I just got a rather lengthy comment from SFC Cheryl McElroy criticizing my post “16 US servicemen dead, helicopter shot down in Afghanistan” from last month.

Before I give you the verbal blunt force trauma you so richly deserve, I’d like to commend you on your cute little picture of yourself in the Army Band. I’m a twice-over Iraq War veteran (Desert Storm and OIF) Bosnia veteran and Intelligence Analyst,with 29 years combined service in the United States Army. I’ve been there, done it, and got the T-Shirt while you were pickin’ taters in the Idaho National Guard.

Let’s get something straight, Russ: We all know how difficult it is for you socialist “activists” with your post-election trauma and the weekly trips to your therapist, but the rest of America is getting sick and tired of your pissing, moaning, and imbecilic regurgitations ie: “Bush Lied”. If you removed your head from your ass and stopped fawning over bin Laden and repulsive simps like Michael Moore, you might get that clue you so desperately need.

Newsflash : Bush did not steal the election, there will be no theocracy , and no one will come in the middle of the night to drag your sorry ass to a Gulag. America is safer now than it was during your buddy Bubba Clinton’s regime. God knows the son-of-a bitch tried like hell to eviscerate the military and national security.

You’re comprised of pseudo-anarchists, nihilists, and spineless MoveOn.org sycophants who would never let the facts get in the way of a good Bush bashing. The adults, thank God, are still in charge of the country. You ought to follow the lead, remove the nose rings and grow up.

Dedicated, brave Soldiers of the United States Army are fighting and sacrificing their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan so that ingrates like you won’t have to worry about another 3000 deaths on this soil. Be thankful for the freedoms you enjoy and that we are out front protecting them.

SFC Cheryl McElroy
US ARMY

Wow, Sergeant, thanks for writing. And thank you for serving honorably in the military. It would be nice if you’d give National Guard veterans like myself and President Bush a little more respect, though. Well, maybe just me; I completed my commitment and never deserted to run an Alabama political campaign. The lucky happenstance that I was never called up for Active Duty doesn’t erase the fact that I volunteered for the possibility that I could have been.

I’m no ingrate, Sergeant McElroy, and I am as thankful for my freedoms and in love with America as you are. You are blinded by the idea that petitioning my government for a redress of grievances is somehow akin to hating America or her troops. You obviously hated Clinton and felt that his policies were destroying the land you love. It is no different for me with Bush. Dissent is the highest form of patriotism. The “grown-ups” understand that debate and activism, not blind obedience to leader, are what makes America great. And when you and I raised our hand and took an oath to “support and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic…”, we both took it seriously. By my estimation, the criminal Bush maladministration is the biggest domestic enemy of the Constitution in its 229 year history.

I sincerely hope we have no more terrorism on our soil, but if we do, how will that affect your opinion of how Bush is fighting the Struggle Against Ideological Extremists Who Do Not Believe In Free Societies Who Happen To Use Terror As A Weapon To Try To Shake The Conscience Of The Free World? Here’s my prediction: If there’s no attack, you’ll say “See, Bush’s war is working!” If there is an attack, you’ll say “See, that’s why we need to fight Bush’s war!” You don’t care how many people die, how much money we spend, or how many WMD proliferation covert CIA operatives you expose, just so long as your guy stays in power.

(Read the entire, very lengthy comment and my equally-lengthy retort after the jump.)

Before I give you the verbal blunt force trauma you so richly deserve, I’d like to commend you on your cute little picture of yourself in the Army Band. I’m a twice-over Iraq War veteran (Desert Storm and OIF) Bosnia veteran and Intelligence Analyst,with 29 years combined service in the United States Army. I’ve been there, done it, and got the T-Shirt while you were pickin’ taters in the Idaho National Guard.

Let’s start out by dissecting your “statistics”:

0 captured Osama bin Ladens.

— He’s hiding in caves along the Pakistan/Afghan border with no heat, no air conditioning, no running water, crapping in the sand and dodging bombs while we slowly pick off all of his peons. We’ve killed at least 50,000 terrorists to date. Would you want to be him?

