posted
A Marine In Iraq Responds to Senator John Kerry
LET'S pass it on
Thanks also to Michelle and Aaron for sharing this letter with us.
**The following letter was written by my husband, Aaron, who is currently deployed to Iraq, in defense of a recent comment made by Senator John Kerry. Pass it along, it might inspire someone else to speak up! ~ Michelle**
The other day - John Kerry said,
"You know education..If you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well, and if you don't, you get st uck in Iraq."
So I wrote him a letter:
I am a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. I am currently on my second tour in Iraq, a tour in which I volunteered for. I speak Arabic a nd Spanish and I plan to tackle Persian Farsi soon. I have a Bachelors and an Associates Degree and between deployments I am pursuing an M.B.A. In college I was a member of several academic honor societies, including the Golden Key Honor Society. I am not unique among the enlisted troops. Many of my enlisted colleagues include lawyers, teachers, mechanics, engineers, musicians and artists just to name a few. You say that your comments were directed towards the President and not us. If we were stupid Senator Kerry, we might have believed you.
I am not a victim of President Bush. I proudly serve him because he is my Commander and Chief. If it was you who was President, I would serve you just as faithfully. I serve America Senator Kerry, and I am also providing a service to the good people of Iraq. I have not terrorized them in the middle of the night, raped them or murdered them as you have accused me of before. I am doing my part to help them rebuild. My role is a simple one, but important. You see Senator Kerry, like it or not, we came here and removed a tyrant (who terrorized Iraqis in the middle of the night, and raped them and murdered them). And we have a responsibility to see to it that another one doesn't take his place. The people of Iraq are recovering from an abusive relationship with a terrible government and its going to take some time to help them recover from that. We can't treat this conflict like a microwave dinner and throw a temper tantrum because we feel like its taking too long.
Senator Kerry, you don't have to agree with this war. You don't have to say nice things about those of us who choose to make sacrifices for the rights of every American rather than sit back and simply feel entitled to it. But please Senator Kerry, if you're going to call me a stupid murdering rapist, stick by what you say. Don't tell me that I misunderstood or that you would never insult a veteran because you are one too. Having been there and done that does not give you a free pass to insult me.
My suggestion for you, Senator Kerry, is to remember that your speeches are recorded, and broadcast to us simpletons over here. You may want to work on the delivery of what's written for you by your spin doctors - say it back to them so they can tell you what the presentation sounds like, how others might interpret what you say.. Remember that we can't read your mind. If there are any misinterpretations in what you say, it's because YOU didn't communicate clearly.
Good luck to you Senator Kerry, if nothing else it's always entertaining to watch you try and climb out of the holes that you constantly dig for yourself.
Sincerely,
Somebody who is watching his daughter grow up in photographs so that you can have the right to say whatever you want about him.
Posts: 36029 | From: Admin | Registered: Feb 2000
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-------------------- High on the wind, the Highland drums begin to roll, and something from the past just comes and stares into my soul... --Mark Knopfler Posts: 3402 | From: New Bern, NC | Registered: May 2004
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posted
Yeah and I bet hundreds of copies of this letter will appear in different newspapers across the country attributed to different individuals. We have heard that story before.
So Kerry misspoke. BFD. Perhaps we should use "the Google" to search the "internets" and see how many times Bush misspoke.
-------------------- Where I come from we believe all sorts of things that aren't true. We call it History. Posts: 506 | From: Massachusetts | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Lets get past this already! Kerry screwed up an ill advised joke that wasn't even very funny had he delivered it right. Do you honestly think he meant to call the troops stupid? Unlike Bush and Kerry, he served in combat. He certainly doesn't consider himself stupid. The sad thing is, this was the best argument against the dems the GOP could find. It is just one more part of the childishness and pettiness that has invaded the public discousres (and yes Kerry's dumb mistake is part and parcel of that same trend).
We pick and choose what we decide to be offended by. This guy could have written about a host of things related to the war that he, as a soldier on the ground, has a uniques viewpoint of, which might actually help us get out of that war. Instead, he chooses to write a horribly self righteous piece about his feelings getting hurt. Unreal!
And while I'm on a roll, veterans are not the only people who defend our freedoms, and quite frankly, this war has cost us more freedoms than any foreign dictator ever could, because we have been sold a bill of goods that tells us we need to be fearful and trust our leaders. BULL****!
My new bumper sticker: If you love freedom, thank an ACLU attorney.
