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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (14584)	4/13/2004 11:00:23 PM
From: Steve Dietrich	Respond to of 81568

<<Notice those asking the questions were sitting safe & secure in the WH. If you want to pay attention to journalists, listen to those putting their lives on the line in Iraq. They're the ones who have the moral authority to ask snippy questions of our President...>> That's pretty funny coming from a supporter of someone who checked the box saying he didn't want to go to Vietnam and who went underground in Nebraska when New York was under attack and who, as the most protected man in the world, says "bring it on" while hundreds of our troops are dying in Iraq. You have a fine sense of irony Ann

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (14584)	4/13/2004 11:04:02 PM
From: zonkie	Respond to of 81568

<not those flippant, liberal puppets in Wash DC. > They weren't liberal puppets when they wrote those headlines fed to them about Clinton for 8 years which turned out to be over nothing were they? ____________ Here's a letter from a serviceman in Iraq: "There are a number of reasons why I should be pissed off," Talbott writes. "But really only one thing about this whole 'war situation' manages to get my goat. Never mind that President Bush, the commander in chief, the zenith of my chain of command, the 'lord high commander' at the very pinnacle of the military rank structure, promised that no combat troops would be deployed more than six months. I guess he wasn't including the 3rd Infantry or the 82nd Airborne." He tells of soldiers whose identification cards have expired because they "weren't even supposed to be in the Army anymore." Talbott, while admitting that his sources of news have been reduced to "The Stars and Stripes, Maxim and Hustler," questions the shifting reasons for our invasion of the Middle Eastern country. If Iraq was funding terrorists, he wonders, "Why didn't we do Saudi Arabia and Syria, too? And if that was valid enough reason, then why did the focus so suddenly shift to weapons of mass destruction?" Why, if WMD were the focus, he asks, did the United States secure the oil fields but not the nuclear-research facilities? Why did the focus then shift a third time to freeing the people of Iraq? "Doesn't it seem strange to anyone that we haven't had one constant reason for starting a war?" Talbott goes on to say that he did help destroy "caches of mortar rounds, Iraqi mortar rounds. Funny thing, though, was that there were plenty of American-made ones in there. They were just like the ones my friends were shooting at Iraqis back in April. 'U.S.' stenciled on the cardboard packing tube." And what exactly, Talbott asks, is the president's stand on veterans' benefits? "The way I understand it," he writes, "the president is either trying to or already has made cuts in the benefits available to veterans. Huh? We've been fighting in Afghanistan for two years; a quarter of a million Americans on the Iraqi front. Who knows what's next, and he wants to cut veterans' benefits. "There is a guy in my company who lost his leg up to the knee, his eyesight, and some of his face doing his commander in chief's bidding. Now the very man who sent this kid--he couldn't even legally drink--to be mutilated and disabled for the rest of his life wants to scale back his entitlements to compensation." He ends the letter by saying that his three and one-half years in the Army have made him "numb to watching people hung out to dry." What really bothers him, he says, was a photo he saw in The Stars and Stripes of a sign at a gas station in the States showing gasoline selling for $2.07 a gallon. "Didn't we secure the oil fields? Aren't we a capitalist country anymore? Can't we sidestep OPEC now? Can't we at least, somewhere in the midst of deception, half-truths and outright lies, catch an honest break? "If we're going to fight for a cause that isn't known, get fired on by our own weapons, and get screwed out of our benefits, then at least for God's sake give us something concrete to say we fought for--even if it's as trivial as being able to fill our gas tanks for 98 cents a gallon." Talbott, who was promoted from corporal to sergeant since we last heard from him in June, adds this postscript: "If it's not evident, a lot of the folks over here are starting to get pretty damn bitter, and with good reason."

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (14584)	4/13/2004 11:05:59 PM
From: zonkie	Respond to of 81568

Letter from a young soldier in Iraq "President Bush has lost the respect of every soldier" 07/04/03: From a soldier's father: "My son is in the U.S.Army and currently stationed in Baghdad. I hear from him every three or four days. He is like most of the young men and women who went to fight over there inasmuch as he was proud to go and achieve what President Bush said was necessary. I have seen his attitude take a U-turn during the last month. At first he was saying: "I wonder why we are not doing this or that to help make life better for our soldiers?" Then he started to wonder why we were not doing more to help the Iraqi people who are suffering under terrible conditions. Not enough water or food, no electricity most of the time, a terrible shortage of medical supplies and medical staff, basically they are living like animals. Then he started to worry about the safety of our troops in the area. He says they are sitting ducks and easy targets for Iraqi people bent upon gaining revenge for slain family members and by those who hold the U.S. responsible for the terrible conditions they find themselves in. Ye sterday he had a different message altogether." "Get us out of here now! There is nothing we can do to pacify the Iraqi people except get out of their country and allow them to restore order in whatever way THEY wish." And, allow me to give you his remarks when he was informed of President Bush's brash remarks saying "Bring them on." He said: "Myself and every last man in my unit are deeply offended that our President would make such a statement inviting us to be attacked. President Bush has lost the respect of every soldier I have spoken to because of his speaking those irresponsible words. Those words spread like wild-fire amoung the troops. We are here because he ordered us to be here and now for him to make such a ridiculous statement inviting violence towards us causes us to lose respect for him and his judgement. We are learning that we never should have come here in the first place. Believe me Dad, there is a completely different attitude now. The fact that the President gave rich people a tax cut and didn't do anything for military families is hurtful. Where there was once pride and satisfaction in defeating an enemy there is now regret and shame. God Bless America. Your loving Son, Donny

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (14584)	4/13/2004 11:09:53 PM
From: zonkie	Respond to of 81568

I know about the news. We need Collin Powell back in charge. Discipline is slipping in the forces and it reminds one of the Viet-Nam pictures of old. Instead of a professional military outfit here we have a bunch of cowboys and vigilantes running wild in the streets. The ugly American has never been so evident. Someone in charge needs to drop the hammer on this lack of discipline, especially that which is being hown by the Special Forces, security contractors, and "other government agencies". We won the war but that doesn't mean we can treat the people of this couotry with contempt and disregard with no thought to the consequences. Those contractors, just like the last ones who were killed, were out running free with no military escort. Armed or not, that is a breach of protocol and a severe security risk. While I grieve for the families of those persons I would like to see the person who decided that it was alright for them to convoy out there without the military brought up on charges, unless of course that person was in the convoy, in which case at least he won't be getting anyone else killed. I'm angry about how we're treating peope here. I know it's not the entire military, in fact it is a very small, select group that believes they are somehow above the law of not ony this land but also the law of the military and those laws we hold dear in ouor own country. If someone were to try to treat our fellow Americans the way some of these people are treating the Iraquis the courts would certainly lock them away. I would phrase that last line harsher, but in light of recent events that would be cruel. Discipline is needed here, and I'm not certain that our current administration is prepared to take the steps necessary to crack down on all of this. In order for discipline to be restored I do believe Donald Rumsfield would have to admit that perhaps Powell's rules of war were in fact valid. Please feel free to send my comments to any Senator, Member of the House, Governor, President, or Secretary of Defense that you would like.