'Get us out of here now!'
The following letter from a soldier's father appeared on
the web site of the Nashville Tennessean newspaper.
My son is in the U.S. Army and currently
stationed in Baghdad. I hear from him every three or four days.
He is like most of the young men and women who went to fight
over there inasmuch as he was proud to go and achieve what
President Bush said was necessary.
I have seen his attitude take a U-turn during the last
month. At first he was saying: "I wonder why we are not doing
this or that to help make life better for our soldiers?" Then
he started to wonder why we were not doing more to help the
Iraqi people who are suffering under terrible conditions. Not
enough water or food, no electricity most of the time, a
terrible shortage of medical supplies and medical staff,
basically they are living like animals. Then he started to
worry about the safety of our troops in the area. He says they
are sitting ducks and easy targets for Iraqi people bent upon
gaining revenge for slain family members and by those who hold
the U.S. responsible for the terrible conditions they find
themselves in.
Yesterday he had a different message altogether: "Get us out
of here now! There is nothing we can do to pacify the Iraqi
people except get out of their country and allow them to
restore order in whatever way THEY wish."
And, allow me to give you his remarks when he was informed
of President Bush's brash remarks saying "Bring them on." He
said: "Myself and every last man in my unit are deeply offended
that our President would make such a statement inviting us to
be attacked. President Bush has lost the respect of every
soldier I have spoken to because of his speaking those
irresponsible words. Those words spread like wild-fire among
the troops. We are here because he ordered us to be here and
now for him to make such a ridiculous statement inviting
violence towards us causes us to lose respect for him and his
judgment. We are learning that we never should have come here
in the first place. Believe me Dad, there is a completely
different attitude now. The fact that the President gave rich
people a tax cut and didn't do anything for military families
is hurtful. Where there was once pride and satisfaction in
defeating an enemy there is now regret and shame. ..."
Reprinted from the July 31, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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Email: ww@workers.org
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