Woke up to news reports that the Senate may pull an all-nighter to debate next-steps in Iraq. Good for them. It's about time those with the power to put an end to this debacle stayed up all night ... they'll have plenty of company with the families of soldiers in harm's way to whom sleepless nights have become a way of life.Welcome to our world!
Here's what I wrote to my congressional representative last night in response to his "what do you think about bringing the troops home legislation" email to constituents:
As the mother of a son on active duty in Iraq I believe it is LONG past time to see that the kids we send into harm's way are being sent in order to do what they swore to do: to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Keeping them in harm's way to defend the failed policy of this failed administration is a travesty, a shame and a deep dishonoring of the sacrifices they make on our behalf.
Please speak for my son and vote to bring them home.
Sending the same to my senators momentarily. Please consider going and doing likewise.
Thanks!
1 comment:
One of my senators (Sen. Obama, as it happens) sent out a letter about his views on the war. Here's my response:
Dear Senator Obama:
You have sent a letter explaining your present policy on the Iraq war. As one of your constituents, I’d like to offer my opinion of it.
Today, more than three thousand brave young Americans are dead, and tens of thousands more have been wounded.
A high price to pay, to be sure. But it’s actually a lot less than I expected. And they have given their lives for a great cause and one that can be practically achieved.
Rather than be welcomed as "liberators," our troops have become targets of the exploding sectarian violence in Iraq.
Your statement is expressed as if these two things are mutually exclusive. They are not. If you look at the words of our troops and their officers, especially as the latest counter-insurgency strategy (misnamed “the surge”) takes hold, you’ll see that the vast majority of Iraqis do, in fact, welcome our troops and their actions in destroying Saddam and in fighting the Islamic fascists that seek to impose Shar’ia law on them. It’s only the limited number of the latter (a great many of whom are not Iraqis) who are making American troops targets. And they are losing.
Our military has been strained to the limits, and the cost to American taxpayers has already reached hundreds of billions of dollars.
What do you think the price of failure will be?
It is time to turn the management of this conflict over to the Iraqis and remove our troops from harm's way.
Why? What your reasoning? Clearly the Iraqis cannot manage this conflict on their own at this time. I must ask what your motive is for pretending they can? If we do this, we’ll temporarily save some American lives. We’ll also destroy a huge number of Iraqi ones and give Al-Queda access to vast resources and a huge propaganda victory to rally more forces around.
This sounds like wishful or partisan thinking, not a carefully considered strategic plan worthy of a Senator. It’s far short of someone aspiring to the executive responsibilities of a President.
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