6,727 Military Personnel Killed Fighting ‘The War On Terror’: How Many More Mr. President?

Air Force Staff Sgt. Todd J. Lobraico Jr.

 Died Sept. 5 2013 of wounds caused by small-arms fire near Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.

Dear Mr. President,

Today, for the 12th time, people across the world will stand in silence as a mark of respect for the victims of the 9/11 attack. Today would be a good day to also remember those military men and women who have given their lives since that day in operations that have only occurred because of that day.

The website Honor The Fallen lists every service man and woman who has been killed in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. It would be great if you could spare the time to have a look at it.

Looking at the 6,727 faces of those people makes you want to weep. Most of them are young, they died serving their country, and we should be very proud of them.

The fact that most of them did not need to die is what sticks in the throat of every right minded individual.

You, Mr. President, as the head of the United States government can stop this. You can halt it with the stroke of a pen. You can pull the United States out of these wars and conflicts that don’t concern us whenever you chose. The problem is you choose not to. Instead,you want to commit us to another area of the Middle east.

Do you really believe that a limited air strike will stop what’s going on in Syria? Do you really believe that the citizens of the United States will back you on this?

In March 2003, the United States and it’s allies invaded Iraq with the aim of overthrowing Saddam Hussein. He paid for his crimes, but so did over 100,000 civilians that died in the conflict. Did it work? I suggest not as Sunni and Shiites are still bombing each other on an almost daily basis. Hundreds die each month Mr. President. Hussein has gone away, but the underlying problems haven’t.

Afghanistan is still rolling on even though we have supposedly killed Osama Bin Laden. Just six days ago, Air Force staff Sgt Todd J. Lobracio Jr died of his wounds. Wounds sustained near Bagram. He was 22 years old Mr President.

22 years old, just 7 years older than your daughter Malia.

Shocking isn’t it? Why did Todd and his 6,726 brothers and sisters in arms have to die? What is the reason?

So what will you do when the air strikes aimed at avenging the death of a disputed number of people killed by a disputed chemical weapons attack  fail?

What spin will be put on the number of civilian casualties killed avenging the disputed victims of the disputed chemical attack of August 21st?

What’s an acceptable number? 5,000, 10,000? When the fighting continues after the ‘surgical, limited military strike’ will we have Operation Syria? Will we be committing more of the youth of our country to topple another supposed dictator in a foreign land?

Is it not time Mr. President, to stop the charade?

The American people are fed up. They are totally and utterly sick of the state of their nation. They need a leader who can get the United States out of it’s death spiral, not plunge them further into debt paying for another phony war.

• They want jobs
• They want lower crime rates
• They want the spying on their every move to stop
• They want a decent education system
• They want their government to respect their wishes
• They want honesty and transparency from their government
• They want the government to stop lying to them on a daily basis
• They want their right to freedom of speech upheld
• They want their votes to mean something
• They want their right to bear arms to remain untouched
• They want the government to live by the Constitution
• They want the militarization of the police to stop
• They want the national debt reduced, not the ceiling increased

There are many, many more things the people of the United states crave Mr. President. If you gave these issues your attention, if you spent some time concentrating on the homefront instead of constantly meddling in conflict and strife you have no right to be meddling in then maybe things would not be so dire at home.

I send you this letter in memory of those 6,727 service men and women who have died serving the United States since the ‘War On Terror’ began. May they rest in peace.

Yours,

Chris S. Carrington