-------------------- "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." -George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 Posts: 382 | From: Wyoming | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Actually, as fellow snopester Cannonfodder pointed out, it's probably the US Supreme Court, historically speaking, that is more to thank for our freedoms than any other single organization. But I digress.
I honestly am not sure whether Kerry misspoke or not... it's impossible to tell based on the context, and I'm not going to wrack my brain trying to overanalyze something there's no way to know for sure.
I've generally given him the benefit of the doubt and stayed out of the discussion still underway in Soapbox Derby... but I won't apologize for taking a bit of delight in some of my fellow servicemembers making a few "zings" right back at a man who, despite the fact that he served, has gone out of his way during the course of his career to capitalize on the Vietnam-era "war criminal" image of the US military.
-------------------- High on the wind, the Highland drums begin to roll, and something from the past just comes and stares into my soul... --Mark Knopfler Posts: 3402 | From: New Bern, NC | Registered: May 2004
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Joe Bentley
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
And the fact that Kerry might not of meant what he said doesn't change the fact that a whole hell of a lot of people think exactly that.
-------------------- "Existence has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long." - Rorschach, The Watchmen Posts: 8929 | From: Norfolk, Virginia | Registered: Jun 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Joe Bentley: And the fact that Kerry might not of meant what he said doesn't change the fact that a whole hell of a lot of people think exactly that.
Is that your own observation or do you have some support for that? (Very few, if any, Americans I know think very much like that at all. But I could be wrong.)
quote:Originally posted by Joe Bentley: And the fact that Kerry might not of meant what he said doesn't change the fact that a whole hell of a lot of people think exactly that.
Is that your own observation or do you have some support for that? (Very few, if any, Americans I know think very much like that at all. But I could be wrong.)
Your quote has no citation, therefore, the information is of no use. It appears that the statement is the opinion of the author and nothing more. The fact that the author is a professor makes its inclusion all the worse - he should know better than to make such a statement in a supposedly scholarly article. Not very ethical. Intersting considering the topic of the piece.
I do know people who have a low opinion of the intelligence of the troops, starting with my friend Jeremy who returned from Iraq, ashamed of what he was asked to do, and constatntly complaining that, "Everyon in my unit is an idiot."
I don't think anyone believes that is true across the board, but for every sharp soldier that comes along, ther seems to be an equal number of the kinds of guys who were at Abu Garib.
-------------------- "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." -George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 Posts: 382 | From: Wyoming | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Cowboy Joe, that paper contains footnotes, where the citations are.
-------------------- "When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty."--George Bernard Shaw Posts: 19266 | From: Nashville, TN | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
Not one for the statement that opinion polls show Americans hold soldiers in high regard. It is the 12th paragraph from the end. Which Polls? What were the methods? What were the questions?
I don't dispute it is likely true, but you cannot throw a statement like that out there without any reference to where it came from. Not when you want your research to be trusted.
Cowboy "too long in grad school" Joe
-------------------- "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." -George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 Posts: 382 | From: Wyoming | Registered: Jul 2003
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-------------------- "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." -George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 Posts: 382 | From: Wyoming | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
That's hillarious, Cowboy. You criticized my cite, a published paper with extensive references, and provided your own source whose only reference was an "infofact" from USA Today -- nothing more than a graph showing five professions and their ratings and no info on how the data was collected, what was asked, etc.
At any rate, the two Joes have made the claim, not I, and I still don't see any support for it at all. Grumbling about idiots you work with hardly supports the idea that most people think people in your profession are idiots.
Posts: 4922 | From: Kyoto, Japan | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
Either way, a casual perusal of this letter would reveal the amount of grammatical errors, making it, perhaps, not the best example of a highly-educated person (not that highly-educated people don't make errors, they do*. But in a letter intended to bolster claims of intelligence, those flaws should be kept to a minimum, or, at the very least, not include things like " I serve America Senator Kerry" or "If we were stupid Senator Kerry, we might have believed you." Unless he intends to call Sen. Kerry stupid, he's missing a comma. Oh, and soldier-dude? Golden Key ain't all that. It ain't even close to all that. A rat on too much saccarine could get into Golden Key. I know. I got in. And I am, most certainly, a rat on too much saccarine.)
ETA: * An example of which would be my misuse of the word "perusal." Apparently, the word means "to read or examine with great care," which is certainly not how I'd heard in used in common parlance. Huh.
