The Nation

　　Sure, it's been fun joking about the fact that Dick Cheney obtained five -- count them, five -- deferments to avoid serving in the military during the Vietnam War. Sure, its been amusing to recount his limp claim that the man who served as George Bush I's Secretary of Defense had "other priorities" than taking up arms in defense of his country. Sure, it was a laugh when the chief cheerleader for the war in Iraq mocked John Kerry for having actually carried a weapon in a time of war.

　　But it is time to stop laughing at Dick Cheney's expense.

　　Now that the vice president has accidentally shot and wounded a companion on a quail hunt at the elite Texas ranch where rich men play with guns -- spraying his 78-year-old friend, in the face and chest with shotgun pellets and sending the man to intensive care unit of a Corpus Christi hospital -- it has become clear that Cheney was doing the country a service when he avoided service.

　　U.S. troops had enough problems in Vietnam without letting a trigger-happy incompetent like Dick Cheney start shooting things up from behind the lines.

　　Those deferments were well and wisely issued.

　　切尼拿起了他的枪

　　《国家》

　　切尼获得了逢五取一的延期服役，从而逃避了在越战时期服兵役。这件事的确给人以笑柄。描述这位后来当了老布什的国防部长的人软弱地声称他有除拿起武器以外“其他的选择”来保卫国家也的确很好笑。这位入侵伊拉克的啦啦队长嘲笑约翰·克里只不过在战争期间拿了一支枪而已也的确是个笑话。

　　但是，现在是停止取笑切尼的时候了。

　　既然这位副总统在富人们玩枪的得克萨斯的精品农场打鹌鹑时射伤了一位狩猎同伴——用弥散弹射中了78岁的朋友的脸和胸部并把他送到了考普斯·克里斯蒂医院的精细监护病房——这清楚地表明了切尼当初逃避兵役实在是为国家做了一件好事。

　　即使不让像切尼这种好战而又无能的人从背后放冷枪，美军在越南遇到的问题也已经够多的了。

　　让这种人推迟服役实为英明之举。