Excellent LTTE in the NYT this morning

[cdb]

To the Editor:

Bob Herbert's touching column about Specialist Fourth Class Hugo Luis Gonzalez, a maimed Iraqi war veteran, hit me especially hard ("Forget the War? Many Can't," Aug. 4).

I spent last weekend at a Silver Springs, Md., hotel near Walter Reed Army Medical Center. There, on Sunday morning, I helped a young wife wheel her legless husband into the elevator, then the dining room. He dandled a pretty 2-year-old on what remained of his lap. Another tiny beauty clutched the wheelchair, trying to help.

As we entered the dining room, we saw 10 or 12 cheery young men and women about to be seated. When the amputee rolled into view, he waved to the group. Only one of the group waved back. Another gave the vet a thumbs-up gesture. Strangely, all the others looked away or fumbled with napkins, newspapers and chairs.

Eavesdropping on them during the meal, I think that I discovered why so many of them seemed ill at ease. They were members of a conservative college student group, and the subject of their breakfast meeting was how to improve their campus recruitment activities.

Some World War II feistiness left in me wanted to ask, "If you're so ardent about the war, why don't you enlist?"

Art Shay
Deerfield, Ill., Aug. 4, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/05/opinion/l05iraq.html?

[wakeme2008]

1. Also this one

To the Editor:

How can President Bush go on a monthlong vacation when our troops are at war and fighting what appears to be a losing battle? Has he no compassion for the families that are not going on vacation because a loved one is in Iraq? Or the families that have lost a member in the fighting?

What about the marines who were just killed, most of whom were based in Ohio?

President Bush needs to act responsibly - be a leader and wait at his desk until his troops come home or until he can make them safer over there. No one would quibble about a few days off, but this is ridiculous and insulting to all military families, past and present.

I am the daughter of Lt. Col. James White, who served and was a prisoner of war in World War II. He did America proud.

President Bush, make us proud of you.

Marilyn Mulcahy

[yy4me]

2. You should be proud of your Dad

but there is no way most of us can be proud of Bush. He took us into this illegal, immoral war and needs to get everyone home now. He has to WORK (for a change) to get the US back into the good graces of the rest of the world. He has destroyed his legacy and deserves eternal damnation, not kudos. No way will I ever be proud of him. Contempt is a better word for him and for his group of idiot advisers and staff. The world was a better place before any of the Bush family ever came upon the scene.