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Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Our Soldiers Betrayed Once Again
President Bush’s escalation of the number of troops in Iraq began on January 15, 2007. Now we learn that just after the escalation of troops in harm’s way, his Defense Department officials laid off most of their case workers who help severely injured service members. The Army Times staff reporter Karen Jowers reports that case workers for the Military Severely Injured Center have been laid off work. The case workers served as advocates for wounded service members who have questions or issues related to benefits, financial resources and their successful return to duty or reintegration into civilian life, all forms of support other than medical care. Her sources said the decision was made to cut back the personnel because officials with the Army’s Wounded Warrior program felt the Defense Department program was a duplication of efforts. Reports indicate that Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Lewis, Wash.; and Fort Campbell, Ky., were among the locations that had case workers cut. The laid-off workers were told Wednesday to finish up their case work with severely injured troops, and that Friday would be their last day.
It seems to me that there should be an escalation of these services provided to our troops not cut backs. Why do we continue to let this president send our brave men and women to war and not provide the needed support when they are severely wounded? Did he learn nothing from Vietnam War? Was he not aware of what happened to a large percentage of those brave soldiers returning from the Vietnam war who where just left on the street to fend for themselves? The answer is NO! He was too busy trying to figure out how to be AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard with out getting caught. He was too worried about his own self interest to care about those who served and sacrificed during that war, proof of the old saying that some things never change.
It seems to me that there should be an escalation of these services provided to our troops not cut backs. Why do we continue to let this president send our brave men and women to war and not provide the needed support when they are severely wounded? Did he learn nothing from Vietnam War? Was he not aware of what happened to a large percentage of those brave soldiers returning from the Vietnam war who where just left on the street to fend for themselves? The answer is NO! He was too busy trying to figure out how to be AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard with out getting caught. He was too worried about his own self interest to care about those who served and sacrificed during that war, proof of the old saying that some things never change.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Response to Letter to the Editor, Herald Democrat 01/21/2006
We must fight in Iraq or on streets in U.S.
In November 2004, the U.S. Marines launched an assault on Fallugha. Some, perhaps all, of the companies involved had reporters “imbedded” with the troops to post eyewitness reports.
Our grandson, Capt. Read Omohumdro, was in command of Bravo Company, First Battalion, Eighth Marines. His company was the “spear point” of the assault. Imbedded with Bravo was Dexter Filkins, a New York Times reporter. Filkins posted an eyewitness story of the action of that battle. Newspapers and other media all over the country republished Filkins’ reports. After Dallas area television stations learned that the Captain’s mother, your youngest daughter, Virginia Ammons, lived in Hurst, reporters were to her home for on-camera interviews.
Our Marine came home in January 2005, but is now back in Iraq to train Iraqi soldiers and police to face up to the insurgency and gain control of the streets and alleyways of Baghdad and the lesser cities that are the battlefields of sectarian violence that threatens a fledging representative government that has not yet tasted the sweetness of liberty.
I am sick of the self-styled “experts” who spew their platitudes about what is and what is not the proper course of action to conclude this battle for the liberty that the common people of Iraq so richly deserve. Their unconscionable rhetoric, first claiming we did not have enough troops on the ground, then threatening to withhold funds for additional troops, cannot help but give aid to the enemy.
If those who claim to be capable leaders of this country cannot understand we have been at war with the Arab world since 1979, they are the problem rather than the solution. When U.S. Embassy personnel were held captive for 442 days and our embassies, ships and military personnel were attacked without provocation, that was war and continues as war. We are at war with Iraq. If we do as some suggest and remove our troops from Iraq, we will still be at war, except that it will intensify and we will see it in the cities and on the streets of this nation.
James W. Farris
Sherman
Response to "We must fight in Iraq or on streets in U.S."
Mr. Farris is obviously proud of his grandson’s accomplishments and service to the nation. We are indeed fortunate to have brave men and women like Capt. Omohumdro and we salute there sacrifice and continued service. However, we must not forget that America blundered into this catastrophe chiefly because its Republican president lied to all of us about the reason to go to war. The Bush administration scared us spitless by constantly spewing propaganda of weapons of mass destruction, mushroom clouds, biological weapons and poison gas. They said a society traumatized by a harsh dictatorship would greet us as liberators with flowers and dancing in the streets. When that lie was finally uncovered they led us to believe that the United States could transform a country seething with ancient tribal and religious hatred into a liberal democracy. Now the line is we must fight them there or fight them here or that if we leave Iraq they will follow us home. The reasons change year to year and day to day but one thing is now very clear this conflict is a civil war and it will have to be settled by the different Iraqi factions. Let us recognize that America has done all it can do for the Iraqis and go forward from there with the strategy of a phased withdrawal coupled with negotiations with the other countries in the region, something we should already be doing.
We must continue to fight against Islamic extremism and spend our resources at securing the homeland against attacks not engage in a futile attempt at nation building. We are squandering our resources, and most importantly, asking the best and brightest young men and women in uniform and their families to serve and sacrifice in a war biased on lies. They must and will do their duty regardless.
We all know that this war is really all about. It’s always been about the oil and who controls the oil. That is what the phrase in “America’s national interest in the region” means this administration has squandered decades of American credibility on defense and foreign policy to control the oil in Iraq. Only the bitter-enders on the right fail to recognize it for what it is, a foreign-policy disaster of the first magnitude.
Glen Johnstone
Gunter, Texas
In November 2004, the U.S. Marines launched an assault on Fallugha. Some, perhaps all, of the companies involved had reporters “imbedded” with the troops to post eyewitness reports.
