That loud clucking sound you hear coming from the nation’s capital did not originate at KFC, Popeye’s, or the neighborhood wing joint. It’s coming from chicken hawks, those now thirsting for a war with Iraq but were chicken when it was their turn to serve in the military.

Let’s start with “Dubya.” The president joined the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 rather than serve in the military. He apparently used the connections of his father, who was a congressman and war hero, to join the Guard, leapfrogging thousands whose names were already on the waiting list.

Vice President Dick Chaney obtained student deferments and then a marital deferment to avoid Vietnam. He explained that he had “other priorities” than military service. Attorney General John Ashcroft did not serve, opting to get a deferment to teach business at Southwest Missouri State University.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was a Navy pilot and flight instructor from 1954 to 1957 but did not see combat.

Although Republican leaders in Congress are more hawkish than Democrats, that’s in rhetoric only. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and House Minority Whip David Bonior served in the military. On the Republican side, Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, Senate Minority Whip Don Nickles, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, House Majority Leader Dick Armey and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay did not serve.

DeLay claimed that too many people of color had volunteered to join the military in order to escape poverty, thus leaving no room for patriotic conservatives like him. So instead of fighting in Vietnam, DeLay declared war on roaches and bugs as an exterminator.

Some of the most famous talking heads on television also did not serve in the military, including George Will, Bill O’Reilly, Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, Pat Buchanan, Alan Keyes and Rush Limbaugh, the royal pain who said he did not serve because of “anal cysts.”

Other notable chicken hawks are Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, Senator Joe Lieberman, Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, Rep. “B-1” Bob Dornan, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Secretary of Education William Bennett and former congressman and ex-vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, who failed his physical exam but was healthy enough to play professional football [For an extensive list of chicken hawks on the Internet, go to the New Hampshire Gazette’s site at www.nhgazette.com/chickenhawks.html or www.awolbush.com].

Interestingly, the most vocal opponents of a war against Iraq, are retired military generals, including Brent Scowcroft, the elder Bush’s national security adviser and Gulf War Commander Norman Schwarzkopf.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, a retired Army general, wrote in “My American Journey,” his autobiography: “I particularly condemn the way our political leaders supplied the manpower for that [Vietnam] war. The policies – determining who would be drafted and who would be deferred, who would serve and who would escape, who would die and who would live – were an antidemocratic disgrace.”

In the interest of full disclosure, when I was editor of “The Aurora,” my school paper at Knoxville College in Tennessee, I was among 250 student leaders who signed a “We Won’t Go” to Vietnam petition that was submitted to President Richard Nixon. Of those, 12 were invited to hold a new conference in Washington, D.C. And two of us appeared on the “Today Show” to state our case.

On national TV, I expressed opposition to the Vietnam War on moral grounds and stated that I would refuse to go to Vietnam if drafted. I stated that I was willing to suffer the consequences of my decision and explained that I would not flee to Canada to avoid whatever government authorities had in store for me.

My Selective Service Board wasn’t exactly pleased with my position and sought to have me drafted. It was a big relief, especially to my family, when doctors at the induction center discovered that I have enlarged lymph nodes, which disqualified me for military service.

I am proud of the stand I took more than three decades ago. Although I objected to our involvement in the war, I respected the men who had volunteered to fight in Vietnam, including some of my close friends. We made different choices and had the courage of our convictions. But I have no respect for chicken hawks who avoided military service but are now eager to send other parents’ kids to war.

If we go to war, it’s unlikely that the brunt of that conflict will be felt by sons and daughters of the wealthy or politically connected.

Colin Powell also wrote in his autobiography, “I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well placed and so many professional athletes (who were probably healthier than any of us) managed to wangle slots in Reserve or National Guard units. Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country.”

Powell published that seven years ago. Today, he is working for the Number One Chicken Hawk.