Letters to the Editor
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Truths are slow to come out when you have a President that master's in misdirection
You think Karl (Treason) Rove is gone. Think again. Now he can make more money than ever by speaking to the Repug groups that Love Wars. To this group of followers its like a high to have him speak, it insures that their massive profits will continue as long as Rove is around to continue the misdirection (lies) it is better called. This Scum bag should be in Jail not out on the stump making large amounts of money plus his government pension and full health care benefits. Tell me who is the loser here?
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Quality without quantity
I am deeply impressed by the quality of the article: it is well crafted, well argued and easy to understand. Important things require an level of honesty that is reflected here. Simply said this is a brilliant statement of our dilemma in Iraq using a minimum of words. I hope these men do not pay a price for their honesty. But who knows?
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Still don't get it
Very well written, insightful, courageous, and career ruining. I feel for these NCOs. I served in Iraq, am an army officer, and never agreed with the war or the conduct of it. But whether I, a mid level officer, twenty generals, or one hundred NCOs speak out, it still won't matter. While in Iraq I watched Robert McNamara's autobio called "The Fog of War". If you haven't watched it, shame on you. You want to know why the administration is acting the way it is? Watch the movie. We can debate all day whether Iraq is like Vietnam, one thing is certain, the reason we stay in Iraq is the same as the reason we stayed in Vietnam.
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Grim, welcome to the small group of military veterans here at Salon
We've got a good sub-group of letter writers growing here and I encourage you to write at every opportunity.
Did you see Doonesbury in yesterday's Sunday comics section of your local paper? It was hauntingly familiar to this old vet.
B.D., the warrior who lost his leg in Iraq is at Walden, talking to the peace activist minister.
The Minister is kind of an ass. He is B.D.'s friend from way back, but he's not only convinced that war is wrong, but he doesn't care much for military people and veterans either.
He bluntly asks a question of B.D. He's trying to draw him out into a discussion that makes B.D. a little annoyed and uncomfortable, considering that he's now a disillusioned one-legged civilian.
Minister: "B.D., do you think the war is lost?"
B.D.: "Lost?" (long pause, far away look) "Yeah, it's lost."
Minister: (A mocking kind of tone) "Whoa really? Even YOU now doubt the mission?
B.D.: (Looking the minister straight in the eye) "I didn't say I doubt the mission - I said the war is lost."
Minister: (Being a complete asshole) "Still if military folks are starting to think it's over ..." (Pause) "...and so does the public and the Congress and the media..." (Pause) Well, who's left? Only the fanatical or the delusional!"
B.D. is seen in black silhouette, looking away deep in thought.
The last panel cuts to a frame of the White House.
Here's the deal, Grim. This cartoon captures the dichotomy, the oil and water characteristics that separate military people from civilians. It's hard for one to understand the other.
The military people of the United States get only one choice, stay in, or get out. They can't pick the conflicts they are sent to. They can only gear themselves up emotionally to complete the mission they are given. They don't have to believe in it, but they are bound by so many reasons to give it everything they've got, right up to the loss of limb and life itself. That's more commitment than civilians are asked to do in any normal aspect of their lives.
Some might say it's a fool's game. There is one really painfully annoying asshole here at Salon who posts anonymously and repeatedly that our troops deserve whatever fate they got because they volunteered to be in the military. It's the equivalent of spitting in our faces.
But what I understand, and I think the other military and veterans here at Salon understand is the level of sacrifice made by these women and men, and their civilian families who wait for them at home.
Yes, this war was lost long before it started. It was created by greedy corporatist liars as a land and energy resource grab. It was a rehash of the nearly one hundred year old theory of gunboat diplomacy and a large helping of imperialism.
But whatever, it was the duty of career military and volunteers to carry out the mission. Now we will have another generation of cripples and crazies and disillusioned veterans just like after Vietnam. These men and women will be left to find their own way back from Iraq, psychologically speaking.
They should never consider themselves to be losers, Grim. They did what their country asked of them. And now, they deserve nothing less than our enduring gratitude. Not just lip service and flag waving, but rehabilitation and compensation. They suffered and now they must not be forgotten.
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@Garry Owen, Thanks
“But what I understand, and I think the other military and veterans here at Salon understand is the level of sacrifice made by these women and men, and their civilian families who wait for them at home.”
Thanks for your thoughtful words. Since I started commenting on Salon, I have had one primary goal, we must always remember the human cost of war. You mention the cost to our military, yet those serving in Iraq as the seven brave sergeants have said, face the cost of what their war has done to the Iraqi people and to the people in the region who are greatly affected by the war.
I would never pretend to fully understand the human mental and physical cost from combat first hand because I was a desk flyer in the Air Force. I watched our military change from a draft force, many people entered the Air Force to escape the Army or Marines, to an all volunteer force. I can’t begin to explain how dramatic that change improved the quality of the members of our military. Because we led the nation in providing a level playing field for minorities and women, we truly did attract the best and the brightest.
That is why the abuse of these fine Americans by ideological, psychologically maimed civilian leadership is so sad and emotionally draining. These seven sergeants represent the mental turmoil of our men and women in Iraq who are far from being sheep and know they have been ordered to be foils in an obscene fools life and death game.
So far, even though their op-ed piece was run in the “liberal” New York Times, I do not see it getting much legs in print or on TV. Having congress on vacation doesn’t help. The best bet is for our leading Democratic presidential candidates to take up their cause and give them the visibility they so deserve. They have laid out a very sound, well expressed case for the ridiculous surge and continuing belief that there is some way to “win” in Iraq. Their voice will resonate with the American people if it can be heard loud and clear.