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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>From today’s (January 13, 2006) Spokesman Review –<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Honoring soldiers while questioning the war <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Knight Ridder<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>January 13, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>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 <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I never really thought about the politics of the war. I was
told that the communist <st1:country-region w:st="on">North Korea</st1:country-region>
had invaded the free country of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South
Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region> 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?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I suppose <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Korea</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>And we walked away from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region> with our heads held high.
Despite the intervention of the communist <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>, we had driven the enemy back
to the 38th Parallel. Perhaps the war was a stalemate, but a stalemate is
better than a loss.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>But everything seemed to go awry in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vietnam</st1:place></st1:country-region>. When
we returned from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region>
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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>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 <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>
took a personal turn for me and for many Lakota people.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Cpl. Brett Lee Lundstrum, USMC, was just 22 years old when
he was killed by enemy fire at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Fallujah</st1:City>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place>. 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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>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 <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>. He considered it his duty as
a United States Marine to follow the orders of his commanding officer.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Far be it for me to ever question the integrity and courage
of those men and women serving today in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>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 <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>
will dissolve into a civil war that will pit the Shiites and Kurds against the
once-controlling Sunni forces.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>In either case the end product will not be what the chicken
hawks who led us into this war intended. If <st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region>
becomes another <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
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 <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>May Brett rest in peace and may his Journey to the Spirit
World be filled with wonder.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Take care, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Moscow</span></font></st1:City><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Idaho</st1:State></span></font></st1:place><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but
the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." <br>
<br>
--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.</span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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