American Heroics

624787.

That was the number that John McCain grimaced through pursed lips in the now widely-played black-and-white video. His tightened jaw, narrow glare, and his firm resolution not to give in or give up hope — it all speaks volumes about this American hero. No one will ever take that away from John McCain. For his wartime service to this country, Prisoner # 624787 is a hero, a man deserving of that moniker.

Now, that taken alone certainly does not mean he is the best candidate for President of the United States and the most qualified to be Commander-in-Chief.  His bizarre inconsistencies of late (take, for instance, the debate cancellation so that he could salvage the economy single-handedly) has been excused by political spin doctors under the guise of the “Maverick” motto.

There are many ways of looking at heroism, and if recent polls are to be believed, the American people are starting to come around to the idea that Barack Obama and Joe Biden posess the steady-handed approach and the trustworthy character that make them the better choice this year.  We must also consider policy proposals in addition to personal histories; but if we are going to talk about how we should define character, then Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike should all be able to respect and admire John McCain’s service.   And for the voters of Virginia’s Second Congressional District, there is another candidate on the ballot this fall who has shown character and leadership in service to our country overseas that we should all come together and acknowledge.  That man is Glenn Nye.

From one of his most prestigious awards, the commendation reads as follows: “In recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in protecting American citizens during the conflict in Macedonia. Mr. Nye’s perseverance and creative solutions were instrumental in bridging ethnic divides and overcoming political, physical, and logistical barriers, in order to rescue Americans from the conflict area.

I am proud to be one of the many Virginians this election season who will make the case that service can come in many forms, particularly since the current conflicts we face mean that fighting on the front lines of current and future conflicts will require not just military might but also robust diplomatic strength. This is the Glenn Nye story. And it is the tale of a true modern hero.

But first, how do we define courage? As the McCain campaign puts it:

What is it that defines a great leader? Is it his courage? Is it the courage to do the difficult and not just the easy things? Is it the courage to fight? To fight to survive? Faith certainly plays a role. Faith in God. Faith in your fathers. Faith in your friends and band of brothers.

These may be words used to describe John McCain’s early career. But they might as well be describing Glenn Nye. Take a moment to read the entire account of the Macedonia hostage rescue from State Magazine here: http://www.glennnye.com/files/shared/embassy.pdf

Here is another account of this incredible story, which was written in 2002 in Nye’s hometown newspaper shortly after the news became public:

“‘We were all pretty nervous,’ admitted Nye, a 27-year-old Norfolk native who had worked at the embassy for about a year before the fighting between warring factions in Macedonia began. ‘Emotions had taken over and the environment was fairly hostile for Americans.’ Although frightening, no one at the embassy was hurt. Still, after the stoning, the U.S. State Department closed the embassy and issued a warning, advising Americans against traveling in the war-torn county and those citizens already there to exercise caution and, ‘if appropriate,’ depart. The Pentagon put U.S. army troops on alert at the airport in Skopje.

Nye, who was trained in the Albanian language, stayed behind to assist Americans caught in the turmoil. He was one of only about a dozen in the state department who did.

And thanks to the contacts he’d forged with the Macedonian people and authorities living in the northern part of the country near Kosovo, where some of the fiercest fighting raged, Nye was responsible for evacuating 26 Americans during the height of the crisis.

He also secured the release of an American held by an armed insurgent group. For those efforts, he was awarded a ‘Superior Honor Award’ from the European Bureau of the Department of State. He also got a meritorious honor award from the U.S. embassy in Skopje for his contacts and analysis of the ethnic Albanian political community.”

Or, consider the words used by Jim Webb when discussing the local election, as Webb had this to say about the Democratic nominee for Virginia’s Second Congressional District:

“In Congress next year, we will need fresh voices and new ideas on a wide variety of issues. A lot of times we talk about military programs, but one key failure in Congress is understanding the environment in which our men and women in uniform serve. If you look at Glenn’s background, the countries in which he has served and his interactions with the military, you will see that he will be a great voice for the military in this district.”

This points to an important fact about public service more generally:  Glenn Nye’s heroism is not a one-day story.   A former Foreign Service officer who has worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Nye recently returned from a nine-month stint in Iraq, working with USAID on a program to employ Iraqis. He’s served in other world trouble spots, including Afghanistan, the West Bank and Kosovo. And although it is not as glamorous, Nye is also a hero for how he has approached problem-solving on a day-in day-out basis in defense of our country, even when it was not popular. Here is how Nye describes one of his experiences abroad:

“We worked closely with members of the Iraqi government. The project I worked on was an employment program. We gave jobs to Iraqis to give them purpose and hope and keep them from joining the insurgency….One of the programs that we did was to hire Iraqis to clean up trash in the city of Baghdad. We employed thousands of Iraqis doing that….But it’s a very expensive program. We told the Iraqi government members that our assistance was temporary and that they needed to take over responsibility for the program….But months into my working on the program they still just refused to take it over until I finally asked them one day: ‘Why is it that you won’t make plans to take this over yourselves?’ And…they shrugged and said, ‘Well, as long as you’re going to pay for it, then we’re happy for you to continue to pay for it.’ So…we finally just let contracts expire in certain parts if the city of Baghdad and we had to let the trash pile up there. And when that happened, the Iraqis then took action.”

