Speaker Nancy Pelosi Issues Statement on Bush Veto
"Good afternoon. The Congressional leadership just had a positive meeting with President Bush, where he expressed his willingness to work together, in good faith, and take the right approach to come together to find our common ground.
"Yesterday, the Congress sent a bill to the President, which we believe honored the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. It supported our troops, it honored the sacrifices of our veterans, and it held the Iraqis accountable.
"The President chose to veto the bill. We made our position clear. He made his position clear. Now it is time for us to try to work together, to come together.
"But make no mistake: Democrats are committed to ending this war. And we hope to do so in unison with the President of the United States."
Comments
Pelosi's Lies
So, ignoring our soldiers letters, is actually HONORING and SUPPORTING them.
Be my voice. I want this message heard. It is mine and my platoon’s to the country. A man I know lost his legs the other night. He is in another company in our batallion. I can no longer be silent after watching the sacrifices made by Iraqis and Americans everyday.Send it to a congressman if you have to. Send it to FOX news if you have to. Let this message be heard please…
My fellow Americans, I have a task for those with the courage and fortitude to take it. I have a message that needs not fall on deaf ears. A vision the blind need to see. I am not a political man nor one with great wisdom. I am just a soldier who finds himself helping rebuild a country that he helped liberate a couple years ago.
I have watched on television how the American public questions why their mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters are fighting and dying in a country 9000 miles away from their own soil. Take the word of a soldier, for that is all I am, that our cause is a noble one. The reason we are here is one worth fighting for. A cause that has been the most costly and sought after cause in our small span of existence on our little planet. Bought in blood and paid for by those brave enough to give the ultimate sacrifice to obtain it. A right that is given to every man, woman, and child I believe by God. I am talking of freedom.
Freedom. One word but yet countless words could never capture it’s true meaning or power. “For those who have fought for it, freedom has a taste the protected will never know.” I read that once and it couldn’t be more true. It’s not the average American’s fault that he or she is “blind and deaf” to the taste of freedom. Most American’s are born into their God given right so it is all they ever know. I was once one of them. I would even dare to say that it isn’t surprising that they take for granted what they have had all their life. My experiences in the military however opened my eyes to the truth.
Ironically you will find the biggest outcries of opposition to our cause from those who have had no military experience and haven’t had to fight for freedom. I challenge all of those who are daring enough to question such a noble cause to come here for just a month and see it first hand. I have a feeling that many voices would be silenced.
I watched Cindy Sheehan sit on the President’s lawn and say that America isn’t worth dying for. Later she corrected herself and said Iraq isn’t worth dying for. She badmouthed all that her son had fought and died for. I bet he is rolling over in his grave.
Ladies and gentleman I ask you this. What if you lived in a country that wasn’t free? What if someone told you when you could have heat, electricity, and water? What if you had no sewage systems so human waste flowed into the streets? What if someone would kill you for bad-mouthing your government? What if you weren’t allowed to watch TV, connect to the internet, or have cell phones unless under extreme censorship? What if you couldn’t put shoes on your child’s feet?
You need not to have a great understanding of the world but rather common sense to realize that it is our duty as HUMAN BEINGS to free the oppressed. If you lived that way would you not want someone to help you????
The Iraqi’s pour into the streets to wave at us and when we liberated the cities during the war they gathered in the thousands to cheer, hug and kiss us. It was what the soldier’s in WW2 experienced, yet no one questioned their cause!! Saddam was no better than Hitler! He tortured and killed thousands of innocent people. We are heroes over here, yet American’s badmouth our President for having us here.
Every police station here has a dozen or more memorials for officers that were murdered trying to ensure that their people live free. These are husbands, fathers, and sons killed every day. What if it were your country? What would your choice be? Everything we fight for is worth the blood that may be shed. The media never reports the true HEROISM I witness everyday in the Iraqi’s. Yes there are bad one’s here, but I assure you they are a minuscule percent. Yet they are a number big enough to cause worry in this country’s future.
I have watched brave souls give their all and lose thier lives and limbs for this cause. I will no longer stand silent and let the “deaf and blind” be the only voice shouting. Stonewall Jackson once said, “All that I have, all that I am is at the service of the country.” For these brave souls who gave the ultimate sacrifice, including your son Cindy Sheehan, I will shout till I can no longer. These men and women are heroes. Their spirit lives on in their military and they will never be forgotten. They did not die in vain but rather for a cause that is larger than all of us.
