To the Editor,
Once again I find myself responding to someone’s attack on my letter to the Times. In this case, it was about my letter from June 15 titled “Where’s the Outrage Over Iraq?” The first comment I want to make is that not one of my examples of U.S. war crimes was challenged. My main reason for writing these letters is to inform as many people as possible about important issues that they might not be aware of. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I do try to find out the truth about these issues and then write about them. I view this space in our local paper as a means to share ideas and where necessary have an open debate that will help flesh out what the truth is.
The issue of U.S. war crimes in Iraq is an extremely important one. Most Americans aren’t aware of the fact that prior to the war on Iraq most Iraqi’s were living a relatively comfortable lifestyle. Men and women would go to work, children would go to school and probably play soccer after school and then they would have supper together and pray together and then sleep peacefully at night. Today it is just absolute chaos. There is virtually no electricity, no clean water and no security. Every Iraqi now fears for their life and those that they love. The civilian death toll is said to be over 50,000. The wounded probably over 100,000. (And they don’t have access to adequate medical care.) Hundreds of thousands are now probably homeless due U.S. bombs and missiles.
All of this overwhelming suffering is due to a war of aggression. Iraq didn’t pose any threat to the U.S. The Bush administration manipulated the intelligence on WMD and connections to 911 and al-Qaeda. The main reason we invaded Iraq was to gain control over Iraq’s vast oil reserves. To support this view, I merely have to point to the fact that about the only part of Iraq that was given any security was the oil industry.
There are a number of other serious consequences that the war on Iraq is responsible for. The most important to most Americans should be the impact on our troops. So far 2,520 U.S. troops have been killed. The total wounded is said to be between 20,000 and 48,000. The disruption of tens of thousands of families’ lives is a true hardship. Then there is the damage to our image around the world as countries view us as an aggressive, violent nation. The on going genocide in Darfur is another consequence. Over 400,000 people have been killed over the past few years in Darfur. This is happening in Sudan, where more innocent people are being killed and tortured each week than Saddam was probably responsible for over a number of years time. I wish our marines were standing between these helpless people and the brutal thugs who are terrorizing them. But, there is no oil for us there and we are already stretched too thin in Iraq.
As far as the comment that I denigrated our leaders, I will stand guilty as charged. We have a President and a Vice President who when they were younger both supported the Vietnam war and they both not only lacked the courage to go fight in it, they pulled every string possible to keep from going! These men have sent our troops into an unnecessary war without proper body armor and humvee plating, which has caused many deaths and serious injuries. Both of them have sanctioned the use of torture. They also didn’t have a realistic plan to keep the peace after the war or a realistic exit strategy. To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., we have a foreign policy that is based on guided missiles that is directed by misguided men. Our troops and the Iraqi people are paying dearly for their blunders.
The best way to end this tragedy is to do what 72% of our troops in Iraq have stated in a February 2006 Zogby poll. That is to withdraw from Iraq by the end of this year. The people of Walpole can best support our troops by signing the Declaration of Peace at www.declarationofpeace.org
Peckham, June 26,2006
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