compelling others to kill and be killed.  Why should
> we let them get away with it?

So you want to use right wing tactics to attack right wingers? ("They
started it!") Proceed if you must, but this draft dodger/chickenhawk
to-and-fro really begs the larger question, and keeps those who participate
in it on the same rhetorical plane, which isn't a very illuminating one.

DP