My fellow countrymen and women, we are not overseas for our country alone but also another. We are here to spread democracy and freedom to those who KNOW the true taste of it because they fight for it everyday. You can see the desire in their eyes and I am honored to fight alongside them as an Infantryman in the 101st Airborne.
Freedom is not free, but yet it is everyone’s right to have. Ironic isn’t it? That is why we are here. Though you will always have the skeptics, I know that most of our military will agree with this message. Please, at the request of this soldier spread this message to all you know. We are in Operation Iraqi Freedom and that is our goal. It is a cause that I and thousands of others stand ready to pay the ultimate sacrifice for because, Cindy Sheehan, freedom is worth dying for, no matter what country it is! And after the world is free only then can we hope to have peace.
SGT Walter J. Rausch and 1st Platoon
101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
What alternate reality is Pelosi living in and who the hell does she think she is kidding claiming she is honoring our soldiers and their sacrifices????
Guess she missed the letter above and perhaps she missed these also.
RedState brings us interviews with the troops in Iraq.
“There's not a single one of my soldiers who doesn’t look at the neighborhood we’re in, look at the children there, and not want to do whatever they can to give these kids as bright a future as possible. We want to finish this job, and we know we can do it.
I am going to show one more teaser from the RedState interviews with multiple soldiers, then if you want to see the rest, you have to go read it all yourself.
“The sense I get when talking to the other soldiers,” said a public affairs soldier, “is that the worst thing possible would be to give a date when we’re leaving, period. We all want to win, and to accomplish our mission, especially since we’ve put so much into doing it so far. To just up and leave would be terrible.” I asked what effect such statements as Harry Reid’s “the war is lost,” and Nancy Pelosi’s “the war on terror is not in Iraq” have on the troops’ morale and opinions of their mission, and also pointed out the relevance of John Kerry’s 1971 statement to Congress that nobody wants to be “the last man to die for a lost cause,” and asked how that – and the fact that Congress had just passed resolutions mandating troop pullouts in five months – and asked about that affect, as well. The response was, “It’s terrible. I mean, I understand political posturing and all that but it really is terrible. If the war is lost and we need to go home, then why do we need to stay here five more months, when I could die or my friends could die before we go home? The war is either over or it isn’t; this just doesn’t make sense.” The Specialist continued, “What we want is to keep helping the people here. The people at home who say these things, they don’t understand that these are people who have to live here after we leave, whatever the situation is. These people and the things that happen here aren’t real to them, and they can’t understand unless they’ve been here and seen it.”
At least our soldiers have the heart to care about the people they are trying to help, our soldiers have the humanity to understand the ramifications of withdrawal. They are not just there because they were ordered there, many of these men and women enlisted and re-enlisted knowing they would be going to Iraq and they did so for one reason.
Maybe she also missed this, an email sent to me:
Spree-
I wanted to leave a comment at your blog but the filtering software on my ISP is getting in the way. I've been in Iraq for over a year now, and the difference here in Anbar is amazing. Sen Reid is putting his own political career over my safety and the safety of my men who go outside the wire most every day. Thanks to folks like you back at home, we have hope that we can keep Congress off our backs long enough to get the job done right, and then we can go home with honor. Great blog, keep it up!
SSG Dave Thul
MN National Guard
Al Asad, Iraq
Appeal For Courage Committee
Appeal for Courage.
Maybe Pelosi also missed this from a Blue Star Mother:
Starting with Beth from Blue Star Chronicles, who, as she puts it, has a son in the "bowels of Baghdad."
It starts with this:
The argument regarding funding for the war on Capital Hill is frustrating for those of us with children serving in the bowels of Baghdad.
Further excerpts show this:
Nancy Pelosi declares that it’s sad that President Bush thinks that al-Qaeda is in Iraq. Even while she makes these sneering statements our Soldiers, our sons and our daughters, are fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq. High level Iraqi operatives have been captured in Iraq and the Congressmen and news media either ignore it or spend their time discussing whether or not our Troops, our sons and our daughters, will mistreat them while they are being held for questioning.
