URGENT OPEN LETTER TO MY FELLOW AMERICANS

Don Bendell

As a former green beret, who is still involved in that tight-knit community, I was “shocked and awed” when I saw Michael Moore during an interview at the DNC actually say that “Bush did not have Special Forces on the ground in Afghanistan for more than two months after 9-11.”

That was laughable; it was such a stupid, bold-faced lie. Many, many green berets and ex-green berets know that two A-detachments were on the ground in Afghanistan within forty-eight hours of the 9-11 attacks.

Robin Moore, a friend and the author of the number one best seller THE GREEN BERETS, wrote of those detachments in THE SEARCH FOR BIN LADEN. Just about everybody in SF, also knew that MG Geoff Lambert, then commanding US Special Forces Command, had those Special Forces team members on alert within two hours of the first jet hitting the World Trade Center tower one.

One of those brave Green Beret sergeants who served on those two teams and who lost his leg was probably sitting at home gnashing his teeth while hearing such trash. It is a feeling many of us have each time we hear those well-meaning apologists, “doves,” and Michael Moore-followers, do to the brave young men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan what was done to our men and women serving in Vietnam. It must stop now!

If you are a fellow Vietnam veteran reading this, “welcome home” and thank you for your service. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or apolitical, I am an American first, before any political party, and I am sure most reading this are, too. We must not allow anybody to belittle or disrespect any military service, in war, or at home, National Guard, reserves, coast guard, or any service. It is all honorable and all part of one big machine, needing each part to function properly.

This goes far beyond politics. Victimizing our military is one of the most selfish and self-destructive things we can do. Protesting in a free country, is “chump change” when compared to a willingness to lay your very life on the line for what you believe in, like our fighting men and women do. With a broken-heart, I survived the aftermath of Vietnam’s “anti-war movement.” Those young brave American men and women in today’s military will NOT go through the same treatment as long as my fellow veterans and I have a breath in our bodies.

Michael Moore, in a German press conference, referred to Americans as the “dumbest people on the planet.” Now, many well-meaning Americans, are making him look correct, and are making him even richer by buying tickets and believing his hype. One of my four sons even told me that I should not knock it until I watch it. I said, “Son, I won’t put a dime in Michael Moore’s pocket!” Dave Kopel did a lot of careful research on Michael Moore’s FARENHEIT 9/11 and points out “56” outright lies. I ask you, please take the time to read it carefully.

http://davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm

For example, the 9-11 Commission already stated that the bin Laden’s did not leave the US until the air travel ban was lifted, but in Moore’s film, he makes it seem as if there was a big conspiracy, and President Bush let them leave the country when nobody else could travel.

Michael Niewodowski, a chef at Windows on the World at the top of the World Trade Center was supposed to report for work shortly after the jets slammed into the twin towers, and he has also written a scathing piece about Moore’s mockumentary. Please read it, too. http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1163058/posts.

Mr. Niewodowski, who is a chef not a professional writer, in his Sarasota Herald-Tribune article, points out that there are over 20 motion pictures about Pearl Harbor and its aftermath, and they espouse “patriotism, courage, and nationalism.” What films do we have about the 9-11 disaster? FARENHEIT 9/11, a complete sham.

I received 2 significant e-mails from Iraq recently; 1 from an army master sergeant and 1 from a sergeant first class, serving in different units, but both men asked if I could help them, explaining that young soldiers are seeing bootleg copies of FARENHEIT 9/11 and are becoming disheartened and demotivated, as they have had no experience with the political process, and they think that if the movie has been made and distributed, it must be true. Shortly after receiving those e-mails, I also received other forwarded e-mails with very similar words from Iraq.

Even if you are totally against the war, we must do all we can to keep our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan motivated, which in turn, helps keep them safe and alive. How can you say you support our troops, without also supporting their commander in chief? No President, Democrat or Republican, in US history, during a time of war, has been so publicly chastised and disrespected as President George W. Bush. This plays right into the enemy’s hands and propaganda machine.

John Kerry betrayed his fellow Vietnam veterans making us his “Abandoned Brothers,” which is exactly what he is doing now to our current troops. He knows, full well, the many lies contained in FARENHEIT 9/11, but it helps him get votes, so he is silent. That is the same as embracing Michael Moore, which; in itself, would take very, very long arms at best. During the DNC, the Spielberg-backed video about Kerry, briefly showed a photograph of Kerry and 20 fellow sailors, even after John Kerry and Kerry’s campaign were issued a “cease and desist” letter from an attorney representing 11 of the men in the photograph who detest Kerry. In fact, only 1 man in that photograph of 20 supports Kerry for President www.swiftvets.com.

By the way, Senator Kerry, you were a “sailor” in Vietnam. Be proud of that and stop referring to yourself as a “soldier” in Vietnam. The liberal members of the news media, who also are helping destroy our troop’s morale, are just as bad.

I have received hundreds of thousands of e-mails, calls, letters, and other communiqu�s since February 11th, mostly from veterans, and many from active duty military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, or their family members, and those items are over 100 to 1 against Kerry and for Bush.

And, if you insist on the tired political line that Bush was a “draft-dodger,” go strap yourself in the seat of an F-102 jet, pilot it down the runway at several hundred miles per hour, and then up into the air and bypass the speed of sound, then afterwards, go seek out the 140 Medal of Honor recipients who were in the National Guard, and tell them their service is akin to “draft-dodging.”

Or, if you want to insist on the other politically-spun myth that President Bush lied about going to war in Iraq, then simply look on the internet at the numerous quotes about WMD in Iraq, the need for US military action, and Hussein needing to be toppled; with those many quotes from John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Madeleine Albright, and other democratic leaders. In the Aug 1 issue of PARADE, GEN Tommy Franks (retired) a man of honor, stated that in January, 2003, (2 months before the start of the War in Iraq) Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah both told Franks that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, or WMD. According to GEN Frank’s, President Mubarak told him point blank: ‘Saddam has WMD–biologicals actually–and he will use them on your troops.“

Within an hour, Tommy Franks relayed that message to Washington, and the president of Russia, and other countries, trading with Iraq also reported that Hussein had WMD’s and was ready to use them.

Now, for political expediency, they have turned it all around and say President Bush lied. Sorry, but President Bush led, not lied.

Before politics, before our own agendas; if you want a cause, please use the cost of a movie ticket to FARENHEIT 9/11 and instead send a "care package” to one of our troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, send money or toys to help Iraqi children through www.operationiraqichildren.org , or similar groups, or just write our military men and women, and show them our full support, love, and appreciation.

Please join me and circulate this to everybody you know, and send it to the media, over and over.