0 discovered weapons of mass destruction.

–Tell that to the victims of the genocidal chemical attacks in Northern Iraq including Halabja. Read the testimony yourself at this link: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/co…? 020325fa_FACT1
Hussein was a weapon of mass destruction. In case you forgot, he’s in prison about to go on trail for his atrocities, and his sons are taking a well-deserved dirt nap.

0 proven links between Iraq and 9/11.

–Wrong, sweetpea. Hussein provided al Qadea with training camps and his intelligence officers met with bin Laden’s operatives prior to 9/11. Read this link: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Co…05/ 804yqqnr.asp

~$180,000,000,000 spent so far on the war.

–So? I can’t think of a better use for my tax money than using some of it for the War on Terror.

$1,000,000,000 allocated for the Veterans Administration budget.

–And you’re complaining?

80% of troop transport vehicles lacking adequate armor.

–Bullshit. The average mode of transport: armored-up HUMMERS.

250,000 tons of unsecured, missing Iraqi munitions.

–Bullshit again. WE SECURED THOSE MUNITIONS AND DESTROYED THEM. Read:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6323933/

92% of Iraqi security forces untrained in any meaningful way.

–And you base this on what? Your own experience? Ever talk to some of the Soldiers there now or ones that have come back?

–0 confidence in the Commander-in-Chief.

Speak for yourself and your moonbat associates. Where do you think a large portion of pro-Bush votes came from? (hint: the MILITARY)

Let’s get something straight, Russ: We all know how difficult it is for you socialist “activists” with your post-election trauma and the weekly trips to your therapist, but the rest of America is getting sick and tired of your pissing, moaning, and imbecilic regurgitations ie: “Bush Lied”. If you removed your head from your ass and stopped fawning over bin Laden and repulsive simps like Michael Moore, you might get that clue you so desperately need.

Newsflash : Bush did not steal the election, there will be no theocracy , and no one will come in the middle of the night to drag your sorry ass to a Gulag. America is safer now than it was during your buddy Bubba Clinton’s regime. God knows the son-of-a bitch tried like hell to eviscerate the military and national security.

He and algore (one word) used the Oval Office as their personal conduit for unethical, immoral and illegal activities. His Chinese/Indonesian friends Charlie Trie, John Huang, and James Riady bought the 1996 “election” in exchange for information on, among other items, classified satellite technology, He illegally obtained FBI files on political adversaries, and fired the Travel Office and threatened them with surveillance if they talked. Bubba’s callous indifference to the terrorist attacks on his watch; the first attack on the World Trade center, Khobar Towers, and the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania gave al Qaida a green light. Oh, wait, he did have a response–a wag-the-dog bombing of Kosovo and an aspirin factory in Iraq. Abetted by lap-dog Janet Reno’s obstruction of justice, Clinton flushed the integrity of the Office as well as national security down the toilet, and not a peep out of you liberal shitbags.

If you want to rant about “lies”, you can start with the ones told by John Kerry before Congress in 1971 during the so-called “Winter Soldier Investigation”. Kerry denigrated his fellow veterans with fabricated tales about atrocities he never witnessed, and hopped into the political sack with Jane Fonda, and the V.V.A.W. (Vietnam Veterans Against the War); a wonderful organization that voted on whether to commit political assassinations during a November 1971 meeting. He also traveled to Hanoi, shook hands with the VC, and offered his support. His picture still hangs in the Ho Chi Mihn museum. His “war hero” personna has some flaws. The embellished circumstances involving his Purple Hearts and his subsequent behavior are clearly indicative of lack of character, integrity, and the leadership it takes to be a Commander-In-Chief. He shouldn’t have been a Senator, let alone Presidential candidate.

Hussein filled hundreds of mass graves with men, women and children, slaughtered 5000 Kurds with “non-existent” chemical weapons. He thumbed his nose at the pusillanimous UN for 12 years, while he continued to research, develop, and hide the evidence of his WMD program. In addition, Iraqi intelligence met with al Qadea operatives and he provided them with training camps in Northern Iraq. Both Afghanistan and Iraq had connections to al Qadea and the 911 Commission Report states those points unequivocally. Not that you care.

