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Joe “Ragman” Tarnovsky: Dear Senator McConnell
November 22, 2010
Senator Mitch McConnell
361-A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2541
Dear Senator McConnell:
Recently, our past president, George W. Bush, wrote in his memoirs, Decision Points, that you met privately with him and urged the President to withdrawal troops from Iraq in September of 2006 when American casualties were mounting and there was a strong possibility that a civil insurrection between the different factions that composed the populace of the country could be taking place. Your request was valid, many of us wanted to bring our troops home as many Americans, myself included, did not want to see anymore of our military dying, injured and disfigured in a war that was based on lies.
The president went onto say the reason for your request to withdraw our troops was because you did not want to see your party take a drubbing in the upcoming mid-term elections for 2006! I firmly believe there are two sides to every story, Senator McConnell, but to the best of my knowledge, I have not heard you respond publicly to these assertions made by the president of your own political party.
If the accusations by President George W. Bush about the meeting between you and him are not true, why have you not challenged him? If they are true, Sir, then you owe an explanation to the voters, not only from Kentucky which I am one of, but to the entire country for your hypocrisy on the war in Iraq. You publicly chided the Democrats for urging troop withdrawals during this time period from Iraq, calling them the party of retreat, but then you meet privately with George W. Bush and advocate the same strategy to stave off a possible hemorrhage in the elections that would take place two months later? If this is true, Senator McConnell, I find your conduct despicable and reprehensible! Is that what the men and women of our military have become while they fight and die in Iraq and Afghanistan, pawns used to garner votes for you and your party?
Senator McConnell, you voted for the Iraq War Resolution on October 2nd, 2002, you have continuously supported that war even when there were no weapons of mass destruction found and you publicly championed the troop surge but privately want a troop withdraw to help the Republicans in an election? Do you know, Sir, the meaning of hypocrisy?
EXPLANATIONS FOR YOUR LACK OF MILITARY SERVICE
Another point of contention, Senator, for me, is your military record. Reading your biography on the Internet, Senator McConnell, there seems to be some confusion about the reasons you did not serve during the height of the Vietnam War, my war and the war for 2.7 million other Americans that answered their country’s call to fight communism. Some of your staff have said you had polio as a child and/or optic neuritis but yet you joined the 100th Division, an Army Reserve in Kentucky in 1967. My question is why did you join an Army Reserve Unit whose chances of going to Vietnam were “slim and next to none” when you could have joined the regular Army and volunteered to fight in Vietnam? That is what I did, Senator, I joined the United States Army and requested duty in South Vietnam while living in Kentucky because our country was trying to stop the “red menace.” There were many other Americans that volunteered for duty in South Vietnam too, Senator McConnell, like me, it was important to them to answer our country’s call for military duty to help defend our Southeast Asia ally.
Did Senator John Sherman Cooper (R-KY) at that time, you were a former intern for his office, write a letter to the commanding general of Fort Knox where you were stationed, Major General A.D. Surles, asking him to expedite your release from the 100th Division so you could attend New York University (NYU)? What I don’t understand, Sir, is why, after earning a Bachelor’s Degree and Law Degree that you would want to attend NYU. According to what I have read, NYU has no record of you ever applying to their school, much less attending. How did you manage to get out of the Army Reserves without ever having gone through the training?
In closing, Senator McConnell, it looks as though you took the easy way out when it came to represent our country in a military uniform and, unfortunately, there are many politicians like you on Capitol Hill that came of age during the Vietnam War but failed to serve. Did you or did you not purportedly say about troops withdraws from Iraq what former President George W Bush contends in his new book? Did Senator John Sherman Cooper write a letter to the commanding general of Fort Knox wanting your release from the armed forces expedited so you could attend NYU? Why would you want to attend NYU when you already had a Bachelor’s and Law Degree? Why join the Army Reserves in the first place when our country was at war and needed you in Vietnam like the other 2.7 million Americans that served in that war?
I write for an online veteran publication, Senator McConnell, VETERANS TODAY, my letter to you and your reply will be posted in my column as there are many veterans and their supporters who would like answers for the questions I have submitted to you.
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=62036
Posted by Joe "Ragman" Tarnovsky on Nov 22 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Veterans Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Ragman’s Article => …you have continuously supported that war even when there were no weapons of mass destruction found…
T.V. => As uncomfortable as it may be, read “Saddam’s Secrets” by Georges Sada, p.171, 172,200, 207, 211, 234, 249, 250-264, etc., etc.
I don’t care what people’s political talking points are, Rags. It is just that some facts are so plain, that no one wants to read them because it will upset their senses or agendas. I suspect that you’re not one of the “talking points” folks, so enjoy the reading. Then, like me, you’ll shake your head and be quiet on the subject of WMDs.
Other than that, I enjoyed your post.
T.V. First Cav Vet
Hi Texas Vet,
Unfortunately, I was not a writer for Veterans Today when the lies were exposed, otherwise, I would have had a lot to say. Like a lot of people, I believed Bush and Cheney when they said there were weapons of mass destruction but then heard and read the lies. Other than writing letters to politicians, writing for Veterans Today which has given me this great opportunity and marching in protest, I have done all three, I don’t know what else we can do legally to change the system. Personally, Texas Vet, I think the system is so entrenched with corruption from the very start that there never will be change for the good; just my opinion. Thanks for your comment, Sir, and THANK YOU for your service to our country. I wish you and your family the very best in life and a wonderful upcoming Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year.
Tex, you mean other than the fact we didn’t find those weapons of mass destruction we KNEW to be there as we still had receipts in hand from when Daddy Bush and Chummy Rummy provided them to Saddam while he was evening the score with those dastardly Iranians for us by proxy; otherwise you enjoyed the post? I think the weapons issue is a dead horse for all practical purposes, we had Hans Blix and Scott Ritter’s findings, and we know intel was fabricated leading to the Valerie Plame affair. I think Joe’s letter above is poignant in pointing out Good ol’ Boy Mitch is just another hypocrite, draft dodging, chicken hawk who plays politics along party lines. As for Georges Sada’s book, it should be stated that most of that guy’s intel was hearsay or 2nd hand news. He was already retired and recalled for Gulf I and retired again shortly thereafter. He’s also a Christian, like his contemporary, Tariq Aziz, able to rise in the ranks under secular Ba’athist politics in a country where the status of native Christians is now in jeopardy thanks to guess who? Frankly, this author’s testimony (facts Tex?) wouldn’t hold up in court, a place I’d like to see this all shake out. But then, I’m not holding my breath.
One thing you don’t understand Joe, Mitch is to smart to go anywhere that real bullets are flying. Duff wrote an article about all the pansie asses that real kids refused to play with as youngsters, I think that Mitch would fall into that catagory.