Five more US soldiers have been killed in Iraq. At least 12 US military have been killed in the last 48 hours. For what?
The neo con wet dream of a Three Stooges Reich.
According to Reuters, "Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has called the invasion of Iraq 'the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time' and says his goal is to withdraw U.S. troops in a first White House term."
Meanwhile, here is another name for the John P. O'Neill Wall of
Heroes, Col. Lew Tyree of Charleston, West Virginia.
Tyree is the U.S. Army Reserve's "top spokesman" in
West Virginia, and has recently returned from leading
his men in "harrowing" duty in Kuwait and Iraq...Take
note, and take heart...you will not hear Col. Tyree
tonight on the major network news organization
broadcasts or probably anywhere else in the "US
regimestream news media," but he will be heard in West
Virginia...
Sandy Wells, Charleston Gazette: West Virginia’s top
Army Reserve spokesman says the Iraq war was a
mistake, and President Bush should be voted out of
office...“I feel we were not told the truth. I do not
think we should be there. America is in more danger
now because we are using up a tremendous amount of
human resources, the soldiers. We tend to ignore that
there are well over 1,000 dead and well over 7,000
injured. We use many of the soldiers time and time
again. Where are the replacements going to come from?
We’re getting re-enlistments, but not recruits. Where
is the strength for defending this country in another
arena?”
Tyree commanded the state’s largest Army Reserve unit,
based at Cross Lanes, and led his soldiers on
harrowing duty in Iraq and Kuwait, hauling ammunition
to the front lines. After the unit returned, Tyree
retired and was appointed Army Reserve Ambassador for
West Virginia. He makes military speeches around the
state, such as an appearance at South Charleston’s
Armed Forces Day in May...
As for the Bush administration, Tyree concluded:
“Shaking the saber at someone is not the approach to
world diplomacy. It’s extremely important that we
bring other countries back to the table to work on
peaceful solutions. We can’t bring them to the plate
under the current administration. We have to show them
that we are willing to change this administration and
come back to the table as part of the world
community.”
Support Our Troops, Show Up for Democracy in 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)
http://wvgazette.com/section/News/200409062
September 06, 2004
W.Va. Reserve leader denounces Iraq war
West Virginia’s top Army Reserve spokesman says the Iraq war was a mistake, and President Bush should be voted out of office.
In a long interview with Gazette columnist Sandy
Wells, Col. Lew G. Tyree of Charleston publicly
revealed his feelings about the Iraq invasion, saying:
“I feel we were not told the truth. I do not think we
should be there. America is in more danger now because
we are using up a tremendous amount of human
resources, the soldiers. We tend to ignore that there
are well over 1,000 dead and well over 7,000 injured.
We use many of the soldiers time and time again. Where
are the replacements going to come from? We’re getting
re-enlistments, but not recruits. Where is the
strength for defending this country in another arena?”
Tyree commanded the state’s largest Army Reserve unit,
based at Cross Lanes, and led his soldiers on
harrowing duty in Iraq and Kuwait, hauling ammunition
to the front lines. After the unit returned, Tyree
retired and was appointed Army Reserve Ambassador for
West Virginia. He makes military speeches around the
state, such as an appearance at South Charleston’s
Armed Forces Day in May.
Tyree — who is staff attorney for the West Virginia
Housing Development Fund, and also past chairman of
the state Human Rights Commission — has made
Charleston church talks opposing the Iraq war. In his
interview with Wells, he finally made his views
completely public.
The retired colonel said his troops in Iraq wondered
“what we were doing there,” and he was forced to
change his answer repeatedly. An invasion must have a
clear mission and an exit strategy, but “those things
didn’t exist” in the Iraq attack, he said.
At first, Tyree said, he trusted Secretary of State
Colin Powell’s assertion that Iraq possessed illicit
weapons of mass destruction. But that pretext soon
faded, and the next reason for the war was “to
liberate the Iraqis from tyranny.” Later, he heard
that “we were there to gain a foothold in the region,”
but he couldn’t tell that reason to his troops, so he
“went back to the liberation mission.”
The ex-reservist told Wells that throwing so much
military manpower into Iraq has left fewer forces to
deal with terrorist threats, “so America is at a
greater risk than before.”
He said part-time reservists such as those in his
group aren’t trained enough for the chaotic
complications of warfare. He added that America’s
full-time soldiers and officers in Iraq tend to look
down on reservists, and refuse to cooperate with them.
As for the Bush administration, Tyree concluded:
“Shaking the saber at someone is not the approach to
world diplomacy. It’s extremely important that we
bring other countries back to the table to work on
peaceful solutions. We can’t bring them to the plate
under the current administration. We have to show them
that we are willing to change this administration and
come back to the table as part of the world
community.”
While he was in the military, he said, “we couldn’t
speak out about what we really think.” But he approved
of his college-student daughter joining war protests.
Tyree said he can’t understand veterans who “continue
to support a leader who would lead us in this
direction with these kinds of miscalculations.”
“I believe in this country, and I’m concerned about
where this country is heading,” he said. “I want to be
part of the change, vs. the part that will allow us to
continue on the path of destruction.”
He added that he’s doing the same as John Kerry, who
fought in the Vietnam War then returned to oppose it.
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Posted by richard at September 7, 2004 04:31 PM