Am I alone in considering an accusation of "Swift Boating" to be a compliment? Those 254 honorable veterans put aside any political differences they may have had and banded together to share their personal experiences with "the candidate" in a manner so bipartisan that it should put our flock of self-serving "representatives" to shame.

FWIW, I think it's a great show. I stay up past my bedtime to watch it.

Haney's fellow Delta vets are more disgusted with his glory seeking and exagerrated claims ("persona non grata" - "banned from Delta facilities, reunions and commemorative events" - ouch!) but they probably wouldn't appreciate these comments either:

Q: What's your assessment of the war in Iraq?

A: Utter debacle. But it had to be from the very first. The reasons were wrong. The reasons of this administration for taking this nation to war were not what they stated. (Army Gen.) Tommy Franks was brow-beaten and ... pursued warfare that he knew strategically was wrong in the long term. That's why he retired immediately afterward. His own staff could tell him what was going to happen afterward.

We have fomented civil war in Iraq. We have probably fomented internecine war in the Muslim world between the Shias and the Sunnis, and I think Bush may well have started the third world war, all for their own personal policies.

Q: What is the cost to our country?

A: For the first thing, our credibility is utterly zero. So we destroyed whatever credibility we had. ... And I say "we," because the American public went along with this. They voted for a second Bush administration out of fear, so fear is what they're going to have from now on.

Our military is completely consumed, so were there a real threat - thankfully, there is no real threat to the U.S. in the world, but were there one, we couldn't confront it. Right now, that may not be a bad thing, because that keeps Bush from trying something with Iran or with Venezuela.

The harm that has been done is irreparable. There are more than 2,000 American kids that have been killed. Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed ñ which no one in the U.S. really cares about those people, do they? I never hear anybody lament that fact. It has been a horror, and this administration has worked overtime to divert the American public's attention from it. Their lies are coming home to roost now, and it's gonna fall apart. But somebody's gonna have to clear up the aftermath and the harm that it's done just to what America stands for. It may be two or three generations in repairing.

Yeah, how can you take "Swift Boating" as an insult - when they were right?

Swift Boating: When all your former peers "out" you.

I will say that it is an enjoyable show. I did however get a bit annoyed when they trotted out the "Women get raped in the Army" argument when one of the characters were trying to talk their daughter out of joining the military and going to college.

I'm pretty sure that it has already been pointed out that a girl is statistically more likely to get sexually assaulted in college than while serving in the military.

Though I did go through basic with the daughter of a Marine who didn't want his daughter in the Marines. That was over 15 years ago though. I don't think he thought she'd get raped, just that it would be harder for her as a female in the Marines at that time than in the Air Force. Note please that this was what *she* said. I never talked to her dad.

But yeah... much *much* more likely to get assaulted on a college campus.

I read Haney's book, it's pretty good. Bound to be some bitterness about him publishing it, though, considering Delta's secretive culture, breaking the faith and all that. And some of the events he describes in the book don't cast the Reagan administration in a good light, but I've not seen anyone refute his account of specific incidents, not from Delta or anywhere else, and if they are true then one could argue he had a right, a duty, to tell them.

His comments about our current excursion in Iraq aren't easy to support, though. His opinion is one thing, and he's welcome to it, but he probably shouldn't be speaking for Tommy Franks as he did. Franks wrote a book, after all, and he's a big enough man to speak for himself if he has issues.

The show looks good, though.

Regards,

f

Mission Impossible meets Desperate Housewives. I switch to House. I prefer E-Ring which has a stronger sense of command and support structure. E-Ring probably will not be back. "Too much like a documentary" is the knock. That and not enough adulterous sex. Haney sold his integrity for money. It's good he's no longer on active duty.

I haven't seen the show - not carried on AFN yet.

Can't get too upset over a guy's desire to make a buck, but I think the Delta troops are a bit put off that Haney is willing to pad his resume (at the expense or discredit of others) to a very large degree to do so.

I had both Haney's book and Col Beckwith's "on deck" for my next Amazon order. I've deleted Haney's from the cart.