-------------------- So many spankings! It feels so good! But at the same time, I don't care about meeting your family! - I'mNotDedalus: Posts: 3216 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
I hope that the Republicans keep fighting against Kerry winning the 2004 presidential election.
This strategy worked really well in the 2006 congressional election. It will also be a real winner in 2008 for them, I bet.
-------------------- "The women who embraced in the wagon were Adam and Eve crossing a dark cathedral stage—no, Eve and Eve, loving one another as they would not be able to once they ate of the fruit and knew themselves as they truly were." - Lynn Cheney, Sisters. Posts: 289 | From: California | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Ganzfeld: That's hillarious, Cowboy. You criticized my cite, a published paper with extensive references, and provided your own source whose only reference was an "infofact" from USA Today -- nothing more than a graph showing five professions and their ratings and no info on how the data was collected, what was asked, etc.
At any rate, the two Joes have made the claim, not I, and I still don't see any support for it at all. Grumbling about idiots you work with hardly supports the idea that most people think people in your profession are idiots.
Actually no. If you had bothered to look at my reference, you would see the source of the poll was Harris Interactive, a quite respected polling company. Your article threw the information out there that opinion polls show Americans have a high opinion of professional soldiers WITHOU SPECIFIC CITATION TO THAT PIECE OF EVIDENCE.
That is almost the definition of intellctual dishonesty - to provide a few cites to make your piece look good to people like yourself who they know won't bother to look them up. If it has citations, it must be true, right? This is the Ann Coulter school of deceptive writing. Surely someone who was going to present such a "scholarly" argument has the abiulity to do as I have done, take 2 minutes to prove the information he was using or to leave it out.
By the way, since when are 7 sources conidered "Extensive References"? I have seen shorter papers with 3 times that number of references.
-------------------- "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." -George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 Posts: 382 | From: Wyoming | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cowboy Joe: Your article threw the information out there that opinion polls show Americans have a high opinion of professional soldiers WITHOU SPECIFIC CITATION TO THAT PIECE OF EVIDENCE.
Okay, you're probably right about that. It wasn't a very good source.
But about your source: Did you check out the list of the actual Harris Poll to see where soldiers were ranked? Did it even include soldiers?
This Harris Poll puts "Military Officers" in the top five or six (tied with teachers and above police officers since 2000) of "very great prestige" for the past few years: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=599 Of course, if all soldiers were officers then the officer's club would be very busy. (By this scout's intellectual honor, I could not find a Harris poll in which they asked about ordinary soldiers.) So to which Harris Poll does the data refer? Any that might support your argument?
Posts: 4922 | From: Kyoto, Japan | Registered: Sep 2005
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Are you kidding? Many people *in the military* think exactly what Kerry was mistakenly accused of saying. I say that as an Army vet. (OK, from the 1980s. But more than a few friends and family have served since or are still serving.)
During my own time inservice we routinely joked about being the world's biggest welfare system. The military is just about the only way you could get conservatives to give education, jobs, healthcare, and money to poor people and minorities without the usual whining about us being a "burden" or it being allegedly bad for our moral character. (Though govt money miraculously never seems to affect the moral character of Halliburton.)
That sgt may be sincere, but in my old unit we would have mocked him as a brown-noser and a "John Wayne." (Someone who confuses the romantic image of war with the real thing. It can also mean a chickenhawk, someone who talks tough but never joins as in Wayne's case, though it obviously doesn't apply to this sgt.)
Posts: 69 | From: Texas | Registered: Aug 2006
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quote:Originally posted by educatedindian: Are you kidding? Many people *in the military* think exactly what Kerry was mistakenly accused of saying. I say that as an Army vet. (OK, from the 1980s. But more than a few friends and family have served since or are still serving.)
During my own time inservice we routinely joked about being the world's biggest welfare system.
Well, as I said, complaints from within one's own profession do not in any way support the idea that such beliefs are widespread. I have colleagues who grumble about PhDs all day long but (even if pigs could fly and anecdotes were data) that does not mean PhDs are considered stupid by the general public.
Posts: 4922 | From: Kyoto, Japan | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Cowboy Joe: Your article threw the information out there that opinion polls show Americans have a high opinion of professional soldiers WITHOU SPECIFIC CITATION TO THAT PIECE OF EVIDENCE.
Okay, you're probably right about that. It wasn't a very good source.
But about your source: Did you check out the list of the actual Harris Poll to see where soldiers were ranked? Did it even include soldiers?
