Marking a Solemn Anniversary with Partisan Hackwork
Monday's lead editorial, "9/11/06," takes the low road in marking the fifth anniversary of the terror attacks that hit the Times' home town, making left-wing noises against Bush's tax cuts and the war in Iraq (but presumably not Afghanistan).
Along with displaying a liberal world view on tax cuts "we didn't need," the Times twice seems to call for reinstatement of the draft: "Without ever having asked to be exempt from the demands of this new post-9/11 war, we were cut out. Everything would be paid for with the blood of other people's children, and with money earned by the next generation. Our role appeared to be confined to waiting in longer lines at the airport. President Bush, searching the other day for an example of post-9/11 sacrifice, pointed out that everybody pays taxes.
"That pinched view of our responsibility as citizens got us tax cuts we didn't need and an invasion that never would have occurred if every voter's sons and daughters were eligible for the draft. With no call to work together on some effort greater than ourselves, we were free to relapse into a self-centeredness that became a second national tragedy. We have spent the last few years fighting each other with more avidity than we fight the enemy."
Back on July 24, 2005, Pentagon reporter Thom Shanker similarly wondered why average Americans weren't suffering more for the war effort: "From bases in Iraq and across the United States to the Pentagon and the military's war colleges, officers and enlisted personnel quietly raise a question for political leaders: if America is truly on a war footing, why is so little sacrifice asked of the nation at large? There is no serious talk of a draft to share the burden of fighting across the broad citizenry, and neither Republicans nor Democrats are pressing for a tax increase to force Americans to cover the $5 billion a month in costs from Iraq, Afghanistan and new counterterrorism missions. There are not even concerted efforts like the savings-bond drives or gasoline rationing that helped to unite the country behind its fighting forces in wars past."