The Troops, our sons and our daughters, are having their time down range extended. In many cases indefinitely. They are having to do repeated rotations. It’s a volunteer Army, that’s their job. But doesn’t it just grate on you to hear the criticism of every move they make? Doesn’t it just make your head explode to know that news media and progressives are just waiting for one to slip up, in the fog of war, and make a mistake so they can slander the American Military for the world to hear? Don’t you want to scream at those Congressmen and tell them to quit using our sons and our daughters for their own political gain?
In yet another excerpt she says:
There is a disconnect between the people in this country and our Soldiers fighting this war. We have little to no real help from other countries. Our Soldiers are in the dangerous areas. Our Soldiers are carrying the heaviest part of the load for the Western world.
Our country forgot about 9/11. Everyone has moved on. Everyone except our enemy who still declares their intention to destroy us and the American Soldier who stands alone between them and us.
Please read her whole piece and take a look at the picture she has up.
Maybe Pelosi also missed this touching letter.
Just Watch
American Soldier says,
Video Here
I don’t understand the stance that the populace has taken towards
our military. I feel as if I went off and did the wrong thing at times.
Why can’t people see that we fight for a greater cause? We sacrifice so
you can have freedoms. We don’t die and get maimed because we have done
something wrong or our society has accepted something wrong. We fight
the global war on terror. You all remember 9/12/01. You know what it
felt like to lose people or feel helpless.
The days after 9/11 I went to ground zero and I helped savage what I
could. I helped in the various rescue missions. I did what I could. I
felt helpless like everyone else. People cried out towards me to help
them. I could do nothing then but I swore I would do what I could in
the days to follow.
It wasn’t more than a year later that I volunteered to enter the
service again and soon after be deployed to fight for my country. I did
what I did to help those who asked me those long days after 9/11. I
swore it to them and I swore to myself that I would do what I needed to
do.
Now, 6 years later I feel like the public is turning their back on
me. Why do I feel this way? I know there is a community who will
support me always but I reach out to those who oppose me. Why do you
try to hurt me? Why do you try and take from my fellow brother who is
forward and outside the wire right now?
I came so close to dying that I feel as if I’ve been given a second
chance at life. I look back and I clearly remember how close it came. I
could have been one of the many grave scenes in the film above. However
I am not. I am alive and breathe life in and exhale my compassion. You
wish I would just go away but I won’t. I am a warrior and I may die an
old man who wore his Iraq Veteran hat with my many medals on it. Just
like the generation before me.
Don’t hate me with such vile hatred. The bad man in the middle night
will not hurt you because I have taken his life before he could reach
you….remember that!
Maybe Pelosi also managed to miss this:
This is being cross posted from The American Ranger, with permission, of course.
Many may remember SFC Chuck Grist from my interview with him, that can be found here.
Now for the cross post:
I recently received multiple emails of an item titled “I’m Tired”. It was signed by Joe Repya, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 101st Airborne Division.
Some of those who forwarded the email questioned, as we all have a tendency to do, whether or not there really was a “Joe Repya”. Being on active duty, I managed to locate him and he sent me the following response regarding the “I’m Tired” letter. He confirmed that it was indeed his and that he had written it all the way back in 2005.
After his email response to me, read his letter “I’m Tired” and I am sure you will be as impressed as I was:
“Chuck,
I wrote the letter to a friend in November, 2005, upon my return from Baghdad where I served with the Multi National Corps – Iraq (18th Airborne Corps) C-3 Headquarters. I didn’t realize he was going to post it on the internet until my email filled up about a week later. I was a voluntary retiree recall; 12,000 retirees volunteered and only 300 of us were returned to duty. I returned to active duty from 2004 – 2006 after retiring in 1998.
I served as a combat infantry(2/506 Infantry, 101st Airborne Division) and air cav platoon leader in Vietnam (2/17 Cav, 101st Airborne Division 1970-71) and as a combat pilot in Desert Storm (Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, 1990-91).
After my surgery in February, 2006, I never recuperated enough to get back to Iraq. Having turned 60 in March, 2006, my wife convinced me to ‘re-retire’.
I’m very proud of the job our young people have and are doing and I’m convinced that at the end of this century, their generation will be named this century’s ‘Greatest Generation’. Please stay safe and keep up the fight!
Joseph Repya
Lieutenant Colonel, (Retired)"
"I'm Tired"
Two weeks ago, as I was starting my sixth month of duty in Iraq, I was forced to return to the USA for surgery for an injury I sustained prior to my deployment. With luck, I'll return to Iraq to finish my tour.
