A MARINE IN IRAQ RESPONDS TO SEN. KERRY

[Teresa]

Thanks Michelle and Aaron for this letter. 

{This was written by my husband, Aaron, who is currently deployed to Iraq,
in defense of a recent comment made by Senator John Kerry. I hope it
might inspire someone else to speak up! ~ Michelle}

Yesterday John Kerry said, "You know education, if you make the most of it,
you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart,
you can do well, and if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq...

So my husband wrote him a letter: It is as follows:

I am a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. I am currently on my
second tour in Iraq, a tour in which I volunteered for. I speak Arabic and
Spanish and I plan to tackle Persian Farsi soon. I have a Bachelors and an
Associates Degree and between deployments I am pursuing an M.B.A. In
college I was a member of several academic honor societies, including the
Golden Key Honor Society. I am not unique among the enlisted troops. Many
of my enlisted colleagues include lawyers, teachers, mechanics, engineers,
musicians and artists just to name a few. You say that your comments were
directed towards the President and not us. If we were stupid Senator Kerry,
we might have believed you.

I am not a victim of President Bush.
I proudly serve him because he is my Commander and Chief.
If it was you who was President, I would serve you
just as faithfully. I serve America Senator Kerry, and I am also providing a
service to the good people of Iraq. I have not terrorized them in the middle
of the night, raped them or murdered them as you have accused me of before.
I am doing my part to help them rebuild. My role is a simple one, but
important. You see Senator Kerry, like it or not, we came here and removed a
tyrant (who terrorized Iraqis in the middle of the night, and raped them and
murdered them). And we have a responsibility to see to it that another one
doesn't take his place. The people of Iraq are recovering from an abusive
relationship with a terrible government and its going to take some time to
help them recover from that. We can't treat this conflict like a microwave
dinner and throw a temper tantrum because we feel like its taking too long.

Senator Kerry, you don't have to agree with this war. You don't have to say
nice things about those of us who choose to make sacrifices for the rights
of every American rather than sit back and simply feel entitled to it.  But
please Senator Kerry, if you're going to call me a stupid murdering rapist,
stick by what you say. Don't tell me that I misunderstood or that you would
never insult a veteran because you are one too. Having been there and done
that does not give you a free pass to insult me.

My suggestion for you, Senator Kerry, is to remember that your speeches are
recorded, and broadcast to us simpletons over here. You may want to write
down what you want to say before you say it, maybe have somebody look at it
before you say it and tell you what others might hear. Remember that we can't
read your mind, if there are any misinterpretations in what you say, it's because
you didn't communicate clearly.

Good luck to you Senator Kerry, if nothing else it's always entertaining to watch
you try and climb out of the holes that you constantly dig for yourself.

Sincerely,

Somebody who is watching his daughter grow up in photographs so that you can
have the right to say whatever you want about him.

[Janet Harrington]

Well said, Aaron and from the Harrington household THANK YOU.