[Vision2020] Honoring Soldiers While Questioning the War

Fri Jan 13 07:38:10 PST 2006

This letter agrees with the sentiment of most of the X-soldiers I know.
How awful it is that our Government (not the American people) can engage
us in these fruitless wars through the use of deception? ......It is
more awful than we are willing to admit.

One point that Tim Giago missed though is that there are those who
benefit form the war. The Paul Bremmers, The Bushes, Bakers and Rumsfeld
war makers and all of those nasty little chicken hawk, neocon toads make
out great no matter what the outcome is. America looses, Iraq looses and
the rest of the world suffers with the exception of those who set
themselves up with unaccountable, no bid, billion dollar contracts and
of course the Carlisle group (see the rub-a-dub group) who have sold
weaponry to all parties involved. The current phony "war" has also
created a scapegoat for the raiding of our treasury which is another
great benefit that has fallen upon an unscrupulous pork happy congress.
Has anyone noticed that the numbers do not add up? The cost of the Iraq
mess and the Afghan action are estimated at 370 billion as of now; that
is not even one years worth of deficit this carpet-bagging
administration has racked up on our bill. 

This current, phony, manufactured deal in Iraq as well as the "War on
Terror" that is so dear to our Commander-in-crook are serving some
people very well. We should note that the people it benefits are the
same as the ones who started and want to continue it. 

My condolences to the family of the young man in this letter. I wish
there was a way to stop the self-serving attitude that our leaders
display. Voting really doesn't work anymore because we only get to vote
for more of the same that is preselected for us by the very group we
need to get rid of. 

What are we to do?  

James Reynolds
Moscow

________________________________

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Tom Hansen
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 6:47 AM
To: Moscow Vision 2020
Subject: [Vision2020] Honoring Soldiers While Questioning the War 

>From today's (January 13, 2006) Spokesman Review -

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Honoring soldiers while questioning the war 

Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)

Knight Ridder

January 13, 2006

W hen I turned 17 years old there was a war going on. Like many young
men of that era, I didn't wait to be drafted, I volunteered.

The year was 1951 and the war was called a "police action," but more
than 40,000 Americans gave up their lives while serving as this
country's policemen in Korea.

I never really thought about the politics of the war. I was told that
the communist North Korea had invaded the free country of South Korea
and it was our duty to stop them and drive them back across the 38th
Parallel. Not once did I doubt the integrity of our nation's leaders or
question their reasons for going to war. Was this a just war? When can a
war be called just?

I suppose Korea could be called a just war. After all, we were fighting
to keep an invading army from taking away the freedom of another nation.
We were young, we were fearless, and above all, we were patriotic.
Without a shred of a doubt we trusted and respected our government.
Would President Harry Truman lie to us? Never!

And we walked away from Korea with our heads held high. Despite the
intervention of the communist China, we had driven the enemy back to the
38th Parallel. Perhaps the war was a stalemate, but a stalemate is
better than a loss.

But everything seemed to go awry in Vietnam. When we returned from Korea
there were no protesters calling us baby killers and worse. But during
the Vietnam War it seemed that the entire nation was against the war,
and in their anger and hate for the war they turned on the troops
fighting the war.

A war is personal when one is actively involved, but it is also personal
when a close friend or relative loses his life. This week the war in
Iraq took a personal turn for me and for many Lakota people.

Cpl. Brett Lee Lundstrum, USMC, was just 22 years old when he was killed
by enemy fire at Fallujah, Iraq. He was an enrolled member of the Oglala
Sioux Tribe. His mother, Doyla Carol (Underbaggage) Lundstrum was the
adopted daughter of Lynn Rapp, my ex-wife. During the years we were
together Doyla and her two sons, Brett and Eddy, spent many holidays and
many happy hours at our house. They even attended the Christmas parties
we held for the staff of my newspaper.

At one Christmas party, my step-daughter Susie, a very blond young lady,
looked around the room at the mixture of children attending the party
and asked the band to play "The Brady Bunch" theme song. It was her
tribute to her Lakota brothers and sisters in the room.

We watched this awkward teenager grow into a strapping young man. But
all of a sudden, his life is over before it has even begun. In his
obituary it reads, "Brett was charismatic with a kind and generous soul;
always humorous, with a smile, he lit up any room or place he entered."
That's Brett. His laugh and smile were contagious. He loved the Marines
and he loved serving his country. And just as I when I was 17 years old,
he never questioned the reasons he was sent to Iraq. He considered it
his duty as a United States Marine to follow the orders of his
commanding officer.

When one serves in the military it seems we do not question the reasons
we are at war. We only do our duty and try to serve as best we can. It
is only when we are older and have witnessed the devastation of war and
have seen firsthand the political implications, then war takes on a
different light.

Far be it for me to ever question the integrity and courage of those men
and women serving today in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are in the
military and they obey orders. They also take great pride in the job
they are doing. But it seems that President Bush has intertwined honest
criticism of the war with disrespect for those serving in combat. From
my heart I can tell you that they are not the same.

We are in a war that began with a dark lie that has taken on different
hues of dishonesty as the war has dragged on. We are in a war that can
end in only one of two ways: either the new Iraqi government will
stabilize as a theocracy or the nation of Iraq will dissolve into a
civil war that will pit the Shiites and Kurds against the
once-controlling Sunni forces.

In either case the end product will not be what the chicken hawks who
led us into this war intended. If Iraq becomes another Iran with mullahs
as leaders or deteriorates into a civil war costing thousands of lives,
who is the winner? It will not be the people of Iraq and certainly not
the brave, young men and women that are dying every day in pursuit of a
victorious ending. And it will not be the politicians responsible for
the war.

I feel the loss of Brett as do all of the people of the Oglala Sioux
Tribe. He was one of us, and he gave his life for a cause in which he
truly believed. I honor and respect his courage, but that does not
preclude me from questioning the wisdom of those elected leaders who
sent him into this unjust war.

May Brett rest in peace and may his Journey to the Spirit World be
filled with wonder.

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Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the
tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.

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