I just read the cover story (reprint of JFP’s “I Want Justice, Too”) in the Colorado Springs Indy and followed links to the JFP. WOW! Great journalism. My heart pours out to the Dees and Moores. Tears rolled from my eyes. I cannot imagine reliving this each day. Thomas, you are a great man. My family would like to help out with a donation for the memorial/headstones. Additionally, Thomas, I live in Colorado Springs, and I am an Army vet. I’m here for ya.
Editor’s note: You can donate to the Dee-Moore memorial Fund at jacksonfreepress.com
Stay the Course
We are now losing about a brigade a month in Iraq to death, injury, illness and mental breakdown. They are not being replaced. Enlistment has dropped to crippling levels, despite relaxed health standards, $40,000 reenlistment bonuses for specialists and the pursuit of high school dropouts. The army is toying with the idea of accepting 42-year-olds. Marine drill instructors have been given orders to be more pleasant to recruits.
Some people of my generation have a sentimental attachment to our armed forces, remembering, for example, that President Truman’s integration of the army was one of the first great civil rights victories. It is painful to watch our military’s humiliation as the perpetrators of a policy of torture. But there is a ray of light. The folks that insist we “stay the course” now have a golden opportunity to demonstrate their patriotism. They have only to enlist their children, or, if possible, themselves. Surely those who have benefited the most from the Bush tax cuts and are loudest in their support of the war will do this, and not leave the burdens where they are now, with the rural poor!
— John Davis, Jackson
‘The War President’
First it was “The Global War On Terror.” Then, because the generals at the Pentagon and some senior aides felt that it would be seen by allies that America could not beat terrorism by military means alone, it became “The Global Struggle Against Violent Extremists.” But George Bush was not happy. He had not been consulted. In his most recent speech to a group of Texas legislators he stated as much: “Make no mistake about it, we are at war,” he told the group of legislators. He used the phrase “war on terror” five times. “We’re at war with an enemy that attacked us on September 11, 2001. We’re at war against an enemy that since that day has continued to kill.”
At a meeting on Monday, Aug. 1, Mr. Bush made it clear he was unhappy with the change and had no intention of changing the rhetoric. The question to be asked is why? Ego may be the overriding factor. George wants to be known as the “War President” and has referred to himself that way in a number of speeches. What a blow to be called (and probably more aptly) the “Struggle President.”
It’s good to know, however, that the administration is staying on message and dealing with the big problem of how they are perceived in the world of public relations.
— Brian Essex, Jackson
