PLEASE READ AND CIRCULATE! Suicide Was the Only Way Out of Iraq for Col. Westhusing

[frogcycle]

PLEASE read this entire article, and circulate the link widely.

It is terribly sad that this honorable man was driven to such despair, and that his dramatic message has gone unheeded for almost two years. "When he was in Iraq, Westhusing worked for one of the most famous generals in the U.S. military, David Petraeus." His suicide note ends with a direct statement to his superiors: "Reevaluate yourselves, cdrs . You are not what you think you are and I know it."

As our duly elected congress and senate appear to be shying away from tackiling this debacle head on, each and every one of them needs to read this article. It is beyond immoral for them not to take heed of that message and get aggressive. Disregard for a moment the issue of withdrawing - they are also permitting the continuation of the stealing and corruption by the gang of crooks called "contractors", and that is in all liklihood damaging America's image in the mideast equally as badly as the mishandling of combat activities.

By Robert Bryce, Texas Observer. Posted March 16, 2007.

Writing in his suicide note, "I am sullied -- no more," U.S. Colonel Ted Westhusing, father of three, chose death over a life of lies and corruption in occupied Iraq.



http://www.alternet.org/story/49233

[rwork]

1. There are so many things

every day that need to be sent to Keith.

[TomInTib]

2. Damn, that was one powerful account.

They just destroyed a good man.

Conscience has no place on bad ground.

Highly recommended, but oh, so tragic.

[uppityperson]

3. k&r, thank you, damn

[Judi Lynn]

4. Thank you for this article. I hope the news gets around even though it's doubtful, considering our

corporate media's patterns.

I hope his words will resonate with the people who knew him over the years, and they'll really think about this.

He looked like a very, very nice man.

[Fridays Child]

5. k/r

[never cry wolf]

6. Thanks for posting, K&R

[frogcycle]

7. I cannot possibly imagine

what it would be like to be one of his three children, listening to the continuing bs this administration spews about "undermining the troops", as well as to cover its ass on every topic imagineable...

It is of course impossible to rank "degrees of awfulness." Almost every fatality I read about has so many poignant details - about to be engaged, a new dad, just arrived in Iraq a week ago, due to go home in a week, recently told family he was frustrated with the no-win conditions, joined the army to escape poverty, joined right after 9/11 to fight terrorism...

They are all awful. This one just seems to be awful squared.

In particular because it is a senior officer making a profound statement about the conduct of this debacle, and it has gone completely unheeded, swept aside by people with the morals of ... (i can't think of anything bad enough) while they continue their mission to destroy the Constitution and create their aristocracy

We need to make this man's name a household word. We need a picket line in front of the Capitol with posters with his photo on them

[gratuitous]

8. Tolkein said it in Lord of the Rings

Near the end of Lord of the Rings, the hobbits are coming back to the Shire, having saved Middle Earth from Sauron. When they get there (in the book, not the movie), they find that someone or something malignant has taken to running things in the Shire. The hobbits are identified quickly as troublemakers, and a handful of guys who have become "shirrifs" try to take them into custody. Sam recognizes one of them as a young fellow he knew before going away on his adventure.

Sam reminds the young shirrif that he knew him when, and asks him why he's bullying people and trying to push folks around. The young fellow acknowledges that he knows that what he's doing isn't right, but he's wanted to be a shirrif all his life, and this was his chance, even though it's not the job he signed up for. Sam very simply tells the kid, "If shirrifing isn't an honorable job anymore, then quit." The kid sighs, but he can't exactly explain to Sam why it isn't that easy.

If participating in the American wehrmacht and its imperial oppression isn't what you signed up for, then quit. Or find yourself taking the same path as Col. Westhusing.

[frogcycle]

9. point taken, but

my primary point was not sympathy for him, of which I have plenty, but how much his story so dramatizes "that someone or something malignant has taken to running things in the Shire".
While advising them to quit is all well and good, that "someone or something malignant" needs to be expunged.

Sadly, there is not a way to do it within the constraints of the Constitution. Impeaching 2, 3, or even ten of them would not replace the hundreds, probably thousands, of political hacks they have installed to facilitate such travesties as that over which this man finally cracked. Regime change is the ONLY way. We need to get through nearly two more years. Frankly ANY democrat might be an improvement, but we really need an Obiwan Kenobe. In the meantime, we just need to hobble them so badly they cannot do much more damage.

We need to publicize that any and every way we can. That is why I say make him a household word. Hell, they used Willie Horton to kill Dukakis.

[Casablanca]

10. Good article, but it wasn't Westhusing's "flaw", it was the flawed system he tried to work with.

The fact that he was isolated shortly after being publicly commended for his work sounds very suspicious to me. Was he too busy trying to do his own job that he wasn't seeing to other kinds of "jobs"?

"The officer said that "strength of character was Ted's defining characteristic. It was unflinching integrity." That integrity, he said, was also Westhusing's great flaw. "To be a true flaw, the personality has to have great strength. And that characteristic caused his downfall.""

They think he should have been weaker and had a more flinching type of "integrity"? Would he have been better off, or would they have been?

His suicide note "Written in large, block letters ..."

Did Westhusing often write notes in big, block letters, or did someone/group not find anyone that was good at faking his handwriting style?

This whole story has a Karen Silkwood vibe to me. If it was a murder, I certainly wouldn't expect it to be seriously investigated or reported in Iraq. Unless there are a few more people there with Westhusing's "flaws" to see to it.