Wayne McCullough – 2005-11-28 00:13:35
http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/know/read.php?&itemid=3470
(November 18, 2005) — I really don’t mean all of this as criticism and honestly wish I didn’t have to write comments like this at all. The fact is, there is not one single positive thing on your website concerning Iraq.
I would agree that most of the material is verbatim from the news media. What you failed to mention is, every article you chose to link to involved a negative slant to events in Iraq.
There is a ton of good news from Iraq in the form of weblogs and even the news media, but you chose not to place a single scrap of positive information. I realize that would go against the agenda of the organizations but it surely would be a more fair representation and less of the conspiracy theory media hype, hate-Bush material everyone is bombarded with.
I think you have a strong goal in showing that war is a bad thing, that should be obvious to every single human being that is able to comprehend rational thought.
Here’s an example of the “just part of the story” agenda I notice on your site.
In the article concerning 83,000 people detained without trial. The writer which your organization endorses by spreading the misinformation is clearly saying that it is wrong that these people, say the 14,000 in Iraq, are being jailed. What he fails to mention is why the are jailed in the first place.
Secondly he fails to mention that the insurgency murders of Iraqi government officials who are trying to set up courts in order to try fairly and sentence the guilty, hamper that effort. On today’s mission (I can’t go into specifics for security reasons). I was providing overhead security at an IED (road side bomb) site. The unit in control of the situation observed two personnel planting the IED.
Under Rules of Engagement. that is a hostile act and personally, if I would have been on the scene first, I would have killed the insurgents/terrorists/enemy. In a great show of restraint, the ground force detained the personnel and at a very great risk investigated the scene and collected evidence to be later used in a fair trial. This is to keep murderers of the Iraqi people, the innocent, off the streets.
Would you like your local jails to open the doors for all the alleged murderers and child molesters in your area? I would hope you wouldn’t. These people are detained for specific reasons. They either are caught in a lie, test positive for certain materials, or are caught red-handed in the act of committing a terrorists act. What is so wrong with keeping them locked up and away from the innocent Iraqi civilian until there is a means to try them fairly?
Would the insurgency show the same kind of treatment to a mall full of shoppers in Atlanta, Ga, or civilian contractors working to make Iraq a better country for not only Iraqis, but the entire world?
I just don’t see where you show any different perspectives at all besides from negative to super-negative. I wonder if your organization (and if you did, I’ll stand corrected) protest the Clinton policy in Bosnia, Croatia, or Somalia? [These events pre-dated the formation of EAW but, on my investigative Web site, The-Edge.org, I repeatedly questioned Clinton’s illegal bombing, and criticized the targeting of chemical plants located near cities, the use of depleted uranium weapons and the loss of innocent civilian lives during NATO’s campaign.]
It was the same mission in Croatia and partly Somalia: remove a murderer from the government. Everyone was for Croatia, I seem to remember.
Finally, what is the right answer? I have heard protesters, organizations, and even Sen Kerry say, “The war in Iraq is wrong and we shouldn’t be there.” When asked what they’d do differently, they say, “I would do it differently” blah blah.
Is your organization saying that the world — and the people which you claim are part of the environment — are better off with Saddam in power? Again, the man murdered more people and has caused environmental hazards greater than most people on this planet. Is no war, no matter what another government or organization does to us as a nation, the answer?
I’d really like to learn where you’re coming from. I think that my emails are sanitized enough to remain up and, in the future, I’ll let you know the ones I intend for you personally or the group.
There isn’t a lot of mission type things that I can or will share with anyone, again, for security reasons, but I will share the good news as much as possible. Of course, I’ll keep the observations rolling in as long as you’d like. Looking forward to hearing from some of your members.
The onslaught from the ACLU has died off in the last few days. I am stubborn. Of course, all of this will come back to haunt me I’m sure when it comes time for my campaign for Governor of Tennessee, but somebody has to say it — a lot of us are thinking it.
Wayne McCullough serves aboard an Apache attack helicopter stationed at Camp Taji, Iraq. He may be reached at mccullough.wayne@gmail.com
