Michael Fumento

Hello friend,

It has been a great comfort to me to find your website. My son is serving in Iraq at Camp Ramadi with the 1st Armored Division. We never hear of them in the news. He does not write and rarely phones. His wife is at his home base in Friedberg Germany and she does have phone contact with him. Her phone contact has been very sparse lately. All the TV news is full of the rape/murder charges of some GIs. It is very discouraging to us families. War is an ugly business and it is hard to be proud when all around us are voices telling of every indignity the enemy suffers. No one seems to care about what our soldiers are suffering. Hardly anyone seems to care that because of their sacrifice, airplanes are not getting hijacked any more, embassies around the world aren't getting blown up and Americans are not hostages in the hands of cruel and ignorant men. I don't have an education or a pedigree. I'm just a mom who loves her son. I appreciate your work in Iraq and I thank God for your safe return and the news you brought with you.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Lynne

Dear Mrs. [omitted]:

I wish I could argue with what you say (and as a lawyer I'm a very good arguer) but most of your letter rings quite true. In WWII, FDR was always doing everything he could to integrate Americans into at least the deprivations of war. Most of his rationing programs were bunk; the idea was that rationing meant sacrifice and sacrifice was good. In Vietnam that all changed, as LBJ sought to insulate the public from the war in order to not distract from his incredible expansion of the welfare state called "The Great Society."

I liked the movie The War Tapes because it brings the war home. The soldiers in it actually have it much better in terms of comfort and safety than your son does but the point is made.

Yours Sincerely,
Michael Fumento