I left Baghdad and a war that has every indication that we are winning, to return to a demoralized country much like the one I returned to in 1971 after my tour in Vietnam. Maybe it's because I'll turn 60 years old in just four months, but I'm tired:
I'm tired of spineless politicians, both Democrat and Republican who lack the courage, fortitude, and character to see these difficult tasks through.
I'm tired of the hypocrisy of politicians who want to rewrite history when the going gets tough.
I'm tired of the disingenuous clamor from those that claim they 'Support the Troops' by wanting them to 'Cut and Run' before victory is achieved.
I'm tired of a mainstream media that can only focus on car bombs and casualty reports because they are too afraid to leave the safety of their hotels to report on the courage and success our brave men and women are having on the battlefield.
I'm tired that so many Americans think you can rebuild a dictatorship into a democracy over night.
I'm tired that so many ignore the bravery of the Iraqi people to go to the voting booth and freely elect a Constitution and soon a permanent Parliament.
I'm tired of the so called 'Elite Left' that prolongs this war by giving aid and comfort to our enemy, just as they did during the Vietnam War.
I'm tired of antiwar protesters showing up at the funerals of our fallen soldiers. A family who's loved ones gave their life in a just and noble cause, only to be cruelly tormented on the funeral day by cowardly protesters is beyond shameful.
I'm tired that my generation, the Baby Boom -- Vietnam generation, who have such a weak backbone that they can't stomach seeing the difficult tasks through to victory.
I'm tired that some are more concerned about the treatment of captives than they are the slaughter and beheading of our citizens and allies.
I'm tired that when we find mass graves it is seldom reported by the press, but mistreat a prisoner and it is front page news.
Mostly, I'm tired that the people of this great nation didn't learn from history that there is no substitute for Victory.
Sincerely,
Joe Repya,
Lieutenant Colonel, U. S. Army
101st Airborne Division
I could keep going all day long with the words of our soldiers belying the basic premise that Pelosi is or ever has "honored"or "supported"our soldiers.
She hasn't just missed these letters, she has completely ignored them and then wants to claim she honors our troops? Claim that she supports our troops?
What freaking world is SHE living in where she thinks stabbing our soldiers in the back, completely ignoring their words as well as ignoring their families words is honoring or supporing either?
Have no doubt I will be emailing her these letters with the dozens and dozens more that she has ignored.
Once again, Nancy Pelosi manages to lie directly to the worlds face and expects anyone to take her seriously?
She is an embarrassment as a women, an embarrassment as an American and, frankly, an embarrassment as a human being.
America, Why Have You
America, Why Have You Abandoned Us?
Posted: 03 May 2007 12:20 PM CDT
By Gerd Schroeder
An open letter to the American People
My fellow Americans; what have the American Fighting men and women done to cause you to abandon them in a foreign land, surrounded by sinister people that are bent on killing them and all Americans? Are we ignorant that these people, who think nothing of killing men, women, and children of their own race, culture, and religion, will hesitate a moment if given the chance to destroy us, our families, and our freedoms? And they know that the defense appropriations have ended.
Where is the overwhelming swell of outrage of the people that caused the rather benign “Dubai Ports deal” to be killed in less than a month? Why have the halls of Congress and the Whitehouse not been overwhelmed by citizens outraged over the abandonment of our fighting men and women? Is the silence a sign that shock jocks, and dead playmates are more important to American than our soldiers?
While the U.S. politicians on both sides of the political spectrum have quibbled about timelines, a date for withdrawal from Iraq, and $24 billion in pork to buy votes, the American Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been all but forgotten. The silence from the people is morale crushing, and a betrayal. For whatever purpose we believe our soldiers have gone to war, surly abandonment of a hostile, foreign land was not one of them.
Over 200,000 American Warriors, deployed around the world, in austere and hellish conditions, are always in the cross hairs of evil people that are bent on killing them. Over 3350 have freely, and honorably, given their lives; over 24,300 have been wounded and maimed for us, for our families, and for our freedoms in this war. They sacrifice, not for money, education, and world travel- as some have suggested. They sacrifice their lives for their oaths to us. Their oaths are not to the President, Congress, or a military commander. Their oaths are to us. To the American People.