This Harris Poll puts "Military Officers" in the top five or six (tied with teachers and above police officers since 2000) of "very great prestige" for the past few years: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=599 Of course, if all soldiers were officers then the officer's club would be very busy. (By this scout's intellectual honor, I could not find a Harris poll in which they asked about ordinary soldiers.) So to which Harris Poll does the data refer? Any that might support your argument?
Well, that's sort of the point isn't it? If there is no polling information to support the information, the author should not have used it. The article made the assertion the the "military" is highly respected, not just the officers.
As I said in a previous post, it is likely the assertion is correct. But in the world of academia, "probably" doesn't wash when you are making a specific point.
-------------------- "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." -George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 Posts: 382 | From: Wyoming | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cowboy Joe: As I said in a previous post, it is likely the assertion is correct. But in the world of academia, "probably" doesn't wash when you are making a specific point.
Oh, okay. I thought you were saying that it was not likely to be correct, I mean, I thought you were pretty much agreeing with the other Joe.
You are correct, though: I'll be more careful about throwing around cites. (And I probably shouldn't waste my time trying to find support for other people's arguments either.) You might do the same, since it turned out that your cite didn't even include information about soldiers so there's no way they could have been in the "top five" of a poll that asked no questions about soldiers.
Posts: 4922 | From: Kyoto, Japan | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Ryda Wong: ETA: * An example of which would be my misuse of the word "perusal." Apparently, the word means "to read or examine with great care," which is certainly not how I'd heard in used in common parlance. Huh.
[Hijack]You didn't misuse it. This is one of my favorite linguistic quirks! Peruse means both "to examine or consider with attention and in detail " and "to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner" Cite [/Hijack]
Posts: 763 | From: Chicago | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Cowboy Joe: As I said in a previous post, it is likely the assertion is correct. But in the world of academia, "probably" doesn't wash when you are making a specific point.
Oh, okay. I thought you were saying that it was not likely to be correct, I mean, I thought you were pretty much agreeing with the other Joe.
You are correct, though: I'll be more careful about throwing around cites. (And I probably shouldn't waste my time trying to find support for other people's arguments either.) You might do the same, since it turned out that your cite didn't even include information about soldiers so there's no way they could have been in the "top five" of a poll that asked no questions about soldiers.
I think I was more critical of the author. A professor should know better.
-------------------- "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." -George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 Posts: 382 | From: Wyoming | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
It wasn't the repulicans who kept Kerry out of office so much as it was his own big mouth, and several thousand "war criminals" who voted against him.
Posts: 280 | From: Maryland | Registered: Jan 2004
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quote:It wasn't the repulicans who kept Kerry out of office so much as it was his own big mouth, and several thousand "war criminals" who voted against him.
You know just because this is repeated over and over and over doesn't make it true.
P&LL, Syl
-------------------- Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. — Voltaire Posts: 1944 | From: Michigan | Registered: Jun 2001
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Richard W
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
quote:Originally posted by educatedindian: Are you kidding? Many people *in the military* think exactly what Kerry was mistakenly accused of saying. I say that as an Army vet. (OK, from the 1980s. But more than a few friends and family have served since or are still serving.)
So does this still make it a scurrilous lie that completely loses him the respect of the troops? I'm confused. Are they angry because they're trying to keep this secret and they think Kerry gave it away?
Posts: 8725 | From: Ipswich - the UK's 9th Best Place to Sleep! | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Ryda Wong: ETA: * An example of which would be my misuse of the word "perusal." Apparently, the word means "to read or examine with great care," which is certainly not how I'd heard in used in common parlance. Huh.
[Hijack]You didn't misuse it. This is one of my favorite linguistic quirks! Peruse means both "to examine or consider with attention and in detail " and "to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner" Cite [/Hijack]
Seems to be about 66-34% against according to the AHD Usage Panel:
However, my guess is that the fuddyduddies in the AHDUP will change their minds eventually in accordance with common usage. And then I can use "perusal" however I want without fearing censure or persecution by 66% of the AHDUP. Now that's freedom I can get excited about.
-------------------- So many spankings! It feels so good! But at the same time, I don't care about meeting your family! - I'mNotDedalus: Posts: 3216 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Simply Madeline: [Hijack]You didn't misuse it. This is one of my favorite linguistic quirks! Peruse means both "to examine or consider with attention and in detail " and "to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner" Cite [/Hijack]
To continue the hijack: The word "scan" has the same quirks.
