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CounterPunch
September
24, 2002
George Will:
War Pimp
by WILLIAM HUGHES
He lives in tony Chevy Chase, Maryland, just inside
Washington D.C.'s Capitol Beltway and he has never heard a shot
fired in anger. His name is George F. Will. He loves major league
baseball, ex-British Czarina, Margaret Thatcher, and just about
any kind of U.S. war, no matter how lethal, as long as he doesn't
have to fight in any of them. We know all of this because he
writes nonstop about them in his syndicated columns.
In a recent spiel, he wrote a hawkish
piece of nonsense, entitled, "What Makes the U.N. Legitimate?"
The article advocated, even before any White House policy announcement,
a "preemptive" U.S. strike against Iraq. The UN was
described by him as a "tar baby" to be avoided at all
cost , and the few hearty Democrats, who weren't jumping fast
enough on the War Band Wagon, were branded as Jeffersonian partisans,
lacking vision, and "anti-nationalist."
Appropriately enough, Will's rant appeared
in Rupert Murdock's Israel First organ, the "New York Post,"
(09/18/02). This is the repulsive rag, where pro-Ariel Sharon
disciples, like A.M. Rosenthal, John Podhoretz, Daniel Pipes,
and others of that Zionoid ilk, go about the business of pimping
passionately for a U.S. war against Iraq.
Mr. Will also used his article to gratuitously
insult France, America's most faithful ally during our revolutionary
war period. He labeled it as a nation with a "frozen reflection
of the world in 1945."
It bothered me, too, that Will cited
the exemplary patriot and legal giant, Chief Supreme Court Justice
John Marshall, in trying to push his Iraq-bashing scheme. Because,
Marshall was a Federalist, and a strong nationalist, like George
Washington and Alexander Hamilton, Will believed he had a solid
early American precedent to rely on in making his war-making
case. What a gross distortion of our history!
Marshall, one of Virginia's greatest
sons, fought in the Revolutionary War against the British imperialists,
and even spent that horrific winter at Valley Forge with his
commander-in-chief. The idea that this gallant champion of our
republic and Constitution would sanction a preemptive strike,
without a congressional declaration of war, against a foe, that
has done us no harm and presents no real military risk to us,
is simply unfathomable.
To add insult to our national pride,
Will took a pointed slap at another of the great Founding Fathers,
Thomas Jefferson. He railed against his republican principles
and view of the Constitution, mocking them as calling only for
a "confederation" of states. He totally ignored the
fact that this was the same Jefferson, who drafted the Declaration
of Independence, initiated the Louisiana Purchase, and opened
up the West to exploration for the then-young nation by sponsoring
the Lewis and Clark Expedition. And, that one of the truly brilliant
co-authors of the Constitution, another great son of Virginia,
James Madison, later in his distinguished political career, endorsed
Jefferson's republican ideology.
One of Will's sharpest critics is the
author of "Wits and Sages," Neil A. Grauer. In his
compelling 1984 book, he called him "One of the Penatagon's
most uncompromising advocates" and "favorite columnist."
Grauer also retold how Will had helped prepare Ronald Reagan,
in 1980, for his presidential debate with Jimmy Carter. After
breaching this cardinal rule of journalism. Will, ever the pious
hypocrite, and without revealing his back stage role to the audience,
then went on ABC-TV "Nightline, praising Reagan's debating
skills. He tried to minimize his unprofessional conduct by saying,
he was only an "observer" at the preparation rehearsal.
Sure George, we know!
If all of that wasn't bad enough, Will,
in 1982, redrafted a speech Reagan was to give to the (double
gasp) British Parliament. As a reward, Reagan appointed the slippery
Will to the nonpaying, but prestigious Board of Visitors of the
U.S. Naval Academy. The president also gave Will's then wife,
Madeleine, a $68,000 a year sinecure at the department of education,
according to Grauer. Columnist Jimmy Breslin dubbed the ethics-challenged
pundit, "Will the Shill," and Gary Trudeau, the celebrated
cartoonist, gave him a good roasting for also sponsoring a pre-Inauguration
dinner for his right wing crony Reagan.
Mr. Will hasn't changed much since his
days as a Reagan and Thatcher lapdog. Today, he is still spewing
out pro-war propaganda to please the Pentagon, the White House,
the Israeli Firsters, London, and the War Party in the Congress.
Thomas Jefferson, once said, after an unpleasant visit with the
demented King George III, at St. James' Palace, on March 15,
1786, that the Brits required a kick in their pants in order
to acquire "common good manners."
I think if Jefferson were around today,
and read "What Makes the U. N. Legitimate?," he might
say the same thing about its silly author, the pompous George
F. Will.
William Hughes
is the author of "Baltimore Iconoclast" (Writer's Showcase),
which is availabel online. He can be reached at liamhughes@mindspring.com.
© William Hughes 2002
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