War isn't back-page event

Dear Col.Sheirman,
You must have been away for along time. Things are not the way they used to be in the America anymore. We do not have a free press, and television news does not tell us what is going on in the world. It is the governments intention that civilians not pay attention to the war. They have planed it that way. They do not allow photographs to be taken, of coffins coming home from Iraq. Pray tell that the people get the idea that Americans are actually dieing over there. This is a, "We do not do body counts" War.

Why did the administration not plan for increased casualties, in regard to the War's escalation? Why did the government send soldiers into battle without proper armor and protective gear? Why have our troops received such poor medical care when they have returned home? Our courageous soldiers have been treated the same way as those poor folks in New Orleans. Why did they not evacuate them before Hurricane Katrina hit? The answer to all the above questions is, the Administration of George W. Bush, could give a shit. Poor people, and poor people's children are expendable.

You cannot believe how disconnected the average Amerikan is from the reality of what a soldier or military person has to endure and live thru, as many never have, and never will (perhaps even under extreme duress, most would still not) serve in the military. Therefore, they have no clue what is going on, no real 'reality' rooted in fact, no
sense of what takes place in parts of the world more than 50 nautical miles from their homes. This is the root cause of most of this 'evil', in that, without a relative or friend having been 'killed' or 'wounded' by direct or indirect combat action in Iraq or Afghanistan, most don't have to undergo much discomfort here, except slowly ratcheting up gasoline prices. Most have not a clue what it's like to be in a combat situation, under fire, fighting for your very life, let alone some altruistic ideal that some politician force fed you like 'pablum' as you had the flag waved in your face and jammed down your throat most of your lives as something worth 'dying' for..

So, most of the 300 million 'slobs' in this Amerika couldn't care less what happens in Iraq, or Afghanistan, but they do care about what takes place between the gas filler tubes on their automobiles, and the pump that dispenses the oil that others are losing their lives for. They care about the fact they can't just hop into their car and not feel some sort of 'discomfort' or some kind of 'financial' burden for their decisions to urbanize their nation beyond all hope.

So, as another 'Amerikan' who lived extensively in Europe, and then came home to this 'gluttony' here in Amerika (no spelling pun, it's fully intentional here, folks!) once I got back here, as a military member stationed overseas for prolonged periods of time, ostensibly in Europe and the Far East and Middle East, I realized that most 'Amerikans' had this unbelievably 'selfish' "I gotta get mine no matter at what cost" view of the rest of the world's population. This goes for food, water, and energy. Most could care less what the impact on the rest of the planet is.

Till that triangular flag comes home with a husband, aunt, uncle, father, mother, or son or daughter' name on it, they have not one iota of a clue how that occurred. They couldn't care less either, they just see themselves as unjustifiably 'victimized' by a harsh, cruel, unfeeling world.

How unbelievably 'bereft' of reality Amerikan's are. Totally without any concept of it. Totally hapless boobs, bent on tapping the oil fields dry, and killing everything that gets in their way of their urbanization and their 'over-consuming' way of life.

As long as they can avoid a draft, they can avoid waking the sleeping giant of massive street protests.