Thanksgiving is a tough time of year for me, since I got back from Iraq. Actually, every holiday where we're supposed to give thanks and celebrate has been tough. My mind always goes back to those who didn't make it home, came come injured (physical or mental), and those still over there. For them, it's kind of tough to be thankful.
It's a feeling that so many in public service and the media will never understand. Hell, some of them did everything they could do NOT understand. And, yet, they have no problem going on TV and Radio and call veterans like me "defeatists" or "phony soldiers," and talk about how this is a necessary sacrifice we need to make.
So, when Arianna wrote to me and asked that I write something with a Thanksgiving theme, and that Nora Ephron posts some of her favorite recipes, I thought I'd post one of my own. Now, I'm no Emeril Lagasse, but when I thought of what bird I'd like to roast this Thanksgiving, I could think of none better than.... a chickenhawk.
Ingredients:
· 1 whole chicken
· Handful of juniper berries (to represent the berries on Rush Limbaugh's butt that 'kept him' from serving in Vietnam)
· A can of "au jus" (to represent France -- where Mitt Romney fled to avoid the draft)
· Mustard, Relish, Onions, Tomato (all the toppings of a Chicago hot-dog, which Richard Perle ate plenty of when he got out of Vietnam by attending the University of Chicago)
· Crisco (to represent the weight that Fred Kagan will drop when he heads to basic training once he decides it's actually worth personally fighting this war)
· Three Pinches of Rosehip (for Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, and Elizabeth Hasselbeck who all are apparently too delicate to sacrifice for America)
Rub all the ingredients on the chicken, and sprinkle with powdered sugar to represent George Bush's disappearance from the Texas Air National Guard, when he apparently had a problem with.... well, you know. Then, let it sit and find "other priorities," like Dick Cheney said he had when the nation needed him to fight in Vietnam.
The result is one of the most putrid birds you'll ever see in your life. The only way to combat the bad taste is by blasting heat at it with ads like this, this, and this.
In all seriousness, though, best wishes to you and your families for a healthy, happy Thanksgiving, on behalf of VoteVets.org.
Follow Jon Soltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jonsoltz
We, the people of .. our .. land, have no beef with you nor any of your comrades who are willing to fight and to suffer and to die for us. There is no way that we could give you all sufficient "thanks."
Except one.
We can "thank" you more properly if we hold the criminals in our political system fully and completely accountable for the crimes that they have willfully and maliciously perpetrated upon every single one of us. If we cast them from their offices in disgrace and bind them over for the just trial that they would never give to their enemies.
Keep on keeping and may angels watch over you.
Oh, and I am thankful for people like you and your fellows at VoteVets.org . You give me hope.
Never Forget: Rush LimpDick who also supported the war, cried like a baby because he had a tiny butt pimple and was given a draft deferment.
Many other Iraq War hawks never served> Glen Beck, Bill O'Reilly, William Kristol, Tom Friedman, Joe Lieberman and those Beltway Boys on Fox News.
A fruit cup for Larry Vitter
A heaping pile of steaming bullshit for Wolfowitz and the PNAC
Some crazy bread for Rick Santorum
Rum balls for Scott McClellan(wink)
Southern fried chicken for Trent Lott
A nice Chinese dish for Hillary Clinton(it looks good on the outside, but you really don't want to know what's in it)
VoteVets.Org is a remarkable and timely website. All voters and vets, especially members of the
VFW, should check it out.
I hope you have a festive Thanksgiving, surrounded by people you love. It is very discouraging to hear from other vets that if you question why they were sent to Iraq, or why they are still there, that you don't support the troops. I have no problem with those that served - whatever their feelings - they served, not me, and with that service they have the right to say and think any dang thing they want about me. But it hurts my heart that wanting our soldiers not to die unless it is absolutely necessary is responded to with anger by many vets. I realize that if you didn't believe in this war it would be almost impossible for a soldier to get up each day and be prepared to die or have his buddy die.
But with the lack of proper equipment, the problems with inadequate medical treatment of vets when they come home, and the miserly education benefits awaiting those who come back healthy enough to want to go back to school, I am surprised that there isn't more anger at this administration by Iraq war vets and their families. Its not even to get President Bush, although I think he is the worst President we will ever have. I simply wish that everyone: the vets, their families, and the rest of us that owe them so much would demand better treatment of every vet that comes home, and greater regard to what these multiple deployments are doing to the soldiers' families. I just want all of us to thank, respect, and reward - in every way possible - each man and woman who has to breathe one breath of that hot, dusty, war.