LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Obama has learned from nation’s history

Ken Dakan, Las Vegas

Sun, Sep 7, 2008 (2:03 a.m.)

With the political season upon us, and all the heightened talk of who is a patriot, it seems to me there is a bigger issue that is not being discussed. What are the lessons that we as a nation have learned from our wars since World War II?

In my family, for instance, my dad and three of his brothers served. One did not come back. One uncle served most of this time in a harsh POW camp in Japan. His youngest brother served at the tail end of the war, and later married a Japanese national, my aunt. So even brothers look at the effects of war from totally different perspectives.

In my eyes, their service was all honorable. I enlisted at 18 and served a tour and a half in Vietnam, and my son, a naval aviator, just returned from his second deployment in the Iraq theater. I consider my service honorable and his beyond reproach.

The real lesson is what the country has learned, and who can best respect the use of future military force as it was designed ... to be an instrument of last resort. This is the chief reason why I am supporting Barack Obama for president — he gets this important part of leadership and, I am sorry to say, John McCain does not.

McCain’s ideals and plans are stuck in the past. Rather than learn from the past, he refuses to apply the history lessons to the complex world today.

Discussion: 5 comments so far…

By DJNoll

9/7/08 at 8:13 a.m.

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It is true that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. John McCain did not learn from history, the world's or his own. It is sad that someone who has lived so long has learned so little. I was reminded as I watched his speech last Thursday of someone who did not live in today's world, but rather of someone who stopped living when he became a POW. He has never left that cell in Hanoi, and he never will. It is a sign of PTSD that has gone untreated for decades.

But, what was even scarier for me was watching him and his party as he stood up there shouting FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT while they cheered USA, USA, USA. He said fight for various issues, but the fact is that the only word you heard over the crowd was FIGHT, not work for solutions or working together to find solutions, just FIGHT! It was eerily similar to the propaganda films from Hitler and Nazi Germany. And sadly, I realized that maybe we had not learned from history after all. It is why I will vote for Obama - this is one lesson we do not need to repeat with our country in the losing role this time!
By jfnance32

9/7/08 at 9:15 a.m.

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Obama's plan for Iran

1) Diplomacy
2) Sanctions
3) Chat over coffee and donuts.

and lastly he says that will
4) Used the military option if all the above fails.

There is a very good chance that Obama will have to either bomb Iran or support Israel bombing Iran.
By JohnF

9/7/08 at 12:40 p.m.

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As opposed to John McCain's policy which is to skip the first three of Mr. Nance's steps.
By notacon

9/7/08 at 1:04 p.m.

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Unfortunately for the country Ken, we have become a nation of idiots who learn no lessons whatsoever. Most Americans can't even find Vietnam on a map let alone unserstand, even to a small degree, the geopolitical issues involved in the war.
By jfnance32

9/7/08 at 4:43 p.m.

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If Obama is telling the truth (big question mark) then most likely he will bomb Iran or support Israel to.