The inane “Bush lied” mantra of the left grew stale a long time ago.

Looks as if the leftwing peanut gallery forgot about these gems:

“One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line.”
Bill Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998.

“If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.”
Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998.

“He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.”
Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998

“We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.”
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.

“Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power.”
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.

“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”
Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

Gonna call them liars too, sweetpea?

Bin Laden’s Islamofascist thugs who slaughtered 3000 Americans on 9/11 and would gladly subject you, and the rest of the planet to their oppressive theocracy. Going after them in Iraq and Afghanistan is a damned good start.

You’re comprised of pseudo-anarchists, nihilists, and spineless MoveOn.org sycophants who would never let the facts get in the way of a good Bush bashing. The adults, thank God, are still in charge of the country. You ought to follow the lead, remove the nose rings and grow up.

Dedicated, brave Soldiers of the United States Army are fighting and sacrificing their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan so that ingrates like you won’t have to worry about another 3000 deaths on this soil. Be thankful for the freedoms you enjoy and that we are out front protecting them.

SFC Cheryl McElroy
US ARMY

Wow, Sergeant, thanks for writing. And thank you for serving honorably in the military. It would be nice if you’d give National Guard veterans like myself and President Bush a little more respect, though. Well, maybe just me; I completed my commitment and never deserted to run an Alabama political campaign. The lucky happenstance that I was never called up for Active Duty doesn’t erase the fact that I volunteered for the possibility that I could have been.

Let’s see if I can follow exactly what your complaints are:

Osama bin Laden is still alive, still free, despite Bush vowing to get him “dead or alive”, and perhaps helped to direct the recent London and Cairo bombings, or is at least inspiring them… but at least he’s shitting in a hot sandy cave (we suppose, because no one really knows where he is since Bush let Afghan forces allow bin Laden to escape Tora Bora). (And where’s the stat for these 50,000 terrorists you cite? Is “terrorist” just your shorthand for “brown people we’ve bombed”?)

Since Saddam used chemical gas against the Kurds in 1988, he was an imminent threat to the United States in 2003 with the WMD’s he hadn’t had since 1991.

Saddam and al-Qaeda were good buddies; the bipartisan 9/11 Commission is bullshitting me.

Pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into a poorly-planned military operation with no post-war strategy, in violation of the Powell Doctrine, is a good use of taxpayer money, even as federal surpluses turn to the biggest deficit ever, $8.8 billion just vanishes in Iraq, and we cut taxes in a time of war for the first time in the history of human civilization.

A $1 billion shortfall in funding the Veteran’s Administration is really no big deal. Support the Troops, y’know…

PFC John Daniel Hart’s father is a liar. His son’s Humvee was just fine.

Your MSNBC link doesn’t support your point very well. Neither does this follow-up two days later. 377 tons is a very small percentage of 250,000 tons.

If we say they’re trained, they’re trained, even if only 3 of 107 military and paramilitary battalions are ranked by the Pentagon as able to plan, execute and sustain independent counterinsurgency operations.

Army Times polled soldiers in 2000 and found two-thirds voted for Bush. A 2004 CNN exit poll found only 57% of those with military service voted for Bush. The polls are apples and oranges, but judging from what I read from some Iraq veterans, they’re not as enamored of Bush as you are.

But why limit negative opinions of Bush to just the military? He’s the Commander-in-Chief of the people’s military. So what do the people think? 51% of Americans think the administration deliberately misled America over Iraq’s WMDs. 53% said we can’t or won’t win the war in Iraq. 58% thought that we couldn’t succeed in setting up a stable democracy in Iraq. 57% disapprove of the way Bush is handling the war, less than 50% think it was the right decision to go to war, 64% think Bush has no clear plan for a successful conclusion in Iraq, 54% say Iraq has either hurt or had no effect on the War on Terror. 75% think the Iraq War has either increased or not changed the chance we’ll suffer domestic terror attacks. 50% of the people think the bigger problem is our troops staying too long, not that they’ll leave too soon before stabilizing Iraq. 49% think that we should set a timetable for withdrawal. And people are even starting to think that their neighbors think the same thing; 44% said they thought most people oppose our current Iraq policy.

