Stars and Stripes letter: Lies and failures (Bush is slam-dunked)

[lebkuchen]

Lies and failures

It’s time for Americans to admit that this presidential administration is a miserable failure. It has lied to its citizens and soldiers about the reasons for war, been fiscally irresponsible, and sullied our great nation’s reputation to the rest of the world.

The revelations of prisoner abuse in Iraq reflect the incompetence and poor planning of the Bush administration, not just of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The war and its aftermath were thoughtlessly undertaken, disregarding respected opinions from our intelligence analysts and military leaders about the threat from weapons of mass destruction and the number of troops required.

Rather than taking responsibility, President Bush had CIA Director George Tenet take the fall for the White House failures to prevent the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Now Rumsfeld is asked to do the same for Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who once had credibility, were played for fools on the world stage.

Wanting a hurry-up Iraq invasion for political reasons, current civilian leadership didn’t even bother to provide proper equipment and shielding for our soldiers, and we’ve had casualties because of it. The oft-repeated phrase of “best-led, best-equipped” is nothing more than a political response for the ultimate betrayal of our fighting forces. Had we patiently cultivated multinational support, the burden of conquering Iraq and the war’s aftermath wouldn’t have fallen so heavily on U.S. troops, reservists, guardsmen and their families.

World opinion of the United States, which was so favorable after Sept. 11, is now at its lowest level. Jokes about the French are a weak attempt to minimize foreign-relations failures. Support from allies vanished because the war was designed to serve the president’s bizarre oedipal and political purposes. Now the Arab world views us as oppressors engaged in a religious war, not defenders of democratic ideals.

Bush admits he doesn’t read newspapers, except for the sports pages, and dislikes policy discussions. In other words, he chooses to be dumb and uninformed. He and Vice President Dick Cheney operate from the feeling of, “I’m going to do what I want, even if it hurts America or endangers soldiers and citizens.” Their political advisers try to spin this as resolute, strong and committed, but the public sees it as reckless extremism. Today’s complicated world requires thoughtful, deliberative and nuanced policy analysis, a process in which these men don’t engage.

Comparing Bush to President Clinton is irrelevant. References to Sen. John Kerry as a flip-flopper or his war medals come directly from a desperate, embarrassed Republican Party. This president, who vowed to restore integrity to the Oval Office, has done the opposite by being reckless, thoughtless, and having no empathy for those whom his decisions hurt. He can’t even muster the courage to visit the maimed, attend funerals of the fallen, or understand why he should.

Sexual misconduct every day in the White House is preferable to lies that kill and injure soldiers and waste billions of taxpayer dollars. These lies and failures have cost lives, set back the war on terrorism, and harmed our republic. This administration doesn’t deserve another four years.

M.D. Wooldridge
Würzburg, Germany

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=22384

[hlthe2b]

1. excellent letter... I wish we could get this to more "fence-sitter" PUGS

At least the military is seeing these letters....

[Snoggera]

2. I like this one too

Mail too slow to vote

Ah, democracy and the postal system at work, despite General Accounting Office reports highlighting the Army’s inability to deliver mail in a war zone and congressional investigations of the Florida mess in the last presidential election.

I was thrilled on May 13 when I received my “Official Election Mail,” containing my absentee ballot for the May 15 Bexar County, Texas, special and general elections. This was particularly exciting since the ballot had to be received, not postmarked, by the voting clerk by 7 p.m. on May 15.

Despite following to the letter the voting assistance guidance for obtaining ballots and sending the materials with plenty of time to spare, this is what I ended up with. Thanks, U.S. Postal Service and the APO system. Should I have mailed it? Since the Concorde is no longer flying, it doesn’t appear that any attempt on my part to exercise one of the stated goals for which our troops fight and die every day in Iraq — the ability to vote in free elections — will take place, at least for me.

November is just around the corner. Perhaps U.S. Army Europe can charter flights to the States to allow overseas soldiers and employees to vote in person at the polls so our votes are on time and counted.