This is the oath of the American enlisted Soldier, Marine, Airman, and Sailor:
“I, (your son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, neighbor, and friend), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
The oath of an officer is similar:
“I, (your son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, neighbor, and friend), (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.”
The Warrior Ethos:
I am an American Soldier.
I am a Warrior and a member of a team. I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.
The following are four examples out of tens of thousands of warriors fulfilling their oaths to you.
I will always place the mission first.
“Mission First” was more than mere words to Sgt. Christian P. Engeldrum. The 39-yearold firefighter from Bronx, N.Y., served on active duty in the Army from 1986 to 1991 and was in Operation Desert Storm. He returned to New York, trading his Army uniform for a policeman’s. Several years later, he became a New York City firefighter. He was awarded a N.Y. Fire Department citation for bravery on July 15, 2000, for successfully rescuing two people in a fire on West 110th St. in Manhattan.
September 11, 2001 was a turning point in his life on that day, he and fellow firefighter from Ladder 61 in the Bronx responded to the World Trade Center attacks. For the next few months he assisted in the recovery effort, digging through the rubble. Sgt. Engeldrum then rejoined the Army, serving with the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, of the New York Army National Guard. He loved his country, he loved being a firefighter and he was “100% Soldier”, said his fellow firefighter. Sgt. Engeldrum is the first New York firefighter to die in Iraq since the U.S.-led war began, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “I join all New Yorkers in mourning his loss and pray that his family finds comfort in the innumerable ways he touched so many lives.” Sgt Engeldrum is survived by his wife Sharon and two sons Royce, 16 and Sean, 18.
I will never accept defeat.
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has awarded, in the name of Congress, the Medal of Honor to
Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith
United States Army
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with an armed enemy near Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq on 4 April 2003. On that day, Sergeant First Class Smith was engaged in the construction of a prisoner of war holding area when his Task Force was violently attacked by a company-sized enemy force. Realizing the vulnerability of over 100 fellow soldiers, Sergeant First Class Smith quickly organized a hasty defense consisting of two platoons of soldiers, one Bradley Fighting Vehicle and three armored personnel carriers. As the fight developed, Sergeant First Class Smith braved hostile enemy fire to personally engage the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons, and organized the evacuation of three wounded soldiers from an armored personnel carrier struck by a rocket propelled grenade and a 60mm mortar round. Fearing the enemy would overrun their defenses, Sergeant First Class Smith moved under withering enemy fire to man a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a damaged armored personnel carrier. In total disregard for his own life, he maintained his exposed position in order to engage the attacking enemy force. During this action, he was mortally wounded. His courageous actions helped defeat the enemy attack, and resulted in as many as 50 enemy soldiers killed, while allowing the safe withdrawal of numerous wounded soldiers. Sergeant First Class Smith’s extraordinary heroism and uncommon valor are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Third Infantry Division “Rock of the Marne,” and the United States Army.
I will never quit.
Army Capt. David Rozelle, 31, lost part of his right leg below the knee in a June 2003 land mine explosion near Hit, Iraq. But Rozelle was not about to quit. While going through an oftentimes, painful recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he spearheaded the effort to put together a team of other amputees from the medical center for the Army Ten-Miler race in October 2004. Dubbed the “Missing (Parts) In Action team–Some Assembly Required”–the team included troops from each of the military services… Article continues here: http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/05/america_why_have_you_abandoned.html
Gerd Schroeder is a Major in the United States Army. His views are his own. He does not speak for the US Army or Department of Defense.
On The Front Line Tonight
Posted: 02 May 2007 08:18 PM CDT
Unfortunately, there’s been a schedule change on the show. SGT Brandon Welsh will not be able to be with us. However, I have a special treat instead: CJ Grisham, an active-duty Army NCO, will be my co-host. Some of the topics we’ll be covering tonight:
Military Declares “Martial Law” On Soldiers and Families Blogging: Find out about the new regulations that target military members and families who have blogs.
Rosie O’Donnell opened her mouth…guess what came out this time? Crap. We’ve got the horrific things she said about our military troops.
Marine Lt. Nathan Phan’s charges were dropped. And yet, even though the government’s case was in shambles, they are still giving Phan an NJP. How is that possible?
The veto, the bill, the mess: We’ll talk about the Liberals who are hell-bent on destroying this nation.
Are you people on crack?
Are you people on crack? People don't really like being blown to bits or losing limbs. You people are BRAINWASHED!
