In its latest effort to undermine the war effort, the Chronicle ran a letter by Dante Zappala, whose brother was killed in Iraq. Zappala is determined to prove that his brother's sacrifice meant nothing:
I am left now with a single word seared into my consciousness: accountability. The chance to hold our administration's feet to that flame has passed. But what of our citizenry? We are the ones who truly failed. We shut down our ability to think critically, to listen, to converse and to act. We are to blame. Even with every prewar assumption having been proved false, today more than 130,000 U.S. soldiers are trying to stay alive in a foreign desert with no clear mission at hand.
Please. What about Saddam's mass graves, torture chambers, and use of chemical weapons on his own people? The letter goes on to make this ridiculous attack on patriotism:
At home, the sidelines are overcrowded with patriots. These Americans cower from the fight they instigated in Iraq. In a time of war and record budget deficits, many are loath to even pay their taxes. In the end, however, it is not their family members who are at risk, and they do not sit up at night pleading with fate to spare them.
Zapalla uses a time-honored tactic of the left: call your opponent a greedy, warmongering tax cheat from a family of cowards. Brilliant. I'm surprised that the Chron was so slow in running this anti-Bush piece. It first appeared in the Los Angeles Times (or in Chronspeak, one of the "Houston Chronicle News Services") on January 14.
Update: As it turns out, the parents of the fallen soldier are committed peace activists. If only they paid as much attention to their son as they did to their wacko politics:
AMY GOODMAN: Did you agree with his decision to go to Iraq? ALFRED ZAPPALA: His decision to go to Iraq -- no. No. We -- our whole family didn't want to see him go. I really don't know how Sherwood felt about going. He was committed to his men, to his unit, and he felt the responsibility.
Of course, I'm not suggesting that their voices shouldn't be heard. In a vibrant democracy like ours, everyone should be free to speak their minds. However, the Zappalas clearly have an agenda that existed long before the war, and that's a fact the Chron's editors should have noted. The familiy is now exploting their dead son, who volunteered for the service, to advance that agenda.
In an April 2004 column, Jill Porter recalled Zappala's bizarre anti-war activities:
All her life, Celeste Zappala opposed war - none more than George Bush's misadventure in Iraq - marched against it, prayed against it, left the country during Vietnam because her convictions ran so deep.
Zappala went to visit Sher at Fort Dix on Feb. 1 and " got seriously lost. I am convinced my car is repelled by military bases," she wrote. Sher was "calm but clinging which made me want to cry, but I did not while we were with him," the e-mail continued. "We watched the Super Bowl with him in the base's bowling alley. It was depressing to sit there for hours with all the other vulnerable young men, their hair shorn; they all looked alike.
These "vulnerable young men" are not mindless drones or pawns of an evil conspiracy, as the Zapallas would have you believe. They are gutsy volunteers who willingly face danger. They bravely fight and die to protect us, people they will never meet. They are the men George Orwell wrote about:
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Comments like the Zapallas' erode the morale of our boys, and bring shame on the honorable memories of those who have fallen. Fortunately, there is an honest tribute to the memory of this soldier:
"Sherwood, My name is Kele.I am seven years old.Your name is on my Hero Bracelet. I wear it all the time. I saw a picture of you. I am very sad that we lost you but am very proud of how you protected our country. i will always remember you. You are in my heart." Kele Mandrell of Ancona, Illinois, USARest in peace, Sgt. Baker.
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