From the Father of a Marine

My friend and fellow Marine mom Elizabeth received the following email today from the father of a Marine. The first part is a quote that she has in her signature on all her outgoing emails. As the email states, this is from a person who does not know her, but chose to email her to criticize her for this quote. She has graciously allowed me to share the email as well as her response to it here on our blog.

On 3/26/07, *****@aol.com> wrote:
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
John Stewart Mill



Elizabeth,

I had an e-mail forwarded to me recently with your name on it. I don't know you and vice versa. As my subject heading relates, my son is currently serving in Iraq with the Marine Corps.

The war in Iraq is no doubt a controversial subject with people of strong opinions on both sides. That is the great thing about our country, we are free to argue and debate as we choose.

It troubles me however when I read quotes such as the one copied above to promote war and criticize those who are working to promote peaceful solutions to this situation.

First of all patriotism is the love of your country, not the blind obedience to a government which lies to its people. Those of us opposed to this war, the majority of Americans by the way (nearly 70% of the population), love this country. We just feel this is not in the best interests of the American people.

There are definitely things worth fighting for. This is not one of them. We invaded a country which never attacked us or our allies based on the lie that they had WMDs (which documentation shows they did not and the government knew this) and the were linked to terrorist organizations responsible for 9/11 (which government studies have proven to be false).

Over 3,200 soldiers dead. Over 25,000 wounded. Half a trillion dollars spent already (just think of what we could have done with that domestically). Over 100,000 Iraqis dead (many being innocent civilian bystanders). The loss of respect within the international community. And no plan for success. No definition of what would constitute a "victory" in this war.


Now, here is her response:

Dear sir,
Thank you for your email. I respectfully disagree with you. The documentation and studies you site are not correct, incomplete and continue to be related to the American people inaccurately.

As a mother of a Marine that has just return from deployment and will more than likely be deployed again, the sister-in-law of an Army officer, and a friend of countless other Blue and Gold Star mothers and spouses, I hate the fact that we are at war. I do however believe that this is a just and necessary war and indeed we are fighting against the exact forces that led to the unprovoked attacks on 9/11 and throughout the world beginning as early as, or even earlier than the 1980s.

We agree that there are things worth fighting for. You, however, do not believe that the fight against a decentralized enemy that vows, at the top of their lungs, to wipe our faiths, cultures and people off the face of the earth is necessary. We are at war with Radical Islam. They spring from multiple sources, multiple countries and pledge their allegiance to many different leaders but they all believe it is their divine mission to wipe us off the face of the earth in the name of Allah.

The war we are in is far more complex than reported on in the media, it is far more complex than reports and dog-and-pony Congressional hearings can outline neatly. We are in a battle for our very way of life, for your right to email me with your opinion. I respectfully disagree with your take on the war. I am saddened that so many Americans are blindly giving credence to the media coverage and the grandstanding, cowardly politicians that have not the courage to defend our country against those that have and continue to repeatedly promise the entire world that Islam will wipe out the evil Americans, English, Jews and all others that do not convert to their radical view of Islam.

I continue to support our President as he defends our country and way of life. I know we are in a worldwide struggle against an enemy that vows our total destruction. I pray that people who believe we should "cut and run" will wake up and realize we can fight this war over there or we can fight this war in our own streets, but it must be fought. We did not start this war, but we must win it! I am devastated for my friends who have lost children or spouses or have had children or spouses wounded, I worried about my son daily while he was Down Range. I am fiercely proud of all our men and women serving our country; we are all so very lucky that we have these American men and women fighting to defend our country. We need to stand together united as a nation to defeat this enemy. We need not call for peace against an enemy that has absolutely no intention of ever backing down or stopping their aggressions. This is war and there is no "playing nice" if we are to survive on this planet.

Sir, thank you for your email. You and your family will be in my prayers. Your son has been in my prayers since day one as I daily ask God to protect our soldiers as they protect us.

God Bless,
Elizabeth

I'm so proud of her! Good job Elizabeth!