I can only hope that it makes the paper.
Thank you Patrick Lang for the information on Chuck Haqel. I have left this man’s name here in the interest of fairness to all the elites that he alleges are responsible for all the ills of the world. His letter is below the fold, for those who want to read it.
I am writing this in response to the letter to the editor by one David Cline.
The Senator Mr. Cline saw on TV was one Chuck Hagel (R NE) and a Vietnam (in country) Veteran. Who once was Sergeant Hagel of the First Battalion, Forty Seventh Infantry Regiment, Ninth Infantry Division. He was a “grunt,” i.e., a Rifleman and a leader of Riflemen in a war in which Riflemen spent an average of 240 days in actual combat out of a year’s tour of duty. So I give great credence to what Senator Hagel has to offer to the discussion concerning the war in Iraq that similarly was started upon a myth. Creating that myth for Iraq, is one of America’s greatest elites, Neo-Conservative chickhawks, (those who place others in harms way who have never served in the Armed Forces or saw combat) who lied to the American people concerning the connection between 9-11 and Iraq’s government. These are the elites that are the most dangerous to our republic.
The Mainstream media (MSM) that Mr. Cline so deftly scolded, is failing in many areas of its reporting, not just what is or is not transpiring in Iraq, but what also is occurring in our own country. There has been little media attention to the Downing Street Memo and even less attention to the many and varied reasons that this Administration has put forth as the justification for this war.
Our MSM spent thousands of hours and hundreds of column inches when the previous President told a lie, where are all the hours and column inches for the lie that so far has caused 1800+ deaths and 20,000 + casualties. I ask you Mr. Cline, who really controls that MSM; I can assure you that today most MSM are not controlled by the Elites that you claim are misrepresenting the facts in Iraq.
I disagree wholeheartedly with Mr. Cline’s assertion that the media and Congress prevented the Military from winning the war in Vietnam. We won the battles but lost the hearts and minds of the people of Vietnam because we failed to address their economic and political issues in a way that would indeed foster a democratic society.
The wholesale bombing, stripping away entire areas of foliage, rounding up and moving people into safe zones, does not preclude people to support an occupying force. Our soldiers and marines in the field for the most part diligently held themselves to a high moral standard, yet there were in fact many of the same issues that currently plague the Iraqi theater of operations.
I am also very grateful that our military is run by Civilians, who are supposed to listen to our military leaders, unfortunately those same civilian leaders failed to listen to a least two General officers who made it clear that more troops would be needed to complete the mission in Iraq. This failure on the part of our leaders is the cause for so many of the deaths that our military is currently experiencing.
Yes Mr. Cline, I agree Hundreds of thousands in Vietnam were in fact rounded up and many were killed; yet I believe you are using the Cambodian Killing fields to inflate your numbers of dead after the fall of Vietnam to the NVA and the Viet Cong. When you ask what do you suppose will happen when we pull out of Iraq, I am sure they will fall into a bloody civil war that will not be something that will benefit the peoples of Iraq.
Unfortunately your accusation that the elites were responsible for the mass killing in Vietnam is as flawed as your suggestion that those same elites would be responsible for any mass killing in Iraq. The Neo-Con elite that lied to the American people is fully responsible for the death and destruction that is currently inflaming the Nation of Iraq. Those are the people who have not only Iraqi blood, but also American soldiers and marines blood on their hands.
As a protestor of this war, your blanket statement that I would want terrorists here in my country is inflaming at the least and despicable in its allegation that I am anything less than a patriotic American Citizen. Your continued connection of Iraq to the 9-11 tragedy clearly shows you have not done your homework or investigated this completely false premise. There has never been a connection between Bin Laden and Hussein, they were in fact mortal enemies, Bin Laden a Theocratic despot and Hussein a Bathist was a Muslim in name only.
This war must be stopped quickly and our troops removed from harms way as fast as possible. This continued use of our Armed Forces to “install a democratically elected government in Iraq” is a farce. The Constitution that the Iraqi’s are considering will give us an Iraq that is in fact an Iran lite, no constitutional guaranteed rights to women or the minorities that currently reside in Iraq.
Your statement that your friends who lost their lives in the service of their country was noble, mortifies me for this reason. No death in any war is noble, no matter what the reason for that war; death in war is by its very nature an abhorrent injustice to those that died. I too lost friends in that horrific war in Vietnam, my step brother, a marine, served three tours and was wounded three times. My stepbrother believed that fighting for ones country is the honorable thing to do, yet today he is opposed to the way in which this war was brought about and how it is being initiated. I enlisted in 1972 and did not serve in country, yet I saw the horrors of those who were wounded in battle in that war.
I currently have two relatives serving in the Marines in Iraq, two young men who have begun to question how some chickhawk Neo-Con’s who have never served in the Armed Forces could in good conscience, send men and women to their deaths in a war that is fully premised upon lies and deceit of the American public. I agree with you Mr. Cline, wars are won by our soldiers, marines and sailors, and unfortunately our military personnel have been placed in harms way by an Elite who cares little for them while they are serving and even less for them when they return battered, wounded or dead.
Have you ever wondered why the current Administration has deemed in necessary to cut more than 1.4 Billion dollars from the Veteran Administration while we are in the midst of this war? I can only hope that my cousins children who are serving in Iraq, will come home soon, and that this illegal and immoral war will be over soon, so that America will have a chance to redeem itself as truly the champion of human rights and once again become the stellar nation that it once so proudly had become.
Our military does not make us free Mr. Cline; active participation in our democratic republic is what makes us free. Making sure that we hold our elected officials accountable for telling the American people the truth is what makes us free. A free and open press that is not so lazy as to investigate thoroughly the allegations of misconduct by the elected officials, who represent us, creates our freedom.
Standing up and objecting when wrongs are perceived and protesting to the high heavens to insure that those actions that violate our collective conscious are clearly aired and brought to the attention of our Nation. Our military is but one aspect of this march of Freedom in our Country. I may disagree wholeheartedly with what you have said Mr. Cline, but the beauty of America is that you have the right, the same as I, to voice your opinions.
LTE Ottawa Herald
I saw some senator on television talking about how Iraq is getting to be another Vietnam. Let’s get this straight. We never lost the Vietnam war and we are not losing in Iraq. The elites in this country want you to think so.
The media are not reporting the good things going on there. They sit in their rooms in the hotels and try to report the war from their rooms. They need to get out and see what is really going on.
…Our Congress and the media stopped us from winning the Vietnam war. I still cannot see why some of those congressmen think they know more than our military leaders. … We have not lost any war. We just pulled out.
Does anyone remember what happened when we pulled out of Vietnam? Millions were rounded up and killed. What do you suppose would happen if we pull out of Iraq? Millions would be rounded up and killed. The elites and the media in this country have blood on their hands, not our military.
Hey protesters, would you rather be fighting the terrorists over there or here? I would say over there. Remember 9-11-2001 when the USA was attacked and that started the war on terrorism? We cannot stop this time until the work is finished.
A war cannot be won until someone loses. I had seven friends who died in Vietnam. They believed fighting for their country was the noble thing to do, even if it meant losing their lives. Politicians do not win wars, our fighting men do. Our soldiers make us free, not the politicians.
