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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (450404)	8/29/2003 3:49:25 PM
From: laura_bush	Respond to of 769667

From the heartland of the "Homeland:" Family of soldier displaying outrage toward president BY TOM JOHNSTON STAFF WRITER With their 23-year-old son serving as an Army reservist in Iraq, Pat and Paul Vogel are trying as best they can to support the work he and his fellow soldiers are doing. But the Barrington residents are finding it much more difficult to endorse Aaron's commander in chief. The Vogels accuse President George Bush of using fabricated information about former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's ties with Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and Hussein's potential use of weapons of mass destruction against the United States as the basis for declaring war on Iraq. "Our primary concern with the president is we feel like a lot of bad decisions have been made leading up to our son's and a lot of other troops' being involved," Paul Vogel said. Sign says it all To show their disdain, the Vogels have hung a sign outside their business, Assured Staffing, on Main Street, stating: "Proud of our soldier! Ashamed of our president!" Paul Vogel said Bush continues to make bad decisions, most notably his refusal to invite the United Nations to assist in stabilizing the highly volatile country. Vogel just attended the funeral of a 40-year-old reservist from Aaron's unit, a Wisconsin man who was killed and whose three children are fatherless after the truck he was driving in convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. "It's a very frustrating thing for a military family to realize they're paying the price for a war that, at least for military families, is really hard to get all patriotic about," Vogel said. "It seems to be unwinable and unending, and those are the worst words anyone in a military family could hear." Aaron Vogle signed up for a six-year term in the Army Reserve in 2000. He is a member of the 652nd engineering company based in Ellsworth, Wis. He was called into duty in February and reported to duty on the day he was to begin classes at Columbia College in Chicago. After training for a couple months, he was shipped off to Kuwait. Within 36 hours after arriving in Kuwait, he and his comrades were deployed in Baqouba, Iraq. Aaron's unit is trained to build floating bridges. He helped build one such bridge just after his arrival, but has spent the rest of the time guarding banks and government buildings against attackers. Several American troops have been killed while doing the same in Baqouba, which is 45 miles northeast of Baghdad. Use of reservists Paul Vogel said he and his wife are not only angry with the U.S. government for using reservists on the front lines but also for keeping them in Iraq longer than originally planned. They've recently learned that the government plans to keep Aaron and his fellow soldiers in Iraq for a year rather than six months, a change of plans that might jeopardize job opportunities and promotions, he said. "My sense is (Aaron is) still under the impression he will be getting out of there Oct. 1, but he probably will be there until April," Paul said. "This will ruin a lot of soldiers' lives." Aaron's parents contacted him via a satellite telephone they bought and shipped to him last month. They were frustrated with not knowing what is going on. The satellite telephone has become a source of communication for more than 50 families, whose sons and daughters are also serving in Iraq but do not have the same means of correspondence. The Vogels' first phone bill was $3,800, but the families have been sending them checks and notes of gratitude. "With any military family, most of them feel very isolated and afraid to speak out," Paul Vogel said. Reaction to sign As for their stateside protest, the Vogels put the sign up about two weeks ago, but do not keep it up every day. Paul Vogel said he's had people ask him to take the sign down and people who say they are glad someone was willing to express such criticism. "It's about 50-50," he said. Paul said he and his wife aren't worried about losing customers because of the controversial sign. They've reached a point where they think there needs to be an open dialogue about what they consider a diabolical situation. Although the administration is calling its campaign in Iraq a noble cause, Paul Vogel said the soldiers are the only ones being noble. "Our feeling is Bush needs to be as noble and as contrite as he can be to say 'Hey, we made a mistake, and we need help.' " archives.pioneerlocal.com