Pogue
-------------------- Let's drink to the causes in your life: Your family, your friends, the union, your wife. Posts: 11325 | From: Kentucky | Registered: Nov 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Doug4.7: Wow, I didn't know Kerry called the vets, "stupid murdering rapists". I thought he just blew a not so funny joke.
Learn something new every day...
I think the "murdering rapists" refers to his testimony during the Vietnam war. Which would make the soldiers he called "stupid murdering rapists" about 55 years old.
-------------------- IIRC, it wasn't the shoe bomber's loud prayers that sparked the takedown by the other passengers; it was that he was trying to light his shoe on fire. Very, very different. Canuckistan Posts: 3694 | From: Arizona | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Rovian tactics USED to work well. Rove developed the tactic of attacking a political opponent based on his greatest strength.
Thus Kerry, a decorated war hero, was attacked for his Vietnam war record (and for his record opposing the war when he returned home).
McCain was attacked for his war record also. Rove was behind the claim that McCain is weak psychologically due to being tortured in North Vietnam.
Meanwhile, GWB is regarded as a patriot for using his father's connections to get into the National Gaurd and then not even serving his promised term of service.
Pretty twisted. Glad that people are finally seeing through the Rovian sleaze.
-------------------- "The women who embraced in the wagon were Adam and Eve crossing a dark cathedral stage—no, Eve and Eve, loving one another as they would not be able to once they ate of the fruit and knew themselves as they truly were." - Lynn Cheney, Sisters. Posts: 289 | From: California | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Well.....most people are seeing through the sleaze, but it's obvious that some are still being duped by it all. More's the pity.
P&LL, Syl
-------------------- Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. — Voltaire Posts: 1944 | From: Michigan | Registered: Jun 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Ryda Wong: [QB] Either way, a casual perusal of this letter would reveal the amount of grammatical errors, making it, perhaps, not the best example of a highly-educated person QB]
In addition to those you mention in the rest of your post, I had a few grammatical quibbles with the OP:
quote:The following letter was written by my husband, Aaron, who is currently deployed to Iraq, in defense of a recent comment made by Senator John Kerry.
In defense of the comment? You don't seem to be familiar with the meaning of the word. I hope your husband, the Marine, has a better grasp of the concept. If not, that might explain why our attempts to liberate and defend the freedoms of Iraqis have gone so horribly wrong.
quote:a tour in which I volunteered for.
Aaaack! Prepositional overload!
quote:he is my Commander and Chief.
Or Commander in Chief...whatever, he's the guy in charge of the nucular weapons, right?
quote:If it was you who was President
...then mebbe y'all could learn me that there subjunctive mode.
quote:You don't have to say nice things about those of us[...]But please Senator Kerry, if you're going to call me a stupid murdering rapist, stick by what you say[...]Having been there and done that does not give you a free pass to insult me.
Which is it? Does he have a right to express his opinion, or doesn't he? And if he does, should he take it back or stick by it?
quote:it's always entertaining to watch you try and climb
This hangs all my grammatical munchkins. Try TO get it right, please. Also, why are you suddenly using the apostrophe in "it's," the contraction of "it is?" I mean, you're correct in doing so, but where was that apostrophe throughout the rest of the letter?
quote:I speak Arabic a nd Spanish and I plan to tackle Persian Farsi soon.
If this is his first language, I shudder to contemplate this guy trying to negotiate with terrorists in his second or third language.
General: Sergent, tell the Mexicans we're going to break the hostage's arms if they don't surrender! Sgt: Attencion, soldados! Vamos a romper las armas si Uds. no renuncian la guerra! (Attention, soldiers! We are going to break the guns if you don't renounce the war!)
-------------------- "If God wrote it, the grammar must be infallible. Perhaps it is we who are mistaken." -MapleLeaf Posts: 977 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Of course, we all post with perfect grammar and spelling every time on this board, so we're all well-equiped to cast stones...
-------------------- High on the wind, the Highland drums begin to roll, and something from the past just comes and stares into my soul... --Mark Knopfler Posts: 3402 | From: New Bern, NC | Registered: May 2004
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posted
I'm pretty sure that if I was writing a letter to a US Senator, I'd run it through the grammar and spell check.
Posts: 763 | From: Chicago | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Computerized grammar check is an iffy proposition at best.
-------------------- High on the wind, the Highland drums begin to roll, and something from the past just comes and stares into my soul... --Mark Knopfler Posts: 3402 | From: New Bern, NC | Registered: May 2004
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