There Are Those That Some of the Military Do NOT WANT 'Supporting' Them

[Annie]

Seems reasonable to me.

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

Media Culture
"Don't Want to be Used"

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.

I haven’t been able to find any petition like that, but maybe the greater NRO community knows of something. If I get any information I’ll let you know as soon as I can.
[ 06/16/2005 12:42 PM ]