The following excerpted
letter (fourth in the list) was published in today's European/Middle East edition of Stars and Stripes, a coda to Cheney's chat with the troops in Iraq yesterday.
Cheney is aware that morale is in serious decline and that doubts about the mission persist, which is one reason why he has to make occasional troop visits to the invasion zone: to stoke the illusion.
To all the letter writers of Dec. 2 who were running down the writer of "War based on a lie" (letter, Nov. 28), I would say that, like it or not, it is common knowledge that this war was, in fact, based on lies propagated by this administration.
They created the illusion of a "rogue" Saddam Hussein who could, at any moment, strike with nuclear or chemical weapons. They took advantage of the real fear that most of us Americans were feeling after Sept. 11 and used it for their own agenda.
The following are a couple of examples of their putting the lies to their own propaganda. On Feb. 24, 2001, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "He (Saddam) has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors." Again, on July 29, 2001, Condoleezza Rice appeared on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" and, when asked about the sanctions, replied, "We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt." This was the truth that was conveniently forgotten after Sept. 11.
As far as the letter writers saying that they can't believe an officer would write a dissenting view, I thank God that there are still officers in the military who are more representative of the people they are supposed to protect, us, the American people.
A friend of mine spoke w/an NCO just returned from Iraq, who told him that, based on his experiences, the Iraqis see the US troops as occupiers rather than liberators, that Bush doesn't know what he's doing, and that he (the NCO) has been telling those under his leadership not to reup.
Troop dissent is on the rise, and no visit from Cheney is going to change that, not after Stars & Stripes' Sunday front page headline, "Bush defends program that eavesdrops on U.S. civilians."