Stripes letters: Anti-war, pro-troops; Drunken, disorderly Americans; etc

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Anti-war, pro-troops

Iraq war veterans have said they don’t understand how any American can support the troops fighting in Iraq, but not support the war.

I understand their confusion. I had similar misgivings about anti-war sentiments while serving in Vietnam. No one can fault anyone in the military for carrying out their lawful and sworn duties. That is your job. You do it well, and we honor you and thank you for your sacrifices.

However, many Americans, and I happen to be one, feel you have been ordered to fight an illegal war based on revenge (Saddam Hussein tried to have the first President Bush assassinated), oil, big-dollar contracts for the administration’s friends and the need to be a “war president” come the 2004 election. Many anti-war folks believed the U.N. inspectors when they said there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (and time has shown they were right), and thus there was no threat to the U.S.

The public was lied to by this president and his administration, and if you cannot accept being lied to, at least accept that facts were distorted. More than 1,880 U.S. military personnel have died and thousands more maimed, and families and futures ruined. Don’t forget troops of other nations (who foolishly believed the administration) and their losses. We cannot forget the thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens who have died and those who have suffered.

I hope you brave young men and women can understand how patriotic Americans who do not support this war, and did not believe the false reasons for it, can admire and support the troops. We want the war stopped and you brought home soon and in one piece. Afghanistan is a different war and there, for a change, the president was right to do what he did. He just didn’t finish it the way he should have.

Ken Yeager
Grosshansdorf, Germany


Drunken, disorderly Americans

I would like to “tailgate” on “Kaiserslautern may soon see more police patrols” (article, European edition, Sept. 4), about the problems in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

At least four times a week I’m awakened by drunken and disorderly Americans in Landstuhl. I live on the Kaiserstrasse and on weekends, it is a war zone — American military and dependent young men and women yelling, breaking bottles and urinating on the street.

We organized a group of citizens who went to the mayor and asked for help, and he told us his hands were tied with current laws in Germany. Local bars can be open 24/7. They must be closed between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. for cleaning. We asked if Landstuhl could change the laws and make these bars close by 1 a.m. during the week and 2 a.m. on the weekend. This would solve all the problems in Kaiserslautern and Landstuhl. The majority of the trouble is between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. It’s a simple fix.

In Germany, the law states, “Citizens are entitled to quiet hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.” The local mayors are afraid of offending the military leaders by asking for help. Americans don’t act this way on base or in their home town.

I’ve asked several young military folks why they act this way in Germany. Their answer was, “Because we can. The German police can do nothing but ask us to quiet down and leave.”

Please, can someone get this bull by the horn and help us.

Gary Teipel
Landstuhl, Germany


Deploying together is tough

I’m deployed in Iraq with my wife as well, as the soldiers in “A couple of rules for couples in Iraq,” (article, Stars and Stripes, Sept. 2).

We are fortunate because our battalion allows us to live together. However, we experience bias from single soldiers and married soldiers alike. With work hours such as my wife and I have, we do not have any time to spend together, maybe 10-20 minutes a day if we get lucky.

The stresses of Iraq and marriage are difficult at the same time. For instance, if my wife needs support from a hard day, I am not allowed to embrace her to let her know it’s OK. I really would like to do so, but instead, I am forced to yell at her to remind her she is a soldier first, a mother second and a wife third.

The truth is, after this round of deployments, the military will be losing each of the married partners because of a stress level only solitude with each other can fix. I feel that these times are tough for everyone and also feel if a marriage can survive a deployment together, there is no reason to worry if separated for the next.

I say to all soldiers who complain about being away from their loved ones, you should try the real hardship tour and bring them along.

Spc. Shawn Riccelli
Camp Adder, Iraq


A ‘red herring’ column

In response to “Katrina’s message: No one up there loves us” (column, Deroy Murdock, Sept. 5 print edition), I simply want to say it was atrocious.

I find his writing irresponsible and, as a black man, he should be ashamed. I am black, so I can’t, for the life of me, understand why he would omit that nearly two-thirds of New Orleans is black and disregard the fact that this is a natural disaster in which the state and federal government inadequately prepared for, and improperly responded to, due to the first fact. Poor and minority people suffered because other people with the power and resources did not act. If they had, the damage, which will be in the billions, and the dead, which could be in the tens of thousands, would have been greatly reduced.

This means the column is clearly a red herring that manipulates the reader in thinking God somehow took vengeance and now we have to fend for ourselves. That’s manure, to put it lightly, and I am appalled that Stars and Stripes would allow such substandard op-ed pieces. If you’re going to use this guy, get better work out of him. Murdock, if you’re sporting that skin color, you have bigger responsibility than to write pieces that placate or mislead the mind. This paper can show a little bit more teeth with a modicum of independent thought and still remain very patriotic.

Spc. David Lester
Arifjan, Kuwait


AAFES should cap gas prices

Everyone is doubtlessly aware of the fuel price crisis in the United States at the present time.

As you may have heard, prices are up to $3.50 and higher in many parts of the country. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service bases its prices on the U.S. average of the previous month, plus an approximate 18-cent-per-gallon dispensing fee. Normally, this is an acceptable, if not favorable, way of calculating fuel costs.

However, extenuating circumstances in the U.S. are obvious. That being the case, is there really a need for us to see AAFES prices go any higher than they currently are? The answer is no. AAFES gets fuel here in Europe at wholesale cost, which I guarantee doesn’t even approach the current September prices. I understand that they need a profit to stay in business and to help fund Morale, Welfare and Recreation facilities, but even at the current price, their profit margin is more than acceptable, if not excessive.

They should cap the price at the current rates until the oil situation stabilizes and prices return to a more normal level.

Staff Sgt. Matt Huffman
Ramstein Air Base, Germany


For equal-opportunity religion

To Stripes editors: I just thought you would take my suggestion to print a second paper each day titled “The Christian Stars and Stripes.” That way you can leave your opinion pages free from the numerous Christian columns in your regular edition. Your repeated printing of pro-Christian (not pro-religion, there’s a difference) columns makes your paper seem at times narrow-minded. Nothing against Christians, but Stars and Stripes should not, by the lopsided editorials and columns it publishes, appear to support the restricting non-Christians’ religious freedoms. You do know that Christians seek to convert under pressure any who don’t believe as they do?

If you must print pro-Christian columns, at least balance it with pro-Jewish, Islam, Catholic, Buddhist, Shinto and atheist columns. Otherwise, avoid supporting only one.

Capt. Richard Zimmelman
Homestead Air Forse Base, Fla.


http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=31760