Real Letter from Iraq

The local lefty rag, and I say that as a compliment, has a feature about a local boy in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. It paints a different, much darker picture of how things are going.

He ends the letter by saying that his three and one-half years in the Army have made him "numb to watching people hung out to dry." What really bothers him, he says, was a photo he saw in The Stars and Stripes of a sign at a gas station in the States showing gasoline selling for $2.07 a gallon.

"Didn't we secure the oil fields? Aren't we a capitalist country anymore? Can't we sidestep OPEC now? Can't we at least, somewhere in the midst of deception, half-truths and outright lies, catch an honest break?

"If we're going to fight for a cause that isn't known, get fired on by our own weapons, and get screwed out of our benefits, then at least for God's sake give us something concrete to say we fought for--even if it's as trivial as being able to fill our gas tanks for 98 cents a gallon."

To those that would attack Sgt. Garth Talbott as a malcontent, please go take his place. Now. Or shut the hell up. Perhaps President Bush should get around the news filter of his "objective" staff.

Stay safe Garth.