Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Lettere di soldati USA a M. Moore

Friday, December 19th, 2003
Letters the Troops Have Sent Me... by Michael Moore
Dear Friends,
As we approach the holidays, I've been thinking a lot about our kids
who are in the armed forces serving in Iraq. I've received hundreds of
letters from our troops in Iraq -- and they are telling me something
very different from what we are seeing on the evening news.
What they are saying to me, often eloquently and in heart-wrenching
words, is that they were lied to -- and this war has nothing to do
with the security of the United States of America.
I've written back and spoken on the phone to many of them and I've
asked a few of them if it would be OK if I posted their letters on my
website and they've said yes. They do so at great personal risk (as
they may face disciplinary measures for exercising their right to free
speech). I thank them for their bravery.
Lance Corporal George Batton of the United States Marine Corps, who
returned from Iraq in September (after serving in MP company Alpha),
writes the following:
"You'd be surprised at how many of the guys I talked to in my company
and others believed that the president's scare about Saddam's WMD was
a bunch of bullshit and that the real motivation for this war was only
about money. There was also a lot of crap that many companies, not
just marine companies, had to go through with not getting enough
equipment to fulfill their missions when they crossed the border. It
was a miracle that our company did what it did the two months it was
staying in Iraq during the war.. We were promised to go home on June
8th, and found out that it was a lie and we got stuck doing missions
for an extra three months. Even some of the most radical conservatives
in our company including our company gunnery sergeant got a real bad
taste in their mouth about the Marine corps, and maybe even president
Bush."
Here's what Specialist Mike Prysner of the U.S. Army wrote to me:
"Dear Mike -- I'm writing this without knowing if it'll ever get to
you.I'm writing it from the trenches of a war (that's still going on,)
not knowing why I'm here or when I'm leaving. I've toppled statues and
vandalized portraits, while wearing an American flag on my sleeve, and
struggling to learn how to understand. I joined the army as soon as I
was eligible - turned down a writing scholarship to a state
university, eager to serve my country, ready to die for the ideals I
fell in love with. Two years later I found myself moments away from a
landing onto a pitch black airstrip, ready to charge into a country I
didn't believe I belonged in, with your words (from the Oscars)
repeating in my head. My time in Iraq has always involved finding
things to convince myself that I can be proud of my actions; that I
was a part of something just. But no matter what pro-war argument I
came up with, I pictured my smirking commander-in-chief, thinking he
was fooling a nation."
An Army private, still in Iraq and wishing to remain anonymous,
writes:
"I would like to tell you how difficult it is to serve under a man who
was never elected. Because he is the president and my boss, I have to
be very careful as to who and what i say about him. This also concerns
me a great deal... to limit the military's voice is to limit exactly
what America stands for... and the greater percentage of us feel
completely underpowered. He continually sets my friends, my family,
and several others in a kind of danger that frightens me beyond
belief. I know several other soldiers who feel the same way and
discuss the situation with me on a regular basis."
Jerry Oliver of the U.S. Army, who has just returned from Baghdad,
writes:
"I have just returned home from "Operation Iraqi Freedom". I spent 5
months in Baghdad, and a total of 3 years in the U.S. Army. I was
recently discharged with Honorable valor and returned to the States
only to be horrified by what I've seen my country turn into. I'm now
22 years old and have discovered America is such a complicated place
to live, and moreover, Americans are almost oblivious to what's been
happening to their country. America has become "1984." Homeland
security is teaching us to spy on one another and forcing us to become
anti-social. Americans are willingly sacrificing our freedoms in the
name of security, the same Freedoms I was willing to put my life on
the line for. The constitution is in jeopardy. As Gen. Tommy Franks
said, (broken down of course) One more terrorist attack and the
constitution will hold no meaning."
And a Specialist in the U.S. Army wrote to me this week about the
capture of Saddam Hussein:
"Wow, 130,000 troops on the ground, nearly 500 deaths and over a
billion dollars a day, but they caught a guy living in a hole. Am I
supposed to be dazzled?"
There are lots more of these, straight from the soldiers who have been
on the front lines and have seen first hand what this war is really
about.
I have also heard from their friends and relatives, and from other
veterans. A mother writing on behalf of her son (whose name we have
withheld) wrote:
"My son said that this is the worst it's been since the "end" of the
war. He said the troops have been given new rules of engagement, and
that they are to "take out" any persons who aggress on the Americans,
even if it results in "collateral" damage. Unfortunately, he did have
to kill someone in self defense and was told by his commanding officer
'Good kill.'
"My son replied 'You just don't get it, do you?'
"Here we are...Vietnam all over again."
From a 56 year old Navy veteran, relating a conversation he had with a
young man who was leaving for Iraq the next morning:
"What disturbed me most was when I asked him what weapons he carried
as a truck driver. He told me the new M-16, model blah blah blah,
stuff never made sense to me even when I was in. I asked him what kind
of side arm they gave him and his fellow drivers. He explained, "Sir,
Reservists are not issued side arms or flack vests as there was not
enough money to outfit all the Reservists, only Active Personnel". I
was appalled to say the least.
"Bush is a jerk agreed, but I can't believe he is this big an Asshole
not providing protection and arms for our troops to fight HIS WAR!"
From a 40-year old veteran of the Marine Corps:
"Why is it that we are forever waving the flag of sovereignty, EXCEPT
when it concerns our financial interests in other sovereign states?
What gives us the right to tell anyone else how they should govern
themselves, and live their lives? Why can't we just lead the world by
example? I mean no wonder the world hates us, who do they get to see?
Young assholes in uniforms with guns, and rich, old, white tourists!
Christ, could we put up a worse first impression?"
(To read more from my Iraq mailbag -- and to read these above letters
in full -- go to my website:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/dudewheresmycountry/soldierletters/i
ndex.php)

 From a 40-year old veteran of the Marine Corps:
Idem come sopra.
-Stefano

Strano, lo facevo piu "fine" Namib.


 A chi lo ha scritto? :)
A tutti quelli che sanno leggere disse il bue all'asino.


 A tutti quelli che sanno leggere
Quindi non a Moore :)
*LOL*
-Stefano

 Direi che non e' indirizzata a Moore. :)
Direi che non sai leggere: sono parole di Moore, che introducono le lettere
(indirizzate a lui: "from my mailbag"). Bye.
Namib