Profits exclude Patriotism?

If capitalism is evil what was John McCain doing fighting the communists in Vietnam?

I'm getting a bit tired of Senator McCain's anti-business shtick. The line about serving "for patriotism, not for profit" is pathetic. America spends more on its military than the next 35-40 biggest military spenders on the planet combined: Where does he think the money for that comes from?

We need to go no further than McCain’s Navy to see the fruits of such spending.

By the time Lt Commander McCain flew his A-4 Skyhawk over the then most heavily defended city in the world and was shot down, 45 other Skyhawk pilots had been captured and another 69 were killed or missing in action . In addition to Skyhawks, the U.S. was also sustaining combat losses with F-4 phantoms, F-105 Thunderchiefs, A-7 Corsairs, and A-1 Skyraiders among others.

By 2003 Baghdad’s air defense system possessed far greater lethality than Hanoi’s 1967 ring of fire that claimed McCain’s aircraft. But in 2003, not a single naval fixed wing aircraft was lost due to hostile fire during the battle for Baghdad – nor has one been lost since (one F/A-18 was shot down due to friendly fire*). In fact only three coalition fixed wing aircraft and 39 helicopters have been lost due to hostile fire through 2007 - well under a half of the Skyhawk losses in the first four years of Vietnam combat.

Granted, our forces fought with sever constraints in Vietnam that contributed to our losses, but American business can not be discounted as a major engine under girding our stunning success in Iraq – from taxes to pay for intensive pilot training or the direct application of technology infused in our weapon systems.

For over twenty years I’ve helped the Air Force acquire weapon systems to defeat various enemy threats, including some used to defeat Baghdad’s air defense system. Not one contractor worked for free and yet all were patriots. If things worked out right, they made a profit. Incidentally, I never crossed paths with a military pilot who worked for free either (I have met non-military pilots who did).

McCain’s attempts to kill the golden goose will only starve the hawk he claims to feed.

*Lt Nathan White, a fellow BYU alum was killed in this incident.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb 2, 2008