USMC wife

Here is an email I received in response to one of my essays.

USMC (United States Marine Corps) wife : Maria Fletcher : starry_eyed_peace@yahoo.com : 2008-05-07

I am certainly aware of American pride (a sin according to the Christians) and American unshakable faith in the need for every greater military spending. However, I consider it a mass paranoid mental illness. Your country has a military bigger than all the other militaries on the planet combined and still the American people fear countries a minute fraction their size without militaries or money (like Grenada and Iraq). Your leaders cynically manipulate this fear to justify beating up smaller nations and plundering their resources.

I am as proud as the next American, however, I do not agree with war and I hate that my husband chose to become a United States Marine Corpman.

Since Bush 43, your country has behaved worse than Nazi Germany. Even though I know that German pride too swelled in the Nazi era, logically you should feel deeply ashamed of your country for its illegal actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The invasion of Iraq was illegal from the start.
~ Walter Cronkite (1916-11-04 2009-07-17 age:92) 2007-12-04, Common Dreams

The invasion and occupation of Iraq is illegal.
~ Kofi Annan (1938-04-08 age:80)Secretary General and Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1922-11-14 2016-02-16 age:93) former Secretary General of the U.N.

I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing.
~ Richard Perle (1941-09-16 age:76), 2003-11-20, Pentagon hawk, cat-stroking, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, James Bond villain pasty lookalike, admitting the Iraq war is illegal.

This [the Iraq war] is just an excuse to get Iraq’s oil.
~ Nelson Mandela (1918-07-18 2013-12-05 age:95)

I could not possibly stand being in your shoes. I don’t know how anyone could bear the constant fear that at any moment your spouse could be killed or maimed. Further, I would be utterly sick that he might not have the moral courage to resist committing atrocities. He could come back a broken man. You have built your life around your husband. In an instant that could all be gone forever. Absolutely, I would never become involved with anyone in the military, but for you, that is too late.

I have spent many nights wondering if I would ever see my husband alive again or if he would ever meet his child that is growing in my womb. I do not agree with the route that President Bush has taken in sending so many of our citizens to their deaths. But, despite all my misgivings about this stupid war and all the horror and pain it’s brought, I’m very proud of my husband. He chose to to risk his life not only for our family, but for millions that I will never meet.

That is simply not true. You husband is killing people, not saving lives. He is not defending the USA. He is fighting for control of Iraq’s oil. He may be naïve enough to believe he is helping the people of Iraq, but the Iraqi people have overwhelmining made it abundantly clear they don’t want American help. Those racist, colonialist, patronising attitudes that Americans know better than Iraqis what is good for them went out with Rudyard Kipling and his insufferably conceited notion of the white man’s burden.

I don’t know your husband personally, but I have talked man-to-man with many military men. They like the adventure. They like hunting and killing. They don’t particularly care whom they kill. To them, war is like a 3D video game where someone else makes all the decisions about who today’s victim are. Much of the killing is done by remote control, so it feels just like a high end video game. Whether they admit it to themselves or to others, they are primarily motivated by sadism. Even serial killers can be good fathers and husbands. It is not like the movies. Sadists don’t have green saliva. They look and act perfectly normally. Sadism is not socially acceptable, except in the military. That is why they are so good at hiding it from civilians, including their wives and families.

Soldiers are a different type of people all by themselves. They are brave and stupid and passionate and sweet and crazy and loveable and every mother’s dream. I stand behind not the war or the terrorism, but the cause that we are fighting for. People in Iraq are just like people everywhere else in the world, you have your good and you have your evil. My husband has personally sat down with Iraqi families and had dinner with them in the midst of all the turmoil. He has been shot at, has seen his friends blown to pieces, cried over missing the funeral of his great-grandmother, laughed at his drunken buddies, has had to stay up for nights on end on parole when his base in Iraq was under siege and yet still came home the same loving man I fell in love with.

But that is not why Bush sent him to Iraq, to play Peace Corps. He was hired as a hit man. Most of the people your husband’s buddies have killed were civilians and children. He won’t emphasise Shock & Awe and the total disregard for the Geneva Conventions in his letters. After all, you can’t check up on him, and he wants you to continue to love him. Further, he wants to spare you the pain knowing what he and his buddies are really doing most of the time.

Yes, he is changed… I cannot deny this, but he values our way of life much more than most possible could. I would love to have a civilian husband who doesn’t leave me for months at a time or go to fight a nonsense war, but I love him nonetheless.

I wrote two essays, one on why a young man should not enlist and one why you should not marry a military man. What kind of man would put up with all the negatives of military life? It has to be because there is some massive compensation. The most obvious motive is your husband profoundly enjoys his rôle as hired serial killer. It satisfies him as nothing else can.

So, please, don’t be so cynical about our military.

Huh? If Bush is wrong, surely those who persist in killing for him are even more reprehensible. If they are so stupid as some soldiers claimed they are out to get the (long dead) Saddam, to seek revenge for 2001-09-11 (which the administration says had nothing to do with Iraq), to make life safe for Iraqi Christians who lost their constitutional protection under US rule, that does not justify their mayhem. They are as nutty as serial killers who imagine God commanded them to kill — nothing to be proud of. That they are fighting for unexamined and bogus reasons is all the more reason for cyncism and contempt.

