The Spitters Defame The Dead (Write A Response Back)

Alvy's Forum ^

[Jon Alvarez]

Despicable letter to the editor in today's Syracuse Post Standard written by one of the leaders of the Syracuse Peace Council.

[Jon Alvarez]

Feel free to write a response, send it to letters@syracuse.com and put "Post Standard Letter" in the subject line. Be sure to include your address and phone number.

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[Drango]

so what's the letter????

[backhoe]

A typical snippet:

The use of mercenaries allows the jiggling of U.S. casualty stats: Dead and maimed mercenaries need not be counted. Such use evades accountability for military operations and functions. As U.S. soldiers increasingly come to doubt the wisdom and morality of their mission, more mercenaries are deployed. Mercenaries take on jobs and take risks honorable soldiers refuse.

[MineralMan]

Why not post the letter, and link directly to the newspaper site? Linking to some discussion group does not offer any opportunity to respond to the letter.

The link to the newspaper site is right there on the discussion group, and there's no reason you couldn't copy and paste the letter itself into your posting.

Don't make the Freepers work to see what you are posting. Post it properly and make it easy for everyone.

[Jon Alvarez]

'Civilians' in Iraq more like 'mercenaries'


To the Editor:

Four unnamed men guarding a U.S. convoy in a war zone were killed Wednesday in Fallujah, Iraq. This is a tragedy for those individuals, for their families, for all involved.

As the folly and brutality of the invasion and occupation become daily more obvious, more doubletalk must be used to spin such deaths to the voters back home. Thursday's front-page coverage of the killings referred to the victims as "civilians" and "contractors." It kind of sounds like they may have been electricians or engineers. In the Iraq context, however, "contractor" is often simply sanitized language for "mercenary" - a growing personnel category in U.S. "defense" in Iraq and around the world.

In this case, the four men worked for Blackwater Security Consulting out of North Carolina. According to its Web site, Blackwater provides, among other lethal arts, sniping and advanced sniper training. It "employ[s] only the most highly motivated and professional operators, all drawn from various U.S. and international Special Operations Forces, Intelligence and Law Enforcement organizations." Such operators may technically be "civilians," but hardly civilians in the usual sense.

The use of mercenaries allows the jiggling of U.S. casualty stats: Dead and maimed mercenaries need not be counted. Such use evades accountability for military operations and functions. As U.S. soldiers increasingly come to doubt the wisdom and morality of their mission, more mercenaries are deployed. Mercenaries take on jobs and take risks honorable soldiers refuse.

Ed Kinane

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Ed Kinane is one of the leaders of the Syracuse Peace Council.

Let the Post Standard know how you feel about this guy's comments.
letters@syracuse.com

[MineralMan]

There ya go! That's a proper posting.

[Jon Alvarez]

I had everything on one site...the letter, a copy of my reply, address to write to the paper...don't waste your time if it's too much work. It's hard to post here because the site makes you format everything.


sheesh.

[Jon Alvarez]

the initial post makes you format it. :)

[Conservomax]

These people think they are pulling the wool off of our eyes with this crap - no sh*t, they're security personel, Is this uncommon knowledge? You need trained security personel in festering sores like Fallujah, Too bad there weren't any more of these "mercenaries" with "advanced sniping training" around to put holes in the heads of the little turds stomping on the bodies.

[MineralMan]

"the initial post makes you format it. :)
"

Actually, it doesn't, really. Especially on a plain-text site like the one you posted from. Just drag over the text only, then copy it and paste it into the box. As long as you do not put any HTML codes in the box yourself, it will be formatted automatically.

If you use any HTML in the box, however, you'll have to format the whole thing.

Works great. Just be sure to select only the text.

[Jon Alvarez]

I'll try it next time, thx

[Drango]

don't waste your time if it's too much work. It's hard to post here because the site makes you format everything.

Some of us are on 28K dial-up and surfing to outside links takes more time than its worth. But thanks anyway.

[Jon Alvarez]

gotcha--sorry.

[wolicy_ponk]

Syracuse Peace Council.

[Becki]

In this case, the four men worked for Blackwater Security Consulting out of North Carolina. According to its Web site, Blackwater provides, among other lethal arts, sniping and advanced sniper training. It "employ[s] only the most highly motivated and professional operators, all drawn from various U.S. and international Special Operations Forces, Intelligence and Law Enforcement organizations." Such operators may technically be "civilians," but hardly civilians in the usual sense.

This actually speaks volumes to the caliber of people over there. To think that they would go through that training and use their specialized backgrounds to make sure that the food supply would get to people who need it.

Becki

[highlandbreeze]

He obviously listened to Err America last night..seems to have his Jeaneane Garafolo talking points down pat.

[Jon Alvarez]

that pic made me laff out loud...hilarious!