I received another of those flag-waving emails today. The difference is that I decided to answer it and return to send. I wanted to share it and Daily Kos seemed to be the place.
My replies to the points are italicized.
Subject: Whats the fuss???
It seems a bit odd that more American's don't feel this way.
Could not have said this any better myself! Especially today - The lady that wrote this letter is Pam Foster of Pamela Foster and Associates in Atlanta. She's been in business since 1980 doing interior design and home planning. She recently wrote a letter to a family member serving in Iraq. Read it!
WHAT'S ALL THE FUSS?
"Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001?
We were fighting a war on terror in Afghanistan. However, we did not finish that war because we decided to pre-emptively strike a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.
Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan, as well as across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in addition a field in Pennsylvania?
Did nearly three thousand men,women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?
Yes, people of all nationalities died in that horrible attack. Iraq had nothing to do with it and every time some invokes 9/11 as a reason for war in Iraq, they are repeating a lie.
And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked
American soldier kicked! it or got it wet?
Well, I don't. I don't care at all!
And others do care. The point is that desensitizing ourselves to others concerns makes war easier for them and for us.
I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.
If we had not pulled troops out of Afghanistan to launch the needless war in Iraq, perhaps we could have committed the resources needed to finish rolling up the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is a circular argument that feeds the hatred that feeds the fuel of endless killing.
I'll care when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi tells the world he is sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling, slashed throat.
We should seek justice, not revenge.
I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out a! nd fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.
The insurgents came to Iraq after we invaded. They were not there before. We have created our own enemy.
I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana (or Allah's Paradise) care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.
And the level of brutality will keep rising all around.
I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.
As I recall the big "liberal" media outlets, like the NY Times and Washington Post, reported all of the administrations arguments for war without criticism. They also wrote endless editorials urging war with Iraq and have since kept up the drum-beat for finishing the job. Meanwhile, peace protests, those who spoke out before the war and many who tried to propose reason were either ignored by the "media" or even ridiculed. Additionally, the bill of rights was not formed in a vacuum. Everything comes from something else and the influences for the Bill of Rights were not exclusively American.
I'll care when judges stop ordering my government to release photos of the abuses at Abu Ghraib, which are sure to set off the Islamic extremists just as Newsweek's lies did a few weeks ago.
And then we found out that what Newsweek actually reported was not a lie, confirmed by your previous argument tired, overworked soldiers accidently kicking a Koran or getting it wet.
In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.
Are we sure that the person that the Marine is roughing up is a terrorist? Has that been determined beyond any doubt? Do we want to desensitize our soldiers and marines by encouraging this brutality?
When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college hazing incident, rest assured that I don't care.
I believe that a person can opt out of a college hazing incident. I doubt that anyone who was forced into that pile would view it as such. What purpose did that serve? Why was it needed? What was the result, more anger at our soldiers by Iraqis who may have been willing to view us as liberators until they saw us mistreating their people. Junior enlisted people arrested and sent to jail for engaging in what was either ordered from above or at least nodded at by senior personnel.
When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank that I don't care.
If you are referring to the man in London, he was a Brazilian who was scared and did not understand the language. There is a reason for rules governing the use of force.
When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed "special" food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care.
A prisoner who has never been given a chance to defend himself. In fact, we do not know who has been taken prisoner or why. Do you believe in the absolute inafalability of the government. Are you absolutely certain that every person that has been imprisoned is a terrorist and therefore we can trust the government to hold people incommunicado? If so, why have so many people been released with no further action after being held for long periods of time. If you are accused of being a terrorist, does the government get to hold you for as long as it wants under any kind of conditions? Do you lose your rights of redress. And these are not just other nationalities, there have been American citizens such as Jose Padilla who have been locked up with no right to a lawyer, a hearing or any other form of redress. I pray that the bill of rights was not destroyed with the twin towers that day.
And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran.
" Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and -- you guessed it -- I don't care!"
I can't even answer that.
Come to think of it I don't care either. If you do not care send this on to others. OK?
I care. I care that we were lied to and misled into a war that was not necessary. I care that we are now told that to pull out would dishoner the memory of those who served. I care that the current death toll for American military personnel in Iraq is now at 2080, with over 15,000 wounded and yes I care that there are over 100,000 dead or wounded Iraqis.
I care that we presented false intelligence to the UN.
I care that the administration blew the cover of a covert agent to retaliate against someone who blew the whistle on the bad intelligence.
I care that so many people were willing to believe that it was OK to attack Iraq because if we used 9/11 and Saddam in the same sentence, then we could deceive ourselves into believing that pre-emptive war we OK.
I care that the people who made the decisions, and those most vocal in the media who egged them on and now defend them, those who most loudly beat the drums of war, somehow either never served in the military or found alternate service during Vietnam. It is telling that the most reluctant member of the administration for the war in Iraq, was the one who served in Vietnam.
I care that the British media reported British Cabinet meeting memos which outline that the American government was saying in July of 2002 that the U.S. was going to war with Iraq with allies or without (the Downing Street Memo).
I care that the Patriot Act was passed by Congress and the Senate without ever really being read.
I care that our government says there are acceptable uses of torture.
I care the we now find out that the CIA is running secret prisons.
I care that so many people can say that they don't care about any of this.
GOD BLESS THE USA AND MAY THE ISLAMIC TERRORISTS GET WHAT THEY DESERVE.
Justice for them and for us. Do not take revenge in my name, but give me justice instead.
(it is refreshing to see someone take a patriotic stance instead of a politically correct one.)
As long as we hide behind the flag, we will never be able to see what is in front of us.