04/04/2003


I want to share a few of my thoughts, that I shared with my son. I'm sure many of you have experienced similar nights.

Peace, Jeff

Message I sent my son late Wednesday night:

Hi Jeremy,

I hope you are okay. We heard a Blackhawk went down but gramma said it was a utility one not a medical one.

I love you and we are all concerned about your safety and the safety of everyone else over their. I'm sure everyone else is wondering also, I will pass along the info when I hear from you.

I think we should have a weapons exchange program and only allow everyone to use nerf toys. Better yet would be no guns, how about a game of chess or checkers.

Love, Dad

Message I sent Thursday night:

Hi Jeremy,

I am glad you are okay but I know you are not out of danger until you come home. The email I sent you last night was not the one I originally wrote, that one appears below.

Lasted night I hesitated sending it to you, I wasn't sure I should. But I reread it today and have had more time to think about it. I have decided to share it because to often we don't tell people what we want and then later regret it (then again we sometimes we tell people what we want and end up regretting it also).

I realize everyday now, you are probably facing danger and experiencing things that will effect you as long as you life. I hate the fact that you and all the others their in the Gulf have to experience this and I feel so helpless in trying to stop it. Just watching it 24/7 on TV is having its effect on those of us, well away from the immediate danger.

I realize you and your fellows in arms did not choose your mission, and refusing to go and serve would be dealt with harshly. Unlike most Americans, that should they disagree with their boss or not agree with the company's goals, can just up and quit. Even so, some can't quit, they have no other viable options, I'm thinking about women that go to work each day and are groped and insulted but have to support their children.

So my anger is not pointed at those in the field but those that are not; they are using you to further their own goals.

It is also very possible that this will appear in newspapers (I shared it with a reporter in CT today), as I use my pen to stop the bullets and the insanity. I also realize the administration has been effectively using the media, over 50% of Americans believe Saddam is connected to Bin Laden, because the link (that does not exist) to terrorism has been repeated over and over (if you say something enough, even if it has no basis in truth, you become convinced it is true). Since no WMD have been found or used yet, the administration has been hammering away how evil Saddam is, how he is responsible for more deaths than anyone else (which has been adjusted to of those leaders that are still living). The U.S. goals also keep changing.

So remember Jeremy, I love you and I am doing what every father should and that is protect you from harm. I ask you to forgive me for mistakes I have made in the past and those I make now but I'm doing my best.

Be careful, fly safe, watch out for yourself and those under you. Don't let your heart harden and don't just see black and white.

Love and peace, Dad

Hi Jeremy,

I'm at college making copies when I just spotted this story. So again I know it will be hours of not knowing and wondering. All I can do is hope you were not in the chopper but I also know a number of families are worrying about the same thing. I hope gramma isn't watching TV but I'm sure she.

I wish I could say the cost in lives was worth it but its not. Over the next few days we are going to see massive casualties or to be honest Iraqi's are, the U.S. and the UK will only be a tiny fraction of those that die. Yet for the most part our media will ignore their lost and gloat over the destruction of the Republican Guard, yet if our casualties are high Americans will cry out- some wanting more blood, others will join the antiwar and peace movement because they will think the price in U.S. lives isn't worth it, but they still won't care about the Iraqis. Let's be honest had you or your fellow soldiers been born in Iraq rather than here, you would be fighting for what you believe was a just cause and doing God's will. You might have even become a suicide bomber because really what choice do you have but to go to extremes when faced with overwhelming force.

Sorry I should be positive and up beat. I should honor the fallen 'heros' on our side and believe they have defended my freedoms and proved once again we are a mighty nation. Heck they are liberating the poor Iraqis (those that they don't kill) from a brutal dictator. No, no that wasn't the reason, it was WMD; oh, but they haven't found any of those yet nor have they been used, so its got to be liberation. The people will be better off, even though their doors have been kicked and their houses have been destroyed. The children have once again been traumatized by bombs raining down and bullets flying in every direction. But they will have food shortly, even though 12 years ago they were an emerging 1st world country. I mean today many live in squalor and filth, not that our bombing of their infrastructure in the past had anything to do with it.

Of course, some will think they are getting food packages like in Afghanistan, only to be blown to bits because once again cluster bombs rain terror from the sky and their unexploded bomblets curiously the same color of food rations, will make them hunger no more.

Oh, yes some will welcome you and be glad Saddam is gone until they realize the U.S. intends to run the country for now. We will create a better life for them because apparently their life is flawed and barbaric. Oh, don't get me wrong there are those that inhabited the darkside but I have to wonder if the most powerful administration on earth isn't the real source of evil, hell it was the U.S. that created and supported Bin Laden and Saddam and the list gets much longer as a history major you know. Of course, our contractors are lining up to rape the profits from oil, as we ironically build with their money, what we shamefully destroyed.

If it is you that has been mangled in metal what will I do, how will I react? I already know who I blame.

I wish I could do something to make it all stop.

U.S. Army Black Hawk Copter Shot Down

9 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter was shot down south of Baghdad Wednesday, military officials said. There were conflicting reports on the number of casualties.

Pentagon (news - web sites) officials said seven soldiers aboard the helicopter were killed and four were wounded and rescued. U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar released a statement saying six were believed to have been aboard and "casualties have not been confirmed at this point."

The helicopter was downed by small-arms fire near Karbala, Pentagon officials said. The Euphrates River city was the site of fierce fighting between the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and Iraqi troops, including Republican Guard forces.