Posted on 06/25/2007 6:21:45 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
When Dan Kaufman re-enlisted to fight beside his fellow Marines in Iraq, he didn't expect to fight a battle for civil liberties when he returned home.
"They used the Iraq war and terrorists to take away our freedoms that the military has fought for over the last 300 years," Kaufman said, citing warrantless wiretapping as an example.
"I got back to find out that all these freedoms that I was supposedly going over there to protect, the government is eroding when we come back here."
Kaufman served in the Marine Reserves from 1995 until 2001 and re-enlisted when he heard that his unit was being activated in 2004. As a machine gunner with the 2nd Battalion 24th Marine Regiment from Milwaukee, Kaufman was sent in to help secure Yusifiyah, a town about 25 miles southwest of Baghdad.
Although proud of his unit's accomplishments, Kaufman has become an outspoken critic of the war he believes was based on lies and deceit. He answered questions for a crowd gathered at Vilas Park for a cookout Sunday afternoon sponsored by the Military Families for Peace and the Military Family Compassion Groups.
"It doesn't matter how good the troops do over there because they are being undermined at every turn by the administration," he said. "I found we weren't doing anything to help the country, and we were wasting all of our resources in order to p--- the rest of the world off."
Kaufman said he doesn't speak for other veterans, and he doesn't believe it is unpatriotic to criticize the war.
"The same people that say You're not supporting the troops if you don't support the war' are the same people that are cutting their benefits, increasing their tour lengths and not giving them disability when they get back," he said.
Mike Burkhalter of Oregon was stationed in Japan as an Air Force mechanic during the Vietnam War era and said he is "totally frustrated" with the war in Iraq.
"My feeling is, supporting the troops is getting them home," he said.
World War II veteran Don Mix has been inspired by the Iraq war to become politically active for the first time in his life. He urges citizens to "get on the horn" and urge members of Congress and the public to take a stand against the war.
"It's about time somebody started making a stink about all this," he said. "We elected a bunch of Democrats to end the war, and they are sitting on their hands playing politics."
Mix worries about the impact of yet another war on America's future.
"We're spending our young people's lives, and half a trillion dollars of our kids' and grandkids' future -- it's just a real tragedy," he said.
Mix and Buzz Davis belong to the Veterans for Peace group in Stoughton. Davis is convinced that the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were "illegal wars of aggression" in violation of United Nations charter.
"Veterans for Peace came out for impeachment in the spring of 2005, and we'll push for it again on July 4th at a rally on State Street and the (Capitol) Square," Davis said. "I feel that I was duped in the Vietnam War with the arguments, and I have determined that I am not going to be duped a second time."
Retired Army Lt. Colonel Fred Williams was chief of the Madison office of the Military Family Assistance Program that supported military families in the Madison area during the Gulf War.
Williams said he believed in the necessity of the Gulf War at the time but doesn't have similar confidence in the current conflict.
"Frankly, I have serious reservations about why we are there, but I certainly totally support the people that are there," Williams said.
Kaufman, the Marine who signed up for a second stint in order to fight beside his comrades in Iraq, said he wouldn't do it again because he's lost faith.
"It's not that people aren't willing to go fight, it's just that the cause needs to be the right cause," Kaufman said.
"We aren't the good guys just because we are the U.S. In order to be the good guys, you need to do the right thing."
If the war doesn't go well for us, Kaufman may get to fight the force of evil again right here in the USA, unless he already has plans to join that demonic hoard..
It is an “occupation” only because the U.S. is there, but the same leftist leaders in Madison would not dare call it an “occupation” if Iraq was in fact OCCUPIED by Iran and Al Queda.
“Occupation” is chosen by the left in the U.S. in political solidarity with their allies-of-convenience in Tehran and Al Queda; and because that phony solidarity fits their Marxist template for political action.
And that is surprising because_____?
The article is typical of the dribble coming from the Capital Times.
This is a seditious article from a bunch of Traitors
Retired Army, you are young enough to volunteer for active duty in IRAQ.
I guarantee you that this person, like all leftists, would have no problem with the most obtrusive invasions of personal privacy for environmental reasons, like putting tracking devices in cars to measure energy usage.
I’m 47.
I’ve already served in Operation Desert Storm. We didn’t go far enough then, so now our kids ended up trying to stomp out the Islamofacists. Again.
And then it’s our Grandkids’ turn. :(
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