Soldiers are committed to our mission in Iraq [Iraqi Veteran & Silver Star Recipient Slams Murtha]

Buffalo News ^ | December 13, 2005 | DAVID BELLAVIA

[West Coast Conservative]

David Bellavia, of Batavia, earned the Silver Star in Iraq and has been recommended for the Medal of Honor.

As the debris continues to settle from the explosion detonated by the defeatist comments by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., I wonder how he expected his statements to be perceived. As an infantryman whose boots are still caked with blood and dust from Iraq, I am beyond confused by the insistence by Democratic Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Louise Slaughter that he preserve his title as a combat visionary. As rancor and hyperbole peak, we continue to be fed bastardized statistics and a complete denial that Iraq, according to al-Qaida intercepts, is indeed the front line in the war on terror.

When then-President Bill Clinton sent 15,000 troops into post-hostile Bosnia to get the job done, it was the equivalent of keeping 585,000 troops in Iraq post-invasion, when equating terrain and population. Tellingly, the silence from the left is deafening. To the leftists in America, Clinton understood war like no other: Pull out when the blood starts to flow (Somalia) and overcommit when there is no chance of loss (Kosovo and Bosnia).

I am no John Zogby, but I conclude 100 percent of Iraqis want us out - eventually. They very much want us there while Islamo-fascists continue to blow them up as they worship and apply to serve the cause of freedom. My peers are not appreciative of the elitists, like Sens. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, who daily attempt to uncover mistakes made by this administration while my brothers under fire bleed to death thousands of miles from home.

Iraqi veterans are without apologies for not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Former administrations ignored the danger present in this region for years, and we in the trenches now pay the price for our past inability to confront our enemies. Each day, the enemy hopes that one more 10-plus death toll inflicted against the coalition via a roadside bomb will be the last straw of the American collective will.

Make no mistake. This is a middle- to lower-class war, fought by volunteers of the greatest generation of American warriors ever born. I have written more than 47 recommendations for Bronze Star valor awards for the members of my 34-man infantry platoon. That award, alarmingly, is growing more and more common during this fight. And yet my peers cannot use their awards as a platform to defend their noble struggle, because they are still deep in the fight.

Neither Murtha, who wears his Bronze Star as his badge of authority, nor any other congressional representative has held a position in a skirmish line under fire in Iraq, yet they pontificate to the masses from "their war" experience. Not one has borne witness to the extreme close-quarter nature of this fight or commented on the tearful thanks from a deserving and proud people who need us to stay the course.

Yet Murtha has the extreme audacity to call my peers "broken." Funny how a man like Murtha, who made his career on detailing his heroism under fire, is the first to chip away at my generation's valor.

Each day, the Iraqi war veteran grows closer to the embarrassing disrespect of the Vietnam warrior. Each day, legislators like Murtha move us closer to losing a winnable war and abandoning a worthy ally. Staying the course isn't a campaign slogan; it is a life support message to my peers. Like Vietnam, the American soldier cannot be defeated on the field of battle, only by the failure of the political class to stomach the hardships of combat.

[daybreakcoming]

It also needs to be sent to the weasley Republican members of Congress...with Graham at the top of the list. Do we have a champion for this man in the Republican Party? Sad to say, I think Lieberman would be among the first to step up.

[tumblindice]

Marines and soldiers are dying, and muslim sunnis and other butchers are encouraged while this United States Representative shoots off his mouth.
E-mail your congressman: it's past time to censor Representative Murtha for his perfidy.
http://www.house.gov/

[Travis McGee]

bttt!!!

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

GREAT ARTICLE! Murtha's career is about over. How old is he? The dim leadership has probably told him his legacy will be in restoring the dims to power, and he'll be remembered forever. And he's bought it. Hook, line, and stinker!

[txrangerette]

BUMP!!!

[Logic n' Reason]

BTTT

[ClancyJ]

Possibly - my husband thinks there is something wrong with his mind - senility or something.

But - whatever, we are not honor bound to give him a pass on traitor activities.

And, I hope the Dems rant and rave about it. Doesn't matter - that is all they do anyway - rant, rave, run and retreat - the Four R's.

[Mo1]

Yet Murtha has the extreme audacity to call my peers "broken." Funny how a man like Murtha, who made his career on detailing his heroism under fire, is the first to chip away at my generation's valor

Thanks for the ping, txrangerette

[Fee]

Does Bellevia have more fellow comrades who are willing to write? They are needed to offset the Dems and leftwing MSM. More men and women like him needs to run for political office. They know who the team players are and who the traitors are. After a life and death experience, they will not tolerate political BS. They are the next great generation and they are sorely needed in government to kick out the outdated career politicians who play political games and get nothing done and reestablish leadership.

[Fee]

Let us trade Graham, Snow and McCain for Liberman.

[marblehead17]

ping

[Blood of Tyrants]

Funny how a man like Murtha, who made his career on detailing his heroism under fire, is the first to chip away at my generation's valor.

He is a Democrat, isn't he? As it is the nature of a snake to bite people, it is the nature of the DemocRats to hate anything that promotes freedom over totalitarianism (with the 'Rats in charge, of course).

[freema]

Well just DAMN! That sucked all the marrow out of my bones and set the faucets to flowing, like BAM! God Bless this Patriot!

[onyx]

Thank you, Mo1.

[prairiebreeze]

Great article, thanks.

[freema]

sALUTE TO YOU!

[auboy]

Well stated, David Bellavia, well stated. God Bless You!

