I did a search. :) Somebody posted these other two Wooldridge letters on their site. I remember reading them at the time they were published in Stripes. Notice their dates. Wooldridge was trying to influence the military vote before the 2002 election. Let's wish him luck this time around and help him, and his fellow vets, in the "Letters" section of our hometown newspapers.
http://www.angelfire.com/ok5/pearly/htmls/butler-letter.htmlAugust 14, 2002
The sacrifices of military members and their families should be rewarded with fair treatment and honesty from their leaders. Now their safety, job security, and retirement benefits are in jeopardy
because top leaders are using deployment decisions as mere profit-making vehicles.
Thomas White, as vice chairman of Enron when it allegedly hid $500 million in losses and manipulated the California energy crisis, is secretary of the Army, even after being cited by the Senate Armed Services Committee for violating his signed ethics agreement. That means he used his position for personal gain and compromised his objectivity for military decisions.
Vice President Dick Cheney’s old company, Halliburton, is now the primary recipient of the Pentagon’s rush to build anti-terrorism military bases, costing taxpayers billions. U.S. military
construction units could do all of this work for considerably less. This means more money for Cheney’s friends at Halliburton and less work for military personnel.
Commander-in-chief George W. Bush has made certain that former Enron and energy executives profit from defense and homeland security contracts. His own fortune was made through Enron/WorldCom-type accounting tricks and insider trading that have bankrupted companies and robbed people of their retirement savings. The Bush administration planned to invade Afghanistan even without the tragic events of Sept. 11 because Unocal had found the Taliban too uncooperative in its attempts to build an oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Karachi.
Now Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld wants to eliminate an entire Army division, even as we are running out of reservists to backfill critical positions. The Bush team also thinks that it’s too costly
for disabled veterans to earn their longevity pay in addition to retirement benefits. But it’s minimal when compared to cost-plus contracts for Halliburton.
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and White are a gang of four who have ordered U.S. military members to be put in harm’s way for oil profits and that divisions be consolidated to free up money for private
contractors. This administration has overseen a wrecked economy, befriended corporations that robbed their own employees, has tried to put Social Security into a losing stock market, restricted health care for veterans and deployed military members to fatten oil executives’ pockets.
It’s time for leadership the military can trust. It’s time for the gang of four to go!
M.D. Wooldridge
Würzburg, Germany
September 16, 2002
Competence, clarity, decisiveness and consistent diplomacy should be hallmarks of an American government when military members and their families are asked to prepare for war. The glaring absence of these qualities in this administration is embarrassing and frightening. I
have not spoken to anyone who believes that either the commander in chief or his administration has done anything to inspire confidence in officers, soldiers or citizens.
When the president called our allies for support for an invasion of Iraq and was rebuffed, it reflected a serial mismanagement of foreign affairs by him and his subordinates. Public swaggering about going
it alone without allies is merely a cover for bumbling. British Prime Minister Tony Blair had to fly to America to lend credibility because our leaders are incapable of articulating a persuasive case about
why Saddam must go, even though one clearly exists.
Within a week, statements from Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell were repeatedly contradictory about a war with Iraq. Security adviser Condoleeza Rice is a sovietologist ill-equipped to advise on Middle East politics and terrorism. This administration was briefed twice in 2001 on threats from al-Qaida, but said afterward that the priority was missile defense, not terrorism. U.S. intelligence confirmed that a terrorist threat was imminent, but when 9/11 happened, our leaders acted totally surprised.
This administraion's missteps would be comic if the possible loss of soldiers' lives in an attack on Iraq were not so breathtaking. I pray that I will not see on CNN replays of "Blackhawk Down" on Baghdad streets, but the poor planning, ignored intelligence and incompetence shown thus far will certainly guarantee it.
Questions from allies about evidence, isolating and finding Saddam, inflaming the Middle East, nation-building in post-war Iraq, an exit plan, security of oil supplies and additional threats to Israel have yet to be answered by the Bush administration.
Saddam is an evil man whose weapons and ability to make them must be destroyed, but we must demand more from our leaders before we send trooops into a battle that could unleash horror and be bloody. The effort and time required for this preparation take precedence over Texas ranch vacations and political fund-raising. This pathetic level of performance to prevent terrorism and remove Saddam is a poor tribute to those who lost their lives on that horrible day last September.
May God bless our soldiers and protect them from enemies, both foreign and domestic.
M.D. Wooldridge
Germany
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