Dear Mike, Iraq Sucks
Dear Mike, Iraq Sucks
The Guardian U.K.
Tuesday 05 September 2004
Civilian contractors are fleecing taxpayers; US troops don't have proper equipment; and supposedly liberated Iraqis hate them. After the release of Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore received a flood of letters and emails from disillusioned and angry American soldiers serving in Iraq. Here, in an exclusive extract from his new book, we print a selection.
From: RH
To: mike@michaelmoore.com
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2003 4:57 PM
Subject: Iraqi freedom veteran supports you
Dear Mr Moore,
I went to Iraq with thoughts of killing people who I thought were horrible. I was like, "Fuck Iraq, fuck these people, I hope we kill thousands." I believed my president. He was taking care of business and wasn't going to let al Qaeda push us around. I was with the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry, 3rd Infantry division out of Fort Stewart, Georgia. My unit was one of the first to Baghdad. I was so scared. Didn't know what to think. Seeing dead bodies for the first time. People blown in half. Little kids with no legs. It was overwhelming, the sights, sounds, fear. I was over there from Jan'03 to Aug'03. I hated every minute. It was a daily battle to keep my spirits up. I hate the army and my job. I am supposed to get out next February but will now be unable to because the asshole in the White House decided that now would be a great time to put a stop-loss in effect for the army. So I get to do a second tour in Iraq and be away from those I love again because some guy has the audacity to put others' lives on the line for his personal war. I thought we were the good guys.
From: Michael W
Sent: Tuesday July 13 2004 12.28pm
Subject: Dude, Iraq sucks
My name is Michael W and I am a 30-year-old National Guard infantryman serving in southeast Baghdad. I have been in Iraq since March of 04 and will continue to serve here until March of 05.
In the few short months my unit has been in Iraq, we have already lost one man and have had many injured (including me) in combat operations. And for what? At the very least, the government could have made sure that each of our vehicles had the proper armament to protect us soldiers.
In the early morning hours of May 10, one month to the day from my 30th birthday, I and 12 other men were attacked in a well-executed roadside ambush in south-east Baghdad. We were attacked with small-arms fire, a rocket-propelled grenade, and two well-placed roadside bombs. These roadside bombs nearly destroyed one of our Hummers and riddled my friends with shrapnel, almost killing them. They would not have had a scratch if they had the "Up Armour" kits on them. So where was [George] W [Bush] on that one?
It's just so ridiculous, which leads me to my next point. A Blackwater contractor makes $15,000 [£8,400] a month for doing the same job as my pals and me. I make about $4,000 [£2,240] a month over here. What's up with that?
Beyond that, the government is calling up more and more troops from the reserves. For what? Man, there is a huge fucking scam going on here! There are civilian contractors crawling all over this country. Blackwater, Kellogg Brown & Root, Halliburton, on and on. These contractors are doing everything you can think of from security to catering lunch!
We are spending money out the ass for this shit, and very few of the projects are going to the Iraqi people. Someone's back is getting scratched here, and it ain't the Iraqis'!
My life is left to chance at this point. I just hope I come home alive.
From: Specialist Willy
Sent: Tuesday March 9 2004 1.23pm
Subject: Thank you
Mike, I'd like to thank you for all of the support you're showing for the soldiers here in Iraq. I am in Baghdad right now, and it's such a relief to know that people still care about the lemmings who are forced to fight in this conflict.
It's hard listening to my platoon sergeant saying, "If you decide you want to kill a civilian that looks threatening, shoot him. I'd rather fill out paperwork than get one of my soldiers killed by some raghead." We are taught that if someone even looks threatening we should do something before they do something to us. I wasn't brought up in fear like that, and it's going to take some getting used to.
It's also very hard talking to people here about this war. They don't like to hear that the reason they are being torn away from their families is bullshit, or that their "president" doesn't care about them. A few people here have become quite upset with me, and at one point I was going to be discharged for constantly inciting arguments and disrespect to my commander-in-chief (Dubya). It's very hard to be silenced about this when I see the same 150 people every day just going through the motions, not sure why they are doing it.
[ Willy sent an update in early August ]
People's perceptions of this war have done a complete 180 since we got here. We had someone die in a mortar attack the first week, and ever since then, things have changed completely. Soldiers are calling their families urging them to support John Kerry. If this is happening elsewhere, it looks as if the overseas military vote that Bush is used to won't be there this time around.
