Jun. 19, 2004 - 22:55 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Birds Of A Feather

It is nice to run into something written that would make you proud if you yourself said it that way. Ed Quillen a Denver Post Columnist, a former newspaper editor who lives in Salida, Colorado -- way over on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. Without looking too closely one would mistake me for him or vice versa. His forehead en route to his shoulder blades. Gray beard and mustache too.

He put a column in sometime last week or two and it has been patiently sitting here. Its title is Iraq unlike World War II

In part it says: "Last week, Colorado was honored by a visit from the Leader of the Free World, who stopped in Denver to raise $2.2 million for struggling Republican candidates, then spoke at the graduation ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy."

"There he compared the current war in Iraq to World War II, although the similarities escape me. The United States entered the war after after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. That was an act of war, and the U.S. Congress responded by declaring war against Japan on Dec. 8. In Germany on Dec. 11, Adolph Hitler honored a treaty commitment with Japan and declared war on the U.S.; Congress then declared against Germany."

"Also note that the 1941 attack came from Japan, and the U.S. went to war against Japan. Now observe that that the 2001 attack came from Saudi nationals whose leader was believed to be in Afghanistan at the time, and that the major U.S. response has been against Iraq, which has no discernable connection to the Sept. 11 attacks."

"Also, the 1941 declarations followed the federal Constitution: "The Congress shall have the power . . . . to declare war." Now see if you can find any declaration of war against Iraq by the U.S. Congress."

"And if our president needs to find historical parallels for the current operations in Iraq, there are plenty that fit better than World War II -- say, the invasion of Mexico in 1846, or the liberation" of the Philippines in 1898."

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Mr. Quillen spoke of an uncle of his who was in the military in World War II. "Like many WW II veterans, Gene didn't talk much about the war, but saw plenty of it." "My brothers and I adored him when he visited , and we would pester him for war stories . . . ."But he always changed the subject. When I asked him about it a few years ago, he said that there been a time in his life when he was a "professional killer," but it was in the past and he wanted to leave it there." My uncle was about the same way. When he returned to the United States he spent some time in Miami, a sort of outdoor recovery room before he was discharged and sent home. When he first got home and was visiting us a car backfired on the street outside the house and he hit the floor and rolled to the wall, got up with a sheepish expression and carried on from there. But he would not talk about his experiences overseas. Men from WW II really didn't talk much, and if you heard someone sounding off about what they did in WW II, you could almost figure they pushed papers in Washington or were supply clerks behind the lines.

In his career he had a much loftier position than I did, but we seem to feel the same way about things. We are, I guess, Colorado Birds Of A Feather . . . . . . . . .

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