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Military families respond to the "WMD joke" issue
The Wall Street Journalâs "Best of the Web" solicited reactions from its readers who are in the military or have family members in the military to the Presidentâs "WMD joke" at last Wednesdayâs Radio and Television Correspondents dinner. The Journal received 101 responses: 98 approving, 3 disapproving. Click the link to read it all; Iâve posted here just one of the responses, the one which touched me the most:I served in Iraq, and it sucked. The dust storms that sandblasted your skin raw werenât fun. The heat was unbearable. We placed a thermometer in the sun in August, and it registered 157 degrees. At the same time, a thermometer in the shade read 137. Of course, for the most part, it was a dry heat, except I was in the South, and in late August and September, the wind would shift bringing moist air from the Persian Gulf. How about 120-plus and 90% humidity to brighten your day? Oh and the critters--rats, snakes, scorpions and my favorite, the camel spider. They live on the desert floor and have venom that numbs the poor camels they jump up on. After numbing the area, they chow down on the still-alive camel. The locals told me that its normal to see camels walking through the desert and their guts fall out because camel spiders eat their intestinal walls. The camel spiders also donât discriminate--people, camels, itâs all the same to them. Did I mention the critters of the microscopic variety? Explosive doesnât do justice to the intestinal issues I encountered. Of course, I almost forgot the AK-47-wielding locals or the imported locals with explosives and rocket-propelled grenades. Yes sir, it truly sucked. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! If you could meet the sincerely grateful Iraqis that I helped liberate, youâd understand. To answer your question, do I care if the president makes a crack about WMDs? Not at all. Based on my experience, Iâd be perfectly happy if the presidentâs reason for going to war wasnât WMDs but rather that he was just having a bad day and wanted a piece of Saddam. --K.B., Army We really donât deserve to be protected by people like this. Thank you, K.B., you and your brothers in arms. Good luck, good hunting, and get home safe. Posted by: Mike 2004-03-29 |
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