From: Kyle Waldman
Sent: Friday February 27 2004 2.35am
Subject: None
As we can all obviously see, Iraq was not and is not an imminent threat to the United States or the rest of the world. My time in Iraq has taught me a little about the Iraqi people and the state of this war-torn, poverty-stricken country.
The illiteracy rate in this country is phenomenal. There were some farmers who didn't even know there was an Operation Iraqi Freedom. This was when I realised that this war was initiated by the few who would profit from it and not for its people. We, as the coalition forces, did not liberate these people; we drove them even deeper into poverty. I don't foresee any economic relief coming soon to these people by the way Bush has already diverted its oil revenues to make sure there will be enough oil for our SUVs.
We are here trying to keep peace when all we have been trained for is to destroy. How are 200,000 soldiers supposed to take control of this country? Why didn't we have an effective plan to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure? Why aren't the American people more aware of these atrocities?
My fiancee and I have seriously looked into moving to Canada as political refugees.
From: Anonymous
Sent: Thursday April 15 2004 12.41am
Subject: From KBR truck driver now in Iraq
Mike, I am a truck driver right now in Iraq. Let me give you this one small fact because I am right here at the heart of it: since I started this job several months ago, 100% (that's right, not 99%) of the workers I am aware of are inflating the hours they claim on their time sheets. There is so much more I could tell you. But the fact is that MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of dollars are being raped from both the American taxpayers and the Iraqi people because of the unbelievable amount of greed and abuse over here. And yes, my conscience does bother me because I am participating in this rip-off.
From: Andrew Balthazor
Sent: Friday August 27 2004 1.53pm
Subject: Iraqi war vet - makes me sound so old
Mr Moore, I am an ex-military intelligence officer who served 10 months in Baghdad; I was the senior intelligence officer for the area of Baghdad that included the UN HQ and Sadr City.
Since Bush exposed my person and my friends, peers, and subordinates to unnecessary danger in a war apparently designed to generate income for a select few in the upper echelon of America, I have become wholeheartedly anti-Bush, to the chagrin of much of my pro-Republican family.
As a "foot soldier" in the "war on terror" I can personally testify that Bush's administration has failed to effectively fight terrorists or the root causes of terror. The White House and the DoD failed to plan for reconstruction of Iraq. Contracts weren't tendered until Feb-Mar of 2003, and the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (the original CPA) didn't even come into existence until January 2003. This failure to plan for the "peace" is a direct cause for the insecurity of Iraq today.
Immediately after the "war" portion of the fighting (which really ended around April 9 2003), we should have been prepared to send in a massive reconstruction effort. Right away we needed engineers to diagnose problems, we needed contractors repairing problems, we needed immediate food, water, shelter, and fuel for the Iraqi people, and we needed more security for all of this to work - which we did not have because we did not have enough troops on the ground, and CPA decided to disband the Iraqi army. The former Iraqi police were engaged far too late; a plan should have existed to bring them into the fold right away.
I've left the military. If there is anything I can do to help get Bush out of office, let me know.
From: Anthony Pietsch
Sent: Thursday August 5 2004 6.13pm
Subject: Soldier for sale
Dear Mr Moore, my name is Tony Pietsch, and I am a National Guardsman who has been stationed in Kuwait and Iraq for the past 15 months. Along with so many other guard and reserve units, my unit was put on convoy escorts. We were on gun trucks running from the bottom of Iraq to about two hours above Baghdad.
The Iraqi resistance was insanity. I spent many nights lying awake after mortar rounds had just struck areas nearby, some coming close enough to throw rocks against my tent. I've seen roadside bombs go off all over, Iraqis trying to ram the side of our vehicle. Small children giving us the finger and throwing rocks at the soldiers in the turrets. We were once lost in Baghdad and received nothing but dirty looks and angry gestures for hours.
I have personally been afraid for my life more days than I can count. We lost our first man only a few weeks before our tour was over, but it seems that all is for nothing because all we see is hostility and anger over our being there. They are angry over the abuse scandal and the collateral damages that are always occurring.
I don't know how the rest of my life will turn out, but I truly regret being a 16-year-old kid looking for some extra pocket money and a way to college.
From: Sean Huze
Sent: Sunday March 28 2004 7.56pm
Subject: "Dude, Where's My Country?"