Jerome Markiewicz
Heidelberg, Germany

[lebkuchen]

4. That one dove-tails with AC Mom's letter below, blasting Halliburton

aka Kellogg, Brown and Root. There has been an ever-increasing number of negative Bush letters in Stripes, just about everyday now.

Iraq mail woes unnecessary

There is just far too much incompetence in government. You’ve got troops in theater. You know that part of their being in theater is mail delivery, because mail delivery is so familiar to the military, it’s a movie cliché. You plan.

Yet, these geniuses are entirely unprepared, and worse, when it becomes apparent that it’s far beyond what they (under)planned, they have no flexibility and creativity to respond.

Do you know why the American soldier is the finest in the world? Because the American soldier does not require a commanding officer to make battlefield decisions.

Each soldier is capable of making such decisions if necessary. The Soviet soldier was given no autonomy and relied on the command structure to act.

What a disgrace that the Pentagon has none of the creativity, resourcefulness and initiative of the people for whom it is responsible. The great morale booster of all wars, mail from home, is hopelessly snarled by the incompetence of Soviet-style rigidity in the Pentagon. Our soldiers deserve the same type of brilliance they display on the battlefield from the people who are entrusted with managing the effort.

Right now, 72 air conditioners that the American people sent to specific troops in Iraq via my organization are sitting at the DHL air terminal (ISS) and will not be accepted by the Military Mail Center in Baghdad.

Do readers know that Kellogg, Brown & Root has taken over the mail there as of February? Go ask the Pentagon why there are thousands of pounds of troop mail stalled in Baghdad because KBR can’t find the addressee.

When the Army handled the mail in Baghdad, I had no trouble getting the air conditioners that my organization pays $4.50 a kilogram to get to soldiers who so desperately need them.

Why is it that I have to fight my government to help our troops? I’ve been doing so for more than a year. I am tenacious and I will not quit, no matter what the ever-changing rules are.

There are thousands of troops over there doing their job with honor and dignity and we owe these soldiers to get off our behinds and help them get their mail.

Go ask the Office of the Secretary of Defense — staff there knows about the problem I just outlined. It seems it takes a media person to question them to get any action.

Frankie Mayo
President/founder
Operation Air Conditioner
Newark, Del

[greenbriar]

3. well said

very good

[opihimoimoi]

5. The Drips are gathering into a TORRENT. Soon, the Horror of Horrors, the

Bush House of Cards will dismantle into a heap of shit that it is, a shitty deal gone wild.

[Rebellious Republican]

6. I am speechless, WOW is all I can say. In the Stars and Stripes

WOW! People that have not been in the military can not understand the significance of this, WOW!
:wow:

[Qanisqineq]

7. Stars and Stripes was taken away from the soldiers in Iraq

at least while my husband was there. They were told it contained too many anti-Bush letters and articles that were less than complimentary of the Bush administration.

[lebkuchen]

9. I've been posting all the good ones on DU for over a year

Search "Stars and Stripes letters" or simply "Stripes letters," and they should all come up. I posted several in the Editorial section, but lately I felt they might cut a wider readership-swath in the General section.

[Rebellious Republican]

13. You were right to post in GD, glad you did, thanks!

:toast:

[Hubert Flottz]

11. If that is true you should write some of the Democrats on the .......

Senate Armed Services Committee and tell them what happened! Senator Robert C Byrd is one of them and Senator Edward Kennedy is another!

[ikojo]

8. Bush and the Republicans thought that military vote

belonged only to them. Like the Dems, who take liberals and left leaning voters for granted, I hope the military folks show Bush this time around.

NO vote belongs to any one party. We are all obligated to vote for that candidate who has EARNED that vote.

[Hubert Flottz]

10. Those are all great letters!

WTG Stars and Stripes! The letters from home mean EVERYTHING to the guys who fight our wars! "Mail Call" is one of the FEW good things a soldier has to look forward to in a world where everything else is so bad! Slam-dunking is in order for the national idiot!

[never cry wolf]

12. Here's a couple of more I saved recently

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2903288.php

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=22104