US military says Martin Luther King would be proud of its weapons

[Il-Mari]

Yesterday, I highlighted the extraordinary anti-war speech Martin Luther King gave in 1967, in which he said, among other things, that the US government is "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today" and the leading exponent of "the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long." The speech was devoted to arguing that America's militarism and war-fighting were degrading the soul of the nation and the citizenry and - for financial, political and cultural reasons - were making domestic progress impossible.

The US Air Force's Global Strike Command yesterday posted a truly vile bit of propaganda in which it appropriates King's image, name and words in order to claim that he would "be proud to see our Global Strike team . . . standing side-by-side ensuring the most powerful weapons in the US arsenal remain the credible bedrock of our national defense"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...litary-weapons

Perhaps using MLK isn't the best way to try to promote the Military, considering that whole non-violence and anti-war thing he had going on.

- Il-Mari

[Mad Jay]

What's with everyone thinking that MLKJr will be proud of them. First it's the gun nuts.. then the Air Force?. Is this something new, or do they always do this when a black guy is president? oh wait..

[Mouse]

I think MLK Jr. Is the only famous black man they've heard of.

[Lainie]

I think Mouse nailed it.

[BoKu]

I thought we just left this party!

[musicgeek]

Y'know, had they stopped at the bit about seeing people of every race, creed, etc., standing side-by-side for a common cause, they might have gotten away with it. People seem to forget that shortly before his assassination (as significant strides were being made on the civil rights front), King was throwing much of his clout behind the anti-war movement.

[crescent]

However much MLK might have disliked today's military, the OP headline is still mis-stating what the military said. The military's statement was that MLK would be proud of the "Strike Team" - people, not weapons.

The military statement was pretty tasteless, but not as inflammatory as the headline makes it out to be.

[Mad Jay]

I have a dream that one day my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by how well they can shoot brown people?