I didn't know what to say but this, well, this expresses most of what I feel and
think. Thanks Frank.
--Peter
At 04:04 PM 6/28/03 -0400, you wrote:
Bob,
I'm terribly sorry to hear about your son, Aaron, but glad that he's alive, and
is now (I presume) out of further danger.
Over the decades, dozens upon dozens (maybe hundreds?) of wars, armed conflicts,
insurrections and the like have come into my home via the television. They've
always been abstract - horrible images to be sure, but somehow like surreal
movies, they never seemed real.
Your son's experience snaps it all into reality. Real people die, and get hurt
in these things. I have no idea who's right or wrong over there. It certainly
seems that things aren't as black and white as they used to be ("Allies good -
Axis bad"), and each conflict now seems to have not two, but many combatants,
all fighting for and about different issues. It makes life for an occupying
force all the more difficult than it already is.
Your son was there to do "the right thing". He can take solace in the fact that
(and I'm saying this as someone who thought the US shouldn't have invaded Iraq
in the first place) Iraq will be a better place after the Americans and British
leave, than it was before they got there.
He paid a huge sacrifice, but fortunately, not the ultimate one. My thoughts are with him, and you and your family.
regards, frank
Bob Blakely wrote:
> My son is in Iraq. He's with the 173 Airborne Brigade. They were the first
> to drop into Northern Iraq to secure airfields. Recently, he and his unit
> have been playing "policeman" in one of the northern cities. Actually,
> they've been backup for the local police to give the city order. We had been
> talking just the other day and Aaron told me that the different factions in
> the city (Kurds, Shiites, etc.) may not really like each other, but they
> were always friendly to him and he enjoyed talking with them. Last night
> (Iraqi time), a mortar hit the "safe house" where he and his unit were
> sleeping. The perpetrators were (most likely) Saddam holdovers aided by
> foreigners - Syrian, etc. Two were hurt, one will be fine. My son, however,
> has been told by the doctors that he will most likely may loose what is left
> of his left foot. He will be airlifted to Germany tomorrow.
>
> I do not understand the Iraqi people. At least the French formed an
> underground and after the war did not tolerate Nazi sympathizers among them.
> How can this people tolerate the Saddam supporters among them?
>
> Forgive me. Right now I am beginning to believe that there are some peoples
> in this world who simply do not deserve to be free.
>
> Regards,
> Bob...
> --------------------------------------------
> "Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying
> the object which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine
> and women. Shall we then prohibit and abolish women?"
> -Martin Luther
-- "What a senseless waste of human life" -The Customer in Monty Python's Cheese Shop sketch
To grasp the true meaning of socialism, imagine a world where everything is designed by
the post office, even the sleaze.
O'Rourke, P.J.
