News-Record.com

"We are in an historical struggle with a dark, radical force that seeks to destroy our way of life."

Just another letter Bashing Bush, yarn....

(Jut Kidding!!)

Support our troops. Bring them home from Iraq.

JDR,
Love your post above!

The Marines are now being used as pawns on Bush's chessboard. They did the heavy lifting, they took on the Iraqi military and they won. Bring them home as winners--now. After all, Bush has already declared, "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"!!

I thought Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire????

Great letter!!

Semper Fi!!

"The Marines are now being used as pawns on Bush's chessboard."

Chess? You MUST be joking. At best, he's playing tic tac toe.

Thanks for your selfless service to our country in a time of war, Mr. Tillman.You can see from the above comments that not all appreciate your sacrifice, or they abuse the freedoms won with the blood of our veterans.
Please forgive their ignorance, the majority of our citizens appreciate your service more than you can know.
The side benefits of serving will never outweigh the dangers of service.
Our veterans serve to help insure and continue our way of life, and preserve freedom and democracy.

DD- different Patrick Tillman. I believe this Pat Tillman has a family member (father) serving as a rep at the state level...might be wrong.

Having a family member in the armed forces (USAF) who is currently flying into Iraq, I appreciate your pov, Patrick. Your comments about putting one's life into the hands of the men and women on either side of you remind me of the book, We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, which chronicled the events at Ia Drang. Hal Morris wrote of soldiers fighting for one another. One may not always agree with the decisions made by the Commander in Chief, but there is little choice when it's down to brass tacks. The commitment shown by those who serve our country is to be commended and there is a lesson in it for us all. Personal opinions about this war aside, those in our military serve selflessly, leaving their families for months on end, putting their lives on the line, and enduring many hardships to help protect people they don't know.

It's a great privilege to have the freedom to rail at the govt over decisions they make...we can all thank a soldier for sacrificing to protect that freedom.

Nemo,
You are right! While I give Bush credit for being smarter than he appears, I've begun to think that is just wishful thinking on my part!
He probably gets together with "Mumsie" and plays a round of 'Candyland' or 'Old Maids'.

JEC,
Good points. I would say ALL who post here have a healthy appreciation for the soldiers--if not, they would not be so concerned about bringing them home safely.

What I do have a problem with is an administration that has no exit strategy and puts trained soldiers in civilian situations where they have no expertise. When a solider dies in Iraq, his/her blood is on the hands of Rumsfeld, Bush, and Cheney.

jcackbar:

Your statement: " ... not all appreciate your sacrifice, or they abuse the freedoms won with the blood of our veterans" ... could not be further from my own personal truth.

"You can see from the above comments that not all appreciate your sacrifice, or they abuse the freedoms won with the blood of our veterans."

Here's one thing that bothers me a lot when talking with certain folks. They think that if they fight in a war, or otherwise sacrifice themselves for the good of the country, they have a right to dictate what is said. I strongly disagree. If I have to get your approval to say something, I do not have freedom of speech.

If I am to have the freedom you fought for, then there is no way to "abuse" it. So I would advise you and any other veteran who doesn't like what I have to say or think to just stow that "abuse" BS. It doesn't wash. If you like freedom so much, then you ought to be able to live with everything it entails, such as people saying things you don't like.

Nemo! Right on brother!

Nemo and DD:
I like welfare programs, but some abuse them.
I like the free cheese program, but some people abuse it.
I like the idea of public housing, but some people abuse it.
And, yes, you can abuse your right to speak out when you use it to attack others and do harm to our military who are serving you.
If you don't understand that, then you're not smart enough to understand the responsibility that comes with exercising your rights.

It seems that some think that being in the military is totally honorable and must be praised and never questioned. Since we have a voluntary military at this time, those who serve chose to serve. Some have honorable motives, some don't. Some serve honorably, some don't.

Carol, I think that anyone who volunteers to serve in our military deserves an assumption of honor, at least until they show evidence of dishonorable service. But I think that attitude is far removed from my judgement of the reasons for the current war and the political climate we live in these days. I honor our soldiers, but I pity them for having to obey people of questionable motives and intelligence.

jcackbar, I agree with you that with freedom of speech, comes a civic responsibility to use it for good purposes. Perhaps that is why we have a separate term for what we live in: I wonder if "Liberty" is an expression that covers the tension between complete freedom and civic duty. Personally, I would prefer to see less talk of "freedom" -- which must be tempered in some ways for a society to work properly -- and a little more about "Liberty" and what that exactly should mean.

I support the service of the letter writer. I have addressed many of my sentiments in the (next) following letter to the editor which is also supportive of military efforts.

Patrick, is there a way for me to contact you? I know that this is a public forum and you may not want to give out any personal contact information.

Thank you,
JoeJoe

"They think that if they fight in a war, or otherwise sacrifice themselves for the good of the country, they have a right to dictate what is said. I strongly disagree."

No, we just have a right to expose the nonsense of the Usual Suspects who have no clue about what they're talking about.

DoubleD:

While it's clear there are "trained soldiers in civilian situations where they have no expertise", I disagree the administration "has no exit strategy". They FINALLY do (no sarcasm).

You might check this out, which concludes with what the Admin's been saying: "security conditions improve and as the Iraqi Security Forces become more capable of securing their own country, Coalition forces will move out of the cities, reduce the number of bases from which they operate, and conduct fewer visible missions."

http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Iraq_Reports/docs/2006-02-Report.pdf

What it adds is levels of detail not given in sound bites.
What it needs is monitoring, e.g., keeping track of the secure-province count, etc.
What it lacked was earlier development, communication and understanding - Before the Invasion of Iraq.

I do believe we have turned the corner, and are headed towards a relatively stable Iraq - with some caveats:

I'm not sure anyone knows what that will look like, but it clearly will not be as originally envisioned by Perleman and Wolfy and Chalabi.

I'm not sure we will actually "disengage" because of all the other BS going on in the area - whether these will be legit' & critical reasons or just excuses to stay, we'll have to see. With the refusal to wean America off oil - someday we may be happy we've created an invincible base to assure we can steal (or only reimburse as we feel appropriate).

Think of the apocalyptic world of Mad Max: "When the gangs take over the highway... ...Remember he's on your side."

There's a HUGE military build-up going on world wide. e.g., USA, China, and sabre rattling too, e.g., North Korea, Israel, Iran.

There's a matching HUGE movement towards Religion - world wide. (China and North Korea have the Religion of State.) Considering the absolute knowledge and unimpeachable status demanded by most religions, all with God exclusively on their side, we may be in for a doozie.

With the incredible dumbing down of America: kids failing our schools, our historic populist sentiment "where the final check and balance on the power of the politicians is directly in the hands of the people" being handed to a very small group of very arrogant men in the vague name of "The War On Terror", the infamous Military Industrial Complex (Industrial Complex now including the financial interest of the Peoples Republic of China as well as the Walton family), ...

Everyone asleep now? Daddy's gonna turn out the light; don't let the bed bugs bite.

Speaking of "absolute knowledge" - recommended reading"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316109304/sr=8-2/qid=1152356053/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-7893810-2233461?ie=UTF8

James,
I feel that the "monitoring" part is a must. These are the same characters that led us into the "slam dunk" and had no meaningful response to the chaos caused. Note, I said "caused". As refrigerators and A/C units were being looted, Rummy said it was all a part of "being free". LOL.
Also, Herbert Hoover continued to say, "Prosperity is just around the corner" as the Great Depression was coming on. Thing about it is, Herbert Hoover had credibility and the current President has none. I'm not from Missouri, but I still say, "Show Me".
Good points and good book.