My friend sent this email to me and his friends/family. I was able to spend some not too long ago when he was back home in Angleton, TX. He is in the Marines and is in Iraq. This is not some chain letter or something that was FW to me, this is directly from my friend. (He is also an aggie, I can forgive him for that....) And for the record, I have no opinion one way or the other about the situation in Iraq, I try my best to stay out of politics, but I thought this was an interesting email from him from a 1st person perspective. Dear All, I just wanted to say thanks for all of your e-mails, letters, care packages and support while I was in Iraq. I wasn't able to see all of you while I was on leave, but I'm sure I'll catch up with those of you of who I wasn't able to see, another time. Lots of you had many questions. As I have grown tired of talking about Iraq, simply because I've had the same conversation so many times, I will at least say one last thing. After spending the time over there that I did and the experiences that I went through, it seems it is easier for me to read what is hiding behind a person's eyes. I'm not sure why this is. But, I'll answer the question that many of you were afraid to ask. And, I'm not sure why some of you were afraid to ask it. But, I could see the question lingering, right behind your eyes. And the question of which I speak of, that many of you hesitated to ask, is: are we doing the right thing? Is it worth it? It is. It is, indeed. I say to you, as my fellow countrymen, that all of our efforts and sacrifice over there, are for the better of the world and for the security of our great country. The situation is not perfect. But, it is so much better than the media reports. We must stay the course and see this thing through. I don't have any children of my own. But, I do have two nephews. After getting back, never before I had appreciated so much of their innocence and the hope that their future is a little further secured by my efforts in Iraq. I watched President Bush's last national address. I don't agree with everyone that he says or does. But, I whole-heartedly agree with everything he said about the situation in Iraq and the War on Terrorism in that particular speech. The terrorists are still out there. There are purely evil men in this world. I have looked into directly into their eyes while I was in Iraq and saw directly into their hearts. Nothing will change them. Not a better economy for their family, not a better education, not diplomacy, not politics, not religion, nothing will change these animals. And there always will be men like this. But in the end, with the help of a few good men, we will prevail. The world will continue to turn and life will go on. But, most of the time, nothing great ever happens over night. So, I ask that you be patient. Nevertheless, I want to thank all of you again, for your continued support. We are getting back to business as usual here in Camp Lejeuene. Which is pretty much getting ready for the next deployment, as my command has already let me know to be prepared for the next go round, very soon. I will stay in touch.
Great read! I am certainly glad that our soldiers have such a positive outlook of the situation. Please give him my best regards.
It doesn't make him be able to "look into directly into their eyes while I was in Iraq and see directly into their hearts". That's just stupid.
What do you know? He is over there fighting for us and our country and you are over here sitting on your @ss, on a message board complaing about the Chronicles of Narnia, Christianity, and Shakira.
I'm not saying that I can, but how can you say he can't? Especially being in that situation? I almost posted this in the BBS Hangout. I chose not to because I knew better.... and you proved why.
Let's see, you call his story crap, now you are demanding a source for the letter because 'our money pays for the military'? You need to learn respect.
I would rather work for peace. Saying and thinking people are evil and have no chance for change will only make things worse. Sorry.
I didn't call his story crap, but as evidence in Iraq that everything is how he speculates is crap. You understand the importances of not using anecdotal evidence when making judgement, don't you? You need to learn reading comprehension and how to critically think.
Why would you want him to do that? let's pretend it's a soldier of a friend here who disagreed with the war, with how things were going over in Iraq, would you ask him to divulge the source then?
I am the master of critical thinking, among other things. You on the other hand make up wild stories to defend terrorists and other Muslims every chance you get. Remind me who is the one not doing the critical thinking... reggietodd has been kind enough to share a letter written by a soldier *in Iraq* who is a friend of his. He did not have to share this with us. Instead of thanking him for the insight, you choose to take pot shots at the war and indirectly call his story crap. Then you demand to know the name of the author. That is just disrespectful. Frankly, it makes you come across as hostile to any good news in the war effort. But of course, your couch potato analysis from your aljazeera.com updates are so much superior to his *first hand account* of the action. What a joke.
Understandable, but I would not want my personal letter politicized which is the case here. There is absolutely NO evidence that this has been written by anyone other than reggietodd. Would you believe it if someone posted the exact same thing except the situation is opposite (eg, things going bad, no armor)? I seriously doubt it, and it would be ignorant to not ask for the source.
Look who's talking. That's like the President telling someone they need to learn how to pronounce the word "nuclear".
Perhaps we need to look at history. There were some tremendously evil people who needed to be killed. I don't think the soldier can "look into someone's heart" but I believe his conclusion is correct, sadly.
But thinking all of the people can not change is flat wrong. If there is no hope for them there is no hope for us.