[cll]

From The Army Times:

http://www.armytimes.com/print.php?f=1-comnews-984935.php

July 20, 2005

N.Y. soldier’s bravery in Iraq earns state’s highest military honor

By Carolyn Thompson
Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Staff Sgt. David Bellavia calls his Conspicuous Service Cross an “award of geography,” not valor, insisting anyone in his situation would have done what he did.

He is sincere, but given what Bellavia did — that is, kill six Iraqi insurgents during hand-to-hand combat in Fallujah last November — unconvincing.

“Had someone else stood where I stood and someone else been in that room, they would have made the exact same decision I made, which is to assault through,” Bellavia, of Batavia, said Tuesday before a ceremony marking the award of New York state’s highest military honor for veterans.

He modestly recounted how he “took out the targets” who had opened fire with AK-47s as members of his platoon hunted them inside a darkened house in the wee hours of Nov. 10, his 29th birthday. An embedded Time magazine reporter described the scene this way:

“Upstairs (Bellavia) scans the bedrooms,” wrote Michael Ware in the magazine’s Nov. 22 issue. “An insurgent jumps out of the cupboard. Bellavia falls down and fires, spraying the man with bullets. At some point another insurgent drops out of the ceiling. Yet another runs to a window and makes for the garden. Bellavia hits him in the legs and lower back as he flees. When it’s over, four insurgents are dead; another has escaped badly wounded.”
Bellavia had already killed two insurgents on the first floor.

“I think it was more the nature of killing six people, more than the fact that it was one against six,” Bellavia said Tuesday.

Bellavia’s commanding officers have submitted his name for consideration for the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross and the Medal of Honor, the military’s two highest awards.

Still, Bellavia is reluctant to stand alone in the spotlight. He said he’d rather redirect the attention toward the plight of veterans returning from the war wounded, both physically and emotionally.

“I can’t consider myself a hero when I walk on two good legs and have two working arms,” said Bellavia, whose company commander, executive officer and battalion sergeant major were among those killed in Fallujah.

“I’m not going to stand around and say I deserve this when I get the opportunity to hold my kid, I get the opportunity to tell my parents and my wife how much I love them,” the father of one said.

Bellavia talks about making it easier for veterans to receive counseling upon returning home, by making it accessible close to home rather than in faraway military hospitals, and of lobbying for improved employment opportunities for veterans, whose service to country, he said, should be at least as impressive as a college degree.

“I know that I’ve worked under the best leadership and had the greatest soldiers of a generation and I don’t need an award for that,” he said. “But I will bust my butt and help out these guys and try to use whatever light’s on me and just redirect it towards the guys that are affected for the rest of their lives because of their service.”

Bellavia, who was part of Task Force 2-2 in the 1st Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, is on leave until August when he retires from the Army.

[cdbull23]

BUMP...let's get this out to the public!

[cll]

Should have pinged all to this:

From The Army Times:

http://www.armytimes.com/print.php?f=1-comnews-984935.php

July 20, 2005

N.Y. soldier’s bravery in Iraq earns state’s highest military honor

By Carolyn Thompson
Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Staff Sgt. David Bellavia calls his Conspicuous Service Cross an “award of geography,” not valor, insisting anyone in his situation would have done what he did.

He is sincere, but given what Bellavia did — that is, kill six Iraqi insurgents during hand-to-hand combat in Fallujah last November — unconvincing.

“Had someone else stood where I stood and someone else been in that room, they would have made the exact same decision I made, which is to assault through,” Bellavia, of Batavia, said Tuesday before a ceremony marking the award of New York state’s highest military honor for veterans.

He modestly recounted how he “took out the targets” who had opened fire with AK-47s as members of his platoon hunted them inside a darkened house in the wee hours of Nov. 10, his 29th birthday. An embedded Time magazine reporter described the scene this way:

“Upstairs (Bellavia) scans the bedrooms,” wrote Michael Ware in the magazine’s Nov. 22 issue. “An insurgent jumps out of the cupboard. Bellavia falls down and fires, spraying the man with bullets. At some point another insurgent drops out of the ceiling. Yet another runs to a window and makes for the garden. Bellavia hits him in the legs and lower back as he flees. When it’s over, four insurgents are dead; another has escaped badly wounded.”
Bellavia had already killed two insurgents on the first floor.

“I think it was more the nature of killing six people, more than the fact that it was one against six,” Bellavia said Tuesday.

Bellavia’s commanding officers have submitted his name for consideration for the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross and the Medal of Honor, the military’s two highest awards.

Still, Bellavia is reluctant to stand alone in the spotlight. He said he’d rather redirect the attention toward the plight of veterans returning from the war wounded, both physically and emotionally.

“I can’t consider myself a hero when I walk on two good legs and have two working arms,” said Bellavia, whose company commander, executive officer and battalion sergeant major were among those killed in Fallujah.

“I’m not going to stand around and say I deserve this when I get the opportunity to hold my kid, I get the opportunity to tell my parents and my wife how much I love them,” the father of one said.

Bellavia talks about making it easier for veterans to receive counseling upon returning home, by making it accessible close to home rather than in faraway military hospitals, and of lobbying for improved employment opportunities for veterans, whose service to country, he said, should be at least as impressive as a college degree.

“I know that I’ve worked under the best leadership and had the greatest soldiers of a generation and I don’t need an award for that,” he said. “But I will bust my butt and help out these guys and try to use whatever light’s on me and just redirect it towards the guys that are affected for the rest of their lives because of their service.”

Bellavia, who was part of Task Force 2-2 in the 1st Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, is on leave until August when he retires from the Army.