I wanted you all to see the sweet letter I recieved from my friend in Iraq.. I think we should all do the right thing and if we dont have loved ones or friends over there find a soldier to make friends with and send a mail.. a thank you note. an old magazine or even a pack of koolaid.. just knowing that we are still behind them helps keep them going in this awful mess.. thank you all so much for taking the time to read this and even considering doing something about it.. hugs and mistletoe kisses . deanna

here is the letter
Hey Gorgeous!!

I am fine. I got back this morning. No need to worry, there are literally hundreds of convoys each day in Iraq, and only five or six get attacked, so the odds are pretty good for us. We drove 314 miles each way on the worst dirt road (I don't even like to call it a road) you can imagine--talk about bumpy, my back is killing me!!! Anyway, we spent the night at an old outpost on the border with Saudi Arabia. That was probably the crappiest place to stay I have seen in this country. But at least it was only for one night. I can't wait until the box gets here, getting mail is the best thing we have to do around here. I can't wait to get out of this place. Well, I gotta run, gotta get my truck fueled up and ready for the next mission. Hope ta hear from you soon!!

Andy

Yes, let's all do the right things -- help Andy get what he wants -- a ticket home!  support our troops -- call the criminals in DC, and demand an end to the occupation.

You are right on  the money here. We need to get our people back alive and in one piece from this awful place.

You are correct, the criminals in DC seem s to get us deeper and deeper over there. For what, I don't know and I suspect they don't either.

they tell that our troops are killing kids .. they dont tell about how it came to be and how many bad guys we are getting .. they are making our boys look bad when they are doing all that they can do .. someone go get the criminals in dc and replace them with people that do give a damn about our country and troops..

Sweetie, it's not the "criminals" in washington that are the problem. It's the criminals in the mainstream and international media that constantly distort the facts about the terrorist organizations and the countries that support them. That's the real problem. And Smellyt2003, as someone who has been on a few too many tours in that part of the world I can tell you that the majority of the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and most of people that have lived under the boots of Saddam and the Taliban would strongly disagree with your ill-informed opinion of our leaders in Washington.

RangersLeadTheWay

That is the absolute truth!!!
NEVER FORGET...9/11/01

Jarhead

HOO-ah! RLTW - If you listen to DAn Rather & that wimpy band of brothers, you'd think GW was a criminal. I for one believe that for the FIRST time in decades we have a REAL leader that has OUR safety in mind.  Please, please folks don't buy into that left-wing media/hollywood crap.  We are fighting a war that is like none other - if we back off now - THEY WIN!!!  For the first time since the wall came down - I feel extremely pround to be an American.  With absolutly NO animosity toward anyone with a conflicting opinion of my own - I ask that you support our troops & our leader. I wuld like to know, however, why someone would call others a criminal? Are you suggesting a REAL criminal or a term that is tossed around by the cowering left-wing as if it were a rotten tomato?

Uninformed dribble! But By God & thank God you have the right to say it!

Interesting, I think, that the first few responders, while wholeheartedly "supporting the troops", supported my perspective as well, until the hollywoood-liberal-left wing conspiracy crowd came in and tried to shout them down.

With all due respect to the vets and others who respectfully disagree here, I read, hear, and get e-mail from many people serving in the occupation over there (which is what the Bush administration and Bremer call it, left-wing dribble or not) simply want to come home. (Occupation itself isn't necessarily a bad term, right?  We "occupied" Japan after WWII, the North "occupied" the Southafter 1865--better stop there...) My "dribble", right or wrong, is quite informed by what American soldiers in Iraq, and ex-military here are saying.

The fact that the reason we're there changed retroactively to "liberating Iraq" , after the reason we went as exposed as lies, doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.  And I'm not talking about MY confidence in our cowboy in chief, (which I'm proud to say never existed) but that of Vets for Peace, military families against the war, etc.  The fact that we keep heading overseas to replace the thugs we put in place, or otherwise supported (Noriega, Hussein, Bin Laden)  isn't too inspiring either.

As for the high stakes of this war, the CIA, DIA, and the rest of the intelligence community generally agree that 1)there was never any connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq in Saddam's era -- one being a strictly secular dictator asshole, one being a religious fundamentalist terrorist asshole, and 2) the type of Muslim fundamentalist terrorism that Bin Laden supports is now rampant in Iraq under our occupation.

This of course isn't really the forum for political debate, but since Deanna brought the subject up (in good faith, of course) and I answered and got flamed, I thought I'd use my God-given right (we agree about some things, moonman) to answer back.

Smedleyt

When the rhetoric goes "over the top" on either side, the poster's point of view tends to get drowned out. We had a similar thread on the Boston board shortly after US troops went into Afghanastan. I rejected a post where the author referred to "baby killers." He wrote Staff and demanded 3 months of VIP time and a public apology from me.

In this current thread, people on both sides of the issue have expressed the belief that others are entitled to the contrary opinion. Yet, the poster often just can't resist labeling the other guy.

IMHO, I'm more open to listening to your point of view if you present a well conceived arguement rather than "well if I'm this, you're that!" tit for tat.

thirsty

You stated that the initial reason we went to Iraq has been exposed as lies. You are just plain wrong. Go back to 1998 when Clnton was justifying his missle strikes on Iraq. Were he and all of his Democratic supporters in congress lying about Saddams weapons programs then? No. They were going by the same intel that the US and other countires have been acquiring for years. There are things in Iraq that have not been discovered yet, but they will be brought to light in time. Did you bother to read David Kay's report to the Congress on the evidence of Saddams weapons programs? It is quite contradictory to that tired old "Bush Lied" rhetoric.

