[Peace-discuss] See Ya, John (McCain) by Peter Van Buren

[David Green]

See Ya, John (McCain) by Peter Van Buren
<https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2018/08/26/see-ya-john-mccain-by-peter-van-buren/Author>Peter
Van Buren Posted onAugust 26, 2018
<https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2018/08/26/see-ya-john-mccain-by-peter-van-buren/>

It’ll always be too soon, won’t it?

Glorifying McCain as a war hero allows us to imagine away the sins of
Vietnam by making ourselves the victim. He encouraged unjust war in Iran,
Iraq, Libya, Syria and more as a cornerstone of his career.

When given the chance, he sold out and took Sarah Palin as his Vice
Presidential running mate, enabling a change in the GOP and political
discourse we are still paying for and he is responsible.

As a victim himself of torture, McCain stood mostly silent when America
tortured, finally mouthing some mild public platitudes while allowing the
coverup to hide what we did. The American public knows 10x as much about
McCain’s own torture as we do about what was done by American torturers to
other human beings. Honor is not allowing torturers to go unpunished. Duty
is not helping a coverup. Country deserves better from someone who knows
better.

McCain allowed himself/profited from becoming a symbol and a myth. He
positioned himself as a maverick and independent while towing the
imperialist line for decades. I respect the things he endured as a
prisoner. But his is a public life such that one can’t separate the
individual out from the larger story at this point. I understand it is
catechism to say only nice things when someone passes, but as long as
people are going to turn McCain into something he wasn’t it seems useful to
speak a little full-spectrum truth alongside that.

I’m sorry for his family, but the America he claimed to serve is served
better by the truth than another politicized shadow of the truth.
*McCain with Ambassador Chris Stevens, killed in Benghazi. McCain died with
that blood on his hands.*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20180826/e0637c0f/attachment.html>