- Let me say, in no uncertain terms, we must get out of
Iraq.
-
- There is nothing to gain and everything to lose in Iraq.
We have lost over four thousand of our military, those who were killed
in Iraq and those who died in intransit from Iraq to our hospitals in Germany
and in Europe. We have had over 10,000 of our troops wounded. According
to a report I heard last night on Frontline on PBS, 1 in 6 of our people
coming home from Iraq need mental help.
-
- What have we gained in Iraq? Absolutely nothing. What
have we lost? Our leadership in the world militarily, morally and financially.
-
- Frankly, Generals Franks and Abizaid have failed. Donald
Rumsfeld has failed, as have his top aides. As a former military leader,
I am appalled at the Pentagon leadership and the leadership in our military.
These men should be drummed out of the military with their heads in shame
for the needless loss of the lives of our young men and women.
-
- But that's not the worst of it. What business did they
have calling up our Reserves and National Guard to attack another country.
These troops are for emergencies and to protect our nation. I know the
law, that these troops can be called up. On the other hand, they are to
be used for short periods of time, not for long periods of time as they
have been abused in Iraq. I note that the recruiters are having a hard
time in the Reserves and the National Guard. I can't blame the people for
walking away. I would if I'd been lied to this much.
-
- As a man of three wars, from Korea to Viet Nam to Gulf
War I, I am embarrassed by such men as General Mattis. If he was under
my command, I'd have him disciplined for ignorance and leading his men
astray. No, it is not "fun" to kill people. Killing is a serious
business, not something you brag about to businessmen or to the media about.
We never told our men to kill for the fun of it. You killed to save yourself
and to achieve an objective, never for the "fun of it."
-
- I fear that we have hit the bottom in our military men
and women. Lower level officers are now afraid to report atrocities for
fear that they will lose their rank, men are afraid to admit they are shot,
women are afraid to report rape, when they report rape they are told it
was their fault! What has this man's army come to? Have we totally lost
our honor? To be a military man in this army means to be immoral, a liar,
to accuse the innocent and to not grieve for killing women and children.
-
- This is not the military or the country I served. The
men running our government at this time are either mad or totally immoral
and have not place in this world as leaders. That is why they must turn
out such people as Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush, Mattis and Abizaid and bring
in some new leadership who better represents what we are as a nation.
-
- In the process, they may as well take such fools as Bill
O'Reilly and let him put his body where his mouth is in terms of Iraq.
Let him go to Iraq and see how it feels, let him smell death and let him
dodge bullets the way our troops do in Iraq. I'd like to see how much of
a smart-ass he would be then. The same is true of that falsely serious
Richard Perle; I'd have him take his fat behind out in the boot camp and
work him until he learned to sweat. I'd do the same with Paul Wolfowitz.
Paul has never had the respect of intelligent men, only men who thought
Paul was intelligent. How they were deceived. I've known Paul since he
was a bootlicker in his youth in Washington, DC.
-
- Until we regain our moral stature and moral bearings,
we shall continue to be hated in this world for good reason. We no longer
defend freedom and liberty, we are the new British colonialists, we are
the new plunderers, we are the new imperialists. This makes me ashamed
of our country.
-
- What do I hope for? I hope some of our military men,
men of honor, will stand up and call these immoral and ignorant men what
they are. If our military is to defend its honor, it must stand up now.
If not, then our military men are part of the problem, not part of the
solution. I am not advocating revolution, but I am advocating the right
to resist immoral duty and men who think that "killing is fun,"
and men who think that bombing a city into the earth, as was done in Fallougha,
will make us more friends and fewer enemies.
-
- We must get out of Iraq, pronto, before we lose more
troops, make more enemies and show our military vulnerability to the watching
world. We are not the formidable force the world thought we were, our troops
are exhausted and yet have not won a victory, and our will to victory is
fast disappearing. We should get out before we needlessly kill more Iraqis
as well. Killing over a hundred thousand, 100,000, according to the Lancet
in England is enough to make me more ashamed than when we learned of Mi
Lai in Viet Nam. We killed more in Falluja than in Mi Lai, and yet no one
has apologized to the dead or the men and women who survived the devastation,
the Dresden like bombing of Fallougha. Where has our moral leadership that
we taught at West Point gone? What are they doing in OCS these days? I
dread finding out if the officers I've seen in Iraq are a fair sample.
-
- How low we have sunk. ___________
-
- General Upman is a pseudonym for a retired general who
would rather not reveal his name because of his former leadership positions
in the U.S. Staff Leadership and because he does not want to argue with
old friends at the officers clubs when he visits.
-
- March 2, 2005
-
-
- http://www.corvusworld.com/getoutnow.htm
-
-
- 'Maj. General Harry Upman' - A Major Disgrace
-
- Commentary By David Sadler
www.david-sadler.org
3-9-5
-
- "Maj. General Harry Upman" is, generally, a
major disgrace. 'He' probably doesn't even exist.
-
- I was with 'him' until the very end of the article when
I learned that this 'brave' and 'moral' soldier is too much a coward and
too concerned about losing 'friends' when visiting officer clubs that 'he'
is afraid to use 'his' real name.
-
- 'He' is very courageous to incite those in active duty
to face court martial by 'resisting' their orders to fight the Iraq war,
but 'he' is too cowardly in 'his' very comfortable retirement to use 'his'
real name in 'his' letter "because of his former leadership positions
in the U.S. Staff Leadership and because he does not want to argue with
old friends at the officers clubs when he visits."
-
- If this is 'his' line of reasoning then 'he' has no room
to talk down to the active duty officers who are working for their own
paychecks and pensions while trying to stay out of the brig and while trying
to stay alive in Iraq fighting yet another unnecessary war of aggression.
-
- If this person hiding 'his' identity is truly a Maj.
General of superior morality and ethics of war, then let 'him' do what
millions of us are doing in protesting this insane and totally un-American
foreign policy of aggression. Sign your name and identify yourself like
a man or woman of honor, integrity and courage. Try to meet the level
of courage shown by those in the lowest military ranks who have refused
to go back to Iraq and who have suffered the consequences as men and women
of courage, principle and honor.
-
- Maj. General, your cowardly 'protest' sickens me and
illustrates why America fought the useless wars of Korea, Vietnam and the
first Gulf War, which you so proudly display as your service of honor.
-
- The poor and ignorant North Koreans of the early 1950s
did not threaten us. That was a dispute between Koreans in which we had
no business.
-
- The ignorant and poor rice paddy farmers of Vietnam did
not threaten us. That was a dispute between the Vietnamese in which we
had no business.
-
- Defending the mega-rich oil tycoons profiting in Kuwait
is not on our list of things to do to defend America for Americans. That
was a dispute between Iraq and Kuwait in which we had no business.
-
- Yet you fought these wars by carrying out your orders
just as today's officers are doing right now in Iraq.
-
- Where is your basis in principle? I doubt you have any
because your reasoning to remain anonymous betrays the rest of your very
well written letter. Enjoy your privileges at the officers' club. I suppose,
to keep from offending anyone, you will tell them, over a fine dinner with
booze, that you support the war on Iraq.
-
- You disgust me.
-
- David Sadler www.david-sadler.org
-
- David Sadler ran for congress as a Republican in 2002
from the 12th congressional district in Illinois. He used his real name
then and now to protest the un-American, immoral, unethical, anti-freedom
and anti-sovereignty policies being pursued by today's crop of 'leaders'
in America, whether they are in the Pentagon or elsewhere.
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