Amy Branham (Gold Star Mom): Are You Kidding Me?

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050107P.shtml

Are You Kidding Me?
By Amy Branham
(in response to Laura Bush's appearance on TV last week)

t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributor

Tuesday 01 May 2007


snip//


Have you stayed up all night, walking the floors of your home, wondering about the last moments of your child's life? Have you had to sit back and watch as your daughters mourned their big brother, their only brother, who is now dead? Have you held and comforted your husband, whose heart has broken? Just tell me, how have you and the president suffered in all of this, tucked away safe and sound in your Ivory Tower?

What about the military families who send their sons, daughters, husbands, wives, moms and dads into battle over and over again? Have you suffered the way they have? Have you lost your job, your family? Have you or any member of your family come home maimed for life from the loss of limbs? Has any member of your family suffered from PTSD or suicidal thoughts? Have you sat up all night wondering if you will ever hear from your loved one again because you know they are in harm's way?

Let's talk about the soldiers who are not getting the supplies and equipment they need, but are doing their best every single day to do their jobs in an impossible situation - because your husband sent them to an ill-begotten, immoral and unjust war against a country and a people who did not attack us. They miss their homes, their families, their lives. And their lives will never be the same if they do come home unharmed. The men and women of our military have suffered much more than you and George.

Most of all, have you even given one ounce of thought to the people of Iraq? What about their suffering? How many tens of thousands of deaths have they suffered? How many of their homes have been destroyed? How many whole families have been killed?

I promise you, Laura, there is absolutely no way you and George have suffered even close to the suffering of the military families, the soldiers, the people of Iraq have suffered. You could not unless you sent one of your beloved children or other family members into the war. You are so far removed from it that I don't think you have the capacity for understanding what the true suffering of the war in Iraq is. Don't get me wrong; I believe that you, as a woman and a mother, probably do have some empathy for the suffering. But you do not understand. Not even close.

Please do not insult our intelligence and the sacrifice of the soldiers and their families or the people of Iraq with such comments again.

--------

Amy Branham is a member of Gold Star Families Speak Out and Military Families Speak Out, - an organization of close to 3,500 military families around the country speaking out for an end to the war in Iraq.

[e-mail]

Amy Branham
Gold Star Mom
Sgt. Jeremy R. Smith, US Army Reserves
November 1981 - February 2004
Houston, Texas

[snappyturtle]

1. Frankly, I don't know how military families keep their sanity. nt

[Carolina]

2. especially now that the truth is

drip, drip, dripping out on the MSM... the truth we knew when it mattered.

Before the curtain started to be pulled back, some could believe they fought for a noble cause. Now, they know it was all for nothing: founded on lies and ending in disaster.

So much for mission accomplished.

[vickitulsa]

3. Trust me -- they don't.

I know a lot of them personally, and they're going off the deep end with anger, frustration, and despair -- probably as much as the active duty and veteran troops are.

So when you consider that the wounded, troubled vets get home to what should be the loving, protective arms of their families, you can imagine how that goes. Laura can't, but we can!

Please, everyone, do something to help support the military families in your area!

They need it, and they're certainly not going to get any help from this abominable administration....

[northzax]

6. more so than those on active duty, I find

since soldiers and marines in the field at least have something to concentrate on day to day. families are just left hanging.

[Skittles]

7. I hear you

it drives me insane and depresses me greatly - I cannot imagine what it does to them.

[FloridaJudy]

4. Laura:

How dare you, madam!
How. Dare. You.

[Skittles]

8. Have you no sense of decency, madam?

indeed

[grace0418]

5. I'm amazed Amy could be that civil. Or even give Laura the benefit of the doubt

concerning her possible empathy. Laura has no empathy. She is too checked out or drugged up or whatever. But she has no understanding or empathy. She's just like her mother-in-law. Like a comment I saw on a blog, Laura is "further proof that men marry their mothers."

She makes me sick, and there is no way I could be nearly as civil as Amy Branham was if my son were dead. It's a testament to her strength of character (Amy's, certainly not Laura's).

[tom_paine]

9. How many prescription drugs does hse have to ingest to say things like that

I wonder if they're the same ones she used to quell her accusing conscience after she did a little vehicular homicide to the kid ho broke up with her, or can she get stronger stuff now that the national pharmacopeia is hers and Chimpoleon's.