All you know is the pictures you’ve seen, or the blogs you’ve read, or the stories you’ve heard that may or may not be true.

Surely you have a TV. Don’t you recall the opening day of the war 2003-03-20? America promised liberation, but delivered American Shock & Awe terrorism. You saw with your own eyes the USA bombing the residential sections of Baghdad. I will never forget that day. I was with a group of Iraqi ex-patriates who were at first supporting the Americans then started screaming in terror when they saw familiar neigbourhoods turned to rubble live on CNN (Cable News Network). Surely you saw how the US sealed the city of Fallujah and then bombed it to rubble. The average age in Iraq is 15. That meant most of the people killed, crushed to death in those buildings were children. Your government has a quota of 30 civilians killed per high value target. To kill more, a soldier is supposed to get permission. Ask your husband if that is not true.

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.
~ George Orwell (1903-06-25 1950-01-21 age:46)

So many times, the worst is assumed when the story may be totally different from the one you see or were given.

There may be some controversy in the fine details, but consider the big picture. Your country has spend $3 trillion destroying Iraq. That is $120,000 worth of mayhem per Iraqi man, woman and child. They did not spend it on construction. The electricity and water and hospitals are still not working. Your country has done filthy deeds even Hitler considered too inhumane, including routine torture of POW (Prisoner Of War) s, use of banned weapons such as white phosphorus, napalm, cluster bombs and land mines. You have no reason to be proud. Your former Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, characterised the Geneva conventions as quaint.

I’m not trying to change your opinion or make you think as I do, I simply want you to stop and think about what you’re saying and think of the families, both American and Iraqi who have looked at your website and been hurt by the stories or pictures that are t here.

Your husband is not innocent. He is guilty of a capital international war crime, namely aiding and abetting aggressive war. America attacked Iraq unprovoked, not the other way round and under false pretences to boot. You are not entirely innocent either. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister was tried at the end of WWII (World War II). What you are doing is in a very minor way the same crime as his, namely justifying war crimes and hence promoting them. You are supporting your husband in criminal activity. I don’t blame you. Love makes you do terrible things. A mother will claim her serial murdering son never hurt a fly. A wife will search out every excuse to cling to the illusion the man she married is decent and upstanding.

What do I expect of you? First, research the Iraq war in much greater depth. Read some books. Read many points of view. The deeper you dig the more horrible you will discover the war is. Disabuse your husband of any delusions or deceptions he harbours. Make him face the fact he is a war criminal and serial murderer and that Iraq presents no danger to the USA. Then encourage him to go the route of Lt. Watada and refuse to kill any more. He might even have the guts to expose some of the unexposed horrors of that war. I am not asking you to abandon your husband. Going the Watada route will require extreme bravery. Soldiers are far more terrified of authority and peer pressure than they are of bullets and IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). He will need every ounce of your support.

Fletcher USMC wife

USMC wife Part II : Maria Fletcher : starry_eyed_peace@yahoo.com : 2008-05-09

Your husband is guilty of a capital (i.e. hanging) offense. Even if your husband just peeled potatoes, he is still guilty. That may seem unfair until you remember that in a bank heist, if one of the gang members kills a guard, even the guy driving the getaway car is guilty of murder. So he is not just a murderer, he is a serial murderer. That is a very serious crime. All he had to do to become an international war criminal was aid and abet the illegal aggressive war in Iraq. You have already confessed he did that. Granted, he is likely too small a fish to ever be prosecuted, but that does not change his brazen criminal status. Read up on the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis at the end of WWII. That he was just following orders does not get him off the hook. I did not make up the law. I am just pointing it out to you. You reaction is as illogical is if you screamed at me when I presented evidence of your husband’s infidelity. He is the one committing the crimes, not me.

I forwarded the link you sent me to many of my friends and family. This is just one of the many responses I got back and was asked by that friend to reply this message back to you. Because he wishes to remain anonymous due to his current deployment, I’m sending you this from my own email address once again.

But first, I would like to give you my opinion and I don’t give a damn what you post or say in reply to it. I think your sick! After viewing many other things on your page, I’ve come to the conclusion that you have no life other than throwing your opinions at people that don’t want them.

The people who write me letters to the editor, including yourself, want me to do the favour of broadcasting their views. Most are fully aware I will rebut. I did not send you an unsolicited email. Nobody is forced to read anything on my website.

I noticed on your page tat you are gay. I have no problem with that. I have a gay brother and many gay friends, but how can you promote being gay when it goes against the bible (and yes I too have read the Bible and know that it contradicts itself horribly) yet, you are against military persons that are doing so much good?

The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 to heterosexuals. This doesn’t mean God doesn’t love heterosexuals, it’s just that they need more supervision.
~ Lynn Lavner , a lesbian comic

It makes no sense to promote being gay any more than I could promote being 6’ 4”. It is not like a club you can join or a hobby you can take up. I fight against ignorance about homosexuality, fear of homosexuality and prejudice against gays.

