Dan Rather
A PIECE of news from last week can be thought of as an American tragedy, in more than one sense of the phrase.
Newly resigned California Congressman Randy 'Duke' Cunningham is a genuine war hero, a former Navy pilot who was the first fighter ace of the Vietnam War, the recipient of the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, 15 Air Medals and a Purple Heart. He was the prototypical 'Top Gun' pilot - after Vietnam, he was, in fact, an instructor at the Navy's TOPGUN school. And now, after pleading guilty to multiple federal charges of taking bribes to steer contracts to certain defence contractors, he faces the prospect of up to 10 years in prison.
"I know," a tearful Cunningham told reporters this week in San Diego, "that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions, and most importantly, the trust of my friends and family."
PLANE SHOT DOWN
On May 10, 1972, Lt. Cunningham became the only United States pilot during the Vietnam War to shoot down three North Vietnamese MiGs in a single day - a day that ended with his own plane being shot down by a surface-to-air missile.
Cunningham waited until the last possible second to eject from the plane in an effort to avoid a touchdown on land that would almost certainly have resulted in his becoming a prisoner of war.
On February 27 of next year, Cunningham will learn whether, and for how long, he will go to prison for at least US$2.4 million in bribes that he has admitted receiving, primarily from defence contractors.
DESIRE FOR LUXURY
The form that these bribes took - antique Persian rugs, a Rolls-Royce, expensive furniture, use of a yacht - speak of a hollow materialism, a desire for luxury that somehow supplanted or overwhelmed the good core of one who had served his nation with such distinction. And which will now cost him nearly everything.
That is one way in which this story is an American tragedy. But if one pulls out for the long view, one can also discern another American tragedy: In times of war, while some of our men and women are enduring the hell of battle in what must be regarded as the supreme sacrifice for one's country, others are plotting to make themselves richer.
War profiteering has a history that probably goes back to the wind-swept plains of Troy. But that does not mean that we should ever become comfortable with it, for there are few things more contemptible and shameful, that more pervert the values Americans as a nation profess to hold dear.
SCHEMES DISCOVERED
The war in Iraq, like other wars before it, has given rise to its own profiteers. Some of their schemes have been discovered; others we will not know about for years, if ever. And procurement scandals are, of course, not limited to times of war.
With literally hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of government contracts being decided every year by a relative handful of powerful people in Washington, we should probably not be surprised that graft is one of the collateral effects of the "military-industrial complex" that President and Gen. Dwight Eisenhower warned us about.
Some of the best of us wear the Red, White and Blue on their shoulders while fighting for this country, while some of the worst of us look at - and, too often, make a great show of waving - that same flag and see only the green of money. It's an outrage, and it ought to leave each and every one of us seeing red. Randy Cunningham's American tragedy, and ours, lies in the way that the best and worst can sometimes reside in the same person.
Dan Rather is a former television broadcaster.
