Should have heard a recent ABC radio news report.
"The people are afraid to vote"
*cut to sound bite one*
"there is too much violence. I am staying home"
*sound clip two*
"Too much violence. We were better off under Saddam. It was safer"
or churchillbluff.
Here is the letter I sent to Sen Ted Kennedy via his senate website because of his negative remarks preceding the Iraq election:
5710
30 Jan 2005
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
315 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Senator Kennedy,
The other day, you gave a speech calling for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq; that U.S. troops are part of the problem, not part of the solution. I do not understand this. Your brother JFK said "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty," and that has generally been the foreign policy that we have tried to live by - yet you proclaim something other than that.
You refer to Iraq as another "quagmire," like Vietnam. The only reason Vietnam was a quagmire was because people like your younger protege John Kerry, gave comfort to the enemy then as you are doing now. You'd think a man of your tenure in the U.S. Senate would have learned from the mistakes of that era when Vietnamese officials today said that the war protestors were their greatest asset, it did not matter that they never beat us on the battlefield, and to prove it, they honor John Kerry in their war memorials and museums. What you are doing now only strengthens the enemy's resolve and undermines the seeds of democracy we are planting in the middle east.
Some say if we are in Iraq, why aren't we in North Korea, Saudi Arabia or Iran - well, we can't do it because of you and your call for the big "peace dividend" at the end of the cold war. Thanks to you personally and your call for that we have a military that can not be on both sides of the world at the same time and engage tyranny and spread liberty as your rather astute brother proclaimed. Besides, when you and your collegues say this, you all say it in a manner suggesting we should be in some other country first, that some other country should have greater priority – well, Mr. Kennedy, where would you have us go instead of Iraq first?
So far we have stopped the ethnic cleansing of the Muslims in Kosovo; we have toppled the Taliban in Afghnaistan which has now had free elections; we have toppled Saddam Hussein and they have now had successful free elections; Libya has taken note and given up the nuclear program. So where should we start – North Korea? Syria? Iran? Or tuck our tails and come home so radical Islamists can gain strength and bring the battle to our homefront. They are going to fight us, the question is do we want to do it over there or do you want it fought in the streets of Boston or Washington?
I thought you would have matured with age and tenure, but you are acting like your irresponsible ex-Lieutenant protégé with a previous OTH discharge and that is who you have aligned yourself with. I wonder if your late naval lieutenant brothers are smiling upon you from heaven knowing what kind of naval lieutenant Kerry turned out to be – certainly not the kind that gave his life in Operation APHRODITE or the kind that kept his PT boat crew together after being rammed by a destroyer.
Some say the U.S. Senate is the greatest deliberative body in the world – yet you harrangue the president and the administration about the war in Iraq, you and your colleagues denounce publicly and in the confirmation hearings a remarkable woman like Dr. Condi Rice and are determined to obstruct anything the president and administration tries to do. You, my friend, you, Barbara Boxer, Grand Kleagle Robert Byrd are making a mockery of the senate. You would rather see President Bush and this administration fail politically instead of the nation succeeding in its overall objectives overseas. I am sure the parents of our soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen and guardsmen are all pleased with your comments, and the grateful citizens of a new and free Iraq are all wondering what your continued blathering is about after the successful outcome of their election. I am sure they are further befuddled by what kind of people we have in America as opposed to the ones risking their lives over their right now. Let me tell you something, mister, I have friends over there right now that have been killed and wounded, and if you haven’t heard from any of those – let me tell you that what you are saying and doing is a disgrace to this nation, your family name and your dead brothers who at least had enough balls to raise their right hand, take the oath and go to war. They were obviously men of courage, honor and commitment; they earned the right to their views to express them. Remember, when you express your’s, you are doing so because of men like them, me, and my wounded and dead friends that have secured that right for you. Why don’t you use that right with a little more forthought and dignity. If you can’t, quit embarassing us and stay off tv and go back to embarassing the people of Massachusetts instead of all of the people like me in all 50 states. For Godsakes, do something that shows you have developed some character instead of showing us the same man that let that poor girl die in a creek while he concocted his alibi. Show us there is hope that you are not a pathetic wretch, show us the Kennedy legacy is not what the last taste Americans get as a result of seeing and hearing you in your present form.
R. S. Rayfield, Jr.
Major, USMC (Ret)
I, of course, do not expect a reply. . . .