I consider the bible irrelevant mainly because it is a work of human fiction composed by ordinary long-dead humans. It is not a suitable guide for modern behaviour any more than the sacred writings of any of the other 10,000 iron age religions. If I were forced to pick a religion, I would pick Buddhism, Bahai, Islam or worship of Ganesh or Apollo before I would touch such a kitsch and patently silly religion as Christianity. Christianity is relevant only in that it is a superstition that influences the lives of modern day Americans. I go into that in great detail in the religion section. I would not advice reading it just now. It would not be good for your blood pressure.

All you care to show is the casualties and injuries and crap about pornography and rape.

I rub your nose in them so you will be revolted and like me be motivated to stop those committing the atrocities. Like your husband, you apparently want the casualties and injuries to continue. You apparently want to sweep them under the rug? Why? You make lame excuses for husband’s criminal activity. You are effectively cheerleading for your husband’s mayhem and the prologation of the Iraq war. You are a Karla Homolka cheering on Paul Bernardo in his serial murders. Why? So you and your husband can get your strange jollies? You get furious when people like me try to interfere. Why really do you want that to continue? What sort of sick freak are you anyway? You should be trying to convince you husband to stop his killing spree. We expect that much of family members containing civilian serial murderers.

You really have no clue what goes on over there! So until you can grow a pair and become a real man, I suggest you keep your morally corrupt opinions to yourself!!

All your husband and his buddies do in Iraq is sweetness and light. General Sherman got it wrong. War is heaven. What a self-delusion! What wishful thinking!

Mrs. Fletcher
Proud USMC wife

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
~ Ezekiel 16:49

I despair that someone such as you could even exist. How on earth could anyone be in favour of butchering innocent children? Yet, you are.

Reply from an Army friend currently serving out of country:

He can call us whatever he wants, but there are good soldiers and bad ones.

The good ones defend their country. The bad ones fight illegal wars of aggression for their country. Since nobody attacked the USA and the USA is involved in two illegal aggressive oil wars, the American soldiers serving Afghanistan (including yourself) or Iraq are bad ones.

Everyone has their own reasons for joining the military. Some to kill, some to live.

By live, do you mean they expect travel and adventure? That is very similar to killing for money, hardly a noble motive. However, we know whatever the ostensible motive for signing up as a hitman, they know they will be expected to kill people they have no quarrel with. So they must at heart like or at least tolerate killing people.

Some for themselves and some for family. I joined initially for myself and to live, now its for family, but if i have to kill, so be it.

That is also true of a Mafia hit man. You are still a murderer.

Its not a fucking video game, its not fun, but if it comes down to my sons losing their father or some fucker with an RPG (Report Program Generator) blasting me and my friends, I would gladly pull the trigger again.

You picked the fight. You travelled to half way around the world to take a shot at the guy with the RPG. It is bit like going on Safari to Africa, only you hunt humans instead of rhinos. People do all kinds of things that are dangerous and painful for fun, like climbing Everest, marathon runs, wrestling crocodiles. You keep dodging around why you put up with the negatives of combat. You like killing. Killing turns you on. That’s why you do it. There are tens of thousands of other ways to make a living. You picked this one. You put up with a lot of shit for that big payoff. You can’t claim self-defence any more than a Mafia hit man can claim self-defence when his target fights back.

I didnt come here to die and wont let my guys die either,

You didn’t go to die. You didn’t go to defend you country. Presumably, then you went for the thrill of combat. You picked an almost unarmed enemy. Your sportsmanship is similar to Dick Cheney’s having flunkies throw pheasants into the air for him to blast with a shotgun.

but some canadian fuck that doesnt even have the balls to serve his country can talk all the shit in the world and the only ears its gonna fall upon are deaf and dumb ones.

Metaphorically, you are telling me that I need to join you in shooting up heroin into our arms to be able to decide if shooting heroin is a wise course of action. I don’t need to kill innocent people to know that it not only wrong but stupid. Why would I serve my country by killing people? Nobody is attacking Canada. Further, I am 70 years old and in poor health.

I dont totally agree with everything were doing here and Iraq, but i do know that for the local nationals around us, their quality of life has improved drastically. Transportation has been made easier, water made potable, irrigation made easier, to list a few.

But you Americans destroyed it all in the first place. It is nowhere near repaired. There was once a time when Iraq had modern office buildings, electricity, running water, sewage treatment. I have talked with people who lived there who stay in touch with relatives back home. In Afghanistan you have revived the heroin trade from moribund to #1 supplier in the world. You personally are complicit in this even if you are just following orders to look the other way.

Of all of the LNs that I’ve spoken to between here and Iraq, I havent heard any complaints.

If you were approached by a Nazi soldier during the occupation of Paris, you would be an idiot to say anything other than high praise for the occupation.

Only thanks. So, for the blind that can only listen to others points of view and make them his own, grow some balls and come visit us in Afghanistan, form your own opinions. Until then, shut the fuck up.

You obviously know a lot about how the war is being fought, but you appear to be ignorant of why either your country or yourself are killing people who were no threat you or you family you until you attacked them unprovoked. Further, you seem blithely unaware that you are an international war criminal. Please do some reading.

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