Has Anybody Else Seen an LTEE such as this:

[TNOE]

Posted in Sunday's Cincinnati Enquirer:


Get over it; you lose soldiers in wartime

I get so tired of hearing these people cry when we lose a soldier or two, and also on television and the newspaper. We're in a war and that is what we have to expect.

Robert E. Hathorn, Anderson Township


I know there are comments like this posted on conservative websites - but I have to admit I was shocked the Enquirer would print this - especially given the fact that the soldiers killed in the Black Hawk helicopters are from Cambell, KY - which is very, very close to Cincinnati - they probably even get the Kentucky Enquirer - which is virtually the same as Cincinnati except with a different front page.

I will want to respond to this but thought I would like to get some of your thoughts first. BTW - anyone have that quote handy by * saying the fact that we're losing more soldiers equals us wininng? They're getting desperate? Thanks.

[JHB]

1. I especially like the ones that accuse protestors and war opposers...

...of having "for gotten what happened on 9/11, but I haven't."

[stopbush]

2. You may want to mention that there's a big difference

between wars of necessity and wars of choice. FDR reluctently sent our soldiers off to die to stop a truly evil entity. Bush chose to send our soldiers off to die based on self-serving lies, and for what? To make $ for himself and his cronies and to get elected in '04.

Of course, with the mentality expressed in the letter you quote, there's little hope you'll change any minds.

[Philostopher]

3. Hey, everybody -- have a look at this:

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/04/24/editorial_24letters.html

Run a text search on 'Hathorn,' or just scroll down -- it's the second or third letter. Note the date -- April 24, 2003.

[TNOE]

5. Thanks for this

this guy is a real winner.......

[Philostopher]

6. Sadly,

He's quite representative. He's a jarhead like my mother-in-law, who -- if he indeed lives in Anderson Township -- lives only a few miles away, and gets every single scrap of news from Fox. Those same words probably have come out of her mouth. I'm guessing Mr. Hathorn served in the military about as much as she did (i.e., not). Even if they support what we're doing in Iraq, no veteran who wasn't brain damaged would be so insenstive.

[TNOE]

9. I tried doing that search

only came up with 27 entries on Julie. How'd you do that?

[Philostopher]

11. I went to Google and typed in his exact name.

"Robert e hathorn" (in quotes). Got three hits, one of which was the prior editorial letter. Google hasn't indexed the current one yet.

I meant to add in the last post -- that letter isn't all that unusual. The Enquirer is slavishly pro-Bush. Even our Dayton paper, which isn't so far right, publishes the occasional really insensitive, poorly thought right-winger letter. They probably wouldn't have printed this one, though, since Dayton relies so heavily on Wright-Patterson AFB.

[pocoloco]

13. Jarhead??

WTF do you mean by Jarhead???

[Philostopher]

14. I mean in the more literal sense --

That he screws the top off his head and lets Fox news pour information in. I don't mean it in the colloquial 'U.S. Marine' sense. Most of the Marines I've known had better sense than that.

[gratuitous]

7. What an angry little man he is

I wonder what unit he's with? Surely he's not just some REMF chickenhawk who likes to play fast and loose with other people lives -- he must be laying his own life on the line for the country he loves and the citizens he hates, right?

[bleedingheart]

4. Its always fine until they lose a loved one...

what a schmuck.

[proud patriot]

8. I would focuss on distinguishing between 911 and Iraq

Discuss Afganistan not being finished and
that the Iraq war has hurt the war on terror .

Those that oppose WAR support the Troops
Those that want justice for 911 are asking
Where's Ossama and Why are we in Iraq when
Iraq posed No Threat To American Citizens before
bush Put American Soldiers In Harms Way . Our soldiers
want to find Ossama and are sick of being police
officers in Iraq's shooting gallery .

[zbdent]

10. Someone should tell dittohead to read the Congressional Record:

September 17/18, 1994, American troops landed in Haiti to try to bring about the removal of the ruler installed by military coup 19 months before.

Despite warnings of the human rights violations and senseless slaughters by the ruler, Repukes were saying "what national interest do we have in Haiti?".

January 12, 1995, a soldier was killed. The first in this entire situation.

That day, this appeared in the Congressional Record:

"AMERICAN TROOPS IN HAITI (Senate - January 12, 1995)


Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, today one of America's sons was killed while serving with the Special Forces on duty in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He is the first American serviceman to die while on this mission.

Where did this soldier die? Was he engaged in a battle with former supporters of General Cedras? No. This soldier died while he was monitoring toll booth operations on a road in Haiti. I will repeat that: The first American soldier to die in Haiti died while he was monitoring toll booth operations. He was shot by a passenger in a car at the toll booth.

Mr. President, why are American troops still in Haiti? General Cedras is gone. Aristede has been in power for more than a month. And still American forces remain in Haiti. And what are they doing? Monitoring toll booths and cleaning streets.

In this Senator's view, the return of our soldiers from Haiti is long-overdue. Their mission has been accomplished and they should not be performing local civil functions. It is a sad day when any American soldier loses his life in defending freedom. But Mr. President, it is totally absurd that this soldier was killed while performing a job he was neither trained for nor should have been doing.

I urge the President to bring the troops home now."

Remember, Haiti was also for humanitarian reasons.

[QC]

12. Hit him below the belt.

Go to WashPost or CNN and get specific biographical information about several people from your area who have been killed. Put a human face on them (interests, whether they had children, where they went to school, age, etc.) and then ask this SOB if he would be willing to say directly to their families that their deaths are something people should just "get over" and stop whining about.

People like this guy are immune to logic, which means that discussing geopolitics with them is a waste of time, but they might still be capable of feeling shame.