Hold Bush responsible It was with disbelief that I read “Reflection of pride” (letter, March 6) — another Bush regime apologist with comprehension problems. I’m unsure how taking care of troops became “ignore facts, get stupid and follow blindly.”
From the grossly negligent “planning” for the invasion to the current shameful care for wounded veterans, this administration has used soldiers as a politically charged club to subdue and vilify any type of opposition or rational judgment against the (failed) ideas and plans of the president.
Compare the treatment of Gen. Erik Shinseki, then chief of staff of the Army, and Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the invasion forces. When Shinseki answered a congressional committee with the truth about post-invasion Iraq (needing hundreds of thousands of troops to secure it) he was publicly denounced and said to be out of the loop. Whereas the commander of the invasion forces was allowed to retire while the rest of the military was under stop-loss rules, Baghdad was in chaos, the arming of the insurgency was well under way and the only tangible thing completed was the removal of Saddam Hussein’s statue. Who supported his soldiers — the truth-teller or the one who cut and ran away?
How can the truth be used against us unless the truth is worse than fiction? The hollow, virulent ravings of current and former leaders have created a “live” training area for the enemy, sucked billions of dollars out of the economy, killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and killed or maimed thousands of Americans.
It is time to hold the commander in chief responsible for his inept decisions (“I’m the decider”) and bring an end to this shameful chapter in America history. President Clinton was impeached over perjury; I think what the current president has done is quite a bit worse.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Allen Crews (retired)
Hanau, Germany