>I served in the Marines in WWII and Korea. Both to defend
>our country and to preserve the freedoms of people such as yourself.
>What have you done to preserve my freedoms?

If that is true, you should be ashamed.  You do the Country and the Corps a
disservice by the sheer arrogance of that question and your pompous stance.
Not to mention your obvious embarrassment if I turned out to be a decorated
Veteran.

If I had been given the honor of serving my country in that capacity, I
would never say such a thing.  As it is, I have the utmost respect for our
armed forces and never take for granted the life which their sacrafices have
enabled for me and my family.  In my family's case, it was my grandmother
who lost her brother in the Pacific in '44 and my mother, who lost her
brother in Viet Nam in '68, both of whom were volunteers, not draftees.
They have never been forgotten.  We keep their pictures on our walls and
their memories in our hearts.  We speak of them often. I am named after my
uncle.

FWIW, Fred, my name calling is directed at those nations who block the will
of the UN simply to be obstinate, and, in my view, because they also have
ulterior motives.  It seems everyone but you understood that.  When I say
"we" I mean We, the people of the United States.  That includes those who
fight and those at home who support them.  I, by no means, advocate killing,
violence or war, nor do I get a thrill out of "smart bombs."  War with Iraq
is indeed a dreadful prospect.  I simply believe it is the right thing to
do.  I am not politically correct in my views and I make no apologies for
that.  I suppose it would be more accurate to say that I am not influenced
by political correctness and I have distaste for those who are.

I do not presume to dispute the view of those who have killed and seen
untold killing in the course of wars, who rally against war under any
circumstances.  However, I would say that the enemies you fought were armed
and were under orders to kill you.  Terrorists kill for the impact of
killing.  The most impact is made by killing unarmed, innocent bystanders.
I would spare my family and my country of that and so I support our
President and believe in the integrity of his motives.  I believe that
Saddam would (and perhaps has) willingly give terrible devices to those who
would enter our country and use them on us.  One can only imagine the impact
of a radiological device detonated in Southern California, for example.  Not
only could millions die, but the economic impact would make that of 9/11
look like nothing.  Saddam would do this with glee.  In fact, I would submit
to you all that it is his goal to do so.  Just like bin Laden.

Having stirred the pot sufficiently in the other direction,  I'll bow out.
I take solace in the fact that I recieved many more offline e-mails of
support for my comments than online rebukes from people such as yourself.

Cary

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