previous post next post  

Heh. My a$$, boyo.

By The Armorer on June 19, 2006 | | Comments (26)

Mother Sheehan goes to Canada to give aid and comfort to deserters.

Otay. Nothing remarkable about that.

Then I stumbled across this hero:

About 20 former U.S. soldiers, referred to as war resisters, have applied for refugee status in Canada. Organizers estimated there may be as many as 200 soldiers in the country who have not yet sought formal protection.

"They say we're traitors, we're deserters," said former Marine Chris Magaoay, 20, of the Hawaiian island of Maui. "No, I'm a Marine and I stand up for what I believe in, and I believe the Constitution of the United States of America is being pushed aside as a scrap piece of paper."

Hmmmm. Former Marine? No. "I'm a Marine." Um, well, yes, technically, until discharged by competent authority.

Deserter? Yep. That's the label. You're a deserter, Lance Corporal Magaoay.

That sums it up. Sign me up as one of "they," who call you deserter. It's not hard. It's what you are.

But wait - there's more.

This link may invite guests with an attitude, but here we find a *great* quote that displays the deep strategic and moral thought of Lance Corporal Magaoay.

Our hero is of the Lieutenant Ehren Watada School of Military Law:

“I am not against war as a whole,” he said. “I am against the war in Iraq. It was a war of aggression, which was not sanctioned by the United Nations, therefore making it illegal.”

Ah. So, even though there has been no such finding by any competent US authority which might give him cover, LCpl Magaoay has decided the United Nations (several UN resolutions and Congressional resolutions notwithstanding) trumps all relevant US law and statute and relieves him of his obligations.

In other words, he gets to choose which wars he will fight - as a uniformed member of the armed forces, *he* will determine which wars are legal and appropriate, and he seemingly doesn't appreciate that his opinion in this matter is not held in high esteem.

LCpl Magaoay, you're a fool.

Leave aside you joined to go off to war a year after the war started.

Once you swear the oath, you lose your veto in that regard. Those decisions, like it or not, rest in the hands of the elected representatives of the people.

If you feel strongly enough to defy that, then the only honorable course is not to flee to Canada, and whine like a weasel when people call you deserter all the time you assert you're a Marine. No, the only honorable course, if not necessarily one with a happy ending, is to take the path of Lieutenant Watada - who at least is taking his Quixotic quest on a path of greater honor than yours.

You are an oath-breaker. No more. No less. You are faithless. By your own words you condemn yourself - and reveal the shallowness of your thought.

I take your guitar, and I smash it against the wall.

Now, that done, Pinto, where's my beer?

Share This Article:

Share |

Categories:

26 Comments

By brogonzo on June 19, 2006 4:29 PM
Props for the oddly-appropos "Animal House" reference. Every time they come out with a new retread of the college "frat" comedy (exhibit A, "Van Wilder"; exhibit B, "Road Trip"; etc. etc.) I just tell people to go watch "Animal House" again. Classic... "... Well, you can do what you like to us. But we're not going to sit here while you bad-mouth the United States of America! Gentlemen!"
 
By JimC on June 19, 2006 4:31 PM
Seems to me our neighbours to the North, who have soldiers in harm's way, should extradite these vermin to the U.S. Tell me again why we no longer send these its ( they aren't men so its is what I used) to firing squads for this offense. Seems to me running because of your will have to deploy is desertion in the face of the enemy.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 19, 2006 4:38 PM
"Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 19, 2006 4:41 PM
Jim - we're already short of small arms ammunition. If lethal injection isn't good enough for you, go start braiding hemp. That said - you better challenge me off the panel.
 
By SFC D on June 19, 2006 4:54 PM
1 ea. tall tree + 1 ea. short rope = frontier justice. "But Nooooooo, Bluto, we're afraid"
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 19, 2006 4:58 PM
Hee! You can't play unless you provide at least one Animal House quote. "You f*cked up. You trusted us!"
 
By Oldloadr on June 19, 2006 8:35 PM
If I say, "Food fight!" does that count? I read as much of the link as I could stomach and I have this to say: It sounds better in the press to say, "I don't want to kill," then to say, "I don't want to die." To connect: I think a few (and thankfuly very few) don't seem to realize that military service is all about training to win a violent and deadly struggle. I say this because most of these deserters wait until they have orders to deploy to decide that the war is "illegal, immoral, etc." Did they think that time spent at the small arms range was to prepare them for the Olympics?
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 19, 2006 9:26 PM
Old Loader - Kill people, break things, control what's left, at the direction of the government. If you can't get past that, don't sign up. "...Dougie, and the rest of the Hitler Youth."
 
