An American soldier, in Iraq

Open letter To Agaric

Some good hard working freedom loving Americans feel that we should support our president, in any matter, and that to support our troops is to support our president.
Agaric is one such good American.< p>

He responded in a thread to one of my posts, critical of the administration's conduct of the war in Iraq. What follows is my open letter to Agaric:

" Agaric,
The administration would have good Americans believe that any protest of the Bush War in Iraq is UN-American, and in some obscure way, hurtful to our troops. It is in the best interest of the administration to promote that concept, because if Americans discover that other Americans, those who have time and motivation to follow the world news, have discovered flaws in the administrations reasoning, it might be hurtful, politically.

Our troops in Iraq are perhaps the finest in U.S. History; partially because many of them are reserve troops, who tend to be professional, educated men. In point of fact, all of our troops are of the highest caliber. It is a horror that they should be subjected to the stress, and inhumanity of war.

This particular war should never have come about. Do you understand that the phrase, "pre-emptive strike" means that WE started it? Iraq not only did not have Weapons Of Mass Destruction, it also did not have a tenable military. In fact, the Iraqi Air force was buried in the desert, as our aeriel photographs clearly showed. Iraq had little or nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks on America.

Bush, the reactionary, emotionally reacted in an irrational way.
Now, listen and think! We are supposedly trying to bring Democratization to Iraq, introduce them to the "American Way". Thus far we have killed 600,000 of them, men, young men, women, and children. We have destroyed their cities, their art, and we are insistent that they deny their religions, and culture, to embrace ours. The citizens of Iraq have steadfastly refused to cow down to Bush's demands. They are an ancient culture, in a world that was long established before our American culture began. To not protest such an unjust, immoral war is wrong. To "Turn your head and pretend you don't see" will only lead to more corruption, and permit more incompetence.

Thankyou for your response.
BBJ"