Leader

Capt. William Guenther in Baghdad:

Sir, I hoping that you could possibly help me with this. Maybe you can't, but I'll have gotten it off my chest. I am an Army officer that is just beginning a year long tour in Iraq, as an advisor with the Iraqi Special Police Commandos. While I have every reason to believe that I will return home safety in eleven months, my eyes are also open to the possibility of that not being the case.

The reason I am writing you is that I have just read your article about what Susan Paynter wrote about the Marine "kidnapping" in Seattle. At the end of your article, you mentioned that you were somewhat taken aback by the fact that just a week or so earlier she had written a tribute to those who had lost a loved one. I went to her paper's Web site to read that article. Sure enough there it was: another story about a soldier, or their family, as victim. And typically they are portrayed as a victim of George Bush or Donald Rumsfeld. In and of itself that isn't a problem, but in so many cases that is all soldiers over here are to the elite: victims… or in the case of the favorite story to come out of this war, Abu Ghraib, villians. Anyway, I looked further into what Ms. Paynter had written recently, and there it was: an article about an "artist", Phil Hansen, who had created a "war collage" where he painted the faces of every dead soldier or Marine over a picture of George Bush. Ms. Paynter was very understanding of how Mr. Hansen was "showing his support for the troops," but that they had died because Bush had misled the country.

Which brings me to my point. I thought about it before I got over here, and feel even stronger about it now that it may be my reality. God forbid, if something happens to me over here, I do not want to be used by the likes of Phil Hansen in Seattle, Michael Moore, Gary Trudeau, or Ted Koppel, to make their political points against the war, the President, and finally the country, all the while saying "they support the troops". I have no doubt in my mind that Michael Moore would rather hear a report that 600 soldiers were killed last month in Iraq rather than 60 — but he "supports the troops". Anyway, are you aware of any list that is around that soldiers could put their name on so that if something happened, while understanding our families couldn't stop it, that these despicable phonies would be asked not to use our deaths to further their agenda that runs completely counter to why I volunteered to be where I am and counter to the real desires of 99 percent of the Iraqi people?

I have a wife and a four year old son. Truly my biggest concern is how selfish I have been to leave him for a year, and possibly allowing him to grow up never truly knowing his father. I have discussed this with my wife, I don't want him ever to believe that he or his father were victims of his country, which I love even more after being away from it again.

Again, if you are aware of any such petition please let me know.

http://media.nationalreview.com/066369.asp

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EricTheRed

wow, troops should not have to worry about that when there in the line of duty. This shows something is very wrong with the media

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"Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved." - Saint Seraphim of Sarov

Bluesman

VERY moving sentiment.

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"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it, and if one finds the prospect of a long war intolerable, it is natural to disbelieve in the possibility of victory."
- George Orwell

Sombra

Wow, is this guy looking for a promotion or simply stupid?

The miltary should stay out of politics. His wish "not to be used" is althouhg a political statement. Ok, I get it he is happy with his commander and president. He would do never ever which could displease him. Good soldier. Very good soldier...

We had many many of them 50 years here in Germany to. Were happily fighting for the Endsieg in the ruins of Berlin.

dalem

You miss his point.

He does not want his potential death to be used as political fodder for the group of politicians who don't respect the reasons he served in the first place.

He is not saying "If I buy it use my name to promote my cause", he is saying "If I buy it, please shut the heck up". That's as apolitical as one can get.

-dale

Bluesman

Go to hell, dumbass.

He's not looking for promotion, and neither is he stupid.

He simply doesn't want Ted Koppel to read his name in a sonorous voice, display his picture, his home state and his age if he happens to die for a cause he believes in, a war he volunteered to go fight. Because he knows the purpose of Ted Koppel and ABC News that holds Koppel's leash is to use that list as a way to break the American people's morale and to defeat our purpose in Iraq. I support Captain Guenther in this.

And that doesn't make either of us 'stupid'. As a matter of fact, I applaud his ability to see the motives of the enemies of our cause so clearly even though they attempt to hide it in these faux shows of 'support for the troops', and their crocodile tears over the sacrifice of the fallen.

