Senator Edward M. Kennedy
2400 JFK Federal Building
Government Center
Boston, MA 02203
Dear Senator,
I recently saw a copy of a letter that your office sent to Mrs. Hutchins, the mother of one of the Marines who is being held pending charges at Camp Pendleton, California.
I can only say that your answer to this woman’s pleas for help have left me disgusted. If you believe it was enough for you to provide her with a phone number and then tell her there was nothing you could do, you are sadly mistaken; this woman wrote to you for support, not a brush-off.
I am well aware that you are not able to intervene in military legal matters; however, that does not prevent you from making inquiries to ensure that this Marine, one of YOUR constituents, is treated fairly and that the Marine Corps follows the law in adjudicating his case.
Imagine the effect your words had on this woman, compared to the effect you could have enjoyed by simply providing a few words of support and encouragement. Imagine the consolation you could have provided by simply making periodic inquiries on her behalf and assuring her that you would keep her informed of her son’s situation.
It is well known that you hold the members of the military in unwarranted disdain. Yet the fact is that this woman sent her son off to fight for your liberties, wrong war or not, that’s what he understood his task to be. YOU ARE INDEBTED TO THIS YOUNG MARINE, AND YOU OWE HIS MOTHER MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER CONCEIVE TO REPAY.
I was once charged with an offense while in the military; my mother contacted our elected officials. She was so relieved when one of those officials, while letting her know he could not intervene, made inquiries on my behalf and kept her informed of my situation. But then again, he was a man of honor. In contrast, your character is visibly reflected in your unsatisfactory reply to Mrs. Hutchens, to whom you owe both an irredeemable debt as well as a sincere apology.
Mxxxxxxxx x. Sxxxx
Gunnery Sergeant,
U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
In essence you are demanding he tell a lie which of course we know he is quite comfortable in doing. This guy could care less about what happens to these Marines.
That is why I responded as I did to you. Asking him to care about our military is like asking Pelosi to embrace a far right conservative value system. It is a waste of time. The only thing, a replie letter with kindness would have done is perhaps made the dear mother feel a tiny bit better. In that respect. Sure. It would have been nice for him to lie out of his hat, in offering a sentimental response. But I for one do not expect such behavior from him.
Besides. The socialist usefull idiot is probably totally consumed by the concerns he has for those poor al Qaeda killers down in gitmo getting color TV's and laptops in their cells, and would not have the time to enquire into the well being of a Marine who had to walk around in leg irons on a far fetched make up story by some American hating Iraqi. But I am sure I say nothing you are not accutely aware of. I commend you for writing the letter to the whale. I wonder if he will ever read it.