Now, as to your ad hominem assumptions about me. I’m no socialist, I don’t have a therapist, I don’t wear nose rings, I’ve never picked a “tater” in my life, and characterizing me as “fawning” over bin Laden is an insult to over 60 million patriotic Americans who didn’t vote for Bush, as well as a slap in the face to liberal victims of 9/11 and their liberal survivors who loathe bin Laden as much or more than you do.

As for Clinton’s reign? Deaths on American soil due to radical Islamic terrorism: 6. All terrorism deaths on American soil, including good ol’ American terrorists like McVeigh, Rudolph, Kaczynski: 179. All terrorism deaths, including embassies, USS Cole, etc.: 494. Plus, foiled the Millennium Bomb plot, saving countless lives.

During Bush’s reign? About 3,000 killed, and the perpetrator hasn’t been caught. And an anthrax mailer (remember that?) who hasn’t been caught. Yeah, I feel safer.

Your Clinton and Kerry hating deserves more time than I can spare here. (But it makes fascinating reading from someone who claims I “never let the facts get in the way of a good Bush bashing.”) So does your assertion that the 2000 and 2004 elections weren’t stolen. (You know that “mandate” you crow about for Bush 2004? Gore got a “mandate” — albeit smaller — in 2000.)

The inane “B-b-b-but Clinton/Gore/Berger/fill-in-name-of-Democrat-I-hate said Saddam had WMDs, too!” mantra of the right grew stale a long time ago. All of those people favored the UN weapons inspections that were proving that Saddam didn’t have the weapons he said he didn’t have. Also, none of them used proven fake yellowcake documents from Niger, flat-out wrong characterizations of aluminum tubes that never could become nuclear bomb materials, or PowerPoint presentations of drawings of mobile weapons labs that didn’t exist and vials of talcum powder representing anthrax Saddam didn’t have to frighten us into a war that’s killed 1,785 of your colleagues.

Going after bin Laden in Afghanistan was a damn good start. Too bad we took our eye off the prize to enact regime change on a secular Iraqi leader who despised Islamic fundamentalism and kept it quite in check, creating a terrorist recruiting video beyond bin Laden’s wildest dreams, establishing Iraq as the new training ground for international Islamic fundamentalist terror, fostering a government whose new constitution would subject you and all women to Sharia law, and building a new set of strong alliances with Iran.

I’m no ingrate, Sergeant McElroy, and I am as thankful for my freedoms and in love with America as you are. You are blinded by the idea that petitioning my government for a redress of grievances is somehow akin to hating America or her troops. You obviously hated Clinton and felt that his policies were destroying the land you love. It is no different for me with Bush. Dissent is the highest form of patriotism. The “grown-ups” understand that debate and activism, not blind obedience to leader, are what makes America great. And when you and I raised our hand and took an oath to “support and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic…”, we both took it seriously. By my estimation, the criminal Bush maladministration is the biggest domestic enemy of the Constitution in its 229 year history.

I sincerely hope we have no more terrorism on our soil, but if we do, how will that affect your opinion of how Bush is fighting the Struggle Against Ideological Extremists Who Do Not Believe In Free Societies Who Happen To Use Terror As A Weapon To Try To Shake The Conscience Of The Free World? Here’s my prediction: If there’s no attack, you’ll say “See, Bush’s war is working!” If there is an attack, you’ll say “See, that’s why we need to fight Bush’s war!” You don’t care how many people die, how much money we spend, or how many WMD proliferation covert CIA operatives you expose, just so long as your guy stays in power.

SGT Russ Belville
Idaho Army National Guard

P.S. “Verbal” blunt force trauma would require speaking to me face to face, Sergeant, ma’am. And stop calling me “sweetpea”.