posted March 30, 2008
Four thousand brave soldiers have died in Iraq, but Vice President Cheney's arrogant response is, “They volunteered.” He says President Bush has borne the greatest burden. I disagree. The loved ones of those who died bear the greatest burden.
Parents, children, and spouses watch helplessly as they look at flag-draped coffins while "Taps" plays. They are haunted by memories of their loved ones who will never be part of a family dinner again. They wonder how they will manage to raise the children left behind.
Our president and vice president lose no sleep. They live in comfort. Their children are safe. Men and women who volunteer for military service expect their leaders to send them into just causes and value their lives. They expect proper body armor and properly armored transport.
Five years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is still at large. Our armies are decimated.
The war is now left to the next president. That president will be a Democrat who will bring our sons and daughters home and revitalize our military for real threats. She will show sorrow for lives lost and recognize who bears the real burden in this war.
Pat Branham
Clinton Delegate to the Democratic National Convention, 3rd Congressional District.
Chattanooga
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Ms. Branham, I appreciate your opinion. I can in no way understand the feelings that all of the family members go through while their loved ones are deployed. I have often tried, but it is unimaginable.
You were correct in your assessment that the families bear a large burden. I disagree with the blame game though. In the fall of 2002 and early 2003 the majority of the American public supported military action to remove Saddam Hussein from power. If I recall correctly, Hilliary Clinton voted for the action, therefore she was "drinking the Kool- Aid" as well. The largest difference then is that one politician implemented a plan and chose to see it through, and the other went with the tide of public sentiment, no matter which way it turned.
Like many, I think the war has not been carried out in the best way, but at least the President sees the long term necessity to finish the job. Even if the rational and start point were inherently flawed, stopping short of a stable Iraq is a slap in the face to the families of those were have served, been maimed, and died. I would never want to send one of my own kids off to participate in a far worse Southwest Asian war because daddy got tired of doing his bit and jumped on the timeline/ quit/ forget 25 million Iraqis bandwagon.
Your poorly titled message should have been called "Reasons To Hate Republicans." I value your opinion as an American, but you should not pimp the feelings of family members to cloak an overtly political message.
Please do not misunderstand my point, if the article is appropriately titled I have no problem with your message. I am proud that I come from a country where people can publicly disagree in the market place of ideas. As it appears though, you use a highly patriotic title to draw people into reading a diatribe against Republicans, then drop a list of your credentials at the bottom. Shameful.
Yesterday I said goodbye to my wife to return to Iraq. I have done so before, and I think that if everything America stands for means anything I will do so again. It has not been pleasant and if I could go back I would have never seen Iraq. I wish I could change many things, but I cannot. When I start to think about how bad it seems sometimes, I try to keep it in a historical perspective and consider the past. If President Lincoln had to tolerate the news media we have today, the south would have won. If President Roosevelt was subject to the media we have today during World War II, it is likely that we may have won at a higher cost, or possible barely won without the ability to spread freedom, or maybe even lost. Another fine example is Vietnam, If President Johnson, no wait, bad example. Presidents Johnson and Nixon did have a press much like we have today. Though neither of them set a great example of wartime leadership, I consider the veterans of that era to be the experts. They say that they never lost the war, they lost the support of the public at the hands of the media that failed to report fairly.
Americans are going to have to accept the reality that life is not like an episode where you can stage crisis, recovery and happy ending all in one hour. An obligation exists now to the people of Iraq. We had the same obligation to the people of Japan, South Korea, and many different countries in Europe. Walking out will not ensure a safer future.
Robb Kidwill
Chattanooga
rkidwill@yahoo.com
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The picture you paint of the families of our people in uniform cowering in their socks is about as absurd as you could intentionally make it, which is certainly your conscious intent. Yes, when anyone loses a uniformed loved one in a war, or a training accident, or even to an illness, that's a tragedy of huge scale to the survivors.
My uncle, Frederick W. Smickle, Jr. died a fiery death in a Liberator bomber, March, 30, 1945, just six weeks shy of surviving that war. He was my dad's best friend. It was a crushing blow to my grandparents, and to all Fred's brothers. I have an 8" by 10" of Uncle Fred in the next room, look at it frequently.
The notion that Bush and Cheney are having a care-free snooze while the sons and daughters of America suffer and die is straight out of the liberal playbook. You really need to retire that one, as most people see right through it and think less of you for it. No 19 or 20-year-old volunteers to serve, on the condition that his training be devoted only to things out of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. In case you never noticed, that's an ideal world in an ideal universe, and it is a fiction. Nor do these young folks expect to have body armor and "properly armored transport." They join up for patriotic reasons, learn a job better than they ever expected to learn it. When things go wrong, they know their leaders will correct it, and they will improvise, until it is corrected by their leaders.
The Humvee, why wasn't the Humvee prepared for urban street fighting and to survive I.E.D.s? Well, it's because the Hummer was developed to replace the venerable jeep as a general utility vehicle, not to be a light tank. Just like the jeep did before it, the hummer is evolving, and will continue to do so until its follow-on is phased in, a decade or two hence.
Yeah, Bin Laden's still running around out there, I'll grant you that. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he's more useful alive than dead, but I'll keep that one in my vest pocket. The bottom line is: nothing's gone boom here since 9/11. Homeland security is monitoring approximately 200 terrorist cells right here in the U.S.A., while we all sleep peacefully. That includes all of us, as well as the Bush twins and Cheney's kids.
Now let me think back to the Clinton days. How many times did Bin Laden attack the U.S. or U.S. bases, a cruise ship, a USN ship or U.S. interests, prior to 9/11? Please correct me, I think it was eight times. Half these attacks occurred under Clinton's predecessors, half while Bill sat in the big chair. What did Bill do in response? He "triangulated," then hit an empty tent with $10,000,000 worth of cruise missiles, and then the whole unpleasant affair was forgotten. Forgotten, not avenged, not corrected.
Decimated is a word that is used far too lightly these days. In the ancient sense, it meant every tenth soldier was either killed in battle or killed as a "training aid,” in order to motivate the other nine. The modern usage continues to lessen its terror, but keeping the label intact. It's sort of like calling the extermination of six million Jews the Holocaust, then using the same word to describe what's happening to tens of thousands of truck drivers in India, who are spreading STDs all along the way a "holocaust". Not to make light of either the actual Holocaust of the Jewish people, nor the innocents infected in southern India. The chestnut blight of the early 20th Century could be considered a holocaust, at least of that species of trees.
But Ms. or Mr. Branham, our troops are not even close to being "decimated." Climb down from the hysterical tree. We're winning there, we've freed yet another 40 million human beings from tyranny, and the sun will rise in the east later this morning.
I have to wonder what it takes to be a Hillary delegate. When Bill was in the big chair the going rate to bend his ear was $50,000 to sleep a night in the Lincoln bedroom. I'm not accusing anyone of this, it's just history. Some of us just don't want to return to those days, when Chelsea and Fat Albert's children were all safe, and the president and vice president lost no sleep.
John R. Smickle
Chattanooga
jsbottomfeeder@juno.com
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I speak from the singular perspective of a parent of an Iraq War combat veteran. I also speak as just another member of his family, including his wife, siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. All of whom dealt in their own way with his multiple deployments.
I also speak from the simple perspective of a U.S. citizen who is very glad that the criminal dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was destroyed by our courageous military men and women.
People who pimp U.S. military service men and women for their own personal or political edification deserve no respect.
C.L. Miller
Chattanooga
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