Dear American Soldiers in Iraq:

[txaslftist]

If you can read this, wherever you are, if you have access to the internet, know that our thoughts are prayers are with you. We are the Democrats, Liberals, Lefties, Radicals, Socialists, Long-hairs, Libertarians, and yes, even many moderates and an occasional conservative that can be found on Democratic Underground. That is our second identity. Our first identity is the one we share with you. We are Americans.

We may not know you personally, but we know of you. We see the difficult things you face, and we see the valor with which you face them. You are courageous, you are steadfast, you are careful and you are beautiful. Each day we pray for your return to home, to family, to sanity and to safety.

We don't doubt that your motivations to serve your country are the very best, and that you are of the very first quality. When we protest you being in Iraq, know that we are not protesting you. We are protesting those who sent you. The chickenhawks who put you where you are have collectively spent ZERO days in combat. They avoided it assiduously. Perhaps that is why they sent you there so casually, because they didn't know first hand what they chanced.

Perhaps that is why they sent you ill-equipped, expecting flowers, and instead you recieve bullets and must still, even after all this time salvage equipment. Perhaps they just did not know first hand that you must prepare for the worst and hope for the best, especially in such a hazardous venture as war. Instead they expected the best, and so you hear the oft repeated, "We couldn't have anticipated..."

As another hurricane crosses our shores and the media turns its eye of the moment inward again, remember that here at Democratic Underground we count the dead with you. We count the wounded and we count the cost. When others fail to think of what war is, when they just imagine that all is well overseas or the news would be covering it, we remember.

God Bless You and Stay Safe.

[txaslftist]

1. .

:kick:

[txaslftist]

2. I just found out some 80 Republican Congressmen put forward

a plan to cut the deficit.

It includes cuts to medical benefits to military families and closing base primary and secondary schools to put military kids in local public schools. Democrats will NOT allow this to happen.