That kind of an attitude is also a form of heroics, and it makes for the same type of unrecognized, unpublicized little victories that Americans in uniform, and also in suits and ties, have accomplished in the name of America’s interests overseas. Even in the 2002 article focusing on his hostage rescue, Nye argued that the daily heroics are no less important:

“As a foreign service officer, Nye’s primary job is to represent the United States abroad. As a consular officer, he provides protection and care for those Americans living in foreign countries.

‘There’s a real lack of information at home among the public about what the rank and file diplomats in foreign service do on a day-by-day basis,’ Nye said. ‘Part of our job is to brief the state department and help keep high-level diplomats informed about what’s happening. More low-level negotiations, we do ourselves with instructions from the state department. We’re basically the staff for ambassadors and the secretary of state.'”

And what about Glenn Nye’s opponent? Incumbent Thelma Drake is cut from a different cloth, and it seems to be one that is woven with dyed-in-the-wool partisanship. She even voted against Senator Webb’s bipartisan GI Bill in May 2008 and told the press that she voted against it because of opposition to the legislation from President Bush, who stated that the bill was too generous to veterans. What is it that defines a great leader? Is it her courage? Is it the courage to do the difficult and not just the easy things? Is it the courage to fight?

Unfortunately, Thelma Drake is sewn together by the Bush/Rove politics-and-personal-attacks-first kind of thread, too. Just as the Republicans attacked Kerry where he was strongest – his military service – On October 4 of this year, Thelma Drake attempted her own swiftboating of Glenn Nye. Just read the following newspaper account of a press conference Drake held earlier this month:

“At a news conference Wednesday, Drake floated questions about Nye’s role in helping rescue a hostage in Macedonia in 2001 when he was a foreign service officer. Nye references the event on TV commercials and in campaign literature.

Drake said she wondered how a ‘junior member of the state department’ could be involved in a hostage rescue and said she hadn’t been able to find any news stories or documents about Nye’s claims.”

Let there be no mistake: Thelma Drake is not confused here. This feigned befuddlement is nothing more than a political ploy, and it is the very kind of repugnant personal attack that diminishes valuable policy discussion, distracts from the issues, demeans the voters, and destroys what a healthy democratic debate should be all about. Glenn Nye’s service to his country makes him a hero. So does John McCain’s service overseas, and Barack Obama’s service in poverty-stricken communities in Chicago, and Joe Biden’s service from the floor of the Senate over these many years. We can all acknowledge that fairly and proudly on all sides, because we are all Americans. Glenn Nye has demonstrated his commitment and courage through a career of serving his nation abroad — through big actions that everyone notices and the daily dedication that has gone unseen — and it is despicable that Drake would turn to such ugly tactics.

Glenn Nye’s heroism is indeed evinced through the most memorable of moments, like when he was the first to step up in order to resolve the hostage crisis in Macedonia. But it is also demonstrated via each of the more everyday acts of consistent heroism he has performed every single day. That is all a part of his journey, which brings to mind these words: Faith certainly plays a role. Faith in God. Faith in your fathers. Faith in your friends and band of brothers.

As the Faithful Democrats endorsement letter published today reads, “Glenn Nye is a true American hero who has not only proclaimed his values; he has lived his faith out through serving our country as a diplomat in conflict zones, where his faith has inspired and sustained him. “

His firm resolution not to give in or give up hope — it all speaks volumes about this American hero. No one will ever take that away from Glenn Nye, not even Thelma Drake and her despicable political smears. She should retract her statements and call for a better dialogue about who is truly fit to lead. She should be ashamed of herself for resorting to such cruel and malicious attacks, just like she should be ashamed for refusing to support the Jim Webb-sponsored GI Bill that just made sense for our troops.

And for the voters of Virginia’s Second District, it should be an easy choice when they pull the levers in less than a week, because it is time for Thelma Drake to go and for a new generation of American heroes to take this country in a better direction.

The generation who fought in earlier wars shares much with the generation who is currently fighting for our country — diplomats, warriors, humanitarian assistance workers, and other American heroes who work together to make this world a better place through America’s leadership.   Glenn Nye shares a great deal with John McCain in terms of heroics.   We should move beyond politics to acknowledge that like McCain, John Kerry, and scores of other American heroes known and unknown to the public, Glenn Nye has fought for this country and risked his life on behalf of our principles and in the interest of this great nation.

Considering Thelma Drake’s dirty politics and her blind partisan allegiance that puts her party before this great country, it is clear to this Virginian that Glenn Nye has more of the heroics of Prisoner #624787 — not to mention Joe Biden’s undeniable statesmanship and Barack Obama’s inspirational leadership — than Thelma Drake will ever have.