JUSIPER
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The real sniper victims
Devastating op-ed by Michael Daly:
Every time I see the video of Hillary Clinton talking about landing in Bosnia under sniper fire, I also see the shamrock scarf she wore to the podium in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
And then I think once again of the courageous 30-year-old Marine Capt. John McKenna of Brooklyn, born on St. Patrick's Day in 1976 and killed two years ago by a sniper in Iraq.
The same sniper had just shot another New York Marine, 28-year-old Lance Cpl. Michael Glover of Queens. Glover had been the point man in a patrol down a street in Fallujah. He had just reached an intersection when he was hit.
I kept a holy card from McKenna's wake. The photo showed a red-haired, clear-eyed young man in the state trooper's uniform he wore before he returned to active duty with the Marines. The birth date jumped up at me: March 17, 1976.
And I thought right away of this Irish Marine born on St. Patrick's Day when I saw the news clips of Hillary Clinton at a podium bearing a sign reading, "Ready To Bring The Troops Home" and wearing a shamrock scarf as she spoke about being under sniper fire in Bosnia.
When I looked at the whole speech she delivered at George Washington University, I saw that she went directly from the Bosnia fantasy to the current situation in Iraq. She actually said, "The American people don't have to guess whether I'm ready to lead or whether I understand the realities on the ground."
In Bosnia, the reality was Clinton was greeted in total safety by an 8-year-old Muslim girl who read her a poem. The reality is the self-styled champion of children erased that moment in favor of a self-glorifying tale of being under fire.
In Iraq, the sniper fire is all too real, as the families of McKenna and Glover can attest. I note that the citation for McKenna's Silver Star begins in the way of all such citations, "The President of the United States takes pride in presenting ..."
Which means that when you vote for President you will, among other things, be voting for the next person in whose name we honor our bravest and best.
Our recent commanders in chief too seldom demonstrated the courage of a John McKenna or the selfless devotion of a Michael Glover. The last two Presidents assumed office having gone to great lengths to avoid being sent into combat.
But even George W. Bush and Bill Clinton never lied about being under fire.
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