By SFC D on June 19, 2006 9:42 PM
Yup, that's basically what it all comes down to John. It's not the Boy Scouts or the Peace Corps. Although sometimes I do think the dividing lines get a little blurry. "The bar!! They took the whole f@*#ing bar!!"
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 19, 2006 9:45 PM
Thank you Brogonzo, for inspiring this comment thread! "Ramming Speed!"
 
By Maggie on June 19, 2006 10:38 PM
"We want to dance wif yo dates." I saw this movie in the theater 22 times, have the movie soundtrack on vinyl and John, I know you are going to be shocked, but.........I organized and attended many toga parties. Can you guess how togas are like kilts?
 
By Maggie on June 19, 2006 10:43 PM
Am I going to get in trouble for this one? Babs in the car with Greg....."Greg, honey, is it supposed to be this soft?" Took me a while to understand that one....it's never happened to me.
 
By Maggie on June 19, 2006 10:53 PM
Ok,, just one more! "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son!" Dean Wormer.
 
By ry on June 20, 2006 2:13 AM
"I'm a zit. Get it?" Oh come on, what are those who want to join just so they can have it on their resume for when they try for political office supposed to do then, huh? Join the Peace Corps? Sheesh.(smart acre off, or is it?)
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 20, 2006 5:49 AM
Maggie - you were supposed to have a comment apropos the post, too - not just be an Index of Lines for the movie! Ry - dilettantes, ala John F. Kerry, need not apply, either. We'll take Kennedy-style.
 
By Trias on June 20, 2006 5:50 AM
US smotto "All your desert are belong to us" Canada's Motto; "All your deserter are belong to us" Maybe the marines need a delisting procedure. When you get right down to it he's pushed the scrap of paper to the side too by leaving it's influence.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 20, 2006 6:13 AM
Leaving aside the humor of the comment, Trias - we *really* don't want their desert. We didn't really want their oil, in a controlling sense (the whole plan as envisaged for Cobra II was to use their oil to fund their recovery from the war *and* Saddam). We just wan't 'em to live in their respective deserts and not f*ck with us. It's a lot less about the oil than it is stability in the region. We've already shown we'll tolerate benign despots and not-so-benign despots if they'll keep a lid on things. And if we *do* want deserts, it would be cheaper to take yours, now wouldn't it? 8^ )
 
By cw4(ret)billt on June 20, 2006 6:59 AM
Hey, John--if we can find something that eats cane toads for a living, the Ozzies will probably *give* us the desert. Wouldn't Ayers' Rock make a great highlight for SWWBO's garden? *exits stage left, playing the bass run to "Louie, Louie" on the air guitar*
 
By AnonCon on June 20, 2006 8:00 AM
As I understand it, these are not 'deserters' in the sense that they went AWOL because of their opposition to war, these are former soldiers, perhaps with time left on their eight year MSO, who do not want to be recalled. My guess is that if LCpl Magaoay is 20 and a 'former Marine' he was a washout of some sort, unless he joined at 17 and fulfilled his 3.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 20, 2006 8:15 AM
AnonCon - that might be true in regards to other individuals, "deserters-in-waiting" - but not Magaoay.
“I left my unit and came to Canada because of my beliefs,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Maui News. “Now my family has all but disowned me.”
He's been legally declared a deserter.
 
By Trias on June 20, 2006 11:16 AM
You know you don't hear about deserters hanging out in Mexico do you. I wonder why o-) Yes the oil.. always suspicion and politics surround it like flies in the dunny. Much cheaper John. You could buy it for well well under a billion. I've got change for a $50 Who knew the frogs* were so good at warfare? Fortunately they haven't made it to my place yet. Actually i'm more worried about those ants from the US that are now here called fireants or something. Heard nasty things about them. Cane Toads just sit there.. toadying i suppose. * ok ok i know it's a *toad* not a frog but you know humour is supposed to be *flexible* dammit nitpickers.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 20, 2006 11:32 AM
I dunno, Trias - if we buy it we're evil capitalists. If we invade we're just doing it for the oil because we're evil capitalists. But, when the left has power, we *do* like to bomb things, so how about the next time we put a Dem in the White House we just bomb the out back?
 
By ry on June 20, 2006 2:27 PM
"We'll take Kennedy-style." Which Kennedy? One was in it so as to look like a hero when he came back. One actually IS a hero and died doing his job because he believed in it. Which one are we going to take? "Vegetables are sensuous. People are sensual" Or, and because there's no dialogue, ice bouncing out of a tumbler.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 20, 2006 2:34 PM
I'll take Joe *and* Jack. If you're going to be a dilletantte about it - at least do it with the level of committment Jack had.
 
By Maggie on June 20, 2006 9:58 PM
And Bobby....only Ted was an A$$.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 20, 2006 10:43 PM
I know you like Bobby, Princess Crabby - but in this discussion, only Joe and Jack figure - no bad cess to Bobby in that regard. But we *can* agree about Teddy.