I am an LCPL in the US Marine Corps and veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Mr Moore, please keep pounding away at Bush. I'm not some pussy when it comes to war. However, the position we were put in - fighting an enemy that used women, children, and other civilians as shields; forcing us to choose between firing at "area targets" (nice way of saying firing into crowds) or being killed by the bastards using the crowds for cover - is indescribably horrible.
I saw more than a few dead children littering the streets in Nasiriyah, along with countless other civilians. And through all this, I held on to the belief that it had to be for some greater good.
Months have passed since I've been back home and the unfortunate conclusion I've come to is that Bush is a lying, manipulative motherfucker who cares nothing for the lives of those of us who serve in uniform. Hell, other than playing dress-up on aircraft carriers, what would he know about serving this nation in uniform?
His silence and refusal to speak under oath to the 9/11 Commission further mocks our country. The Patriot Act violates every principle we fight and die for. And all of this has been during his first term. Can you imagine his policies when he doesn't have to worry about re-election? We can't allow that to happen, and there are so many like me in the military who feel this way. We were lied to and used. And there aren't words to describe the sense of betrayal I feel as a result.
From: Joseph Cherwinski
Sent: Saturday July 3 2004 8.33pm
Subject: "Fahrenheit 9/11"
I am a soldier in the United States army. I was in Iraq with the Fourth Infantry Division.
I was guarding some Iraqi workers one day. Their task was to fill sandbags for our base. The temperature was at least 120. I had to sit there with full gear on and monitor them. I was sitting and drinking water, and I could barely tolerate the heat, so I directed the workers to go to the shade and sit and drink water. I let them rest for about 20 minutes. Then a staff sergeant told me that they didn't need a break, and that they were to fill sandbags until the cows come home. He told the Iraqis to go back to work.
After 30 minutes, I let them have a break again, thus disobeying orders. If these were soldiers working, in this heat, those soldiers would be bound to a 10-minute work, 50-minute rest cycle, to prevent heat casualties. Again the staff sergeant came and sent the Iraqis back to work and told me I could sit in the shade. I told him no, I had to be out there with them so that when I started to need water, then they would definitely need water. He told me that wasn't necessary, and that they live here, and that they are used to it.
After he left, I put the Iraqis back into the shade. I could tell that some were very dehydrated; most of them were thin enough to be on an international food aid commercial. I would not treat my fellow soldiers in this manner, so I did not treat the Iraqi workers this way either.
This went on for eight months while I was in Iraq, and going through it told me that we were not there for their freedom, we were not there for WMD. We had no idea what we were fighting for anymore.
Maybe it doesn't occur to
Maybe it doesn't occur to you that the voters overwhelming spoke for a pullout in the November elections. Its easy for you to say being here in front of your cushy computer, what if you were like my friend who had his roommate killed by a landmine right in front of him. Even worse, his tour was up and he was through with the army and they tried to redeploy him by transferring him to another unit. If you think that the soldiers really want to be over in Iraq fighting a war that is based on Lies you really need your head examined.
Is Bush a embarrassment? Is Bush a liar? Hmmmm
These letters ARE from soldiers.
Obviously you didn't read these letters, they ARE from the boots on the ground IN Iraq. You are one of these people that feel that IGNORING our troops are supporting them?
Hell of a way to show your love.
Spree
.
pelosi The Fool
No caps pledge out of disrespect for the socialist pelosi and her ilk.
No, pelosi serves up Leftinistra lip service and lies for the troops. The Leftinistra don't understand the oaths the military swear. Some do take the oath to "go along for a free ride". The rest of us and the MAJORITY of us took the oaths regardless of how we felt when called to do that which we train(ed) for.
The "anonymous" and "cowardly" whiners emails allegedly from the front are suspect and more than likely Leftinistra trumped up urban legends.
Those that took the oaths and have now changed their minds (if that has actually happened) should be immediately dishonorably discharged for dereliction of duty. One cannot "unswear" the oath(s) taken. There is no honor in lying to get in for the benefits and then turn around and say, "I didn't sign up for this", when the time comes for war. We trained for war and that is what we do.
Then again, there isn't a Leftinistra with any sense of personal integrity...just check out reid, pelosi and murtha and their ilk of cowardly liars.
Snooper.
http://victorycaucus.com/
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