Gunpoint Gratitude

It’s been a little while since I checked in with Dr. Earl Tilford, that fine, upstanding Christian man who is a professor of history at Grove City College, but in that same, inconvenient manner in which an attack of acid reflux visits one upon driving a car in heavy traffic, he made an appearance again today in the pages of the Bucks County Courier Times, of course.

I was hoping that he had somehow become more enlightened in his views since his last column in which he considered the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib to be nothing more than the equivalent of college fraternity pranks. It was my wish that this Air Force veteran would come to understand the impact of our illegal invasion of Iraq upon all who are involved with the conflict “on the ground” in that war-torn area.

Silly me.

As you can read here, Tilford’s column is ostensibly about the rescue of three members of a Christian Peacemaker Team in Iraq by U.S. Special Forces and British Special Air Services. The three individuals who were rescued were Harmeet Sing Sooden and Jim Loney of Canada, along with Norman Kember of Great Britain. The fourth team member, Tom Fox of the U.S., was executed.

Tilford starts grinding his axe immediately by calling the three “useful idiots,” then painstakingly explains the derivation of that phrase. As Tilford continues to attack the team members for apparently not gushing gratitude in the required manner to the individuals who rescued him, he states that they are not merely “useful idiots,” but actually “ungracious idiots.”

Here is more intolerant garbage from Dr. Tilford, as stated in his column:

"Furthermore, (the CPT members') continued carping about “the illegal occupation” and accusations that “thousands of Iraqis are being detained illegally by U.S. and British forces” serves two counter-productive ends. First, such statements undermine the will to continue the struggle in Iraq. If this war is lost, it will be lost at home rather than on the battlefield. Second, such statements encourage our enemies and will result in additional bloodshed. More American soldiers and Marines, more British and other Coalition military personnel and more Iraqi military and security men will die along with those innocent Iraqis about whose suffering the CPT purports to care."

“Purports to care,” huh? Don’t you love it? Typical recycling of the same tired, venomous talking points…”shut up and go along with Bushco or else you’re not supporting our troops and undermining their ability to fight this war, and getting more of them killed in the process.” It almost doesn’t deserve a response any longer at this point.

Well, for additional information on the mission of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, here is more from Geov Parrish of Working for Change, along with an explanation of why their courageous efforts are frequently ignored (I’m a bit uncomfortable with Parrish’s references to the “major media,” but I think he’s basically right).

Also, it is true that hostage Norman Kember did not at first thank the troops who rescued him, but he eventually did so and restated his opposition to our troop presence in Iraq in the process. I guess, as far as Tilford is concerned, that still makes him an “ungracious idiot” because, God forbid, Kember has an actual opinion that runs contrary to Tilford’s unflinching, jackbooted support of this epochal misery.

As far as Jim Loney of Canada is concerned…

For the British soldiers who risked their lives to rescue us, for the Government of Canada who sent a team to Baghdad to help secure our release, for all those who thought about and prayed for us, for all those who spoke for us when we had no voice, I am forever and truly grateful.

I haven’t been able to find a statement yet from Harmeet Sing Sooden. If I do, I’ll update this post.

And believe it or not, there is an individual out there who actually has gone beyond what Tilford said about the Christian Peacemaker Teams on this, and I’ll give you three guesses who I’m talking about (and the first two don’t count).

Whenever I post about a subject involving veterans, I am always respectful of their service because I believe it is the right thing to do as a citizen of this country. I also think it is particularly incumbent on me to do this because I did not serve myself, though some family members of mine did.

However, in the case of Tilford, I’m going to be a bit ungracious and wonder how a veteran could communicate such a voluminous degree of spite and ignorance towards people who are risking their lives on behalf of others who have undergone such a cataclysm because of our preemptive war in Iraq. Is it somehow possible that Tilford is one of these courageous men who, as an Air Force pilot flying on a bombing mission, dumped his load upon a target and then flew off without seeing firsthand the damage on the ground? Is that the reason why he writes as if he has no clue regarding the suffering of innocent Iraqis and how important it is to help them (and yes, there are many, as opposed to terrorist insurgents, or whatever you want to call them)?

The last I checked, there were still areas of that country with only intermittent electrical power and reliable water and sewage disposal. And this war has been going on for OVER THREE YEARS! Can you imagine what your life would be like if you had to live like that? Maybe, in the end, I’m a spoiled American also, but I can’t.

Oh, there you go, you “libtard,” some would say. What about our troops and the other soldiers? What about THEIR sacrifice?

Of course that should be respected, honored and supported. Of course we should pray for them and help where we can. But I’ve already spent WAY TOO MUCH TIME on this site explaining that truly supporting the troops and despising this awful war are not incompatible beliefs.

Tilford’s venomous words (as well as those of the OxyContin addict) run contrary to that, of course, and that is why they must be called and refuted. To me, “ungracious idiocy” is having the opportunity to do that but choosing to either ignore them or signing on to the post 9/11 “herd” mentality instead, espoused by Tilford, Limbaugh and others, that got us into this mess to begin with.

Oh, and speaking of Iraq, I would like to see Dr. Tilford’s rebuke of Dr. Kaloogian for this item, as long as Dr. Tilford is so full of self-righteous outrage towards individuals who are actually trying to do some good (to Will Bunch, HuffPo, Atrios, and Gen J.C. Christian, Patriot, hat tips all around).

Update 3/29: Idiot...