Harkin calls Cheney a 'Coward' and Criticizes 'Backdoor Draft'
Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier
DES
MOINES — Sen. Tom Harkin called Dick Cheney a “coward” for avoiding
service in Vietnam and called on George W. Bush to end the “backdoor
draft.”
The Iowa
Democrat was responding Friday to the call-up of a Des Moines police
officer who has already completed his eight-year military commitment.
Harkin
echoed comments earlier this week by Des Moines Police Chief William
McCarthy, who said the military's treatment of Des Moines Police
Officer Rodell Nydam was “evil.”
…Harkin
also shot back at Cheney, who said in a visit to Iowa on Tuesday that
presidential candidate John Kerry lacks a basic understanding of the
war on terrorism and cannot make America safer.
[Harkin] noted that Cheney had several student deferments that allowed him to skip serving in Vietnam.
“When I
hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not
serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil,” Harkin said.
“Those of us who served and those of us who went in the military don't
like it when someone like a Dick Cheney comes out and he wants to be
tough. Yeah, he'll be tough. He'll be tough with somebody else's blood,
somebody else's kids. But not when it was his turn to go.”
(more)
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