Herbert: Our Wounded Warriors

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/12/opinion/12HERB.html?hp

<snip>

The troops who are selflessly sacrificing their bodies and their dreams in Iraq (as troops always do in war), are not getting a lot of attention here at home. Most of us are busy with other things — presidential politics, Martha Stewart's rise and fall, the use of steroids in baseball.

I was put in touch with Corporal Delgado (and several other marines who were badly wounded in Iraq) by John Melia, founder of the Wounded Warrior Project (a division of the United Spinal Association), which tries to assist the young men and women who are hurt in the wars they fight for us.

"They come back," he said, "and in many cases they're not the same kids that they were when they left us."

Thousands of U.S. troops have been wounded and injured in Iraq. They have been paralyzed, lost limbs, suffered blindness, been horribly burned and so on. They are heroes, without question, but their stories have largely gone untold.

The way this poor kid mentioned in the story was wounded and his friend killed is as stupidly insane as that poor young man, Luis Angel Calderon, was turned in to a quadriplegic when the wall with a portrait of Saddam he was pulling down with his tank fell on him.

How does that ass in the WH sleep at night?

[donhakman]

1. he sleeps the dreams of the proud...

the few and the arrogant.

[captain_change]

2. The e-mail I sent

Here is the e-mail I sent



Dear Mr. Herbert:



I am not in the habit of sending comments, but your piece on Corporal Delgado really grabbed me. As a former CPT, Armor & enlisted paratrooper reports like yours bring me to tears. There is an old corny movie about an aircraft carrier in Korea “The Bridge at Toko-ri” where the Admiral in the closing scene says (and I paraphrase) “where do we get these men, willing to sacrifice everything for their country”. This Republican administration does not deserve the sacrifice that the men and women of our armed forces have made.



I have been disgusted with the Republicans ever since I witness their sleaze tactics in the 90’s. Trust me growing up in Hudson County NJ; I saw some pretty sleazy Democratic maneuvers; but nothing on the scale of the Republicans, and nothing that resulted in young men dieing This optional war has cost us over 550 KIA (which doesn’t include causalities that die later of wounds, so the real figure is estimated at 1,200), more than 3,000 with life changing injuries like CPL Delgardo (again, since Air Force records show close to 12,000 evacuations from the theater to Germany/US, those numbers are suspect), these sacrifices appear to be for political and financial interest rather than national security. With no WMD’s or connection to 911 found; but, ample proof that the neo-cons were planning this invasion for years (see http://www.newamericancentury.org ), Andrew Card saying in Sept 2002 that “you don’t launch a new product in summer as they beat the Iraqi drum during the run-up to the 2002 elections, and the billions being made by Republican connected companies (Halliburton, etc) how can we ask these soldiers, sailors & marines to continue to sacrifice their future.