Veterans are expressing their discontent over the Minnesota DFL's decision to characterize their words as "un-America" and "lies." This is a letter to WCCO's Pat Kessler from a Democrat veteran, in regards to Kessler's extrememly weak attempt to characterize veterans words as "partially true."
Dear Mr. Kessler:
I found my way to your "reality check" of the Midwestern Heroes' ads. You have misled your viewers and you should be ashamed of yourself.
You completely misrepresented the finding of the MRC study by taking the 61% figure out of context. In fact as you are no doubt aware the media coverage of the war in Iraq is overwhelmingly negative. In case you didn't bother to read the MRC report, the link is cited below. Also, there is a cite to a blogspot, now retired, with a daily roundup via Google of imbalanced media activity on Iraq that is shocking.
http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/2005/01/bad-news-from-iraq.html
http://www.mrc.org/SpecialReports/2005/sum/sum101405.asp
By the way, isn't there a difference between talk shows and the news media?
The links below are among those that reference the presence of al Zarqawi, hence al Qaeda, in Iraq before the invasion. Your "subsequently moved in there" statement is a media fabrication at odds with intelligence reports and a mass of evidence documenting the presence of al Qaeda in Iraq prior to the invasion. There is no credible evidence to the contrary!
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=5571
http://www.cpt-mi.org/Ansar%20al-Islam%20Final.pdf
I'm sure you don't need me to point out the other nuances you used to dupe your viewers into believing that the Iraq veterans lied to them, but I wanted you to know that there are folks out here who can see how you operate.
Incidentally, I am a retired, five-term elected Democrat who believes the invasion of Iraq was probably a mistake. And, I think the news media puts a negative spin on the war and dishonors our troops. and their families.
Steve Neely
Ashland, Oregon
Here's another, from our own Lieutenant Colonel Joe Repya to Nick Coleman, who apparently believes putting step parents on the air is tantamount to a lie.
Dear Mr. Coleman:
I'm an active duty Army Officer who recently returned from Iraq and must respond to your columns attacking Iraqi War Veterans and Gold Star Parents. I'm troubled that you have been both dishonest and blatantly partisan. Let's start with last Sunday's column.
While attacking the honesty of Iraqi service veterans you "conveniently" failed to mention the truth about your major "nonpartisan" source, Paul Rieckhoff, of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). Rieckhoff was a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, a state Chairman for Veterans for Kerry and in 2003 delivered the Democratic Party Saturday counter radio response for one of President Bush's radio addresses. You also mislabeled ex-Governor Jesse Ventura, an IAVA board advisor, as a "nonpartisan." Who do think you're kidding?
No, the war is not going "swimmingly," but most service members who have recently been in Iraq will tell you we are winning. I'm not sure what poll Mr. Rieckhoff was quoting in your column but the Military Times 2005 Iraq Poll of our service members (released January 2006) has some interesting results. The Poll found that 73% of the respondents believe it's likely the United States will succeed in Iraq. Four of every five respondents said they believe media reports often are "inaccurate." However you seem to feel the First Amendment freedom of speech does not apply to the very service people who fight for that freedom unless they support your agenda.
What angers me the most is how in your Friday column you turned really nasty with attacks on the Gold Star families in the second ad.
In your world stepparents -- some who actually raised the fallen service member -- have even less right to speak their minds than veterans. By implying that a fallen soldier's stepmother was not his "mom" is viciously ignorant and hateful on your part. Perhaps you should also stop using the radical Daily Kos for your material or identify them as your source.
Let's debunk your "Big Lie" while we are at it, that we went to war only because of WMD's. The Congressional authorization to use force in Iraq was a bipartisan vote of 77 Senators and 296 US House members listing 16 reasons they were approving military action. WMD's were only one of those 16. Many nations believed the same intelligence we did.
The bottom line is most of us in the military know what is at stake in the War on Terror and believe radical liberals like you can't be trusted with our National Defense. We in the military are proud to protect the rights guaranteed Americans by our Constitution, but both sides of the war argument share those rights. It is unfortunate that you feel that veterans and Gold Star parents have no right to voice their opinion unless it is against the War. This is the real disservice to our troops and our fallen heroes. Shame on you Mr. Coleman, you appear to be a very hateful person!
Respectfully,
Joe Repya
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army
101ST Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Fort Campbell, KY
Finally, a letter from another soldier to Power Line, calling for the resignation of Brian Melendez, who, along with his media contact David Ruth, have acted despicably in this sordid, embarrassing episode. Incidentally, I spoke to Ruth before this issue blew up into a national story. He was rude, and instantly defensive of his very weak arguments. He was totally unable and unwilling to explain why his party's attack against veterans was not an attack on free speech itself. For even daring to question the wisdom of the attack, he called me unprofessional. I guess state leftists aren't used to having to answer tough questions.
Have you ever noticed that when Democrats dissent on the Iraqi campaign, and their criticism or dissent is rebutted, they quickly seek refuge with, "How dare you question my patriotism"?
Yet, here we have the head of the Minnesota DFL calling Iraqi veterans and their families "un-American" for stating their beliefs about the war. Republicans are often senseless when it comes to the cut-and-thrust of local politics, but here is a case where Minnesota Republicans, followed shortly thereafter by the national Republican Party, should 1) call for a written and public apology from Brain Melendez to the veterans and their families; 2) call for Melendez to resign as Chairman of the DFL, as he is unfit to head a reputable political outfit; 3) call on other prominent Democrat leaders to repudiate Melendez and his ugly statements.
More personally, I'm an Iraqi veteran twice over. I know we fight Al Qaeda, among others, in Iraq. I know Al Qaeda attacked us repeatedly in the 1990s, attacked the USS Cole in 2000, and attacked us again on 9-11-2001. Since I share the same knowledge and beliefs as the people in the "Midwest Heroes" ads, Melendez has also insulted me as an un-American liar. I want an apology from him and from his party.
By the way, I was also serving in the 101st until very recently, but unfortunately did not run into LTC Repya. I hope I can still serve at his age.
Rick Waddell
COL, US Army Reserve
MDE has a fact sheet supporting the opinions of the soldiers in the ads.
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