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Sir,
As a former serviceman and a member of the American Legion, I respectfully disagree with your call for Sen Kerry to apologize. The comment that he made, while poorly delivered, was obvious to everyone who takes more than five seconds to analyze what he said. It is obvious that the target of his comment is President Bush. The President, in my humble opinion, deserves the comments made toward him by Mr Kerry and a whole lot more. This administration has completely bungled the Iraq situation to the point that many former military officers whom I respect have come out and publicly rebuked the President and the Administration for their failed policies. I find it convenient that you did not seem to share this same outrage at the President when he said, "Bring it on!" to a bunch of blood thirsty terrorists. I find it disturbing that you don't seem to feel it necessary to publicly state your outrage at the poor service given to our troops by Halliburton (the winners of the no-bid contracts in Iraq). In case you have forgotten, Halliburton failed numerous US Army inspections of the dining facilities in Iraq. I find it perplexing that you seem to have no problem with the President using our troops for a convenient photo op. All I am asking of the American Legion is that they either stay neutral in the politics surrounding Iraq, or that the Legion be balanced. So far I have seen none of that. I have seen numerous articles where the Legion has taken exception to what opponents of the President have said, but have not been critical of an obvious foreign policy failure and military debacle caused by the Administration and their insistance on making every situation political. As to your criticism of Sen Kerry's position on issues involving the military, I would point out to you, that Congress is completely controlled by the Republicans, as is the White House. It's the Republicans that have cut Veteran's Benefits, it's the Republicans that have failed to provide the soldiers in Iraq with the necessary funding, it's the Republicans that have failed to provide oversight of the missing eight million-plus dollars, it's the Republicans that have failed the men and women serving in the armed forces. You attempt to limp blame on Kerry and the Democrats for these failures is dishonest at best. If you have publicly raised questions about the Administrations handling of Iraq and I missed these public reprimands, I apologize in advance. If you don't like my comments or my political affiliation, please feel free to contact the American Legion in Cordova, IL and tell them to remove me from their rolls and return my money. I support the men and women in uniform. I support the Legion and much of what it does. I am proud to have have served in the United States Army. I am proud to say I am an American. But, I am not proud of what I consider to be scandalous attacks on a former serviceman.
Respectfully Yours,
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