Responses to a "letter"

I recently received a forwarded chain-mail from a friend that attempted to justify the war in Iraq and the Bush presidency. It seemed to be purportedly written by a soldier (there have been a lot of those flying around). I know this type of silly propoganda comes from the right and the left; the sad thing is that many people allow their beliefs or opinions to be strengthened by this kind of stuff (on the right and left) without checking real sources. The letter text is in bold, with my responses underneath. I was bored.

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq during the month of January...
- NOT TRUE, there were 52 combat related killings of Americans alone in January. This isn’t counting the deaths of other coalition fighters (Brits, Bulgarians, Danes, Dutch, Estonians, Hungarians, Italians, Latvians, Poles, Salvadorans, Slovaks, Spaniards, Thais, and Ukrainians). Also, other months have been much worse than January (i.e. 136 in April).
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/2004.01.html

In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That's just one American city,about as deadly as the entire war torn country of Iraq.
- ABSOLUTE B.S. - “as deadly as the entire war torn country of Iraq.”??? That is ludicrous
- Are the deaths of Iraqi soldiers and innocent civilians a non-factor?
o At this point there have been approximately 20,100 Iraqis killed since invasion (~13,600 being civilians, yes the majority) – averaging around 1,200 a month
http://britreport.com/features/iraq/iraq_war_dead.htm
- Sorry to sound like a “bleeding heart” here, but they are people too, i.e. Children of God, you know, equal in His eyes?

When some claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war, state the following ...FDR...led us into World War II.Germany never attacked us: Japan did.
· Yes, But Germany declared war on America the day after we declared war on Japan. Japan and Germany were allies. Also – Germany was aggressing against other sovereign nations (our allies) openly and notoriously.

From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost,an average of 112,500 per year.
- Maybe, but based on this author’s previous figures, I wouldn’t take his word for it.

Truman...finished that war and started one in Korea,
-Started? Maybe “entered” would be more accurate

North Korea never attacked us.
-Nope, they just attacked another sovereign nation that happened to be in our sphere of influence

From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost,an average of 18,334 per year. John F. Kennedy...started the Vietnam conflict in 1962.
-Once again, “started”? (Nonetheless, Vietnam was a mistake)

Vietnam never attacked us. Johnson...turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost,an average of 5,800 per year.

· VERY INTERESTING that Nixon is missing from this history lesson on Vietnam. I’m sure it was just an oversight.

Clinton...went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent, Bosnia never attacked us.
(Yes, Bosnia was a mess – mark a point on your “Republican Wars vs. Democrat Wars” scoreboard)

He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing.
-Oh, Please

Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.
- (VERY TRUE – Too bad Bush diverted resources from capturing Osama and al-Qaida operatives in order to fight his war in Iraq – Nothing could deter him from the goal he’d already set)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/04/september11/main520830.shtml
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/DailyNews/pnac_030310.html
http://amenusa.org/iraq25.htm

In the two years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush has ...liberated two countries,
Really? So he was fighting before he landed on the carrier in his flight uniform? (And that would have to be under a very loose definition of “liberated.” Both countries are a total mess with shadow governments and we all know it – for better or worse)

crushed the Taliban,crippled al-Qaida,
put nuclear inspectors in Libya,
-Ghadafi came forward of his own accord and offered to end nuclear development and invite inspectors – to everyone’s surprise.

Iran and North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.
(I thought the special forces did that)

The Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking, but...
-No they’re not. They’re complaining about bad intelligence, hasty decision-making, lack of planning, and being misled.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20040827/pl_nm/bush_iraq_dc_4

It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51 day operation.
-NEWS FLASH: THE WAR IS NOT OVER

We've been looking for evidence of chemical weapons (Or nukes, or bio’s) in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.
-Where did that come from? I don’t think Hillary used billing records as a pretext for war…it’s a little different (bad logic…bad comparison)

It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Divisionand the Marines to destroy the Medina! Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick.
(Hmm, I had to stop and think about that one – connection not clear – irrelevance causing brain-wiring malfunction)

It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida!!!!
Our Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB!
-Well Gee, OK, if you say so. Lets see: The worst job-creation record in 75 years... Highest government spending in the history of America – we are running a yearly deficit in the billions of dollars (under Clinton there was a surplus) – that tax-cut sure made a lot of sense (60% of which went to the richest 10% of Americans – it didn’t help you). Gas prices are out of control. Wages are not going up. The economy has sucked for the last 3 1/2 years. The percentage of uninsured (health) Americans is increasing yearly. Poverty is on the rise... Reputation seriously damaged in the international community – allies pissed – and new breeding grounds for terrorists have likely been created. Bush may be an alright, well-intentioned guy – but he is way in-over-his head.
And if you think Bush is honest, take a look:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4264572
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A488-2004Feb23?language=printer
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30D13FE3D550C768DDDAA0894DC404482
http://www.starbanner.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040318/ZNYT02/403180311/1009/BUSINESS

The Military morale is high!
(I really hope that’s true for the majority. It certainly isn’t for all – as we saw with the prisoner abuse scandal, soldier suicides, and depression problems that have come out.)

The biased media hopes we are too ignorant to realize the facts
-No, this author hoped we were all too lazy and ignorant to research the facts and apply a little reasoning. Oh wait, maybe he’s referring to FOX NEWSCHANNEL.
-I highly doubt that this was written by a soldier. There have been a lot of right-wing propaganda chain-mails circulating lately that claim to be written by soldiers. Is it just me, or did this seem like one of those?
Disclaimer: If this really was written by a soldier, the responses here in no way question his character, service, sacrifice, or honor. They do cast his facts, reasoning, and conclusions into serious doubt. That is what democracy is about.