Our grandson, Capt. Read Omohumdro, was in command of Bravo Company, First Battalion, Eighth Marines. His company was the “spear point” of the assault. Imbedded with Bravo was Dexter Filkins, a New York Times reporter. Filkins posted an eyewitness story of the action of that battle. Newspapers and other media all over the country republished Filkins’ reports. After Dallas area television stations learned that the Captain’s mother, your youngest daughter, Virginia Ammons, lived in Hurst, reporters were to her home for on-camera interviews.
Our Marine came home in January 2005, but is now back in Iraq to train Iraqi soldiers and police to face up to the insurgency and gain control of the streets and alleyways of Baghdad and the lesser cities that are the battlefields of sectarian violence that threatens a fledging representative government that has not yet tasted the sweetness of liberty.
I am sick of the self-styled “experts” who spew their platitudes about what is and what is not the proper course of action to conclude this battle for the liberty that the common people of Iraq so richly deserve. Their unconscionable rhetoric, first claiming we did not have enough troops on the ground, then threatening to withhold funds for additional troops, cannot help but give aid to the enemy.
If those who claim to be capable leaders of this country cannot understand we have been at war with the Arab world since 1979, they are the problem rather than the solution. When U.S. Embassy personnel were held captive for 442 days and our embassies, ships and military personnel were attacked without provocation, that was war and continues as war. We are at war with Iraq. If we do as some suggest and remove our troops from Iraq, we will still be at war, except that it will intensify and we will see it in the cities and on the streets of this nation.
James W. Farris
Sherman
Response to "We must fight in Iraq or on streets in U.S."
Mr. Farris is obviously proud of his grandson’s accomplishments and service to the nation. We are indeed fortunate to have brave men and women like Capt. Omohumdro and we salute there sacrifice and continued service. However, we must not forget that America blundered into this catastrophe chiefly because its Republican president lied to all of us about the reason to go to war. The Bush administration scared us spitless by constantly spewing propaganda of weapons of mass destruction, mushroom clouds, biological weapons and poison gas. They said a society traumatized by a harsh dictatorship would greet us as liberators with flowers and dancing in the streets. When that lie was finally uncovered they led us to believe that the United States could transform a country seething with ancient tribal and religious hatred into a liberal democracy. Now the line is we must fight them there or fight them here or that if we leave Iraq they will follow us home. The reasons change year to year and day to day but one thing is now very clear this conflict is a civil war and it will have to be settled by the different Iraqi factions. Let us recognize that America has done all it can do for the Iraqis and go forward from there with the strategy of a phased withdrawal coupled with negotiations with the other countries in the region, something we should already be doing.
We must continue to fight against Islamic extremism and spend our resources at securing the homeland against attacks not engage in a futile attempt at nation building. We are squandering our resources, and most importantly, asking the best and brightest young men and women in uniform and their families to serve and sacrifice in a war biased on lies. They must and will do their duty regardless.
We all know that this war is really all about. It’s always been about the oil and who controls the oil. That is what the phrase in “America’s national interest in the region” means this administration has squandered decades of American credibility on defense and foreign policy to control the oil in Iraq. Only the bitter-enders on the right fail to recognize it for what it is, a foreign-policy disaster of the first magnitude.
Glen Johnstone
Gunter, Texas
Friday, January 5, 2007
Appeal for Redress to Congress to Bring Our Troops Home from Iraq
My Fellow Veterans & Non Veterans
Want you join me in supporting our active duty brothers and sisters who will posted this Appeal for Redress and will send the below communication to Congress. When the appeal is delivered to Congress this Martin Luther King holiday weekend (January 13 -15) elected officials will see the names of 1,000 active duty personnel who are opposed to their comrades dying everyday in the now, civil war in Iraq. These brave men and women are expressing their right to contact their elected representatives in a legal and respectful way. This appeal is not about resistance, it is about working within the democratic process. It is about being a proud soldier, an airman, or a marine, about being proud of their duty without giving up their rights as a citizen.
The Appeal for Redress:
As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in a uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U. S. troops to come home.
In support of the Appeal please send a letter or email to your elected congressman and Senators. http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Examples for veterans and non veterans:
Veterans:
As a patriotic American proud to have served the nation in uniform and in support of active duty personnel who will submit an Appeal for Redress, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U. S. troops to come home.
Non Veterans:
As a patriotic American and in support of in support of active duty personnel who will submit an Appeal for Redress, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U. S. troops to come home.
Want you join me in supporting our active duty brothers and sisters who will posted this Appeal for Redress and will send the below communication to Congress. When the appeal is delivered to Congress this Martin Luther King holiday weekend (January 13 -15) elected officials will see the names of 1,000 active duty personnel who are opposed to their comrades dying everyday in the now, civil war in Iraq. These brave men and women are expressing their right to contact their elected representatives in a legal and respectful way. This appeal is not about resistance, it is about working within the democratic process. It is about being a proud soldier, an airman, or a marine, about being proud of their duty without giving up their rights as a citizen.
The Appeal for Redress:
As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in a uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U. S. troops to come home.
In support of the Appeal please send a letter or email to your elected congressman and Senators. http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Examples for veterans and non veterans:
Veterans:
As a patriotic American proud to have served the nation in uniform and in support of active duty personnel who will submit an Appeal for Redress, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U. S. troops to come home.
Non Veterans:
As a patriotic American and in support of in support of active duty personnel who will submit an Appeal for Redress, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U. S. troops to come home.
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