ANOTHER LETTER TO STARS & STRIPES

I wonder if Rove will question his motives?

Letters to the Editor for Wednesday, June 22, 2005
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=29867

Iraqis must fight for freedom

How does the current war in Iraq relate to the freedom of the Iraqi people? Well, simply put, it doesn’t.
I’m serving in Mosul, Iraq, so I’ve seen what the Iraqi people do with the American brand of freedom. When early Americans wanted freedom from English rule, they fought for it. When early Mexicans wanted their freedom from Spain, they fought for it. When early Scots wanted their freedom from the English, they fought for it. When blacks and other minorities wanted freedom from slavery and other racist policies, they fought for it.
Other than the Kurds in the north, who fought for the freedom of the Iraqi people? Yes, America did.
The Iraqis will not know what to do with freedom until they have to fight for it. You can’t just give it to them on a silver platter. America should be the helping hand of freedom, not the rock. The rock comes from the people seeking freedom.
Look at the situation in the country now. At best, it’s mild chaos. The Iraqi people don’t see us as liberators. We are occupiers. Liberators liberate and then leave. We seem to be having a problem with the latter. The Iraqi people may have hated Saddam, but they hate us more. That’s why my fellow soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines are dying.
There are two things they hate most in this part of the world. The first is Jews, and the second is the West. America is the poster child of the West. How can you liberate that? You can’t.

Staff Sgt. Kevin Washington
Mosul, Iraq