As to the connection between Saddam & Al Queda, all I will say is the old adage "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" certainly applies. Al Queda operatives have trained in Iraq for years.

And I'll let you in on a little secret, having the Mujahadeen gather in Iraq is exactly part of the plan. Better to take the fight to the terrorists in "a place and time of our choosing" (where have we heard that before, class?) than have the fight brought to us.

This post is long, and I'm not one who enjoys typing but I must add that when the terrorists attacked our country on 9/11/01, they did not expect the response they got. They had based their expectations and planning on past actions of other Presidents. I have first hand experience with mujahadeen types and they are nothing but lowlifescumsuckingpicklesmooching cowards, they do not dare engage Army and Marine combat units because they know that an unholy storm of fire, death and mayhem will be dealt upon them. That is why they only engage soft targets who do not have the means or will to fight back. I am happy that we have a "Cowboy in Chief" who understands that if we do not take the fight to our enemies and destroy them, they will most certainly bring the fight not only to us, but to our children and our grandchildren.

Now I must go & clean my weapons. My blood pressure is climbing.

RLTW

I don't beleive anyone is syaing, what we did to Saddam is wrong or Saddam didn't deserve what he got, that is not the point in my view. The question here is, did we do it the right way.

Would we have caught the A......hole with others involvement? Everyone in the world is going to benefit, so why should we put only our people in harms way.

Yeh, I also understand the argument, we are the only people who have the guts to do it, and we will keep every one else out until they see our way. Don't think that is going to happen and the longer the argument goes, the worse off we are.

Sooner or later everyone will be rewarded with the blood and guts of our people, like it or not, it is what is going to happen.

So, I say, get them in there now to shoulder the burden and hardship.

just my 02

One of the best venues to support the men and women in Uniform this Christmas and Holiday season is to donate to the USO.  Several of my business associates perform with the USO and they tell me it is the best run, most efficient, and most generous of any company, non profit or for profit.  Please note that individuals, unless they ar e immediately related, can not send anything directly to a soldier away from home, but the USO can.

The families of those hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, male/female/young/old who are buried in mass graves in Iraq.  Tell it to Chamberlain in Great Britian who burried his head when he saw Hitler killing Jews and left it to Winston Churchill to fight the enemy on their own soil.  Tell it to the soldiers who have served in Bosnia.  Tell it to the Panimanians who went through "Operation Just Cause"

Calling our leaders crimals because they have chosen to make the difficult choice sounds ludicrous when coming out of the mouths of Americans. Sadam and Osama, in their propaganda, threatened all Americans, whether or not they support the war against them. I can accept propaganda from these terrorists that blame Americans for the attacks. The terrorists are, after all, trying to win a war against us. Their media games, which mostly consist of accusations and menacing threats, are a standard implementation of psychological warfare and serve to boost their own morale.  Listening to some of the war protestors' arguments against the American military response, one might almost believe that that the events of Sept 11 were natural disasters or terribly unfortunate accidents. It also baffles me, why Americans would embrace the enemy's justifications for their murderous aggression.Unfortunately, a few misguided people apparently think so little of their own country and the danger shared by all Americans that they would prefer to stand apart rather than join their countrymen in shouldering the nation's crisis.

Bill

I very seldom put up a post but there is a point where I need to speak my feelings. When I came home in 1970 I was made to feel ashamed of where I had been. I felt lucky as my injuries brought me home because I don't think I would be alive today if it were not for that. These men and women who are serving today should not have to go through any question as to why? They are doing their job.
Support them in anyway you can and they are not the ones to blame. They are doing all they can to come home to their families.
From most of the post I read we are not blaming the military but our own goverment. I had typed several other comments I delted becuase they were not the right thing for this forum.
I encourage each of you give these men and women all the respect
and support when they come home. Never let them feel like they were doing something that was not appreciated.
Sorry I did not mean to take up this much of Your time.

I never dreamed this post would encourage such responses.. i guess you guys really do read this stuff sometimes.. I thank each and every one of you all for your support of the troops and all they are trying to accomplish.. they are just doing what they are told.. as i see it ..
and on a lighter note.. my friend andy called me from the desert last night and told me to tell you all thanks for the prayers and thoughts.
hugs deanna

I have sent stuff directly to a soldier..

The military is allowing letters and packages through that are addressed to an individual (minus rank) unit, and APO address.  What IS being discourged are people sending packages addressed to "any soldier" in Irag.  In order to show your support in general for the people serving in Iraq, organizations such as the USO are still the best route.

Hell, dude...I LOVE my job, but I wouldn't want to stay there for 6 months straight. Anyone wants to go home. And I really didn't want to flame anyone, but I really get frazzled when I hear the left screech & whine.  The facts are: 1. It AIN'T about the oil. 2.It IS about terrorism. 3. Saddam DID at least communicate with al Qaeda (I'm sure worse...just my opinion).  4.  There are/were WMDs (where did they go?, just think about that one, man) 5. No matter what your beliefs, we are there & we can't leave until the job is done (so get behind it now or, bluntly stated, be against us all). 5. I guess there isn't a five...hmmm...I'll get back to you on five.  Let's lighten up here.  Enough said, right?

We should have finished the job the first time.  They've had twelve years to hide their bio/chem weapons.  Don't try to feed me any bullshit that there aren't any to find.  Try telling that to this child.  I don't care what reasons Jr. uses to jusfify this operation.  This is reason enough for me.

Trip, when I first saw your post, I initially thought that it really didn't belong here.  But after visiting the site, man...

I thank you.  More folks need to see, read, and feel what's happened in the past that brought us to this place in time.

May there be peace and justice for all, and may we as Americans be helpful in securing both - especially for those oppressed who cannot help themselves.