There was Jeff Greenfield, liberal commentator and author, being interviewed on “Imus In The Morning,” talking about the impending war on terrorism. Could the younger generation face up to it, he was asked. Imus’ own daughter had said to him that she and her friends had never confronted anything big, the way “our” generation did. Greenfield agreed, saying that, in our youth, we had struggled for civil rights and to stop a war that we thought was wrong.
“Our” generation?
Jeff Greenfield and his fellow liberals still think that they constitute “our” generation – and they’re still congratulating themselves on “our” opposition to the Viet Nam war. Well, “our” generation is and was bigger than that.
Millions of “our” generation did not oppose the war in Viet Nam. On the contrary, they fought in it. They served proudly – and now, they lead proudly. Men like General Schwarzkopf and Senator McCain and Secretary of State Powell. And these are precisely the kind of men from “our” generation who’ll be needed to fight this long, complicated, difficult war on terrorism. For them, it won’t be the first long, complicated and difficult war in which they’ve done their part.
This point matters a great deal, because everyone’s asking whether the American people are up to this task. Will we stick to it? Or, will we get frustrated with less-than-instant success? Will we accept the casualties and pay the price? Or, will we want to throw in the towel at the first sight of body bags or tax increases?
Well, I’m confident of the answers to those questions. My confidence is founded on that portion of “our” generation who already know what it is to fight a war, and stick to it, and pay the price, and suffer the casualties. They did it for eight long years, and never gave up. So did most Americans. At no point in the course of that war were its opponents able to convince a majority of the people that we should just give it up and get out. Now, that’s endurance. We did it then, and we can do it again. If the Jeff Greenfields can just learn to hang tough, this time, we’ll win.
Woody Cozad is a thrice-decorated combat veteran of Viet Nam, where he served on river patrol boats with the U.S. Navy, and a former state chairman of the Republican Party in Missouri. Today, he is an attorney in Kansas City, Mo., and produces daily radio commentaries titled “Food For Thought With Woody Cozad,” along with a weekly three-hour radio program.
