By now I am sure that all of you out there have heard the comments by Rep Baghdad Jim regarding our troops are mercanaries. Well I say it is high time that all of us vets out there let our voices be heard. Individually we are just a nussaiance to people like Baghdad Jim, but together we have a huge voice, escpecially here in Washington State where we have great numbers.
I urge all vets out there to send a letter like the one below to all the service orginizations out there (I will provide links to the ones that I know about below) and to all the newspapers too.
Together, we can stand up to the left that makes such vile remarks at the expense of our brothers and sisters who are serving honorably for our Great Nation. The time to be heard is now. So join me in this endeavor and help bring true change to our state.
The reason I am writing you today is to bring to your attention some of the most incendiary comments made by a politician against our troops to date.Recently at a May 3rd 2008 town hall meeting, Congressman Jim McDermott made the following comments,
"we're losing in Afghanistan," accused the President of planning to expand the war into Iran, and said "we're running a gulag - one over in Guantanamo, and several in Iraq." Yet, the congressman argued, "nobody cares" about the war because "as long as we can hire mercenaries to fight this war for us" the war would continue. McDermott said that the "mercenaries" were recruited from those who could not get jobs, or who could not get into school, or who were in jail due to having committed felonies.
As a vet I find this highly offensive that a sitting Congressman would even consider making such derogatory statements against our troops while they serve bravely and honorable during a time of war. These brave men and women, as you know, come from a diverse background and have joined for many different reasons. One such reason is Patriotism, something Congressman McDermott seems to know nothing about.
Congressman McDermott has continually be a stain on the state of Washington. Be it his derogatory statements against our troops, taking trips to Iraq just prior to the invasion that were paid for by Saddam's intelligence agency, or his illegal release of privately taped phone conversations in which he has had to pay over a million dollars in fines. It is time we, as Veterans of our Great Nation, stand up once again and heed the call to defend America and our troops against the outrageous remarks of this Congressman.
We may not be able to go out and fight on the battlefields with our brothers and sisters in arms, but we do still have a voice. We need to use this collective voice to speak out against Congressman McDermott, and any other politicians that demean our troops in such a shameful manner, by issuing statements and rallying around candidates and politicians that stand up for our troops. We can start by issuing public statements of condemnation against the comments of Congressman McDermott and by supporting his opponent Steve Beren. Steve Beren is an honest man who has, on multiple occasions, taken Congressman McDermott to task for his comments. He is fighting an uphill battle, but like our troops he will never surrender until America is victorious. Join me in backing Steve Beren for Congress in the 7th CD this November!
Here are some links to the Service Organizations:
Washington D.C. Office
VFW Memorial Building
200 Maryland Avenue N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002
(202) 543-2239
FAX (202) 543-6719
cwells@vfw.org
VFW Department: WASHINGTON
(253) 922-2114
vfwstateofwa@aol.com
http://www.legion.org/national/contact
AMVETS National Headquarters
4647 Forbes Boulevard
Lanham, MD 20706-4380
Phone: (301) 459-9600
Toll-Free: 1-877-726-8387
Fax: (301) 459-7924
General Inquires
e-mail: amvets@amvets.org
and here is the seattle times editorial/opinion email
E-mail: opinion@
seattletimes.com
Feel free to add to the list.
We have all seen how the Rossi campaign has had over 32,000 donors so far. Many of these donors have been for small sums of money. Well we can do the same for Steve Beren. A little bit of money from each of us vets can add up quickly and help Steve defeat McDermott in November! Well I will get the ball rolling and let you all know I just donated $25 to Steve Beren's campaign. I wish it could be more, but if we all sent $25 or more it would give Steve a big help.
Here is a link to Steve's site:
http://www.berenforcongress.com/donate.html