Yesterday, as Meteor Blades reminded us, is the fifth anniversary of a George Bush quote so spectacularly dumb that it will make any greatest hits collection–no need to buy the box set.
“There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they can attack us there,” Bush told reporters at the White House. “My answer is bring them on.”
When Bush’s interview was carried on the news, a retired Special Forces non-com named Stan Goff in Raleigh, NC went into a white-hot rage. He sat down at his keyboard and ripped out a response entitled “Bring ‘Em On?” You may well remember it, although it was five years ago today. Within hours it swept across the Internet like a prairie fire.
Sparked by the letter’s urgency and the response it triggered, a group of veterans and military family members made contact with one another and assembled the Bring Them Home Now! campaign. BTHN! kept the “Now” to the fore in the anti-war movement and coordinated a strong presence for forces from what some called the “military community.” Stan not only took a central part in the campaign, but went on to act as adviser to the just-born Iraq Veterans Against the War in their crucial first year.