I maintain that this man is a TRUE man and a great patriot, because he faces the real possibility of laying down his life for his convictions, and he does not wish for that ultimate sacrifice to be devalued by some huckster that tries to turn the meaning of that sublime act of selflessness into something mean and less worthy.

So you've just joined the ranks of the Virtual Dead in my eyes. You compare him to some Nazi fanatic going down to death for his Fuehrer with no possibility of victory? You are a beast, a creature with no understanding or perception. I despise you, and I will see you proved wrong in the years to come.

May Captain Guenther live to see his - OUR - cause succeed. I'm proud of him and that we're on the same side. Phil Hansen, Michael Moore, Gary Trudeau, Koppel and Sombra are our enemies, just as surely as bin Laden and Zarqawi are.

We're winning; we will win.

Sombra

sorry I don´t buy it . He especially names people as Michael Moore etc. as people profiting from the deaths of the soldiers. "He is happy when 600 soldiers die " or something like that... Passing around lists for his comrades. ...

Sorry looks like politics for me . By the way if this was personal how does his letter appear in the internet?

Sombra

Well Bluesman take you pills please? One lesson learned from WWe is to ask questions. Question the motives for war especially. Even if you see them as enemies the press duty is to ask questions and raise doubt. Without them no true democracy can work. When I see a young soldier is uncomdfortable that a war is although politics sorry his task is to obbey orders and stick out of them.

I think you have a problem with democracy when you put people with different opinions already on the level of criminals and terrorists.
But perhaps you need a simple black and white world. Yeah, the world is a scary place with all these shades of grey.

Shek

The responsibility of the press is to report facts and let their audience decide, not to spin facts to sell newspapers or raise doubts. Leave the spin for the op-ed pages, not the articles on the front page.

Also, Michael Moore is not a journalist, he is an activist that has called the terrorists in Iraq their "minutemen," a sentiment not shared by the large majority of Iraqis. I'm sure his speaking fees have gone up since his "documentary" and outspoken opposition to the GWOT and Iraq, so yes, he has personally profited from the wars (he had a speaking gig at a local university cancelled when the board of directors found out that public taxpayers money would be used to pay for him to speak).

I am with the Captain - I didn't serve a rotation in Iraq so that someone could use me as a reason to quit if I had been killed. FYI, promotion rates to MAJ are at 99% and above right now, so a promotion is definitely not the motivation for his aritcle. Besides, with an average of 5 minutes for the centralized board to review an officer's entire record (10 years worth of evaluations, awards, and other information), even if this article were printed out and placed in his file, it would have a low chance of being seen since all the board will look at is a summary page and your last 2-3 years worth of evaluations (and even then only at how you were ranked (center of mass or above center of mass) and what your bosses' boss had to say about you in his/her 3-4 sentences.

Leader

That is totally out of line.

Sombra

Perhaps. It was out of line.

Still the point is, being critical when asked to be sent in to a war is something we learned in Germany 50 years ago. The hostility against " the leftie press" etc. is really suprising when they ask for the reasons for the war in Iraq. Besides regime change and bringing democracy not much is left of the original reasosn for this war.

When this soldier didnßt want to used in politics, how does it come that it is possible that his letter is published on a political board?

Amled

Sorry Sombra I think that you are out of line on this, in equating the Captain with Nazi storm troopers dying to protect that mainiac in his bunker.
Also by lambasting the Captain for not wanting a war profiteer of the likes of Michael Moore to in any way using his misfortune or death; if that was to occur, to line his own pocket.
As for being political, well almost any statement can be construed as being political, it's simply in the eye of the beholder.
And this beholder at least takes it as a statement from someone who doesn't want to be misused by someone he is fundamentaly at odds with.

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When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow. - Anais Nin

dalem

It's a public appeal based on a private email, with permission from the original letter-write, I believe.

And since it's the lefties and anti-war folks who are consistantly twisting the reality of peoples' service and commitments, it's no surprise that a soldier would be more concerned about what the Lefties are going to say.

Quite simply, a right/conservative commentator is more likely to say something positive about the service, motivations, and contributions of a fallen soldier, and a left/liberal commentator is more likely to say something negative about the same. Does that help clarify it for you?

-dale

Confed999

The world is quite black and white, I know of very little that is grey.
Seems pretty black and white to me. What else should be required?

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No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry