Jim Webb was really strange in his reference to Vietnam in the debate but there's a lot more to the story. He is a for real combat veteran who earned a Navy Cross for valor. He was face to face with Viet Cong and he showed mad bravery to the point of risking his own life to save one of his men and taking grenade fragments for it. (The Gawker: Jim Webb’s Crazy Debate Answer About Killing a Guy Has an Even Crazier Backstory)
Many have been passed off as heroes when they didn't do anything all that heroic and we're not exactly blown away by snipers. Jim Webb lost some of his own blood to save a fellow Marine and that earns the greatest respect particularly when he was shielding the other soldier with his own body.
Why he was there is a different matter and it's definite he conducted himself bravely while he was there.
Sanders filed for Conscientious Objection during Vietnam but there's a difference between his reasons and the objectives of general pacifism because he said he did it because it wasn't right, legal, or justified to be doing these things. Fair enough and valid even though the military would not accept those reasons.
From the military standpoint, if it's not specifically faith-based conscientious objection then it's a political protest and you go to jail. In their view, saying your morality prevents you from killing is not, alone, enough. You have to prove you have that morality and that's the disgrace of the way the military does it. We don't know exactly what happened with Sanders but we do know it was considerably more than declaring he is a C.O. They hassle the hell out of you for that declaration.
None of this reflects negatively on Sanders because he stood his ground and no-one died because of it.
The above does not reflect negatively on Webb because the soldiers are not at fault beyond being gulled by a duplicitous government. That he did not recognize the duplicity at the time is a problem regarding the Presidency but that wasn't at issue when he did it. He thought the country needed defense and there was still enough belief in the integrity of the government at the time to believe it. We don't fault the soldiers while we fault the government directly but that's a different matter as well.
Many have been passed off as heroes when they didn't do anything all that heroic and we're not exactly blown away by snipers. Jim Webb lost some of his own blood to save a fellow Marine and that earns the greatest respect particularly when he was shielding the other soldier with his own body.
Why he was there is a different matter and it's definite he conducted himself bravely while he was there.
Sanders filed for Conscientious Objection during Vietnam but there's a difference between his reasons and the objectives of general pacifism because he said he did it because it wasn't right, legal, or justified to be doing these things. Fair enough and valid even though the military would not accept those reasons.
From the military standpoint, if it's not specifically faith-based conscientious objection then it's a political protest and you go to jail. In their view, saying your morality prevents you from killing is not, alone, enough. You have to prove you have that morality and that's the disgrace of the way the military does it. We don't know exactly what happened with Sanders but we do know it was considerably more than declaring he is a C.O. They hassle the hell out of you for that declaration.
None of this reflects negatively on Sanders because he stood his ground and no-one died because of it.
The above does not reflect negatively on Webb because the soldiers are not at fault beyond being gulled by a duplicitous government. That he did not recognize the duplicity at the time is a problem regarding the Presidency but that wasn't at issue when he did it. He thought the country needed defense and there was still enough belief in the integrity of the government at the time to believe it. We don't fault the soldiers while we fault the government directly but that's a different matter as well.
5 comments:
Then why didnt he go to jail. Cassius Clay went to jail.
Oh Sanders is,a rich white boy
Easy charge to make but not so easy to make it stick. Answer: I don't know. I do know the Army will browbeat you if you make the declaration after you're already drafted. It may be different before the fact but I don't know that.
It's true the black / white mix in Vietnam was outrageously wrong but Webb really did go and he really did get a Navy Cross for it, along with grenade fragments. The man's dues are paid as much as anyone possibly can.
Webb deserves all the respect that is due a true hero I have no idea his race and it doesnt really matter.
Unknown why anyone would even throw that out there. No-one knows if the man he saved was white or black and Webb never made anything racial of any of it.
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